Sunday, August 28, 2011

Amendment

So, I lied about staying in Grand Island, Nebraska. We made it there earlier than we expected and decided to keep going to Lincoln, roughly an hour and forty-five minutes past that. We made it to Lincoln, and I offered to drive the extra hour to Omaha if my mom wanted me to, so we left again. We made it to the outskirts of Omaha, and my mom said we should go to the other side of the city because we missed the only exit with nice-looking motels. We made it to the other side, and she said she didn't want to stay in Omaha at all, so we kept going. Now we've finally arrived in Avoca, Iowa...191 miles past Grand Island. That means we drove 685 miles from Rawlins, Wyoming, today.

Holy crap.

The place we're staying tonight, the Motel 6 right off I-80 in Avoca, was apparently voted the second best hotel regarding staff excellence and customer satisfaction in the NATION this year. The best part? We got a room with two beds for $70. Awesome. This is definitely the nicest place we've stayed so far, and it's almost the cheapest. I'm pretty happy about it.

Tomorrow, we're actually planning to make it home. The trip today was 10 1/2 hours and 685 miles...tomorrow's route should be forty miles shorter, but the same amount of time. We decided since we're so close now, we may as well go home. All this to say, Westward 2011, Day 10, is apparently the last full day of our trip. Sad. This means no more blogs from the road.

I'm over it. If you read my last two posts, you know that I have a lot to work on when I get back...not to mention my internship paper which needs to be done by September 9...not to mention trying to work ahead in one of my hard classes before it starts...not to mention job hunting before school starts...I can definitely use the extra day.

Also, I've realized I often ask for prayer requests here without offering to pray for anyone else. I know the internet is impersonal, but I often go long periods of time without seeing some of the people who read this. So, if you have anything you'd like me to pray for, comment it on one of my posts. I have to moderate all the comments, so I will leave prayer requests unpublished to protect anonymity. Just thought I would offer.

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 10

So, we're in the middle of Nebraska today.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

There really is nothing going on here. Seriously. It's not all cornfields...but it is all bland. We have made good progress because of this, though. High speed limits with no interesting places to stop make for fast travel. Tomorrow, we expect to be just over the border of Illinois, meaning we will probably be back home by Tuesday night. Crazy.

No pictures today, either. Hope you weren't actually expecting some exciting ones from today. I might have some tomorrow.

If you read my last post, you know I'm considering a more ecology-focused major rather than geology after I graduate from the Arb. I was looking stuff up last night about undergraduate and graduate programs at Michigan State University and University of Montana. I've been doing a lot of thinking today about it and have been talking with my mom about it as well. UM has both wildlife biology undergrad and grad programs, and an honors option for the undergrad program. Plus, it's in Montana. MSU has an excellent-looking environmental biology/zoology undergrad program, but doesn't really have the kind of grad programs I would want to major in.

I was also thinking about what I WANT to do versus what I SHOULD do, especially regarding where I'm currently at in life. I think God has brought me to the church I'm at for a reason. I've practically promised my help to them already, and if I ran to Montana next year instead of staying here, I would feel like I'm abandoning them. I'm also in a decent place financially, even after I graduate from the Arb. I'm getting quite a bit of financial aid, and going back to school won't put me hundreds of thousands into debt. Staying in Lansing for a while will also give me more time to look for a decent job and keep it for a while, which would be nice.

A lot to think about. I'm praying about it, and I would ask you again to do the same if you would. Thank you.

Peace.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 9

So, I don't have any pictures today. Sorry in advance. However, today was sweet, and I wish my camera was good enough to take pictures of what we saw.

The day started at 4:30am when my mom's alarm went off in the motel room. Ick. We got picked up for a sunrise wildlife tour at about 5:50am. Within the first two hours we saw six moose. Six. That is a lot of moosen. Two cows each with a calf, one other cow, and a big ol' bull. One of the cows with a calf was actually walking along a river grazing with her calf roughly fifty yards away from us. It was awesome. Various sections of that river were where we saw all six of the moose, actually, and not very far away from each other.

