Day 12 & 13

Day 12

Sleeping under the stars was pretty nice, woke up kinda cold at first but it was nice :)

We woke up to some yummy food and had a nice lazy start. We had to be ready at 9 am to meet with Barbra Freelander who spoke to us about many things including how the wind transmits illnesses and the healing property's of rose. When her lecture ended we met with some really cool guys from the local fish farm. This fish farm wasn't there to raise and release fish back into the wild, this fish farm was for the fish that we eat!

While we were there we got a few separate lectures about how things run there and we even got to ride a small boat out to the fish holding areas. The fish were kept in separate holding areas depending on size and age. The entire time I was staring at these floating ponds teeming with fish I was thinking that if I jumped in there it would be like a 5-Gum commercial :)

My group was the first to see the fish so then we sat on land and listened to the guys there tell us about all sorts of random and different things about what he does there and what his job looks like.

When everyone had finished we all headed back to camp to rest because we were gonna have a late night. Band Wagon, minus Eric, plus Christen, needed to do laundry though so we went to do that. EVEN DOING LAUNDRY WAS FUN. We joked around and I converted one of my friends to Whovisim (the fandom of Dr.Who). We arrived back for a quick bite of dinner and then we all headed out with R-something to go call to wolves.

The drive out to Gold Lake was a little longer than expected and there we discussed the procedure for wolf howling and what we needed to do when we arrived. We had to be absolutely quiet and not even close the car doors.

Once at the wolf howling spot the guide howled a few times had some other people howl (which was funny, someone was calling for Sasquatch instead of a wolf haha). Unfortunately no wolves howled back and because of the hour we had to go back.

Since my group showered first the night before we showered last and washed dinner dishes. THE SHOWERS THERE WERE MAGNIFICENT.

The next morning we woke up and everyone was a little subdued but happy. We all ate quickly and started washing tents, turning in stuff, and cleaning the area we had spent the last two days in. It was a little hectic at first but then when things fell into a pattern. It was sad though, knowing that it was the end of such an awesome trip.

Eventually we all packed into our cars and headed off to Dry Falls. I had been looking forward to this stop for a while because I'm really interested in the Bretz Floods (which created Dry Falls). I was also supposed to have visited years before but I became sick at that time and had been unable to attend so I was super excited for this stop. Some of my friends seemed less enthused but after I explained the cause of the floods and the effects they seemed more interested and we had a nice conversation about theories and such. We also went inside to watch a small movie on the floods and look at the museum/gift store. When we had finished our exploring some people started blogging but I was more interested in the outdoors. Finally we all packed into the cars for the last time and drove home :'(

It was quite a blast, the entire trip. People were looking forward to being home but it was clear that everyone was going to miss the time spent together exploring the world. I'd say that the 2 weeks spent on this trip were well worth it and I would gladly do it again! I would like to send out a great big thank-you to everyone that contributed to this trip, it has truly been a life-changing and memorable experience that will affect me through-out college and probably even further. At the start of this trip I knew what I wanted to be, an Earth Scientist, but I wasn't all the way sure it was for me and was half-heartedly considering other options. I didn't know if I was smart enough or strong enough or even durable enough to be cut out for science. But through this trip and it's experiences I know that I will enjoy my future career, that it's the right fit for me, and that I can do it. Also as more reassurance I know that even if  my specific field of science loses it's draw for me that there is plenty more out there science wise and that I can move around to find that perfect fit if it's necessary.
I've also gained a lot of food for thought and I'm now more aware of just how much we affect the earth with every little thing we do. I kind of had that on back-burner before the trip but now where ever I go I'm thinking about how this affects that. I think of possible solutions but then stop to think about what has to power those solutions and what affects that has. My mind has really been opened by this trip but that excites and empowers me. I was also a little worried that there wasn't anything left to be discovered in the science world, but I know without a doubt that there is soooo much more that we can learn. With this trip done I'm sad at it's end but now I'm biting at the bit to get going on contributing my part to make this world a better place. Thank-you to everyone who helped this project start and finish and for all the help and guidance that you've all given me.

"We do not inherit the world from our parents, we borrow it from our children."

Arianna Wildflower from Band Wagon signing out. Thank-you.