Never Was a Cornflake Girl

Twenty-three days. I just worked 23 days straight and now I have today and tomorrow off before I work another 16. Whoa.

But hooray for my first 21-day backpacking, rock climbing and whitewater canoeing course! I worked with 2 female co-instructors, so it was Gossipfest 2006. The students were Juniors (ages 14-15) and behaved as such. Notable moments include one student lighting his farts on fire *under the tarp*, the same student chugging Texas Pete hotsauce until he puked, another kid scratching his bugbites (with his SPOON) so badly that he took off a layer of skin, and having to send home 2 young lovebirds whom I discovered kissing by the watersource. They kept my hands full.

However, the most exciting incident (and I do mean incident; we had to fill out a ‘hostile bystander’ blue form for this one) was a turf war on the Chattooga River (which, incidently, is where they filmed ‘Deliverance’). Round about 12:30am, while we were sleeping peacably on the South Carolina side of the river, a group of drunk rednecks on the Georgia side began lighting fireworks. Lots of fireworks. As if this wasn’t alarming enough, they had a real bright jacklight that they shined across the river, spotlighted the boys’ tarp, and then aimed their bottle rockets right at us. We probably should have called the Forest Service, but instead we ducked and covered and waited it out. I mean, we couldn’t go over there for fear of getting hit with a firework, so what else could we do?

Ahh, these are moments. The good times, brought to you by Catsup.

Love, Meredith Circle Rose

My apologies to anyone who has wondered when I would ever update my blog again…

My Bahamas course was incredible. We started with only 7 students, and ended up with only 4 for our Final Expedition! That is a long story, so you’ll have to ask. Since then, I attended the Outward Bound All Staff Training at our Cedar Rock Basecamp in North Carolina. That was AMAZING and makes me wonder if I, too, will earn a 10 year plaque at NCOBS. I’ve spent a lot of time kayaking (the Green, the Chattooga, the Nantahala, the Tuckaseegee) and falling in love with mountain biking. And the past 2 days have been spent in precourse for my first-ever 21-day Mountains course. This means that I’ll finally get to backpack, have a 3-day rock climbing experince and 3 days of canoeing with my crew on the Chattooga. I’m super psyched because I get to work in an all-female trio of instructors, and we get to use the Green Cove course area which is so beautiful. Wish me luck that I can make it through 3 weeks in the field! I’ll try to update after course…

Peace!

I kayaked section 9 of the French Broad (class 3, for you out-of-towners) yesterday with a bunch of friends. While I love that run, and I’m super psyched that I got 3 out of 4 combat rolls, I am suffering from the effects of the pollution. Ugh. I feel like I spent all night drinking and not sleeping.

Anyway, I am off to the Bahamas in 2 days for a 12 day course! I’m thrilled to be heading back down there, for longer this time, with a couple of really talented instructors. And only 7 students, so this should be a fantastic course. I’ll fill you in when I get back!

I flew from Phoenix, AZ to Charlotte, NC yesterday; it was amazing to look out the window and watch the earth change from dry and brown to lush and green. Back to the rainforest!

The last two weeks in Arizona were wonderful. I got to spend some time with my brother, Nicholas, who is hoping to join the Navy Seals this summer. We did a lot of running and watching movies and listening to music.

This past week, my family left and Mindi came to Arizona to visit. Mindi is way too much fun, and I had to come up with some desert adventures to keep us busy. Hiking, battling cacti, museums, dancing, margaritas, swimming… I’ll put some photos up under Arizona, 5/06. Phew! But I feel greatly recharged and ready to head into my Spring Outward Bound season!

Write to me care of NCOBS if you get a chance…
2582 Riceville Rd
Asheville, NC 28805

Peace and love!

The past month has been all about traveling and seeing friends and family. 7 states in 2 weeks: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington, Oregon and Arizona. Phew!

I visited the Mom and Pop of the Service Bus, Erica and Brandon, in Seattle for about 3 hours before we all drove down to Smith Rocks, OR. Erica is so beautiful!! 6 months pregnant and she’s still climbing harder than me. I learned that “paddling shape” and “rock climbing shape” are not the same thing — oh, my aching arms.

I spent the next few days visiting my friend Amy D. in Bend, OR — check out the new photo album “High Times in Bend” for some really funny pictures of Amy. Good times. I learned that downhill skiing and cross-country skiing are not the same thing…

And now I’m in Scottsdale, AZ, with my whole family. My days are just packed: swimming, lying in the sun, reading, lying in the sun, hiking, sunbathing. I am getting so spoiled! April is going to be the best month ever.

