Goodbye Great Lakes, Westward Progress

April 24, 2015 by Christopher So

Sioux Falls, SD
Elevation: 1,470 ft.

Rolling out of bed I felt deflated and overwhelmed by the thought of more driving. Pulling on my trusty carhartts and nano puff hoody (yes product placement) I was greeted outside by the cold, windy, misty air I had come to associate with the Great Lakes. It energized me right away, jolting me alive and awake. The first destination was Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The lakeshore lay at the end of a long, unplowed road and, unsuprisingly, I was the only one there. Arriving at popular sites like this alone has started growing on me. They are like ghost towns. Empty of people and noise and extraneous distractions, it makes me feel like this was how they were meant to be enjoyed. The wind was especially vicious that morning, within minutes I lost feeling in my hands and I had to concede lest I dropped by DSLR into the frozen waters below.

Back in Rhyhorn I warmed my hands and set off for Marquette, MI. I couldn’t help but try some of the gift shops first - I still hadn’t managed to find a sticker worthy of my “adventure window”. Starting with a hiker sticker I picked up at Mountain Trails in Winchester, VA, I have been adding stickers to the back, right window of my trunk to commemorate the wonderful places Rhyhorn has taken me. So far I have stickers from Virginia Beach, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park and now the Great Lakes. All the gift shops being seasonally closed I took a leap of faith on a coffee shop I had heard good things about. Having woken up late, I was now passing by while it was open and figured it was meant to be (something that I would find to be very true about many things during this trip). Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore could easily have become my all-time favorite coffeeshop if I stayed in Munising longer than I had. The shop is easily 1/3 coffee and 2/3 books. And not just any books, old books. Old, new, stories, religious, outdoor guides you name it and it was there. I purchased a few stickers, 16 oz. of coffee and made a new friend, Leanne. She had moved down from Alaska with her husband because he had recently gotten a job as a park ranger out at Pictured Rocks. I told her I had just made friends with a man name Justin at the information center but it just so happened he was filling in for her husband. Either way, as I applied the sticker onto my window, I began to think about how funny it was that things seemed to line up on their own in life. For example, I was discussing with my brother en route to Great Falls last week that chance is a wonderful, interesting and yet terrifying notion. It all depended on how you looked at it. He mentioned how interesting it was that, at the very moment we were talking, a specific number of people were all heading towards Great Falls as well. People we don’t even know. I took it a step further and told him to now imagine that a very finite number of people all woke up this morning, went about a series of intentional and unintentional macro and micro actions, all interlaced with even more micro decisions (i.e. retying a shoe lace, taking that extra sip of coffee, letting the dog pee an extra time) that set into motion a series of steps that would culminate in them closing their car door, turning around, looking up and making eye contact with us as we closed our own car doors. Think about it. On the surface it’s completely harmless, its nothing. Who even thinks about things like that? I do. And my baffled brother does now. My point being, I am trying to live with an open mind and have learned that the best way to look at life and it’s decisions is to simply roll with the punches. Coming from me, a logistics and planning Nazi, it is a mark of great progress. Anyways, getting tipsy last night and waking up late this morning earned me two new friends and a sticker.

En route to Marquette I must have pulled over, turned around or just slammed the brakes a dozen times. Channeling my inner Foster Huntington I made sure I didn’t let anything that caught my eye slip through my fingers. If there is one thing that these short 24 years has taught me its that regret is the most painful, horrible thing to have to live with. Something that has permanently changed my perspective on the world as well as increased my appreciation for the natural world are these Great Lakes, specifically, Lake Superior. I don’t know what it is one would think that I would prefer Lake Michigan because of my Laurie complex or Lake Huron because of my Lord Huron obsession but no. It was the vast, frozen expanse of Lake Superior that held me in the daze. Many times I would just pull over to gaze across its cold waters and I would get lost in it.

