veg-heads

Chris and I decided to give up meat for Lent. It's not too much of a sacrifice, since we already don't eat a lot of meat. But, as Chris pointed out, knowing we can't have it makes bacon and hamburgers sound even better than usual! But our church is doing a focus on hunger issues for Lent, plus being in Liberia made us aware of what a luxury meat is in much of the world. So we are 6 days in and going strong. So far, we've made vegetable stirfry with tofu, french onion soup, and pizza (it's cooking right now and I can't wait!). We've also enjoyed eating at Chipotle, Spoons, and Mad Greens. And Sunday we had amazing hamburgers at Five Guys!

I tried being a vegetarian in college, but it was really hard and I ended up getting sick about once a month during my 6-month stint. Oddly enough, it took my family about 6 years to figure out I was back to eating meat. (Between studying geology, enjoying spending time in the woods w/out showers, voting democrat in the last 3 presidential elections, and marrying a guy with a big beard, I have definitely been stamped the family hippy, even though this is far from the truth!)

Anyway, last weekend I made a bunch of vegetable broth so we could have some stored up for making soups during lent. It was an interesting process, mainly because it involved A LOT of vegetables - carrots, celery, leeks, butternut squash, onions, sundried tomatoes, and red peppers. It was easy to make and basically involved cooking all of these together for about 3 hours. The only sad part is that all of those beautiful veggies turn into mush and then get thrown away. But we made french onion soup with it last night and I was pleased with the flavor.

Here are the veggies before and after broth making:




If you have recommendations for vegetarian meals, let me know! :)

Day 12: Gruben to Gasenreid

We got an early start because of an ominous sign in Gruben stating: “St. Nicklaus 6 hr 40 min.” and we were headed 1-2 hours past St. Nicklaus! We left the hotel at 7:45, bought some groceries at an extremely limited shop at the main hotel in town, and started straight up! The views were nice but we felt kind of rushed by the long day. We made it up the Augstbordpass by 11:00. Unfortunately I was exhausted at the top. This was probably when the cumulative fatigue of the past 11 days really caught up with me and never really left. We were relieved but somewhat sad to leave the top of our last pass.

Our lunch spot was an amazing perch looking up the valley of our final destination. I admit to feeling very tired – almost more sleepy than anything else. I finally pulled out of it by thinking about my office, of all things, and how in a couple of weeks I would kill to be back on that mountain side, enjoying the limitless views and sunshine. So just remembering to appreciate the moment boosted my spirits immensely, although the insistent downhill began to get to both of our knees!

In St. Nicklaus I decided to respect my own limitations and took the bus to Gasenreid. Chris, with his superhuman powers marched straight up the valley side to the very small village. By the time he got there, I had checked us in to the Alpin Rosi (we were the only guests!), showered, and bought lunches and snacks for the next two days (and wine, of course!). The gracious hotel owner cooked us a comfortingly delicious meal of beef stroganoff. It was about time we stop just walking by the cows and finally eat one! We were both completely beat after dinner and barely finished our bottle of wine. I slept soundly but Chris was restless and felt bad in the morning.

Our last pass

Switzerland's tallest mountain, Mt. Dom (14911 ft)

Our lunch spot

Nice hamlet of Jungen

A nice church w/ a beastly-looking glacier spilling off Mt Dom in Gasenreid.

Day 11: Zinal to Gruben

Today didn’t start out too well, except that breakfast was a smorgasbord of cheese, ham, chocolate granola, yogurt, and fruit. Then we realized that somebody (me) had made a slight scheduling error. If we continued to Cabane Bella Tolla as planned, we still had five days of hiking, but we need to be in Jena for my conference in five days. So we changed plans and decided to hike over the Forcletta directly to Gruben. We spent the next few hours making sure we would have a place to stay that night and the last night on the trail. Staying in the Europa hut and hiking the Europaweg were billed as the crowning pinnacle on this amazing hike, so we were upset to find out that the Europa hut was full Friday night. We looked at the map and decided to reserve beds at the Domhutte, on the slopes of Switzerland’s tallest mountain.

We finally left Zinal around 11 AM, a disappointingly late start since Gruben lay a solid 6 hours away. The trail out of Zinal was straight up but then leveled out to a very beautiful, nearly flat trail. The vista behind us (up valley) was impressive! On the other side of the Forcletta, we were treated to the visual wonders of the Turtmantall valley. The most impressive part was the Weisshorn, whose knife-edged summit was creating its own weather as snow blew off the ridge. The hike was beautiful and only gradually downhill until the end.

