Here I am writing.  Wow this feels weird.  I haven't had to write anything for awhile.  Besides cover letters that is.  And super secrets in my journal with terrible hand writing.

I recently went on a magical yurt trip.  The yurt was magical, the people were magical, and the surrounding mountains of snow were magical.  I'm still getting into the swing of writing again so I think I'll make this speedy. But it was one of the best trips I've been on.  And I've been on a lot of trips.  In fact my life for the past 2.5 years, ever since I graduated from college has mainly consisted of taking trips to cool places and trying to work enough to scrape by to afford the experiences.  I think it's been worth it.

I was invited on a trip to a yurt in the Uinta National Forest last weekend.  It was a six mile uphill ski in.  The others in the party mostly used skis and skins, and I used a pair of cross country skis originally owned by my friend's grandpa in Maine.

I am barely writing anything worth reading here but right now I just need to get my thoughts out.

We all met at 6am to get ready for the long day ahead.  It was an hour and a half drive to the trailhead, which was off the Mirror Lake Highway.  One of my favorite destinations in the summer, but now I was getting to see it in a completely different mood.  It was a snowy day, and snowed for a lot of the hike into the yurt.  We arrived at the yurt just about an hour before darkness hit.  The yurt was magical.  

Canyons, Arches, Hoodoos and... chainsaws?

I've been in Utah for less than two months and have met friends and visited places that I  hope will be in my life forever. I've cowboy camped beside the fire on chilly nights in the mountains, cooled off in desert swimming holes, done yoga inside a canyon, and crammed far more that can comfortably fit inside my car.  I knew coming out here would be a change in lifestyle, and honestly it's something I needed. To get away from the strip malls, suburbs, and city life is a blessing.  Now the occasional romp around town seems like something special.  And a shower? Don't even get me started.

Three months roaming on the road is just the best and the beginning.

I got impossibly lucky with my crew. My fellow crew members and leaders are some of the most fun-loving, hard working, and genuine people I've had the pleasure of knowing.  We spend 8 long days together in the backcountry and usually 6 more together exploring Utah on our days off. It's uncanny how well we all get along.

The work is long and hard, but it's impossible to beat 6 whole days off!

I've dreamt about this road trip for a long time.  I didn't know until a few weeks ago exactly where it would lead me. I still don't know exactly what's next, but I know I am happy out here in these open spaces. 

The summer before 8th grade we took a family trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We spent a week roaming the park and taking in all that it had to offer. I had never seen anything like it before. The wild mountains, rivers, animals, geysers...it was all different. Landscape dominated, not people. We parked the car one night on a long stretch of road in Montana. We  sat on the roof and marveled at the milky way and counted shooting stars.  I was hooked. I like to think of this as a pivotal moment in my life.  I wanted to be a part of this place.   

I've lived in some of the more isolated places in the country the past few years.  During my summer spent working in Wyoming, the least populated state, I relished the clean air and absence of crowds.  The hard work, good company, and nights around the campfire spoke to my soul and left me feeling full.   Alaska was a similar escape from the heat and crowds of the South.  It was more isolated and wild than I ever could have imagined at the start.  The tiny town of Haines was home to some of the most adventurous, creative, and happy people I have met.  Perhaps the feelings I had while living in these places is what draws me to southern Utah.  I want to explore one of the last expanses of remote wilderness in the continental 48 states, the "American Outback".

On the journey out here we drove through the rolling hills of Alabama and Arkansas, the green fields of Oklahoma, and the high plains of Kansas and Eastern Colorado was beautiful.   The sunset on the last leg of our journey with the rocky mountains and lights of Denver in the distance left us breathless.  It was 1, 500 miles from Atlanta to Denver and will be another 1, 000 miles to my final destination of Escalante, Utah. So far, it has been the trip of a lifetime.  

