The Whirlwind Continues

Arrived in DC on Sunday evening for quick orientation as part of the NSF fellowship. One of the most painless orientations I've attended; we covered a full suite of logistical pains, program requirements, legal constrictions, and medical considerations in record time. I even got to hit the town and see some sights.

Yours truly, Washington Monument in the background.

The Washington Monument, viewed from the new (ish) WWII memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial, viewed from the WWII memorial.

I also went to see my buddy Travis and his girlfriend Bonnie, who are now living in DC. Trav and I lived together in Annapolis before I moved to Oregon.

Here he is with Lucia, a super-awesome and very chill aussie border mix. She loved me right away.

A Whirlwind Tour

Arrived in Chicago this past Tuesday to meet up with Kelly Gates-Derousseau, a great friend from my undergrad at WMU. We'd arranged to drive up to Kalamazoo to surprise Bec and Chad, with lots of extra help from their respective spouses. Kelly hasn't been back to the states in more than a year (she's off in the south pacific, drinking kava and playing expatriate games) and I'm always keen for travel. My suggestion to show up with JFK and Nixon masks was vetoed though, we brought beer instead.

The shock on Bec and Chad's faces was worth the secrecy. They were truly surprised and just sat there, jaws-dropping, with an obvious uncomprehending look. I think it probably took some time before they really accepted that we were actually there in the living room. 

While in Michigan I also took time to visit the fam. Lucas posed for a special shot:

(No worries, it's innocent. He's teething and the cold can feels good on his gums)

While Sage and Lane conspired (these two will be hooligans together, give them time):

And Willow, another poor victim of the vicious beef stroganoff (I hated the stuff when I was little, it always made me gag):

China bound!

Great news! 

I've recently received official final acceptance for a fellowship in China. The East Asia Pacific Science Institute sponsors American scientists to work in multiple east Asian countries over the summer. I will be leaving to go to China in mid-June and plan to stay for a few months to do my proposed research - and to travel as much as possible in China of course!

I still have much left to do before I leave: visas, logistic arrangements, lodging and scientific equipment etc. I'm super-excited for this trip and can't wait to finish my thesis work here so I can finally push on to the next step. 

It's quite possible that my work in China this summer will contribute to my PhD work but for now, I'm thankful for the opportunity and plan to be as adventurous, as opposed to studious, as possible while in China.

Some images courtesy of google maps. It's hard to look places up and I don't think you can read the names very well but - I'll be staying in Chuzhou, which is an hour from Nanjing and a few hours from Shanghai. China is huge, while my arrival is in Beijing I am pretty sure I'll have to fly to Nanjing or Shanghai to take a train to my final workplace, Chuzhou.

The two little green dots are where I'll be living for the majority of the time.

A little closer. Shanghai is the big city on the far right, the peninsula. "A" is Nanjing and "B" is Chuzhou.

A close-up of Chuzhou (left, "B") and Nanjing (right, "A"). 

In addition to prepping the trip logistics I also purchased some language software, The Rosetta Stone - for those of you interested, and can now say "that man eats a sandwhich" and "that horse is running". I'm sure it will come in very handy when I'm there ;)

I plan to keep updating this blog while I'm there but who knows how much unfettered internet access I will have.

 

North Santiam, Mills City to Mehama and Packsaddle to Fisherman's Bend

Had the chance to run overlapping sections on the North Santiam River last week. The Mills City to Mehama run is a fun and splashy class II while the Packsaddle Park to Fisherman's Bend run is a class II/III. The Packsaddle run includes one class III rapid, "Spencer's Hole". It was pretty easy at the level we ran it (~1000 cfs).

As much as I'd like to have every pic in this blog revolve around me I know Kim loves to have her image broadcast across the web (Kim's Tribute Link).

My captain america boat plows through the waves.

Bogging down in some wave train.

Calapooia River, 4 miles above Holley to McKercher Park

Wow. This run wiped us out. Stormy weather raised the water levels everywhere and we hoped for a light run on the Calapooia, which is normally a class II. While there isn't a gauge on the Calapooia River I estimated it at just under 2000 cubic feet per second (I am a hydrologist and am allowed to make big estimates like this). Our trusty guidebook, Soggy Sneakers, told us after we made the run that it's only runnable up to 1200 cfs. Yes, indeed. 

It had rained solidly for more than 24 hours and rained the entire time we were on the river. As we floated downstream, you could see a change in the river as the water continued to rise and finally turned brown, a good indication of lots of runoff water. We pulled out early after multiple swims (out of kayak experiences), some slight injuries, and lots of frozen bodies. I did manage another combat roll and avoided any swimming.

We scouted these rapids before our run. When we first saw them, you could see every rock and actually pick a line to run along. This pic was taken right after we got off the river. The class IV rapids are completely washed out and all you see are walls of white-water.  

The same rapid, just a little further downstream. We didn't run this rapid it and pulled out a few miles upstream.

Lea ran the inflatable kayak through it all, the bomb-proof individual rafts are awesome if you can tolerate getting pretty wet.

The downfall of the IK is its inability to maneuver quickly; Lea had to swim like a champion through a strainer (tree in the river).

A waterfall at river right. That's Kim in the foreground (red helmet) and me in the background (yellow paddles).

Do I really need a caption?

Drysuits are awesome but when you have to pee, you have to take it all the way off...

Our fearless photographer, Lennie. Self-portrait.

Lake Creek, Deadwood Creek to Tide

I've been remiss at posting my latest kayak adventures. I've managed to squeeze in a trip every weekend for the past month! The first paddle this year was on Lake Creek, which drains Triangle Lake down to the Siuslaw River.  A class III/IV run at higher levels - we got lucky and caught it with 6' on the gauge, a minimal II/III run. Still, it's a challenging run with lots of ledges and boulders. I swam twice and managed to finally hit the combat roll when I needed it. There is one set of famous rapids called, "The Horn". 

Here's a pic of the class III rapid, "The Horn". It's hard to see all the whitewater that precedes this coup de grace. The turbulent flow forces you into a chute and propels you, mostly uncontrolled, through the end of the rapid.

Classic coastal Oregon shot: kayakers, rough water, steep slopes and clouds above.

Kim in the foreground and me in the background with the yellow pfd. Note the snow.

And more snow. Water temp is ~50 and the air is freezing. Swimming on this run was not the most fun.

Ahhh, sunshine. It peeped out for a while and melted some of the snow.

Captain America color scheme and I'm not even the most colorful on the river!

The hardest part about getting pics on these runs is that we only use the camera in flat water (for obvious reasons). Lennie took all of these pics and managed to get this one in semi-white conditions. Really though, we didn't get pics of all the gnarly rapids we ran.

An Excavator Proves its Might

My brother sent me this email forward and it was so cool I decided to post it here. What follows are a series of pics of a tower constructed to show off the power of an excavator. The final caption below the pics read, "Whatever the operator of this machine gets paid, its not enough!".