Science Ranch - The People

This is the fifth post about Science Ranch 2014.  You can look at the previous post for more.

A Self Selecting Group of Awesome

The best part of going to a Science Ranch is the people.  Those of us that are attracted to this kind of vacation tend to have a lot in common.  We like being outdoors, we love science and other "nerd" topics, we have great senses of humor and we care for the world around us.  With so much in common it becomes easy to celebrate our differences.  Over the various trips I have made friends that I will keep for a long time to come.

The Pringle Family

This year our hosts were quite different than we experienced in the past.  The Wuanita Hot Springs Ranch is owned and run by the Pringle family.  The ranch is their home and they treat it (and its guests) as such.  The Pringles are traditional without being old fashioned, genuinely good people and went out of their way to interact with the guests and make sure that everyone was having fun.

The man on the right is Ryan Pringle, talking to us about an old gold mine we were exploring.

Wranglers

Working for the Pringles are a host of wranglers.  They are a fun loving bunch that know their stuff.

Bonus Track:

At the end of the week the Pringle family and other ranch employees put on a live music show.  It was quite good actually.  One of the wranglers sang this song:

Science Ranch - Black Canyon

This is the fourth post about Science Ranch 2014.  You can look at the previous post for more.

One of our side trips during Science Ranch was to go to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  We had a wonderful time exploring the park and seeing the amazing sights.

The Blue Mesa Dam

Our first stop was at the far east end of the canyon, where a large dam holds back the Blue Mesa reservoir.  It is not the largest dam by any stretch, but it is still imposing when looking at it from below.

Chasm

One of our stops was called Chasm.  Chasm is a wider part of the canyon and offers great views and the ability to look almost directly down the canyon side.

Yep, that's a vertical panorama.

Painted Wall

The painted wall gives an excellent view of the varied geology present.  Our geologist Holly spent some time here guiding us through a millions of years of geologic history.

Ranger Paul

Our guide for this trip was Ranger Paul.  Paul has a great store of knowledge of the park and it's history, as well as a great love for the place.

Bonus Track:

I couldn't resist...

Science Ranch - Horse Riding

This is the third post about Science Ranch 2014.  You can look at the previous post for more.

If you are going to a guest ranch, even a science themed one, you have to ride horses.  For the average geek this will be a new experience, possibly even a scary one.  It is, however, something everyone should try at least once.

Something unique about Wuanita is where they get their horses.  The owner prefers to get retired ranch horses, ones that have spent their life working.  He feels that a working horse will be better behaved for his guests.  The horses tend to be more than ten years old.

My horse bore this out.  I'm an infrequent rider, though I've had enough experience to be fairly good at trail riding.  My horse, Dr. Seuss (!), was easily the best behaved creature I have ever rode.  Not everyone had the same experience, but on the whole I think that was the case.  My horse was named Seuss because his forehead marking looks like a Truffula tree.

The trails around the ranch range through private land, Buereau of Land Management land and National Forest.  We caught nearly the perfect week this year, as nearly every flower possible was in bloom.

Finally, at the end of the week, we participated in arena games.  This is my first time with this and it was a lot of fun.  The kids gave skill demonstrations:

The adults competed in cattle penning.  We actually cut cows from a small herd at one end of the arena and moved them into a pen at the other side.

Great fun.

Bonus Track:

At the start of the kids demonstration, our host played this song.  In his words "the most cowboy song ever".  He played the original but this version is pretty cool:

Science Ranch - Sessions and Scientists

This is the second post about Science Ranch 2014.  You can look at the previous post for more.

What makes Science Ranch different from other vacation packages is the science.  (Sorry, a little too literal there.)  This year we had two excellent scientists with us.

The first is geologist Holly Brunkal.  Holly is a a teacher at Western State Colorado University and has become a friend over the years.  Her enthusiasm is contagious and she can speak to kid and adult alike.