One of my best friends from college, Adam, now works in Denver.  We are using his apartment as a home base to explore the infinite number of places and things to do around us.  We strolled through the monoliths in the popular Garden of the Gods park and then escaped the crowds into mountain backroads.  We spent a day in the vast Rocky Mountain National Park, reflecting next to mountain lakes and streams and then driving up thousands of feet on twisting mountain passes.  Spending a day in Denver offered some unique urban attractions and activities.  A tour of the Great Divide Brewery and a concert at the historic Bluebird Theater on Colfax Avenue, a street which Kerouac writes about in On The Road, topped the list.  The most memorable and rewarding part of this trip so far was climbing La Plata Peak, a 14, 377 ft, mountain which proudly stands as the 5th highest peak in Colorado.  The experience of hiking this mountain with two of my best friends will remain with me for a long time. 

I will be sad to leave Denver, and the comfort and ease of life with good friends, but I am excited about what comes next.  Tomorrow I drive to Boulder, WY to visit my old roommate and good friend Becca at the ranch where she works.  From there I head to Logan, UT where we begin training on Monday and then caravan down to Escalante on Tuesday.  I'm in for a lot of change the next few weeks.  It will take some time to get adjusted but I know it will be worth it.    

Here is the Flickr account I started. I'll still try to update this even if I don't have time to blog. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcpostma/

Because I'm itching to get back outside on this beautiful evening, this post will be short.   I've been getting more settled into Haines, Alaska over the past two weeks.  It's hard to believe that it's already June, but it also feels like I've been here a lot longer than I really have.

Dave and Carol sent me on not one, but two, awesome excursions last week.  On Tuesday I went rafting with a local river rafting company, Chilkat Guides.  It was a beautiful and calm float trip, right through the heart of the Bald Eagle Preserve.  We were told to look for "little white golf balls" in the trees, the golf balls being the heads of the eagles.  I didn't realize that trips like these are the only part of Haines and it's surrounding area that many visitors get to see.  A ferry-load of passengers from Skagway was herded off the ferry, down the dock, and into a bus which whisked them off on the river trip, and almost the exact reverse was done on the return voyage.  We at least got a little "tour" of town (aka driving down Main Street for approx .5 sec) where I got to yell out a fun fact about the Hammer Museum... "Over 1400 different types of hammers!"

Visitors' experiences in Skagway tends to be a completely different story than Haines.  On Thursday morning I took the ferry from Haines to Skagway (about a 45min trip) to go on the White Pass Railroad.  All of the things I had been hearing about Skagway were true!  Including the 30+ fancy jewelry stores and fancy jewelry store salesmen that looked completely out of place in this "rustic" Alaskan gold-mining town.  Most importantly, there were 3(!!!) huge cruise ships docked that day, which is pretty normal for Skagway.  Haines only gets one a week!  Some visitors to the Hammer Museum this week who had just arrived from Skagway told me exactly what I had been thinking the whole time I was there; that Haines is more "real".  Don't get me wrong though, it was still a fun day, and the White Pass Railroad was really awesome!  It was great to be out exploring by myself for a day too, lots of sights to see and pictures to take.  But my favorite part of the day? The ferry ride.  Can't wait to take some more ferry rides.

Saturday I hiked a short trail to Battery Point on the ocean and Sunday Katrina and I once again attempted to climb up something, this time Mt. Ripinsky, a hill/small mountain overlooking Haines.  But what we again found (just like last weekend) was lots of snow, a hard-to-follow trail, and semi-cool views at the top of...something.  The snow was actually quite a bit deeper yesterday too, 7-8 feet in some places.  Hard to climb up, but so much fun running down! We've got plenty of days to try again though, so it was a good hike no matter what!

Okay well I guess this post didn't end up being that short.  Good thing I still have plenty of time to be outside this evening since it doesn't get dark until after 10.  And just in case I don't get enough outside time tonight...the sunrise is at 3:53AM tomorrow! AH!