We walked through a sheep farm with some very cute, confused, and noisy inhabitants. At one point, the farmer lit a small fire. They all started bleating and ran toward him. Then just as the first sheep got to him they suddenly realized that you shouldn’t run into a fire, and the whole herd took a sharp right turn, bleating even more. They were very wary of us, too, but were cute even when they were running away baa-ing.

We had to stop for several pictures on the way down on account of the views. Once the trail started descending in earnest, we high-tailed it to Gruben in a record downhill time for the Harper’s. We made it to our hostel right about 7:00 – a long day!

On top of the Forcletta, we had decided it was time to eat/”cook” the food we bought in La Sage. So Chris poured macaroni into his nalgene to let them soften. Then in Gruben we combined the wet, mushy noodles with a can of diced tomatoes, tuna, and cheese. Holy crap, it was disgusting!! We both ate as much as we could but were gagging by the end and threw a bunch away. We took our cheap butts into the hotel restaurant and each had a beer. Chris had an enormous plate of fries and I had some delicious homemade pumpkin soup. I think it made up for the awful macaroni mixture and only cost about $16. Our beds were in the attic but were the only ones up there and the beds were amazingly comfortable.

Leaving Zinal, far below

Hiking up the Forcletta

The Weisshorn is my new favorite mountain.

Our hotel in Gruben, the Waldesruh

Day 10: Moiry to Zinal

Compared to yesterday, the views today were only okay. The best part of the day was finding a hotel by 2:30 and having all afternoon to unwind. It was so cold when we woke up! We broke camp and were on the trail in 30 minutes. We passed the Alpage again in time to see a cow herder taking the cows out for the day. It was a funny sight – this rough looking man yelling in a monotone voice, the cows spilling out of a barrack, blinking in the sun and slowly picking their way through the shit-strewn exit. Now that’s a slice of Switzerland not everyone gets to see!

We made it past the dam (“barrage”) of Lac Moiry after an hour, had breakfast, removed some layers, and were on our way again. The climb up Corne de Sorebois was supposed to take 1:50 but we got into a really nice rhythm and made it in 1:30. Woohoo! I guess 9 days of hiking is starting to pay off. Also, Chris was brought down to my pace because he carried all the food, to help give my knees a break. What a guy!

The hike down sucked, except for the views of the 4500 m tall Weisshorn (14,700 ft). It was definitely knee-jarring, and Chris took my sleeping bag to make sure mine weren’t completely destroyed. The other good thing about the descent was a playground near a lift station with an awesome zip line.

We spent the afternoon drinking coffee, browsing the grocery store and sports shops ($30 for a pair of hiking socks!?), searching for a mysterious sizzling cheesy dish (maybe Raclette?), making phone calls and writing post cards. We also ran into Mike and Jenny, it was good to see them! We splurged on dinner since last night was free. I accidentally ordered a plate of meat (“asainette Valainase”) that turned out to be delicious (bacon, salami, proscutto, and something else salty and amazing), and Chris got glorified macaroni and cheese. Mixed together, the two plates were phenomenal!

I'd been wishing for a zip line on every down hill.

The nice town of Zinal, which we had several hours to enjoy.

One plate of meat, coming right up!

Day 9: La Sage to Alpage du Moiry

I realized last night after reading a friend's blog about following her dreams, that I never finished posting about the Haute Route. I should probably be writing about Liberia but let's take this one country at a time ;)

Day 9
Hiking in the Alps rules! This was one of my favorite days. Amazing considering the day started with a slight hiccup. We left the gite fairly early and went to a grocery store. We bought all sorts of stuff to make dinner at the Chalet du Moiry. Then we called the Chalet and found out they were full … and there are no other options within a 1-1/2 hour walk! Well, we decided to just figure it out as we went and set off toward the Col de Torrent. It was a long hike up but the views were amazing. One of the most impressive sights was an icefield at the head of one of the 2 valleys below us. The largest peak emerging from all the snow and ice was Tete Blanche, which is in Italy. Even though the hiking was hard at times, all I needed was to take in the views and I would feel re-energized.