Marquette had to be cutest, friendliest town in the U.P. I visited. Right off the bat the town was alive, sunny and full of activity. The port town was home to a famous port in which docked some of the world’s largest freight liners. There weren’t that many while I was there but I did manage to get a picture of one loading coal into a large ore dock. Re-entering town I decided to yelp a late lunch. It was going to be a long long drive to Duluth, MN and I knew that I was already fading. I chose a simple bagel place called Third Street Bagel that I had read about earlier. I was considering just getting fast food due to time constraints but in the spirit of being mind blown I decided to just roll with it - who knows who I could meet? I was right. As soon as I parked Rhyhorn I started freaking out. Right in front of the store leashed to a post was a large, grey, completely dread locked dog! I greeted him and walked into the shop quickly scanning for the owner. I pictured a large, dreaded, groovy kind of guy but instead it was a short-haired, young attractive lady with a faux-fur purse and leopard leggings. Her name was Heidi (I think) and her dog was Soul Dog. Soul Dog - how amazing is that? I barely finished ordering my bagel when I blurted out to her if I could take a picture with Soul Dog. She happily obliged and my life was made complete. As it would turn out she had lived out west for a number of years. Soul Dog was from Seattle, WA and she and her had travelled all the way back to the U.P. She talked of hippies and living expenses and people that made their living at rest stops. She said it was a weird weird place and that she loved it more here but wished me all the best saying that she could see me out west. I thanked her for the kind words and the awesome picture an set out for Duluth, MN.

The drive to Duluth offered some amazing views. Wisconsin and Minnesota have an outrageous number of lakes and not just any lakes. Lakes of the deepest blue you can imagine. I have often associated the Great Lakes with just Michigan, but this drive changed a lot of that. Granted the amounts of farmland increased tenfold the two states truly had a lot of beauty to offer. As I approached the bridge between Wisconsin and Minnesota I would I could literally see the built up town from the Wisconsin side. Driving into Duluth I was overcome by the amount of industrialization. I thought that Marquette was a port town but no, Duluth was a port town. Or rather a port city! From the city limits to my hotel I saw at least three huge ore docks, countless ships and a number of large freight liners. It was terrifying to see so much smoke and steel. As much of an outdoor person as I am, there is something deep and dark within me that is attracted to that strange kind of overwhelming industrialization. The people were friendly, the beer was cold and strong and the steak was superb. I wish I had more time to spend in that collegy, port city and will certainly return one day to do it justice.

Today was the most driving I have done since the Indianapolis leg of the trip. From about 1000 to 1900 hours I was never out of the car for more than 10 minutes. The exception being when I stopped at the Mall of America in Minneapolis to get lost looking for coffee and coolant. Why was I looking for coolant there? I don’t know the mall is so massive that it literally has an amusement park as well as a couple of hotels under its roof! Just traveling the outer ring I felt like I was in Attack on Titan - it freaked me out. By evening I pulled into Sioux Falls, SD. Exhausted, hungry and increasingly disabled (my lower back has really started flaring up again. And old injury from NEON. I can barely get up from sitting without holding my breath now) I checked into a hotel and gunned it for Falls Park before the sunset. I am aggressively going to enjoy this road trip to the max. The waterfalls were really breathtaking and so out of place. I had to idea how something this intense could have formed when it was surrounded by such uniform land. I’m no geologist but it didn’t seem to add up. Reading a panel at the park I learned that it was a result of a glacier that couldn’t completely overtake the flat plateau but did manage to redirect a river for a long long time. After it melted the river had already created two distinct branches. That plus erosion and BAM, exposed bedrock! Hungry and tired I yelped the pasta place the concierge had referred to me and was pleasantly surprised to find a Khmer restaurant just 5 minutes away! Phnom Penh Restaurant is a small, family owned restaurant right in town and the food was amazing. The family treated me like family checking up on me often. The father even came out to ask where I was from and where I was traveling and made it a point to tell me to really enjoy the meal. The son would come out and ask if I was sure I didn’t want a free refill of rice (I don’t eat much rice for a Cambodian). But the real treat was when a man sitting at the opposite side of the restaurant overhead me talking about my trip and asked to sit down with me. Me being extremely lonely and quickly falling into depression about how much I missed my ex, family and home-cooked meals I welcomed him whole-heartedly. His name was Jack. He was from the area but had done the same trip I had but in the other direction. A radiologist, he picked up his life and moved to West Virginia to pursue work and to finish med school. We talked of life, taking chances, being scared, diets, juicing, mold, family, having a dark side and how orderly the roads are designed in the mid-west. We talked about how, during our respective trips, we both had moments of sudden clarity and realization where we would suddenly ask ourselves, “what the fuck am I doing”. Mine had actually happened earlier today as I drove through yet another Minnesota wind farm. Honestly it was thanks to my excellent supply of music (I’m not kidding my taste is impeccable and my DJing skills are unparalleled), taking pictures and constant flows of texts from friends and family that I hadn’t noticed how alone I was yet. But as I drove past those windmills it just settled into my bones. I am, at least physically, completely alone out here. Far from any family or friends, really anything bad could happen. And yet here I am in South Dakota blogging in a hotel room. It’s been an eye opening trip so far that’s for sure. And I have become so automatic at driving that I really have lost any concept of how far I’ve actually made it. Not until looking at a map did I realize that I covered all of Minnesota today (I am exactly half way!)…Up next is Badland National Park, Mt. Rushmore and rendezvousing with my first friend of the trip, Ellen in Wyoming. The moral that I have learned today is to really appreciate the little coincidences in life. Take chances sometimes and be spontaneous - it will always get you somewhere you weren’t before.