Semana Santa and Feria

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the most important weeks of the year in Sevilla, followed closely by Feria.  Residents of Sevilla prepare for Semana Santa year-round.  I saw a lot of these preparations during my semester here in Sevilla.  Almost every night I could hear a band practicing tradition Holy Week music from my window, and during March and early-April I would see groups of people practicing carrying the floats around the University campus at night.  I was in the Picos de Europe for most of the week, but fortunately was still able to experience part of Semana Santa when I got back.

The Semana Santa celebrations consist of different religious brotherhoods processing toward the Cathedral throughout the week.  Each brotherhood prepares and practices for months before Semana Santa for these processions which are called pasos.     The first to appear in the paso is usually a group of nazarenos, whom are members of the brotherhood that wear robes and a cone-shaped hood (purple robed-men in photos below).  There can be hundreds or even thousands of nazarenos, depending on the size of the brotherhood.  The men who aren't nazarenos, or playing in the band, carry the floats.  The floats are works of art; ornate, heavy, and beautiful sculptures of the Virgin Mary and various scenes of the Passion, and are carried by dozens of men standing underneath.  The floats are incredibly heavy but are always carried by men rather than set on wheels.  Different brotherhoods carry the floats in different ways, often rocking back and forth, and moving in a way that distinguishes one brotherhood from another.

This past week in Sevilla was Feria, the annual Spring Fair that occurs two weeks after Semana Santa.  During Feria hundreds of casetas (tents) are set up on the fairgrounds across the river.  The casetas are usually private tents for families and groups of friends, but there are a few public tents as well.  During Feria all the women dress up in Flamenco dresses and everybody dances the special dance of Sevilla called Sevillanas, which is similar to Flamenco but a little faster and livelier.  Lisa and I went and looked around the fairgrounds and saw all the casetas during the day on Monday, but the festivities didn't really begin until that night at midnight when the huge portada (facade and main entrance to the fairgrounds) is lit up.

Raincloud over the cathedral.

Nazarenos in Triana. 

One of the massive floats. 

The Virgin Mary float.

Float headed towards the bridge.

Headed across the bridge and in the direction of the cathedral.

Everybody leaving after the paso ended.

 The rain is over!

Awesome clouds.

Looking across the river at Triana.

My host mom and I.

Flamenco!

Feria!

Fairgrounds.

To the mountains!

My favorite trip thus far during my adventures in Spain was, of course, to the mountains! Two friends (Sam and Emily) and I spent six days during Semana Santa exploring the majestic "Picos de Europa" in Northern Spain.  I was so happy during the entire trip and could have stayed up there for weeks.

We were flying by the seat of our pants on this trip, but trips tend to be better that way, especially if you're with the right people.  We flew into Santander, the capital of Cantabria, on Friday afternoon with still no hostel booked for the night.  After taking a bus from the airport into the city we found a cafe with free WiFi to search the internet for hostels.  There was one single hostel in the city with open rooms that night, which magically ended up being right down the street and very nice.  That evening we shopped for groceries for the next five days since there were no stores in the tiny mountain town we were planning to stay in.  We packed all the food into our huge backpacking packs and got a good night sleep in preparation for the long day ahead.

Early the next morning we caught a bus from Santander to the Picos de Europa.  We got off at a tiny place called Urdón - a stop so small that we had to ask the bus driver to stop there.  With all of our stuff on our backs we started our hike to the tiny mountain town of Tresviso, far above us at that point.  We had the whole day ahead of us though, and although the hike was completely uphill, it wasn't too long.  We hiked leisurely, taking time to look at flowers, watch birds, and peek into cool caves.  We arrived in the little town of Tresviso that evening around six, and met friendly locals who helped us get settled into our hostel.  That night we cooked a good but simple meal of spaghetti and vegetables and slept soundly in our cozy bunk beds.