Moose are freaking huge. The bull was about six feet at the shoulder, to give you an idea. Dark brown fur, long legs, and a goofy, but friendly, face. Our guide was telling us (and we witnessed this to be true) for such a large animal, they could somehow simply disappear into the foliage and be completely lost from sight in a matter of seconds. I commented, "It's probably because they're one with the shadows."

EVERYTHING FINALLY MAKES SENSE.

Anyway, along the same river we saw a long-tailed weasel as well. He ran up the river bank, stopped at the edge, and gave us this look like:

O.O
OMG PEOPLE

Then he ran away. lol. Later on the trip we saw more bison and pronghorn, along with a Swainson's Hawk with intermediate plumage. Sorry...the excessive bird info will not stop.

To be honest, the trip would've been pretty lame had the guide not had a really charismatic personality and been very intelligent. She was extremely knowledgeable regarding almost every animal we saw (minus the small birds) and actually provided us with a good historical look at Jackson Hole as well. We also got on the topic of how she was affiliated with the Teton Science School, which provides the tours, and got a glimpse of her life story, which was nothing short of epic. Trapping animals for research in Yellowstone National Park...working for federal and state agencies in ecology jobs...living in the woods for extended periods of time...driving around to new places and new job opportunities when one would expire.

Let's just say...I'm glad I haven't officially set myself on geology this spring just yet. Both geology and ecology are areas which God has given me a huge passion for. I'm going to be praying about which direction God wants me to take at this point...but I know He's given me these passions for a reason, and I also know that "all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." Personally, I currently think I am more prepared to go into an ecology-type field. I have a strong desire to see us use our natural resources more wisely and become better stewards of Creation. Maybe I should go save the whales. I don't know.

I would appreciate your prayers about this issue. If you read my "Schooling and Goals" post before you read this one, you can probably already tell I need the prayers, ha. Prayer is a good thing. I'd appreciate them in general. There's a lot going on with my family, too. Thank you.

Peace.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 8

So, it looks like the westward travels are officially subsiding. Things are no less awesome than they were yesterday, however. We took an aerial tram ride up a mountain today. I stood on the summit at 10,450 feet above sea level. Awesome. We had breakfast on top of the mountain, too. My mom had a waffle with brown sugar and butter...mine was with Nutella. Delicious. We walked down the summit a little way on a short trail, which was actually fairly tiring. I could really tell the air was thin; just walking the half-mile loop was pretty difficult. There were several groups of people with huge packs headed out on some of the trails which went through the mountains. I pitied and envied them at the same time. A bunch of people were also going on tandem paraglides down the mountain, which was freaking sweet. I would love to do that someday.

Standing on the summit, looking out over the valley, wind in my face and storms rolling through the mountains around us. Best experience on this trip yet.

After we came back down the tram, we headed to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve. The preserve had some nice trails which we checked out, and it was very beautiful and peaceful.

Now we're back in our Motel 6 in Jackson. At 6am tomorrow, we're getting picked up for a guided wildlife tour around Jackson Hole. Apparently, we're the only two people who signed up for it, which should make it more interesting and personal. The tour is run by the Teton Science School, an institution here in Jackson Hole. It looks like a pretty awesome school from what I saw on their website.

After the tour, we're heading out and back toward home. Now we're thinking just getting back in a reasonable amount of time before Labor Day, so we're just going south to I-80 and heading across Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois to Michigan. Yes, corn. Oh well. Everything we've done so far has made a trip through the universe's cornfield worth it.


Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 7

So, we finally made it to Yellowstone and Grand Teton today. Holy cow. My brain was exploding at the scenery at Buffalo Bill State Park, before we even made it to Yellowstone. The Rockies are beautiful. We traveled west to the center of Yellowstone, then south along Yellowstone Lake, which was enormous.

I wasn't expecting to be doubly amazed by Grand Teton National Park. Dear goodness, God put some of the best scenery in the world here. I was expecting to want to stay in Yellowstone for a few days, or at least want to travel back to it for a day trip. Nope. We made it to Jackson Hole tonight, and we're spending the rest of our time checking out Grand Teton. Tomorrow morning, we're taking an aerial tram up a mountain...roughly 10,000 feet up, actually. We'll spend some time hiking around up there, and eating waffles on top of the dang world. Yeah. The next morning we're going on a guided, sunrise wildlife tour around the Jackson Hole area. Should be sweet. I'll be sure to get some sweet pictures of those things.

