Oregon State University

As you know, we've been visiting college campuses. Or more accurately, two college campuses. The first was University of California, Berkeley. The second was Oregon State University, located in the charming, farm town of Corvallis.

The first thing I liked about OSU was......




....it is incredibly beautiful! Seriously, this is one of the most gorgeous campuses (or is it campi?) that I have ever seen. Corvallis, well, Oregon in general, was soooo much greener than Redding. It was the most green I've seen since.....since.....well, probably since Maui. It was so green that I couldn't stop taking picture of it.

LOOK! A green field!

Wow! Another green field.

Hey look over there! Its a green field!

It's kinda sad really. I mean, enough is enough already. It's just a bunch of grass.

Oh, if that were only so. It may be a bunch of grass but its a green bunch of grass. My eyes were starving after five months of nothing but baked brown to see such a lush and wonderful green.

Once I saw the grass, I decided that I didn't care what the actual college was like, I was definitely putting OSU towards he top of my list. But the wonderful thing was, OSU was actually a pretty neat college for these reasons:

a.) They have green grass. (sorry, I had to mention it....it's like a need)

b.) They have the coolest mascot ever: the beaver! How amazingly, wonderfully, frighteningly, cool and intimidating is that?! Seriously, we were made for each other.
I think he looks like me...maybe its the hair.....or the teeth...something. There's definitely a resemblance there.

c.) The campus is GORGEOUS!

Check these out:

BAM! Right outside the window. How lovely.

Love towers, and this one isn't too high, or too low. Just the right size.

Hey! She's wearing black and orange! Which brings me to number 4....(or d, whichever you prefer). I guess it could've gone with b, but I like it so much that I'll give it it's own letter.

d.) Their colors are......BLACK AND ORANGE!!

Orange is my favorite color, and black does go nicely with it. I think this pretty much speaks for itself.

Oh yeah, and the academics are pretty cool too. But I really like the grass.....

What do you think...

...of these pictures?

This....

...is the Sundial Bridge, with some kind of flower. (I'm sure someone out there could tell me what kind of flower!)

And for some reason

I'm kinda obsessed with this picture. I think its the combination of shapes, shade and sun.

And this flower just seems to make me happy.

Maybe it's becuase for the first time in my life, I was able to make the camera focus on what I wanted it to! YAY! for cameras that focus!

This, is my last picture of the day.

I'm not sure I like the sun...but I LOVE the colors!

So, tell me what you think. I'd love to hear comments!

Can you believe...

that I am a high school junior? Two more years and then mom and dad will toss me out of the house and hold a party for everyone in the park. Yep. They are going to have a fine life. For the first time in 30 years, they will be child free and boy, are they looking forward to it. It's almost insulting actually. I never really realized how much they were looking forward to this until last week though.
I was sitting in my room playing computer games doing homework when dad came in and asked what I was going to do this Tuesday. I found this a rather odd question, becuase I don't do anything with my time off. I think it's becuase I don't have time off. I am a high school junior (as mentioned above) and so my life is filled with complex math equations, Spanish verbs, and pop quizes. My mind doesn't think about what I could be doing, it only sees what it is doing, and it certainly doesn't think about what it could be doing next Tuesday. That would be too much for my teenage neurons to handle. So I stared at him blankly for a few minutes and then said, "Wait a minute. What?"
"I asked what you have planned for this Tuesday." He was speaking slowly, pronouncing each sylable hoping that this time, the message would make it through the mass a gray matter that was my brain and somehow be interpreted into understanding.
"Oh. You know, nothing. Why?"
"Good, becuase I think we ought to start looking at schools."
Still abosorbed in my game math, I didn't understand this statement either. "Why? I already go to school."
"College, Vanessa, college!"
"Ah!," dawning comprehension. "Why?"
Dad sighed. "Becuase eventually, you will have to go there you know, so I thought you would want to start looking around. In fact, I was looking at Berkeley the other day online, and it looks pretty cool. I think we ought to go there."
"Umm. Okay. Yeah, sure."
"Do you want to go there?" He was speaking slowly again.
"Yeah, that sounds great. When are we going?"
"TUESDAY!"
"Oh, right."


Now why anyone would be eager to be rid of their children after 30 years of conversations like this one, I can't imagine. But it might just be my teenage brain again....