Tresviso looks like a town straight out of a storybook - or like a town Heidi might have lived in.  One road goes into the town, but from the opposite direction of where we were coming from.  And certainly no bus makes the trek to Tresviso, which is why we hiked.  There are also no stores in Tresviso, just one small bar/restaurant that we spent lots of time at.  The old men who ran the little bar were there all day, going about their duties at a relaxed pace and always ready to help us and give us hiking suggestions.  During our stay in Tresviso we were constantly in and out of the bar - getting our coffee and hiking suggestions in the mornings, sampling the blue cheese in the afternoons, and drinking tea before bedtime in the evenings.  We were usually the only customers in the place, the influx of tourists would arrive later in the season.

We had three full days to explore the beauty surrounding us.  The first day we took a hike up one of the ridges close to town, a spot well-known to have spectacular views.  We lost the trail pretty early one and ended up doing a lot of scrambling to get to the top.  As we hiked higher and higher the snowcapped peaks facing us seems to get bigger and bigger, looming magnificently over Tresviso.  And on the other side of the ridge, once at the top of it, you could see the ocean in the distance stretching on and on.  We spent a lot of time up on the ridge that afternoon, eating our picnic lunch, writing in our journals, and taking in all the beauty around us.  In the afternoon the clouds started rushing towards us coming off the sea, and as we hiked down we watched the shoot like jets over the ridge and swiftly down in the valley.   We also saw tons of magnificent large birds enjoying the air currents lifting them from the bottom of the valley high up in the sky.

The next two days we did lots more exploring and relaxing.  We hiked down into a nearby valley, made daisy crowns in a huge field of flowers, and climbed an old dilapidated stone farmhouse.  We climbed up a long, prickly, scraggly slope just to find that there was an easy trail that led straight to the top!  We found a cheese cave, where they let the cheese age and turn into blue cheese.  We stayed in the cozy bar/restaurant the last day when the whole town was engulfed in a thick fog and drank tea and read books and wrote in our journals.

We met a woman named from Madrid, Ana, during our stay who we shared meals and stories with.  Not only was I in a beautiful mountain town but I got to practice my Spanish a lot.  She was an extremely kind and cool lady and offered to drive us back to Santander on our last day, so we didn't have to hike back down to Urdón at 5am in the rain!  We had a lovely drive through the mountains with her, stopping at a small coastal town on the way back for coffee.  She dropped us off in Santander and we were sad to see her go, and sad to leave northern Spain ourselves.  We flew into Madrid that evening, took the metro to the bus station, and then took a six hour bus ride back to Sevilla, arriving around 6am the next morning.

Semana Santa was in full swing upon our arrival in Sevilla.  We hadn't missed much though, as it had been raining in Sevilla the whole time we were gone.  When it rains during Semana Santa here in Sevilla, it is a very sad time for the people, because all of the processionals have to be cancelled.  Luckily the rain let up a little bit when we returned.  I was able to see one processional and experience the intense atmosphere abundant in Sevilla during Holy Week.  I also just returned from Lisbon, Portugal, a beautiful city with such an international and friendly atmosphere.   I have not uploaded pictures to my computer from Semana Santa or Lisbon yet, so will post more about that experience later on.  I also received news this past week that I beat out 20 other candidates for a museum internship in Haines, Alaska!  I can't wait for another summer adventure full of new experiences and lots of learning!

 Since the mountains were right by the sea, we found tons of cool shells while hiking.

 Part of the trail we hiked up to get to Tresviso...it looks like it disappears off the cliff.

Welcome to Tresviso! 

On top of  the ridge with the ocean in the background!

Me, Sam, and Emily

Clouds shooting over the ridge.

In the valley being flower children.

After hiking up the dangerous prickly slope and finding out a road let to where we were. 

Picos de Europa!!! 

Getting back into town in the afternoon, welcomed by a herd of goats.

The beautiful countryside of Northern Spain on a stormy day.

Pretty coastal town at low tide.

Goodbye Santander!