Here's the Grand Teton itself:


Peace.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

A side thought while traveling

So, I need to post this along with my daily travel blog. It's been really interesting traveling with my mom over the past week. The past four years have each looked like this: about seven months at SAU, about two months at camp, about two months at home, and a month of random travels. The two months at home each year aren't even all at the same time; they're broken up into a few weeks at a time throughout the year.

All this to say, I haven't spent much time around my mom since I graduated high school. The first few days of the trip were especially hard because of this; we haven't traveled together for a long time, and we were getting on each other's nerves quite a bit. We talked about it a bit, and have been trying to do better at dealing with the differences between us which we haven't had to deal with for the past four years.

In the end, though, it really comes down to an issue which God has been revealing to me a lot this summer: my own pride and self-righteousness. I got rebuked by a Godly man this summer because of my own self-righteousness, and it hurt to see how much I have. It's become more and more apparent as the summer goes on, and I think it's the main cause of a lot of the tensions between my mom and myself.

Things like this is where following Christ gets hard. It's not a physical hardship...but it might be harder than one. It's so difficult to lay down your rights to stick up for yourself and/or your opinions. I want to prove myself right so much that it gets in the way of having right relationships with my friends and family...which gets in the way of my relationship with God.

I would probably keep going, but I'm tired, and my thoughts are muddled.

Friends, pray that God continues to humble me and reveal more of this to me. Thank you.

Peace.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 6

So, today was a more chill day regarding travel. In the morning, we walked around one of a series of reservoirs in Beck Lake Park just outside Cody. There were tons of birds, several of which are native almost solely to Western sagebrush habitats, so it was pretty cool to see them.

After this, I started getting a pretty awful headache. This happens with some regularity with me, and I've been trying to figure it out this summer. During the afternoon, I rested and checked out possible reasons for this online. I've been thinking it might have something to do with barometric pressure changes, and some research today along with firsthand experience makes me think my hypothesis is accurate. I felt increasingly terrible in the early afternoon, then a storm rolled in, and as it left, my headache started to slowly subside. A lot of people online say that high barometric pressure can cause headaches, as the strong pressure can cause blood vessels in your head to constrict. Some people offered up some effective-sounding home remedies for it, but most sources agreed there is little which can be done about it, other than drugging yourself up. Sad day.

Anways, we couldn't really go looking around the town much today because of how crappy I felt, which was too bad. After I started feeling better toward the evening, we went for another walk around the reservoir. We took an alternate trail off the main paved trail this time and walked through the sagebrush. It was sweet. My mom suggested I look for job opportunities out here, and I'm inclined to think it would be a good idea. I love the scenery, the people, and the climate out here. It's been very hot each day, but the humidity is very low, which makes the heat a lot more bearable, and actually somewhat comfortable. I could definitely spend my life out here.

Tomorrow we're heading to Jackson Hole, spending the morning in Yellowstone. We'll be spending the next few days in the Grand Teton/Yellowstone area, so my lack of photos today will be made up for.

Here's my one picture for the day:


Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 5

So, we finally made it to Wyoming today. Holy cow, it's very different from entering South Dakota. We couldn't really see a difference in South Dakota from other places in the Midwest at first. Once we entered Wyoming, however, the scenery completely changed. We definitely felt like we were in Wyoming when we got here. Low, rocky hills covered in yellow grass and green shrubs, beautiful rock formations off in the distance, and a clear, blue sky above us...it was amazing. I instantly fell in love with Wyoming...and my mom and I both agreed that Glacier National Park might be less of a priority...enough so that we might just skip it entirely. It's sad to say it...but I'm feeling so at home here, and I can't imagine Yellowstone and Grand Teton are going to make me change my mind about it.