Till next time,

Chris

Smitten with the Mitten

April 22, 2015 by Christopher So

Munising, MI
Elevation: 614 ft.

Driving through the repeating farm fields of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana would have nearly killed me if it wasn’t for my aunt Rattana who joined me for the first leg of my trip. The mission was to get her home to Westfiled, IN. During the drive we passed through Cambridge, OH and I knew that I had to get a picture with the sign. This was the tiny “engineer-town” that my mom and dad lived in when they first got married. My dad worked at NCR (which has since closed its HQ here) which more or less breathed life into the tiny town and my mom was looking for work. What was humbling to me was just how small, desolate and utterly depressing the town was…I was born and raised in Fairfax, VA and, from around the time I was in Middle School, wanted nothing but to get out of there. Growing up in an upper-middle class family I could only see what was familiar to me - strip malls, indoor malls, outdoor malls, my schools and the highways linking my home to other cities and their malls. What is familiar becomes boring and yet, as I looked around Cambridge all I could think of was, “Damn, my parents lived here when they were about my age, worked their asses off and got themselves to Fairfax, built their business from the ground up and then birthed my brother and I”. Not in a million years would I have been able to accomplish as much as they have. I have always looked to Cambodia and DC as the roots of my father’s and mother’s struggles respectively. I always overlooked their struggles during those turbulent 20′s. Pulling out of Cambridge I had a new found respect for my parents as well as a new found motivation for becoming a stronger person.

Being with my Uncle and Aunt for two nights was really really what I needed. It gave me a chance to plan more of my trip, recover some sleep/ emotional stability as well as get to know them both more. I had always spent time with them during holidays but this was the first time being in their home and was I blown away at the hospitality that they showed me. I don’t think there is another person alive as accommodating as aunt Rattana! Never was there a moment where I didn’t have enough to eat, drink or do. And my uncle Viseth gave me some good advice. He told me that taking a trip like this was a big step for me as well as my parents because it was the first real time I was moving away. He told me that, as long as I took it slow and did it right, I would learn things and see things I would never have even thought of. And he’s been right so far. It’s only been 2 days since I left Indiana but it feels like forever.

The Michigan leg of the trip was my first time driving solo. Right off the bat I headed for Holland, MI. It was where I visited Laurie during her last semester at Hope College and it was a place that held a lot of good memories for me. For a long time I kept a picture of her with me of her standing with her back against the endless, white expanse of a frozen Lake Michigan. It was the same day that she took me around downtown Holland and showed me all of the little places she has learned to love during her years here. Parking in the park’s parking lot I took a deep breath - “Thank god I guessed the name right”. Walking across the wet sand I tried to find the place I took the picture over a year ago. The wind was just as strong as it was that day and surprisingly cold (something I quickly realized about Michigan - it’s like NoVa winter up here still). Looking at the lighthouses on the left and the mansions in the distance on the right I closed my eyes and settled on a spot. It funny how physical places can hold so much emotional energy, how associations, no matter how small, can be inextinguishable. We ended on a logical note. There was no wrong or right - we were both wrong and right. I told her that I had put so much of me into her and us that there was still a lot of me with her (tongue twister) and it still feels that way. The further I moved away from Virginia the tighter it seems my heartstrings pulled. I left my heart in Shenandoah but I am making new associations and I am learning something new everyday. Plus, hell, this is the farthest north I’ve ever been and I have always wanted to explore Michigan - before and after her. As I opened my eyes I realized there was a massive dump truck literally pouring dunes out of its ass. I hadn’t heard it pull up because of the intense wind but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The beautiful frozen dunes I stood on that day as I held her tight and kissed her before Lake Michigan - was shit out by a dump truck the spring before. It helped me de-romanticize the memory. Not that there was anything wrong or untrue about our memories, not at all. It’s just that I needed to come to terms with the fact that they were different for the both of us. After a few more minutes I walked to the light houses and took some more pictures.

