Weekend with Family!

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to visit with family in Eugene, Oregon. Uncle Tom (Dad's uncle on his mother's side) and his wife, Aunt Carol, have lived in Eugene for more than 20 years, and Aunt Pat (Dad's aunt on the same side, Uncle Tom's sister) moved out here about four years ago. I can definitely see why they love it here so much- there are infinite things to do and see, and it's all wonderful! It was even more fun because my roommates decided to make the trip south as well, so we all got to meet up at Tom and Carol's house on Friday night.

The four of us (Jamie, Kaleb, Biz, and me) left work a bit early on Friday, but we hit terrible traffic on the interstate. Apparently we weren't the only ones who were anxious to start the weekend! We finally arrived in Eugene and met Aunt Carol, who thankfully had snacks waiting for us (she's a smart lady- a house full of 20-something-year-olds, she stocked up on food!). Uncle Tom has a pet sitting business, so he was busy with his evening walks for most of the night, but he was able to make it before everybody headed to bed. Aunt Pat also came over to enjoy the nice evening in the backyard with us. We sat around and talked and ate, and the menagerie kept us entertained all evening. Let's see if I can get it right: Tom and Carol have 4 dogs- Sandy, Conrad (who LOVES to play fetch), Shelly, and Monty- and 4 cats- Sarah, Zoey, and two more I can't remember, oh no! Aunt Pat also has lots of companions running around: Dogs Elliott and Buddy, and cats Rudy and Kiwi.

The four of us stayed at Aunt Pat's house overnight, and had a delicious breakfast and lots of attention from Buddy in the morning. He and Jamie had become very good friends by that time, and he gave lots of sad, pouty faces when it was time for her to leave. Aunt Pat got some great pictures on her camera of our whole crew before they left. We made a brief trip to the Saturday market in downtown Eugene, which was full of local crafts and food. Then my roommates left to head toward the coast for some hiking and touring. Aunt Pat and I met Aunt Carol, and we did a driving tour of the University of Oregon campus, where we met up with Uncle Tom- after his morning walks were done- for our afternoon excursion along scenic Route 242 in the McKenzie Valley.

Our first stop was a short (although not as short as we expected!) hike through a lava flow to Proxy Falls.

It was a beautiful place to hike.

The horticulturalists examining the flora. :)

It was a beautiful day!

Lower Proxy Falls.

Upper Falls, which form a pool at the bottom that just drains into the ground- no visible stream runs away from the falls.

Aunt Carol and Uncle Tom examining the water.

Aunt Pat the photographer.

This tree was working so hard to remain upright: it had even wrapped its roots around a fallen log!

The pool at Upper Proxy Falls.

Aunt Pat, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Carol.

After a lunch break, we continued on to the Dee Wright Observatory, which is built out of lava rocks, right in the middle of a basalt (lava) flow. It's an incredible place with amazing views of many Cascade peaks. Inside, it even has windows that perfectly frame each visible peak on the horizon, labeled with signs so you know what you are looking at. If you'd like to read more about the observatory itself, click here.

Dee Wright Observatory.

View from the observatory: Mount Washington (left), Mount Jefferson (right, with snow), and if you look closely, TINY Mount Hood is peeking up over the slope of Jefferson (just a tiny tip of snow visible from 78 miles away).

Two of the Three Sisters volcanoes, from the observatory.

Climbing the stairs to the top of the observatory.

Mount Jefferson (left) and the tiny peak of Mount Hood (snowy peak on the right slope).

Mount Washington. It looks so funny because it has been eroded away over time, especially by the glaciers until 10,000 years ago. The goofy neck in the middle is the hardest, strongest rock, which has resisted erosion the most.

Three-Fingered Jack over the trees.

Lava, trees, the sky, and the moon. Beautiful.

Broken Top, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister (left to right- Middle & North are close together).

Mom, we found a note for you! Who's CW?

Sahalie Falls, our last stop before we got into Sisters, OR and headed back home.