We were overstaffed in Instructors for Palmer Trinity I, so I didn’t go into the field this week. Instead, I’ve become a Jill-of-All-Trades around basecamp. I’ve learned that line trimming (read: weed-whacking) can be frightening and painful — not to mention the hundreds of plants I slaughtered all over our property! I’ve sprayed Thompson’s Water Seal all over the docks, scraped and painted gangplanks, done 2 resupplies of our Semester course, and assisted in the course start for Palmer Trinity. Today I helped my friend Coz clean a groover (read: bucket of poop), and every time I clean one I think, this couldn’t possibly be worse than last time. Then I turn around in time to see Coz getting splashed by a fountain of septic waste bursting from the man-hole… yep, things are busy here at Sunset Island!

Tomorrow I’m off to Women Rock!, a women’s music festival benefitting a rape crisis center in Tallahassee. It’s a long drive, but for the sake of Dar Williams, Alix Olson and Chris Pureka, I’m there.

Hello folks, sorry I’ve been such a blog slacker!

I’ve spent most of the past 2 months here in the Everglades — courses have been anywhere from laughably awful to downright delightful. Some incredible evenings on the beaches, although one late-night high tide came a bit too close and got me and my co-instructor wet in our sleeping bags!

This past week I visited my dear friend Colleen and her family in Franklin, MA. Check out some adorable pictures of her and her two kids, Jason and Julie! It was nice to take a break from sun and bugs and get to stay in a real house and watch TV for awhile.
I’ve got two more Florida courses back to back next week — Palmer Trinity I & II. Keep your fingers crossed that the mosquitos don’t suck me dry, or the no-see-ums drive me to a nervous breakdown. Hopefully I’ll have some great Everglades pictures to post one of these days — it’s been an incredible season and I feel so lucky to get to work down here for a living.

Til next time!

Howdy folks, from my two working days off between courses: Ransom I & II. Ransom Everglades is a private prep school in Miami and has been sending their 9th graders to us for 23 years! One thing I’ve learned (or re-learned) is that short courses can be *exhausting*. Between late-night paddles through mangrove tunnels and phosphorescence; a cold and wet student sobbing all night next to me; and nights spent on the floating boards with my whole crew, sleep was hard to come by. But Ransom I was ultimately a big success (one highlight was a wicked good mud-slog with loaded canoes when the tide went way, way out) and I’m psyched for Ransom II! Should be a good crew and a good route.

Later!

Hello my friends!

I just got back to the Everglades basecamp after a 7-day sea kayaking course in the Bahamas. It was fantastic! Lots of hard work — everything is challenging down there, from food shopping to driving to getting our students to course start on time — but ultimately it was a strong course for our students, and a favorite one of mine.

Highlights…
* Food shopping in George Town at the little market which was open for just 2 hours one morning. Imagine a free-for-all involving items like plantains, powdered milk, and mango-lime preserves.
* I had to drive a left-handed Japanese stick-shift pickup truck on windy little left-handed roads! Oh my word, we’re all lucky to be alive.
* I got to work with two instructors (Merle and Shadow[Dave]) who, combined, have spent more years with Outward Bound than I’ve spent on this earth.
* Snorkeling!
* Incredible wildlife: a six-foot shark (right before I had to get my whole crew into the water!), an octopus, huge eagle rays, a spiny lobster, a moray eel, and lots of huge sea urchins.
* 12 awesome, movtivated adult students who worked hard and laughed a lot and got as much out of their course as possible.
* Exploring some new course area, as well as a cave that is only exposed at low tide.
* Merle’s key lime pie on New Years Eve! And getting to take a look back at 2005, and forward to 2006, in one of the most peaceful and most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

I also just posted a new photo album of pictures from November-December: rock climbing, snowshoeing and ice climbing with Outward Bound friends. Unfortunately, I don’t have any from the Bahamas.

And now I’ve got a week here in the Glades before I go out on course again. Whew! It’s good to be home, and it’s nice to know that I will be somewhat settled for the next 3 months. So come visit!

Lots of blessings for the New Year,
Meredith

Okay, okay, Shadow tells me that it’s high time I updated my blog. But, see, Vail’s got 5 feet of snow, not to mention the inches and inches that fall every day! So it’s hard to make time.
What have I been doing? I’ve spent most of December at home in Vail, Colorado. It’s been a month of family and friends: after Thanksgiving in Red Rocks with my NCOBS peeps, I visited Mindi in Minneapolis, then hosted Marie, Shilpa, Paige, Matt Bennett, Calvin and Ben here in Vail. I’ve snowshoed, skied and ice climbed (!) which is about the most fun ever. Well, second to kayaking, of course!

My birthday is tomorrow (hint hint) and then Christmas with my family — then I fly away to the Bahamas to work a course down there! Yep, for the second year in a row I’ll be chillin’ out on a deserted island for New Years, just me, Merle, Shadow, and 12 Outward Bound students. Should be fantastic! Yeah, I have a rough job…

Merry Solstice, Happy Christmas and a Joyful New Year!