Thursday, October 18, 2018

Back to the Elwha and a "berry" good time in Olympia

Two days after landing in California from New Zealand, I got on another plane headed for Washington State. California was on fire, which made for an interesting plane flight over the vast portion of the state covered in smoke. Even Crater Lake in southern Oregon was filled in. 

northern California blanketed in thick smoke

Crater Lake filled with smoke

I was traveling to Port Angeles, Washington, for a short return to the Elwha River, my field site for four years while I worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. The Elwha dive team had gotten some last minute funding for one week of dive surveys. We were surveying fish, algae, and invertebrate underwater communities near the river mouth to see how dam removal had affected them. I had done four years of surveys with the team before leaving for NZ and was really excited to have the opportunity to dive one more time. When I dove in the summer of 2016, we were seeing strong signs of recovery, particularly for the algal community, after nearly all was lost the first year after dam removal. In the years after dam removal, my job as the algae counter was pretty boring. Many days I would write "0" on all of my underwater data sheets. I earned my keep doing point counts and taking videos of our sites, but my algae identification skills were not being put to good use. In 2015, we happened to dive on the same site three weeks apart. The first time there was hardly any algae clinging to the cobbles; the second time it was like we descended on a completely different place. Red algae and small brown kelps were everywhere. Was this the start of recovery? In 2016, we saw more algae at most sites. I didn't have quite as many zeros on my data sheets. I missed 2017 but heard the algae were back. In 2018, there were so many algal species on our transects that I had to refresh my memory on some of the species that we had not seen for years. What an opportunity to see the "before," "during," and "after" at these sites. 

Diving around the Elwha River is not the most glamorous of diving. The Elwha River empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which runs west to east between Washington and Vancouver Island. The Strait has very strong tidal currents that push through four times a day, so our diving is limited to the slack periods when the tide is neither flooding nor ebbing. The bottom at most of our sites is covered in gravel that is about an inch to two inches in diameter so there isn't much relief at our sites. Occasionally we get some big boulders on our transects--which are the places where the cool critters hang out! The water is cold (46 to 48 degrees Fahrenheit) and the visibility usually leaves something to be desired. But I still love it and always enjoy dropping into a site, not knowing exactly what we will find. 

blood star with some interesting arms

sand rose anemone

fish-eating anemone

feather duster worm

My favorite from the whole trip! A grunt sculpin.

kelp crab

beautiful birthday sunset over the Olympic Mountains

After the Elwha, I had a few days in Seattle to work on a manuscript with my friend and colleague, Sarah. It was the hottest week in Seattle of the summer so we went swimming in Lake Washington after work, which was lovely. We also attended the neighborhood "National Night Out" block party. Apparently it is tradition on their block to end the night with the hokey pokey. As I sat on Sarah's porch watching her whole neighborhood dance in the street, I was hopeful that we are not a country divided...maybe we just need more hokey pokey in our lives. 

After the work was done, I headed south to Olympia to play with Tish, Morgan, and our god-kiddos. The berries were ripe and the school garden was in full bloom. What a great time to be in the Pacific Northwest! It was great to be with friends for a few days to try to ease back into our lives in the U.S.  

looking at bugs under the microscope

lots of slugs on our hike

the intrepid explorers

a new tree growing from where an old tree once stood

the garden bounty

delicious raspberries at the school garden

beautiful dahlias too

M's cucumbers she grew from seed

And her big-as-her-head seastar cookie

haircuts all around!

the sandwich board was as fun as the haircut

The smoke from the fires in British Columbia started to move in the day I left, so I got out just in time. Summer in the PNW is sort of magical and I'm grateful I got to spend a couple weeks soaking it up.  

Saturday, October 6, 2018

The Great (extended) Minnesota Get-Together

I spent most of the month of September in Minnesota with my family. My first trip at the end of August was planned around the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota State 4-H Ambassador program. Minnesota Extension had organized a reunion for all past and present ambassadors (ambies) during the Minnesota State Fair. I was an ambie in 1996-1997 and my brother was one in 1997-1998 so the whole family decided to make a day of the fair and the reunion. The day of the reunion was the day that 270,425 other humans decided to venture out to the fair, marking a new record in fair attendance. The buildings and streets were full and it was HOT. But the fair is always an experience of food and people watching. Food is a little harder to come by as a gluten- and dairy-free person, though (thank goodness for the horticulture building!). No cookies for me. :( 

Fairchild the gopher, the mascot of the fair

fried pickles for breakfast

the mass of humanity

massive Paul Bunyan made from repurposed materials

Arts-In performance in the 4-H building


Dairy princess getting her likeness carved in butter

Our 4-H reunion was on the second floor of the (non-air conditioned) 4-H building, which brought back a lot of memories. It was great to see so many friends who made the journey. Our time together was short, but our connections are strong. I spent a lot of time with my fellow ambies during a key transitional point in my life. They all shaped me in some way and I'm so grateful that our paths crossed when they did and continue to cross every once in a while. 





Working at the MN State Fair in the summer of 1996.
Yes, the green suits were required for our formal attire.
Yes, I still have my green suit.

Ambies (including my brother) from 1996 to 1999

two of my favorites

siblings!

Five days after heading back to California, I was back in Minnesota to help my mom for a couple weeks while she recovered from hand surgery. Doing things with one hand is difficult! While I was there, I had much more time to hang out with the dogs, search for frogs (they were everywhere!), kayak on the lake, pick veggies from the garden, and listen to my mom tell stories about her family. There were a few medical appointments, but we also got to visit many dear friends. I also took my mom to Newsies at Chanhassen Dinner Theater for her birthday, which was a fun outing. 

Cole-dog trying (?) to catch a fish

grey treefrog

northern leopard frog (green morph)

northern leopard frog (brown morph)

a rare, windless day on the lake (eagle on top of the tallest tree)

my childhood friend Michele made an epic detour to come see us

Smithsonian Magazine sponsored a museum day in September, so my mom got us free tickets to the Runestone Museum in Alexandria. The museum covers a lot of ground, from Minnesota wildlife to Native Americans to town history. The star attraction of the museum is a Viking runestone from 1362. A Swedish farmer found the runestone in 1898 while clearing brush on his land about five miles from my mom's house. When the stone was found, many people thought it was a hoax and that the farmer had carved the Nordic runes himself. The controversy around the stone tore the farmer's family apart and alienated them from their community. The farmer had about six weeks of formal education so it seems highly unlikely that he carved the runes, but the stone has remained controversial for many, many decades. There is still debate today, but advanced techniques in dating suggest that the stone is authentic. Many other Viking artifacts have been found in the region since the runestone was discovered, including axes and fire steel that are commonly found in Scandinavian countries. The Vikings likely made their way to Minnesota by traveling south from Hudson Bay to Lake Winnipeg and down the Red River into Minnesota. The land where the runestone was found has since been turned into a park. We visited the park after the museum to see the where the runestone was unearthed. 


the controversial runestone


Ojibwa jingle dress typically worn at a pow wow

One of the original buildings from Fort Alexandria that was commissioned
in 1862 to provide protection for white settlers during the Dakota uprising.

The temperature was continually dropping during my visit, which made made the trees change color quickly the last few days, but I was happy to return to California before the windchill dropped below freezing.