Catch-up

So, i've been kinda MIA lately due to a lot of different mini-events that all occurred at the same time. So, i'm going to play catch-up with this blog and fill you in with where i've been over the past few posts.

Grad Retreat!

Each quarter we venture out and go explore some "new" location. For this retreat, we decided to stay a little more local and paddled toward Thunder Arm, which is on Diablo Lake. Typically, this wouldn't be that difficult since it might be 3 miles away (im giving it the benefit of a doubt). However, on this fine day, a storm was settling into our lake with gusts i'm guessing reached around 50 mph, and a pretty fine dousing of rain. Luckily, when we set out paddling, the wind was only around 10 - 20 mph, so no capsizing... but definitely some interesting paddle techniques were utilized. We would raft up on the leeward sides of islands, take a breather and then paddle on.



After we reached our campground, we promptly set-up our tents and went out to explore. Teresa, Tanya, Codi & I ventured toward the highest point on our little peninsula, and found ourselves hanging onto dear life. The wind had seriously picked up and we were all doing our best to not get blown over.



Then the rain started. I'm usually a fair sport for hanging out in tents in the rain. Today I was not. So, I proposed that we start drinking (it was maybe 3pm)... and drink we did.





By the time the rain and wind let-up, we were all on a solid path to getting hammered... and didn't even really notice that we could venture outside of our covered picnic table. We quickly made dinner... told stories and passed out.

We all woke up the next morning to clear and calm skies! Codi, Teresa & I loaded into the canoe, and traveled further up Thunder Arm where we encountered tree swallows, violet green swallows, golden eyes, mallards and snow capped mountains. It was such a beautiful morning that I couldn't ask for more.