My new village for a while - Leavenworth WA, WA
Leavenworth WA, WA
Where I stayed
Tierra Retreat Center
Intro to Leavenworth
Bavaria..Well a gumbo of Bavarians, Russians, the Hippest Folk, Apple/Pear/Cherry Farmers, the sheerest Snow Creek Wall, cougars, and the intersection of sandstone and granite blasting up towards the sun through the clouds that rest in the needles of the pines and douglas firs. That is a three lined sentence.
It has been a while since the old westward door has been opened. Now that I have entered this northwest room, it has been quite the adventure checking out the scene.
After being robbed of much of my gear stash on September 5th, 2013 in a small fishing village on the Washington coast, an interesting change occurred. No matter how much self-pep talk from the waterfalls and fluorescent moss that covers every forest nook, I had to take a second to sit and reflect on what had occurred. Both my bikes were gone.
Pink Performance:
If you take a look at the previous posts in this blog, one may notice that the prevailing majority of pictures capture the "pink performance," a bike that had carried my older brother Nate completely through college at Western Carolina and NC State, had carried me through my 4 years at NC State, been wrecked by 2 cars (We both survived), turned into a paper lantern ornament, carried on my shoulder a mile to cycle logic and brought back into speedy service in Summer 2012. My memory holds every trip through rain, up mountains in NC, VA, WVa, CO, WA, OR, UT, ID, TX, NM, TN and had been a consistent cooperative member of the First Friday bike crew in Raleigh since 2005. Rest in peace is too cliche. Plus it's not true. Someone in the Seattle is enjoying her milky smooth ride, dodging buses and maybe stopping to watch the sun drop behind Mt. Olympus. Thank you Pink Performance. We had an unforgettable ride.
T-rekasaurus:
This ride was the most gracious gift from my father following my fall at Umstead in 2012. The Trek frequented rides around the Triangle and the coast of NC then was thrown into the alien environments for a entry-level mountain bike. The Trek gave me unlimited fun on single tracks in the Appalachian mountains of NC and TN, super-fun safari riding all around Austin, TX (survived the week riding with the LG of Austin), great riding with my cousins outside of Denver, world-class MTB at Fruita Canyon outside of Grand Junction with Candice, riding in Moab, UT with some of the most technically-skilled MTB gypsies, Salt Lake riding, Boise and climbed a volcano at Craters of the Moon in Idaho, took on the MTB trails in Portland, OR and said farewell. the cap for the front shock popped off at some point this past winter. I remember a day at Cup-a-Joe where I returned to find a rose slipped into the shock. This bike brought the best out of me and allowed me to get back after some MTB after the fall from grace with pmstephe and the baby cobras. Thank you T-rekasaurus. We jumped plenty of stumps and our ride was meant to end.
They didn't steal the helmets though. Now, before we get super revengeous (word?) and say "YEAH MAYBE THEY'LL FALL OVER A COP CAR AND CRACK THEIR SKULL," let's be real and remember they are fellow people and I hope they already had helmets and practice safety when riding my or other theft victims' bikes.
My '11 Lib Tech snowstick. I carried her above my head, screaming in the middle of July (haha) and ran across the street to throw it in the grass in front of the Wilmont so all of Hillsborough St. could see. It carried me to CO in 2010-11, at Snowflex all summer of 2011, all the winter riding in NC, WV and CO in 2011-12 winter with Yesh, all summer of 2012, and all winter of 2012-13. The lib-stick had bounced off aspens and chased elk. With a bottle of Delirium Nocturnum, a stick of banana wax and the old Swix waxing iron, we would spend the night prepping and the day slaying. You were missed. Reincarnation came in late November 2013. Yasmine, her new earthly form, has already seen 11 days at Mission Ridge sending waves of cold smoke splashing out towards Mt. Rainier and Glacier Peak.
The tribute is complete, but my mind often floats fondly on many old T-shirts and my dad's old red tool-box, a symbol of childhood building projects.
Speaking of Childhood...
Leavenworth has a somewhat cartoonish facade (add the little curly spaghetti thing to the c when you read facade). Everything is built to scale in bavarian village gingerbread house-esque architecture and covered in Christmas from November till Oktoberfest. However, to contrast this, the people here are the most REAL human beings I have ever met. Residing off the Chumstick has introduced me to a lifestyle that is good for all corners of the human soul. I can not help but be filled with peace and a sense of home here. But before I flow into a mindless ballad to all the lovely inhabitants of Leavenworth and the Wenatchee/Entiat area, I must return to chronological pursuits.
I was robbed, I hiked around and tried my best to prepare myself for the W-EMT course, arrived in Wenatchee September 8th, scared some kids (who were curious about me car-camping in DT Wenatchee) so bad they fell into a holly bush, apologized, drove off, ate almonds up on the Horse lake trailhead looking at all the buzzing of the beginnings of the apple harvest.
Breathe.
The Course begins, I meet FEMA Chris and Mike and Abe and we go snag Bavarian Bratwurst at Gustav's on Sunday night. Zach and Harry and Patty and all the silliness of soccer matches, soccer tennis, hikes, lavender, bonfires, hot tub, climbing vantage, bouldering and climbing 8 mile, the Swords and Barney's Rubble among other spots out icicle road. Foosball tournaments, BSI scene safe, plane crash, tsunami and 3 car pile-up scenarios, yoga and self-defense in the Yurt, getting tracked by a cougar in the North Cascades outside Hanging Lake, the Enchantments, Twister, herb walks, goats, cagnarsian, and endless silliness. Graduation. Hasta Luego's for all.
Breathe.