Up next was the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Just a brisk 3 hour drive up the western coast of the mitten. 3 hours of farms later I arrived at the bottom tip of the lakeshore. This would be, possibly, the most frustrating part of my Michigan trip so far. First off, Sleeping Bear Dunes is both the name of the major dunes (the ones I wanted to take a picture of) as well as the WHOLE lakeshore which was 65 miles long. It was my fault for not looking at Michigan’s shitty maps enough the night before and it was also my fault for counting on their signs being any better. I had started the day late and by the time I was at the lakeshore it was already starting to get dark. Both campsites that I planned on staying at were empty, unmanned and freezing. I quickly realized this was the wrong season to be in Michigan. Chalking it up to bad luck I decided to just find the dunes, snap a few shots and then head up to Traverse City for the night. Way too confident. I couldn’t even find the dunes, let alone any signs indicating a way to them. The only thing I saw were signs for a scenic drive and a dune climb. Seeing how dark it was I yelped the nearest motel and crashed for the night, I figured this was something that deserved to be seen and that I would regret completely passing over it. The next morning I went straight for the scenic road only to find it was closed for the season. Then I proceeded to waste nearly 2 hours following roads I saw on the map that lead to the shore only to find that they were private roads that led to nothing. Nearly giving up I decided to give the “dune climb” sign a try. Turns out it was a really beautiful little park, but it also turned out that there wasn’t just one tall ass dune, there were 3 or more. I got to the third one and I realized it was nearly 11 and the shore was no where to be seen. I had to concede or I would run out of daylight before finding somewhere to sleep. I had planned to be in the mid UP by the end of the day. All said and done, it was my fault for not researching well enough. And I did manage to get a decent shot of it all the same.

The destination was Macinaw City. Along the way I stopped at the little port town of Charlevoix. Perhaps one of the cutest little places I have ever seen complete with a little downtown, a drawbridge, a lighthouse and little old ladies crossing the street everywhere. I had lunch at the Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station. What I liked about the town was that it was alive even during this tourist off-season. Proceeding ever northward the destination was a port city at the very tip of the mitten advertised as full of life, history and people dressed in colonial garbs. What I got was a cold, deserted city filled with construction and poverty. Again, I should have researched it. I drove to a small park and sat on a concrete turtle and stared out into Lake Huron. Lord Huron is a band near and dear to my heart. Their music represents adventure, love and bravery. I had been anticipating this moment for a long time - the moment where I would be standing in between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It was wonderful. Helped me regain my positivity. I realized that I needed to r-e-l-a-x. As I climbed back into Rhyhorn I blasted “Meet Me in the Woods” and throttled it for Sault Ste Marie.

It has been a big dream of mine to visit the UP (what’s with all of my dreams of visiting Michigan?). Right off the bat I was greeted by easily the most chill tollbooth guy ever. He was a long-haired native american wearing a worn out henley and beads around his neck. We vibed each other out during the 30 second transaction. I told him I was driving up from Virginia and he responed, “That’s a good drive man! Enjoy the UP man!”. I felt like he would have jumped in shotgun and not looked back if I offered. Driving in the UP is tricky. True to it’s wild reputation, there aren’t that many roads considering how expansive the land is. And all the forest you see along these tiny, two-laned roads are actually continuous, most of which are either national forest or state protected forest. It was really beautiful but really hard to stay awake on. Another thing is that there is so much to do in the UP off of these roads but they aren’t advertised well. After I arrived at Sault Ste Marie I was confronted with yet another seasonally dead town. The only differences was this time it was colder and it was getting dark. I made the decision to quickly snap some shots of the famous Soo Locks (god damn you Jickling I made it!) and then to head out to Munising. There I would spend the night at a hotel, rest up and plan for the rest of the UP tomorrow.

Oh I forgot to mention, about 10 minutes in I got pulled over by a cop. Apparently two-laned roads are 55 and are never 70. I had gotten used to the Michigan signs always saying 70 for car, 60 for trucks. As soon as I realized a cop car was approaching me on the other side it was too late. They are painted this ambiguous, pastel blue color and have a single, tiny red light on top. They are also Ford Explorer’s which, in my opinion, are mom cars. Anyways, the officer was extremely kind and I had a whole winter’s worth of treadmill running and watching North Woods Law and Alaska State Trooper to know that, in general, they aren’t trying to give you a hard time and would generally treat you well if you treated them well. I had a clean record, this being only the second time I was ever pulled over (first one being cause a new sign popped up in town that didn’t allow people to turn on red but so many people got pulled over for it they ended up dismissing it) and I was from out of state doing a road trip. I turned on that friendly “Chris So” charm and got away with a verbal warning as well as some tips on great places to hike and visit in Munising.