We spent an hour at the top enthralled by the vista. It was amazing how much of our journey we could see. There was Rosa Blanche (above the Grand Desert), the Grand Combin, the Pigne de Arolla, Aguilles Rouges, Mont Blanche de Chielon (above Cab. Dix), and Grand Dent! Whew! As we headed down toward the absurdly blue Lac Moiry, we decided we wanted to camp. The day was pristine and the mountains at the head of the valley were impressive and glacier-clad – the kind of thing you could look at for hours. We tried to find the owner of the alpage (which maybe means “ranch”?) but he wasn’t around, so we headed back up the trail and found a perfect campsite in between some of the small hills. It was heavenly!

We laid in the sun and read, and watched shadows creep across the glaciers. Can life get any better?? As the sun got lower we set up the tent and “feasted” on half of our lunch for the next day, plus a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar. It was a very cold night, though, and a frost set in and dusted our packs. Not the best night’s sleep but worth it for the views and tranquility of the evening!

PS This morning Chris’ pack weighed 35 lbs and mine weighed 30 lbs (pre-groceries). We had no coffee, and our heart rates were below 52 bpm each!

A view back up the valley on the way up the Col de Torrent. Arolla is up the valley on the right. Les Haudres is on the valley floor.

One of the best lunch spots of the trip.

Typical signage at trail junctions.

I wouldn't mind being back here right now!

Best camping spot ever! We spent the afternoon lounging in the grass and reading.

Sad News

My adviser's son was in a really serious car accident early Tuesday morning. I don't know all the details but it sounds like he was thrown from the car and has several broken bones. :( He's had surgery and is in stable condition but probably has 6-12 months of recovery ahead of him. This is really sad news, and I feel really bad for my adviser. He's had to deal with lots of frustrations and set backs in the last year and this must be really hard.

Now I am even more convinced that I will be getting very little input as I go forward on my PhD, at least for a few months (which of course I completely understand, he should be with his son right now). Becoming more independent is the point of the doctoral degree anyway. Today I took part in a poster session being held for the National Science Foundation's review team - they are determining whether or not CMMAP (where my funding comes from) will be renewed for the next 5 years. I hope so - I'm enjoying the research here and the opportunities to interact with other grad students and scientists, and the educational and outreach activities. Anyway, doing the poster made me realize how many different things I am interested in right now, and it's hard to decide which topics to focus on. I am feeling pessimistic about the feasibility of my proposed doctoral research. The model I'd like to use is still being developed, and could take a couple of years to be ready. But, like I said, I still have lots of interesting things to do and maybe that project can still happen one day.

I went to a meeting at NCAR last week on their land surface model and had a couple of good conversations. I met a PhD student from Arizona, who is analyzing observations and dynamic vegetation models in the Amazon. We are both interested in the drought sensitivity of the Amazon so it was useful to meet him. I also talked with someone who used to be in my research group about looking at a vegetation model forced by future climate scenarios. This sounds great to me b/c I could look at the Amazon forest's response to a range of possible climates, giving an envelope of possibilities. (Some models predict the Amazon forest will disappear by 2100 because of climate change. I am dubious of this result. However I'm also dubious that people will stop cutting down the forest, unfortunately.) Also the model he uses does a good job of representing the current Amazon, which is something lots of land surface models don't do. That is a pretty important first step before predicting the future!

Ok, I've rambled, which is ok because the server with all my data is down right now. But now that I've reminded myself of all these research interests, I'm sure I can find something productive to do, other than writing on my blog. :)

Colorado vs Liberia

So far, coming home from Liberia has been bittersweet. I actually wish we had a few more days there, things didn't really come together until the last few days and it would have been fun to have some more time to get to know the friends we made there. I keep thinking about how different life is here! So in honor of that, here are some things I've been grateful for since returning, and things that I've missed.

Grateful for:
- electricity and running water
- brushing my teeth with the tap water
- how clean it is here
- my education
- our government (there's plenty to complain about but at least it works)


I don't miss:
- worrying about running over hundreds of pedestrians while driving
- all the attention that comes with being an American in Africa (especially when holding a camera ...)
- people assuming that just b/c I'm American I have plenty of money to spare
- sweating all day
- not being sad or wanting to cry several times a day.


I miss (oddly enough):
- seeing the status of the ants on my bathroom wall each morning
- talking with Chris while showering and filling the bucket in case the water pressure runs out
- waking up to Francis' beautiful smile and hugs
- being surrounded by joyful people
- the inspiration of Rev. Luther and the Transformation International boys,
- coke with real sugar
- swimming in the ocean after a long and hot day.


We have tons of pictures to go through, soon I'll start posting a few at a time with some stories.