Right in the middle of the state, we ran into the Bighorn Mountains. Not the Rockies, but the first snow-capped mountains I've ever seen. While we were driving through them, we found a little rest stop with a couple viewing points over the Shell Falls. We were practically the only people there, and it didn't seem like a huge tourist attraction...but I thought it was cooler than the Tahquamenon Falls. Hilarious. Also saw a yellow-bellied marmot on a cliff on the opposite side of the river, which was pretty cool. We then drove through the Shell Canyon out of the Bighorn Mtns., which was also an amazing experience. The highest edges of the canyon were sheer rock faces, but they turned into grassy, rocky slopes for most of the way down until they came close to the Shell River, where they turned back into small cliffs.

Tonight we're staying in Cody, which is about fifty miles east of Yellowstone National Park. We went to the world famous Cody Rodeo when we got here, which was pretty cool. After all day of being in a car, though, I was pretty sick of sitting and looking at stuff, so we left after it was about halfway over. Tomorrow, we're just going to check out the town and chill. Should be a good time.

Here's a picture of part of the Shell Canyon:


Peace.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 4

So, today we drove around Custer State Park, in the middle of South Dakota's Black Hills. Amazing. Saw a bunch of antelope, bison, and prairie dogs, not to mention more beautiful things like golden eagles soaring high above. We found a pull-off where there was a herd of wild (relatively) burros surrounded by people taking photos of and feeding them. They were so tame I could even pet a couple of them, which was pretty cool. The landscape of the whole area was astounding: the Black Hills seemed to be comparable to the Appalachians in height, but what a difference in habitats and animal life! In a nutshell, it's prairie grassland mixed in with rocky outcrops and thick pine forests.

The Needles Highway is a narrow mountain road traversing the northwest portion of the park, and the scenery there was something else in and of itself. The Needles are giant rocky outcrops which stand straight up into the sky off the hilltops. We traveled through several tunnels along this road, barely making it through with our F-150, and thought we were going to fall off the cliffs around several u-turns without guard rails. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

We came back to Keystone afterward and I bought a nice leather cowboy hat, which I've wanted for a while. I also bought a sweet leather biker's jacket for $100. That's dang cheap for a good leather jacket, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Tomorrow we're traveling into Wyoming toward Yellowstone. We've been doing a lot of driving and not a lot of relaxing, so the trip itinerary may change more, depending on how much down time we need to allot for ourselves.

Here's a picture of the Black Hills in Custer State Park:


Peace.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 3

So, South Dakota got infinitely better today. We crossed the Missouri River, which was awesome. If you're driving along I-90 and are crossing the Missouri in South Dakota, DON'T MISS THE REST STOP. Wicked views, and an awesome little trail through a pine forest. Also a very nice Lewis & Clark exhibit, as the duo apparently stayed at that very spot, naming it "Plum Camp."

The Badlands blew my mind. I've been waiting for this road trip for over a decade...and being out here, and touching the rocks, and walking around in the dirt beneath these amazing geological formations...I was doing and seeing what I'd only dreamed of prior to today. We traveled around the area for most of the day, saw a bunch of buffalo in one spot and a TON of prairie dogs everywhere, and I added about three new birds to my personal list...not that you cared about that part, haha.

Tonight we're staying in Keystone, South Dakota, which is in the Black Hills, right next to Mount Rushmore. I'm pretty impressed with the amount of geological variation I've seen within just one state, and even within one day. We started in eastern SD with cornfields and a generally flat landscape, made it to west-central SD with the rocky and barren Badlands, and now we're in western SD in the middle of a mountainous pine forest. Fantastic. Tomorrow we're traveling around Custer State Park, which will be the full Black Hills experience.

We're working on a new itinerary as well, looking something more like this:

Custer SP
Travel west through Wyoming
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone NP
Travel northwest through Montana
Glacier NP for two full days
Leave for home through eastern Montana
Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota
Head back through central Minnesota and Wisconsin
Take the ferry across Lake Michigan to Ludington, and home

We were considering doing the whole Porcupine Mountains and Upper Peninsula loop, but we just don't have the time, and my mom and I have never been on the ferry, so we opted for that instead.