It wasn't until later, when I was actually studying that I got to thinking about the conversation. Why were mom and dad suddenly so eager to go see colleges? They didn't usually leave Redding unless it was to ship a kid off at the airport. And, I was after all only a junior. I didn't think we would be doing this kind of thing until next summer. Besides, this would mean that they would actually have had to spend time thinking about me at college. Then, it hit me. They they weren't just thinking about me being at college, they were daydreaming about me being at college! Getting me into college was the last step in a 30 year process of putting four kids through high school, and they couldn't wait for those 30 years to be up! I felt slightly hurt that they didn't appreciate my company anymore, after all, I add so much to the family conversations. But I guess that if I had been raising kids for the last 30 years, I might look forward to a break as well.


So the next Tuesday, we all piled in the truck with everything we would need for any situation. This family can't just go somewhere, no, we have to go prepared for anything. Blizzards, floods, deserts, nuclear explosions. We have the supplies to survive it all. And so loaded down, with our many coolers of pepsi and water, and overnight packs (just in case), we set out to explore the far distant land of college campus.


After three or four hours (it felt like six) of RUSH LIMBAUGH and SEAN HANEDY and every other talk show host who has a show on AM radio between 9:00a.m. and 1:00p.m., mom and I were going slightly crazy. Our many attempts at conversation were dashed with an annoyed "SSHHH!" from dad, and if we even hinted at music....."Are you crazy!" But despite this, we did make it to Berkeley alive, and for the most part, well.


We explored the gymnasium, becuase it was the closest building with bathrooms, and then decided to find a map of campus. We headed to the bookstore and spent a good two hours perusing the shelves. I must say that I was very impressed with the bookstore, it was full of books that I found interesting and Dad and I both came away with a book apiece.


Then we decided to check out the food court and get something to eat, so we headed towards the main part of campus and had just gotten in line when classes got out. I have never seen so many people of one age, in a single space before in my life. College students were everywhere! They swarmed towards the food and filled every empty space with their chatter and books. Realizing that we wouldn't have any luck finding a table, we headed off down a small path and found some nice benches.


After we ate, we headed through Berkeley's main gates and really started looking around the campus. It was okay, but I didn't really like it. It was too crowded and seemed very unwelcoming. One bright spot of the campus was a huge bell tower. An elevator took you to the top and you could look out over the whole campus from under the bells. You could also see the bay in the distance, it was really cool. We stayed up there for about fifteen minutes becuase we wanted to hear the bells chime. But we got caught up in the view and forgot about them, so at 3:00 when the bells chimed, we were scared out of our wits! I think we also lost some hearing, but it was still very cool.


About now we decided that if we were going to check out Pier 39 before heading home, we had better get going. So we searched the campus looking for our truck, and then, happy that we had found it, crossed the bridge into San Fransisco.


Pier 39 was every bit as enjoyable as we remembered it. I bought a really nice Audrey Hepburn picture for my new room (posts coming soon on that!), and we walked through some very interesting shops. Can you believe that they already have Christmas things out?! I was shocked, it's not even Halloween yet!



After Pier 39 we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and headed home.

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to include everything we did, and I also apologize for its lack of photos but they are all currently on dad's laptop and he takes that to work at night...

Graduation

I am now an official high school graduate and what a wonderful thing it is to be! The ceremony was very nice with the class entering the stage to Pomp and Circumstance. Some members of the staff and faculty spoke, as well as two graduates and myself. We then recieved our diplomas and left the stage. It was a very traditional ceremony but still really cool and a wonderful experience.
My teacher Mrs. Miranda and myself.
Dad, myself, and Mom.
My niece, Marianna, myself, and my sister, Jennifer.
Myself and my younger sister, Vanessa.

What a wonderful day!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary!!

If I had to make a wish today.

A special one for you two,

I'd wish you both a precious gift.

Filled with love so kind and true.

But I cannot give what you already have.

Something you've got beyond compare.

Its the one thing that you need the most.

The deep love that you both share.

Its in your eyes and in your hearts.

Its a love just like no other.

So I wish you many years ahead.

Filled with happiness and one another.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

We love you!

Love,

All of your girls

Visitors!

The reason I have been lax on posting is because we have visitors! Our sister Jennifer and her daughter Marianna arrived in California from Florida on the 22nd. We have been having so much fun with them whether traveling or doing stuff around the house, it has all been great!

Their first whole day here was very exciting because we decided that, being so close, we should just zip over to Yosemite. What a place!

The geography is stunning, and all we saw was that which could be seen from the road that runs through the park. Simply amazing.

First, we stopped to see the sequoias. They are huge!

Mom and dad were dwarfed by just the goosepen in this tree.

These trees are so huge it can be difficult to get pictures of them, but we sure tried!

As we progressed on from the sequoias, the geography became more and more impressive.

Waterfalls are abundant and were in good form with all the recent snow melt.