We ate a delicious Mexican dinner, then visited for a while (Aunt Pat and Aunt Carol got to see some recent family pictures, including an especially flattering one of Kayla... !). When Aunt Pat and I started to head to bed, we got talking en route, and found ourselves standing in the hallway 30 minutes later. We'd gotten wrapped up in conversation and hadn't even realized we were just stopped in the hallway, rather than sitting someplace comfortable. We decided that since it was 1am, we should probably get some sleep!

On Sunday morning, Aunt Pat, Uncle Tom, Aunt Carol and I met up for breakfast, and then it was time to say goodbye. It was sad to say goodbye to all of the family and pets. Uncle Tom, Aunt Carol, and Aunt Pat, I can't thank you enough for your hospitality and for such a fun weekend! I had a great time, and I hope we can do it again someday!

I met back up with my roommates in Corvallis, OR, where Oregon State University is located, an we explored their annual da Vinci Days event, which is a big art and science festival. We had a good time, and some of the exhibits were really interesting. I got to see a friend who graduated from Colgate before I got there, but who I have met several times through geology work (she is getting her PhD at OSU).

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend!

Camping and Working at MSH

The volcano gods must not be too angry with me, because last week we got two days of flying and a beautiful night of camping in the gravel yard at Mount St. Helens. On Tuesday morning, we got to CVO at 6am to learn that a marine layer had rolled in, and it was too cloudy for the helicopter to even get off the ground to meet us. So we were delayed a bit, but eventually got the okay to make the 2-hour drive north to the landing site. It was a tense morning, because everybody had a lot of work to do, and it we weren't sure when- or if- the sky would clear. Eventually the lower worksites were visible, so the teams working in locations below the clouds began heading out. We waited and waited, and eventually we could see the sky, so we made it out onto the mountain by early afternoon!

I was working with Mike again, the geodesist who studies deformation at volcanoes, along with Dave, who is a geologist who works with lots of different teams. He's a great guy to have in the field- an awesome hiker and smart worker who knows everything about the mountain! So we had a good time, even though nothing went as we had planned...

Mike and I flew up to the dome first, after we loaded all of our heavy equipment into nets to be sling loaded up to the mountain. After we landed, we had to wait for the helicopter to drop (literally!) our stuff off. So we got to work trying to pull the old, broken tiltmeter out of the ground so that it could be repaired. We rigged a setup of hydraulic jacks, a 2 x 6 and a chain attached to the tiltmeter by a hook, but we couldn't find a solid base on all of the loose rock (and then we broke one of the cables we were trying to attach to!), so we decided to wait for the rest of the equipment. Luckily, it was on its way!

Helicopter with half of our equipment in the sling load.

It's pretty cool to see a helicopter carrying 500 lbs. of equipment at the end of a rope just set it down and fly away!

Dave Sherrod setting up the tiltmeter extraction device.

After all of our equipment and Dave arrived, he got back to work on the old tiltmeter. Notice how much the snow has melted from the last time we were here!

Drilling equipment.

Mike and I set out to try drilling for the new tiltmeter where we had poured the concrete pad last time out. As we started clearing out rocks and digging a hole, though, we realized that the site we had chosen was one big pile of rocks, and there probably wouldn't be anything stable enough to drill a core out of. We worked for a couple of hours, but couldn't find a good place to install the tiltmeter. Eventually we went back up to help Dave with the extraction process, and all the three of us succeeded in doing was breaking another cable and bending two steel hooks... I think that tiltmeter just wanted to stay put, right where it was!

Mike walking back to check for supplies. There was a lot more snow here last time!

Ta-da! Clouds! The view OUT of the crater is out there somewhere... usually that's where you can see Mt. Rainier!

The clouds came and went periodically throughout the day. Luckily the clouds were high enough at the end of the day for the chopper to get to us, so we didn't have to hike out of the crater (yikes!)!

Between the clouds and the steam, we really felt like we were in our own little world. We could still hear all the rockfalls in the crater, but couldn't see anything... that was a little eerie!

View of the mountain from the flight down. The clouds were just barely high enough that the dome was visible and the helicopter could get in.