Here's a sample picture of the Badlands:


Peace.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 2

So, today's travel day was a lot longer distance, but much more bearable. We traveled from Madison, WI, to Mitchell, South Dakota...AKA, no big-city driving. We stopped at Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge on the Mississippi River for a while and saw some American White Pelicans out in the water, which was pretty cool. Minnesota was an extremely long drive, but there really wasn't a whole lot going on since we were almost on the border of Iowa...we thought that's where we were a couple times because of all the corn. Honestly...even after we passed through Sioux Falls, we still felt like we were in the Midwest. I just really don't think of CORN!!! when I think of South Dakota. Ah, oh well.

Mitchell, SD, is interesting: home of the Corn Palace. Yes, the Corn Palace.

I can't wait to get to the other side of the dang state.

Really, though...it is cool finally being here. I'm really excited to get to the prairie tomorrow. Should be pretty awesome.

Casa del Rey in Sioux Falls, SD, is a fantastic Mexican restaurant, FYI.

Here's a picture of the Mississippi River crossing at Winona, Minnesota:


Peace.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Westward 2011, Day 1

So, today was a travel day. Travel days suck. Got to see some Lake Michigan dunes at Grand Mere State Park before we left Michigan, which was nice. After we got to Gary, Indiana, the traffic started to get rough though, and by the time we were just outside downtown Chicago, my mom and I were pretty much hating life. We're not really fans of big cities, and if we're just passing through, even less so. We traveled up Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and then headed straight west to Madison, where we're staying tonight. A late start this morning combined with rush hour traffic and a ton of construction means we didn't make it to Minnesota like we had hoped to, but now we have good plans for tomorrow. We're going to make a stop at Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, which is on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota...meaning we're going to hang out in a very scenic area of the Mississippi River. Should be good times. Afterward, the plan is to stop in Mitchell, South Dakota, which is just west of Sioux Falls.

Here's some Chicago skyline for you:


Peace.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Long-awaited

So, my mom called me the other day while I was in Grand Rapids and asked me if I wanted to go out West for two weeks when I get back.

UH YA

Needless to say, I came back earlier than I had originally intended. We're currently looking at making a huge loop around and back, with the northern Rockies as the western end. Here's what it might look like:

Make it to Minneapolis/St. Paul area (probably by tomorrow night).
Head through South Dakota: Black Hills, Badlands, etc.
Hit Wyoming: Make it to the Rockies, possibly Yellowstone National Park.
Head north along the Rockies to Montana: Glacier National Park as one of the trip highlights, hopefully spending a lot of time there.
Head east through Montana: No speed limits, barren wasteland, etc.
North Dakota: Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Through northern Minnesota and Wisconsin: Forest. mmmm.
Enter Michigan: Porcupine Mountains, Upper Peninsula, Mackinac Bridge, home again.

That's the plan. I'll try to post pictures daily and give a quick blog about what we've done. My mom's bringing her laptop with a mobile internet device, so we don't have to go looking for Wi-Fi hotspots.

I'd appreciate your prayers during the trip.

Peace.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Schooling and Goals

So, it's been a great summer thus far. The camp season for my co-workers and myself at Center Lake was almost double the usual length, but now we're officially done, and I'm ready to chill.

One thing that I need to get out here has to do with my education and life goals. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I wanted to be at this point in my life ten years ago and where I am now. I'll start by looking back.

Almost since I could talk, I've wanted to be a paleontologist (someone who studies ancient life-forms). I loved dinosaurs, and I never really grew out of that stage (Jurassic Park has always been one of my favorite movies, haha). I wanted to go to Michigan State University for a few years of college, then transfer to Montana State and live there for the rest of my life. This was my plan since about first grade all the way into high school.

When I was in my junior year of high school, a very intelligent teacher I respected a lot sat my mother and I down and asked me about my goals after high school. When I explained to him my goal of starting in geology at Michigan State and eventually becoming a paleontologist, he basically told me it was a poor career choice, and I should look into something else. Coming from him, this destroyed me, and so I started to look into other areas. My interests in the sciences were fairly eclectic, and I soon settled on ornithology (the study of birds) instead. I had taken a heavy interest in birdwatching in high school, and I had even made some connections which could help me gain a job in the field fairly quickly. I decided to try being a biology major at Michigan State instead.