Interspersed throughout the woods were beautiful meadows. This one provided a great view of Half Dome (I think).
On our way out we were lucky enough to finally get to see, can you guess?

Bears! The one in this picture was more brown than black,

but we saw a black bear too!

Hello Again!

Howdy! It's been quite some time since I last posted. The reason for this lack of diligence on my part is really quite easy to explain. For the past week Vanessa and I were counselors for fifth graders at Whiskeytown Environmental School.

It is also known as the N.E.E.D. Camp, or National Environmental Education Camp. The camp is located above Whiskeytown Lake along a creek and on the edge of the woods. It is a really beautiful location and my stay there would have been absolutely perfect if it had been me, family, friends, and a couple of the naturalists. As it was, it was just plain ole good fun and both Vanessa and I had a great time.

As counselors, we had to stay with our kids for 22 1/2 hours a day. I had eight boys to watch over and Vanessa had eight girls. I was originally going to stay with girls, but when they discovered I was eighteen, and therefore an adult, they put me with boys. I had to eat, sleep, hike, play, and everything else with them for five days. It was just a little challenging, but really a great experience that was very educational for me at least! Really, I was very nervous about having to care for eight boys, but now I'm rather glad I got boys because they are so insensitive compared to girls. I was able to keep them in line (maybe a little too well!) and nobody's feelings got bruised. It seems like pretty much everything runs off of little boys like water off a duck, unless you are really mean or strict with them, which I wasn't. I think the boys had as good a time as I did.

Sadly, both Vanessa and I forgot to take camera's so I had to get these two pictures from the WES website. This is the ampitheatre were we met with our naturalist every day and where the evening program was. My group was Cabin 5, also known as Cuyahoga Valley. Our assigned seat was the top bench on the far right, right by and in front of that really big tree. We saw some great plays and sang some great songs from that seat. Ah, good times, good times. :)

School

As you may or may not know, I have been attending Oakview High School for the past couple of weeks. The reason for this is that I could go ahead and get my diploma instead of having to settle for a GED. I have to take two classes.

I have already completed my Economics class,

and now have only United States Government to complete! And then I not only get to recieve my diploma (after I take the exit exam), but I get to go through the ceremony on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 10:00 am! I am extremely excited and cannot wait! It has been a very exciting day. :)

Gold!

Remember in an earlier post about Whiskeytown I had said we were looking for gold? Well, we actually found some! It was quite a process to get it, however.

This plain rock

that Vanessa crushed (using Dad's good hammer at his insistence, quite contrary to the strict rules on the farm!)

and Dad panned,

yielded a single flake of gold!

We were so excited and cannot wait to crush more rocks. We did try panning in a stream using naturally ground down rocks, but we haven't gotten the knack of it yet. This way the whole family is involved in either crushing, panning, documenting, or supervising. It's hard to be that involved out at a creek with only one pan. But it does give the non-busy family members a great chance to wade, rock hunt, bird watch and all the other great stuff that a mountain creek can give you! Gold hunting is so much fun!

Lassen and Burney Falls

This past weekend was a three day one for us, so we had more time to explore and have fun! We got all our housework done on Friday and on Saturday headed over to Mount Lassen and Burney Falls.

While we couldn't actually get to Mount Lassen because of the snow, we had a great time eating lunch at a little park. The major reason it was so great is because there was (can you guess?!)

SNOW!! Vanessa and I were super excited to be playing in the snow again after two years of substituting sand for it.

After lunch, we headed on towards Burney Falls,

and finally got there.

The falls are huge, and they not only come over the edge of the cliff, but they pour out of the cliff face. Truly amazing!

Mom and I were very impressed.

After admiring the falls from their base,

we decided to take a loop trail to get to the top.

The trail meandered alongside a rushing stream,

and we crossed the stream on this beautiful bridge.

The falls were as pretty from the top as they were from the bottom.

On the trail back to the car, we ran into the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico.

We also crossed over the headwaters of the falls.

Our day out was absolutely gorgeous and a lot of fun. These days out are getting to be a regular habit!

Evening at Anderson River Park

While Mom, Vanessa, and I get to go to Anderson River Park for lunch, we also get to go in the evenings after supper with Dad. You wouldn't think that a few hours could make such a difference, but the park is totally different in the evenings. The birdsongs have changed and there are more animals out and about.

Ducks come to the ponds for the night,

jackrabbits come out to graze,

and lizards are sluggish enough to actually get pictures of!

Sunsets on the river are beautiful,

but sometimes we like to watch the minnows better.

A river otter graced us with his presence,

and had a snack,

before he left!
Yes, it was another great time at the River Park!