At the end of the day, we returned to the gravel yard to set up camp. It was a really nice night despite the mosquitoes, and we enjoyed the evening view of the mountain! Mike made a great spaghetti dinner, and we listened to the elk bleating in the distance.

Pink mountain in the evening.

Jamie and me doing dishes, and Ben "supervising."

Then it was time for some fun pictures!

The next morning, we headed back to the site at the dome to give it one more shot (both drilling and pulling), but in the end we decided to switch to Plan B (or C or D...) and move the drill to a new site, located on the east side of the dome. So we loaded our equipment back into the sling load nets and headed to Rembrandt site. It was a beautiful, clear morning, and it was refreshing to stand up out of the tent in the morning and look into the crater of Mount St. Helens!

With so much more snow melted, the different layers of lava flows, fallout, and pyroclastic material are more obvious in the crater walls.

Dave and me unloading the helicopter at Rembrandt.

View of the dome from Rembrandt (looking toward the west- the view out of the crater is to the right).

Helicopter delivering the rest of the drilling equipment.

Dave had already scouted out the new location, so we knew it would be a better place for drilling. We got everything all set up and secured, and started drilling into the hard rock. My roommate Jamie and her supervisor Ben joined us, to start setting up the rest of the electronic equipment (antenna, solar panel, etc.) for the tiltmeter.

Mike and me drilling.

It was a slow process, but we seemed to be making good progress- made it about 6 feet into the rock- when all of a sudden the drill jammed. We couldn't drill down any farther, and we couldn't pull it up mechanically. We were stuck!

Trying to decide how to fix our drill problem.

Drill stuck in the rock.

So we decided it was time for lunch!

It took all three men with wrenches, twisting the shaft, and me cranking up on the drill, but after about an hour we finally released the drill. Unfortunately, the threads on one section had stretched, so one piece was lost in the hole. It's also not quite deep enough to fully install the tiltmeter, but it was enough for a temporary installation until the next trip to finish the job.

So, it turns out the new site we'd chosen to drill for tiltmeter installation was a very solid place to work... I don't think the meter will go anywhere once it's installed! They are working on plans for the final installation, but I'm not sure if I'll still be here to get to help. I can't believe next week is my last week here!

All in all, it was a long and busy trip, and many things didn't go as we would have liked, but we now have a good location for a tiltmeter and I had a lot of fun! It's such an incredible place to work.

My roommate Jamie and me.

Getting ready to fly down to the trucks at the end of the trip. All done for now!

P.S. It really was amazing to see how much snow had melted since my first trip onto the mountain. Notice the difference between these two pictures, taken at the exact same place, 3 weeks apart:

First trip

Second trip

Goonies Weekend

Last weekend, my roommates and I spent Saturday in one of the neighborhoods of Portland, checking out the annual Mississippi Avenue Street Fair. It was packed with vendors and local artists, with lots of music and lots of interesting clothing styles! The people of Portland have very unique tastes. We had a great time, though, and we ran into Angie, one of the scientists who lives in Portland who is always encouraging us to explore the city some more. She was very proud that we'd made our way into the neighborhoods.

Saturday night, we rented the 1980s cult classic The Goonies and watched it as research for our Sunday trip to the northern Oregon coast. We had planned a trip to Astoria and Cannon Beach, which is where the movie was filmed. There was a big 25th Goonies anniversary celebration at the beginning of June, but we had all just arrived so we didn't make it then. But we made up for it last weekend!

Ship on the water in Astoria.

Astoria is a really neat little old-fashioned fishing town.

We found it!

The Goonies house! I wonder why they chose this particular house for the movie?

This is the Astoria Column. It's at a high point on the perfect overlook, so you can climb up and see the towns and the water below. It's painted with scenes from the history of the region.

At the top of The Column.

View from The Column.

Overlooking Astoria from The Column.

Cannon Beach.

Cannon Beach.

Haystack Rock- a crucial part of the Goonies film as well.

Haystack Rock.

Kaleb and Biz are tired out after a long day!

We think we also saw the school where Kindergarten Cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was filmed (also in Astoria), but it's been so long since any of us have seen it, we can't be sure!