All in all. I am alive, I have a warm bed to sleep in, I have gas in the truck and a complimentary breakfast in the morning. I have, in these short 4 days, already learned so much. There are countless things to learn and discover once you step out of your comfort zone and take a leap of faith. But above all, learn to be grateful.

Until the next update,

Chris

P.S. Happy Earth Day!

February 15, 2014 by Christopher So

Saturday February 15, 2014
15:20

Front Royal, VA - One month has passed since I began my internship here at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and I can say that I have already learned many many things. Perhaps nothing more powerful than my new appreciation for wifi - the stuff is gold. I joke, but truly, living in an old farm house nestled in the woods a mile away from anyone really makes one appreciate the small things. Life as an intern is definitely different than life as a student. Of course everyone knows that but, this being my first real internship anywhere, I had a lot to learn. First and foremost is that I am answering to a boss now. A boss who is none other than Dr. William McShea. Also, I am now working a consistent 8-5 schedule (never less but often more). Being an intern certainly has its perks, however. I am now part of “the other side of the curtain” and am in the unspoken, and probably not even recognized, brotherhood of other interns and researchers. I rub elbows and share bathrooms with researchers every day. I am peers with other youthful, vibrant, determined people working each day towards our careers as the next generation of conservationists. Being near so many Masters and PhD hopefuls really has helped me focus and redefine my goals. I’m still very clueless, don’t get me wrong, but I have become much more confident in my choice to take each step slow and sure. To work each day trying to learn as much as possible, and to never stop hunting for the next wild research opportunity. A researcher I work with put it perfectly, “You’re young and don’t have too many responsibilities, now is the time to go out there and do crazy shit! Go explore and research in the craziest places while you can still handle it!”. Words that made me laugh at first, but very much resonated in my head for days afterwards.

The BiodiversiTree project is certainly coming a long. In only a month we have plotted out all but one of our 35m x 35m plots and have flagged 10 of them. My time is divided between working in the field with our land manager, Kyle Rhodes, and working in the office for Virginia Working Landscapes. I have to say, I much prefer hiking up and down snowy slopes carrying hammers and tapes and rebars than sitting in a quiet office pulling out my hair to teach myself enough excel to only have to redo the file 5 times. Computer work is where the future is, even in conservation, and excel is the most basic tool of all - I’m getting there.

Living in the Leach House has been a wonderful experience for me so far. The old farm house is secluded but not so secluded that the maintenance team can’t get to us with their plows. It is filled with old furniture and photos from past teams of interns. The rooms just resonate with history and creepiness. It’s like living in a historic building. At times I feel like I should be preserving it - not shitting in its toilet. I occasionally take my DSLR out and explore the area around it. One can easily see remnants of Captain Leach’s farmland. By our pond are two abandoned barns (one of which I think Leach Cat lives in) and along the sides of the house one can see the broken down remains of stone fences. I love the winter but at the same time am eager for the warmer weather. I long to be able to run outside and feel the sun on my skin again. Once it warms up we will be able to clean up our garden and perhaps even grow vegetables.