As the time approached for me to start applying for college, Jesus made me realize something. My faith was not strong enough to handle going to a party school like Michigan State, and my relationship with Him would likely crumble there, especially going there as a science student. I decided to apply instead to Spring Arbor University, a Christian university which I hoped would grow my knowledge of the Scriptures and help grow my relationship with Christ. I applied and was quickly accepted.

During the winter of my senior year, someone I greatly respected in my church was talking with my about my goals after high school. When I explained to him my plan to major in biology and get into the ornithology field, he asked me point blank, "Well, that's cool and I'm sure you would have fun doing that, but how do you expect to serve Jesus doing that?" I didn't expect nor have an answer to this question, as I was still quite young in my relationship with Jesus. "You're passionate and good at music; why don't you do that instead?" So, after thinking about it more and looking at Spring Arbor's options, I switched m projected major to worship arts.

During my time at Spring Arbor, I never had really any idea where I was headed. I thought it was a good thing that I had no real goals in life; I assumed I was being more open to God's leading. I left the worship arts major for lots of reasons and went back in the direction of my former goals as a retreat and camping ministry major.

Last summer on my trip to Ireland and England, I found myself in a museum full of dinosaur skeletons and other geological finds. When some of my fellow classmates saw how into all of it I was, they asked me why I wasn't doing that with my education instead. Even one of my professors on the trip suggested that I do a Master's program in geology after I graduate if that was really where my passion still was. This affected me and got me thinking about the possibilities of more schooling after I graduate from Spring Arbor. This past year, however, made me lose a lot of faith in Spring Arbor as an institution, and I decided I would not ever consider going back to school for anything after I graduate in the fall of 2011.

This summer I read a two-year-old article about how Cedarville University had become one of the first fully-accredited Christian colleges with a geology program and which also holds to very similar Biblical views on Creation and the Flood as I do. They also teach the naturalistic and Creation theories on the beginning of life on Earth alongside each other so students know both views well when they graduate. This sparked a renewed desire in me which I thought had completely died.

Looking back, God definitely grew me closer to Himself at Spring Arbor and grew me in the knowledge of His Word. I also now think it may not have been the best idea for me to completely abandon my educational goals. God gave me a passion which others and I tried to squelch unknowingly, and now I believe He has renewed it in me. I believe He used my time at Spring Arbor to prepare me to finally follow after this passion. This change in mindset took me completely by surprise, and I realized immediately that I still wanted to become a geologist.

I'm now looking at possibly taking classes at Lansing Community College this spring semester, and maybe next year transferring to Grand Valley State University or Michigan State as a geology major. I decided against Cedarville, as I don't want to attend a Christian college again for several reasons. First, I would feel extremely irresponsible for spending so much money for more education after I graduate from Spring Arbor, and other Christian colleges don't actually have as much financial aid as Spring Arbor does. Second, I feel that if I went to another Christian college, I would probably become just as disenchanted with it as I have with Spring Arbor and would end up hating another institution and have a miserable time. I have lower expectations for secular schools to start with, anyway. Third, I really want to get out of the self-protective bubble of Christian education and be a Christ follower in a place where Christians aren't the majority.

I now also think I have an answer to the question which was posed to me during my senior year. The question, "How do you expect to serve Jesus doing that?" just reveals an attitude the church has toward the sciences which I have come to loathe. It seems that the church as a whole has abandoned the scientists as a group worth reaching with God's love, with some exceptions. Many Christians who are interested in the fields of geology and paleontology are out to disprove evolution. The hope in this is to prove God's existence by using physical evidences. What a horrible idea! We should prove God's existence by allowing Him to show His love through us, not by arguing our own points and theories. I have decided that I don't want to argue about Creation and evolution in my projected field of work. I want to work hard at my job, and allow Christ to speak through me to the people around me, and when anyone asks the reason for my hope in Christ, be able to answer them in love.

Peace.