Smith. Zacharia and I cruised south down I-97 after a late start out of Tierra for a serene ride through the mtns. passing Rainier, Adams, Hood, Jefferson and arriving just east of the 3 sisters and Bachelor outside of Terrebonne, OR at Smith Rock. Harry met up with us the next day and we got after First Kiss, a classic route next to Monkey's Face on the West side of the Smith Rock Spine. Rappelled down in the dark through the slot canyon and smack dab into a tree. After some more climbing on Monument wall the next day, Harry left and my appendix got angry. The snagglepuss was invented invention.
Zach drove me to the hospital and then my mission became simple. Well, first my appendix burst, survived the first two days after surgery and in and out of consciousness and climbing up the slippery slope out of sepsis. I had to poop in order to leave. Zach stayed in the hospital as we both studied for the NREMT and walked lap after lap. An enema on day 5 was my ticket out and on the morning of day 6, I was good to go. Zach shot down to Eugene after a weekend in Portland with his brother. Gordon and Anne gave me the most incredible haven of family stories and fun. I stayed in Eugene and recovered/visited for a week or so and Zach came and stayed a couple of days before heading east to Utah to get after some ski patrolling at Park City. Meanwhile, I headed back to Smith Rock to live for a minute or two. Besides building my strength, reading several different books, and working on medical school apps at Dudley's and Green Plow, I had to go to my follow up appt. to get cleared to climb. Once Harry and Conrad arrived, I was to stoked to sit still and hauled gear/belayed for a few days before throwing the Anasazis on and getting slabby with some Basalt and Rhyolite. Josh and Suky arrived and we enjoyed the evening setting up camp and the next morning hiked up Misery Ridge, skipped rocks and enjoyed some Crux Fermentation and 10 barrel with Bennette and Elle. Benito, Elle, Suky, Josh and I experienced a day like no other. After scampering up Misery Ridge, Elle (in horse riding boots) announced: "I have not felt this alive in a while." Smith is a temple of life I will not forget. I lived there for another week, chasing loose llamas, milking cows and looking for jobs. After two days of climbing with Keenan and getting blasted with rain on our second bouldering day, I headed for my interview in Wenatchee and Leavenworth and a week with the Ottleys.
I can't express my gratitude to the Ottley family. After a successful interview at Ballard Ambulance and at Tierra Village in Leavenworth, I continued to look for work. MTB with Aidan in #2 canyon, Sage Hills and Horse Lake. Unbelievable rides through the cold, eyes watering and the valley street lights of Wenatchee beaming orange upwards at us in the clouds. A trip up to Bellingham and Vancouver ended with getting stuck in a snow storm on Stevens Pass and a silly traffic ticket in Snohomish Cty.
I left Wenatchee for Eugene to spend some time with Anne and Gordon before leaving to head home for a week and two medical school interviews. Flights cancelled, a night spent in the Newark airport and the red-eye home.
Home:
Prechter picked me up from the airport and we headed straight for Richmond. A day and night of galavanting, fiesta-bussing, old brick, music, climbing "big mama" (a giant magnolia tree that lives up to her name), bamboo forests, Libby Hill jam and the best family breakfast the following day. I headed home to catch lunch with my family and head to Winston-Salem where I met up with Bechton and headed down to First street for some pre-interview grub. Wake Forest interview. Drove to Nates, Gym, UNC interview, met up with the LG and Z in the B for some PR and sang Dr. McCord happy birthday (so smiley). The whole goonsquad got together and headed down to the pit for some silliness and to meet up with Nate and Manly. Fishing with Dad the next day and then the duck hunt with the bareback killer, Paul and T Rogers. Blasting the skies and the 4am rain snet us all into a pre-birthday haze. Nate's birthday was a super silly time with Prechter, Paul, Spidey and the whole family. Nate's birthday started out with some trail running out at Schenck forest, stump village building and trail cam scamming with McCombs, and the last NC sunset I would see for a while. Then the wild empanada assault of 2013 began. And ended. Nate somehow proved his suprahuman qualities and took me to the airport where I flew straight to San Francisco, where upon landing, I was informed that my flight to Eugene was canceled. Another 8 hours in San Francisco was nice to make some headway on Louis Fischer's biography of Gandhi. Anne and Gordon picked me up and I spent a day hiking around Spencer Butte before heading north to Leavenworth to move at the Coyote House.
And I've been here since. Prime Rib Thanksgiving with the Ottley family and non stop job applications and climbing. Monday night Trivia, exploratory hikes up snowcreek, the chumstick, and the entiat. Bonfires and projects. Climbing up Icicle until the snow set in, then the bus rides to Mission Ridge became the regular. Made some sauerkraut and have been snowboarding as much as possible while working odd jobs here and there in Wenatchee, Moses Lake and for Johnny's Asian Cuisine here in Leavenworth.
Christmas with a beautiful hand chip-chopped tree, training with Frank Forencich, a weekend in Seattle with Shorebird, Fernando, Joey, Ramona, Keenan, Meghan and Alberto that left the city and our psyches completely exhausted and overwhelmed with fun and timeless adventures. New Years up the Entiat jumpin in gold chutes and hiking out above the milkiest lake of fog I've ever seen. And here we are. January 2nd, 2014.
Exactly where we are all supposed to be.
This writing is mostly gibberish and exists as a map of memory for this portion of the gift I've been given to travel this earth for a bit. If you have endured these entries, I salute you and congratulate you on your willingness to persevere through the rambling, the excitement and the love that I have poured into this map.
"Look up"
As we float in these wooden ships
Four winds helix together.
The canvas waves and the waves construct.
The ocean of our memories tangle here and there.
To all of you who have helped me along the way in this year of 2013, I am forever grateful to you. The cheese from this ending is unbearable. I'll stop.
Essentials:
Give.
Go outside.
Play.
Write letters...Everyone loves letters.