Last weekend I flew up to Michigan to visit Laurie. It had only been a month since I last saw her but I already missed her so much. It’s definitely been hard dealing with the distance. This being my first go at a long distance relationship (her third), my 8-5 daily schedule (get up at 7, dark by 6), on average only seeing 5 different people a day (she’s at college) and the lack of social outlet (we have two bars and a bowling ally, no wifi) - it was easy to see why she was doing so much better than me. I admit it wasn’t ideal to cash in my one flight so early in the game but because of her lacrosse schedule and encroaching exams - I had to work around her schedule. I am terrified of flying. For example, when I took off from Dulles in that tiny little plane I held my hands together, closed my eyes and blasted “Let’s Be Still” by The Head and the Heart. My heart was nearly in arrhythmia. There are just too many variables (I would be happy never flying again and driving and sailing the rest of my life if I had the money and time). And to see my darling for the weekend I had to take off and land 4 times in 2 days. I don’t know if she’ll ever understand how much I care about her but I do know that the people unfortunate enough to be in the seats next to me certainly do. All my melodrama and near death experiences aside - flying up north gave me the chance to see some of the most beautiful views of my life. Flying into Chicago at night is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The city is an endless, illuminated grid. There’s really no better way to describe it other than that it looked like yellow Tron. On the other hand, flying into Detroit on my way back home looked like an endless ocean of ice and dark blue water. Flying above the winter storm made me feel like I was gazing down upon the Antarctic…When I touched down in Chicago it was already 2200 and I knew that it was a solid three hour drive back to Holland, MI. I don’t think I can really describe the 2 short days I got to spend with her. She’s good for my soul. Life has always been rather hectic for me - I never seem to think I am doing enough or doing the right thing. My mind wanders and loses itself very often in the mess of my own self-expectation. In terms of Love, I have never fared well. My past relationships have always been the perfect storm of my own insecurities, idealism and, there’s no way around it, terrible women. Laurie has always had this sense about her that I have not found before. She is straightforward, tells me what she is thinking about, tells me how she feels and tells me to tell her what’s on my mind - she makes me talk. She is realistic and always knows how to ground me again when my head gets too lost in the clouds. She is, at the same time, the tenderest person and the hardest person to me. She just knows how to drive me forward. The two days were filled with meeting her housemates, seeing her campus, walking around Holland’s downtown, taking in the Michigan winter and meeting her siblings. I can definitely say I am still in love with the north. As much as she hates it I still very much want to live somewhere where the winters are harsh and the summers are beautiful. Somewhere where the mountains meet the ocean and I can make my future FJ Cruiser really put it’s 4x4 to the test. Perhaps my second favorite moment of the trip was trekking across the frozen beach of Holland State Park with her and gazing across the frozen expanse of Lake Michigan (the first favorite being meeting her family, of course). It was both my first time seeing any of the Great Lakes and seeing this much frozen water. I remember turning towards her and staring into her eyes as the wind and snow blew around us. The snow illuminated her eyes and I couldn’t help but pull her in and hold her. Too often I count my blessings because, to me, nothing ever lasts as long as you want it to. This weekend was half way done, my internship will end, she will soon graduate and sooner than I want we will both be cast again into the next hectic chapters of our lives. And the hard part that I force myself to not think about is the very real possibility of us parting ways. She’s a realist, I am a idealist - there has been a disconnect since day 1 on how we see our relationship and it’s something that simply won’t change. Time can make or break things. We will be doing our wild research all over the world and it’s pretty certain it won’t be with each other. When the time comes that we can’t hold onto this anymore I have to be able to take it. So I held her…But before this tangent becomes completely depressing - I finally got to meet her siblings. I got to meet the brother, sister and sister-in-law I had heard so much about before. We had brunch at her brother’s house in Chicago and it was like walking into a Pottery Barn magazine fused with a bookstore - I loved it. They say when you are with someone their family unconditionally comes along with the package and man am I glad they were so carefree and fun to be around. Fresh pancakes, good music and good conversation is what we had for breakfast. I admit I was nervous that an all out interview was going to happen but it wasn’t at all like I anticipated. They were kind, interesting and interested - it couldn’t have been more perfect.

All too soon the weekend ended and a week of work went by. The passing storms have been beautiful but tough on us at Leach House. It’s hard to get out of here to main campus without our pickup and the gracious help from the maintenance guys’ plows. Though, being snowed in does have its perks. It gave us a chance to rest and enjoy living in the woods. Something I didn’t expect was how being out from 8-5 really leaves you with no energy (or daylight) to enjoy the simplicity of the farm house you live in. We just get back, eat dinner and sleep. Walking through the deep snow with my camera allowed me to capture some peaceful and beautiful moments of Leach House. The first month here has already taught me so much. I am here till June and fill my spare time with reading, writing, applying to jobs/internships and PBR. I think about her all the time and I think about the future more than I should. She always tells me I think way too much into things and I don’t think she could be more right. I always seem to miss the small things and yet obsess over the little moments - if that even makes sense. But, the long and the short of it all is that I know that I am blessed, that I know life goes on and that I know there is time. She came into my life quite unexpectedly and has shown me so much in so short a time. She has made me happier than I have ever been and has lit a fire in me that has burned away the dusty, old things that have cluttered my head and my heart for too long now. I am becoming a new man with each passing day and I owe her for that.

Here’s to the next steps and trekking on.

Chris