John Sowell is a biologist from Western State as well.  His knowledge of the Gunnison area flora and fauna is vast.  He is a great fun to talk with and I hope to meet up with him again in the future.

Our science sessions came in the form of hikes.  As we walked impromptu outdoor classrooms sprung up in the trees and rocks as we learned about unique aspects of the spot we were in.

Every clear night Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) got out his telescope and a dozen or more adults and kids looked up at the sky while Phil talked about what we saw.  At the end of the week he gave a talk (over desert) about the Curiosity Mars rover.  If you ever have the chance to go to one of Phil's talks, please do.  You will not be disappointed.

Bonus Track:

Since this post was about science, here is Thomas Dolby and Buzz Aldrin:

Science Ranch! (Again!)

So, another six months another Science Ranch.  (I guess the last one was Space Ranch, but it counts.)

I've always been one to adventure.  As a teen in high school and early college I (sometimes with my brother and a few friends) would traipse through the woods of north Georgia, often straying from the trail to find hidden gems in the woods, abandoned shacks, wild turkeys and even an abandoned copper mine that became an underground lake.

Having kids did not change things much, and once our finances supported it we started exploring many of the cool places in the country.  Moab UT, Shenandoah VA, Jackson WY.  It became a separate part of our lives.  Go out, adventure, separate from our daily lives of games, technology and mental activity.  Do not get me wrong, these were amazing experiences that I would not give up for anything.  But there is so much we could have learned about where we were.  Our guides and outfitters knew some, but only enough to keep the average persons interest.

That is why I keep coming back to each Science Ranch.  I get all the outdoors and adventure I an handle and I get the depth of understanding about the world I'm adventuring in.

This year, Science Ranch was held in Gunnison, CO at the Wuanita Hot Springs Ranch.  The Gunnison basin is surrounded on all sides by large mountain ranges.  This gives it a somewhat unique ecology.  It also has a mining history and that makes the geology fun as well.  It is also remarkably beautiful and supports lots of great outdoor activities.

In the next few posts I'm going to expand on the trip, but to give you a flavor of what I experienced and to help me work on my writing.  In the mean time here are a few pictures from the trip.

Bonus Track:

Since this was a vacation (and I adore cover songs)...

Everyday Happiness

This is not really on topic for what I intend this blog to be about, but this is as good of a place as any for long form writing.

Not long after I moved in with the person who would become my (ex-)wife I was trying to describe what it was like growing up in my family.  I used the words that sprang into my head and in a few sentences gained clarity for myself about what I wanted in life.

Life when I was a child had rhythm, a cadence.  This was the pace life worked.  Not too fast, not too slow.  Don't chase the lofty highs to avoid the crash that would follow.  Whether or not it was intentional, my parents seemed to strive to keep cadence.  As a child or as an adult the happiest memories I have come from times in my life that had a rhythm, many of my worst memories come when there is none.

Having cadence does not mean being boring, emotionally reserved or quietly trudging through life.  That's not what I want, I wish that on no one.  I want to be active, emotionally boisterous and inspire laughter.  I want to internalize the hard lessons of the last year, grow, have adventures.  Cadence does not prevent those things, it engenders them.  I look around me and the most joyful couples and families have caught their own rhythm, accumulating happiness at a steady pace.

So, as I'm build my life into its new configuration, I try to add people and things that inspire cadence.  I'm thinking about it in the choices I make, as I get to know a new friend.  When I meet a woman who may make a good partner, I think about if we could have a rhythm together, and the everyday happiness that goes along with it.

I can't say when all the pieces will fall together, or even if they will.  With the help of friends old and new I am better prepared, and I know so much more about what I want and what it looks like when I see it.  I remain hopeful.

Bonus Track

Given the nature of this post, I thought I'd highlight a song from Jonathan Coulton that highlights some of the subject.  If you have never heard of Jonathan Coulton, well, bad on you.  Go here and be enriched.

Blood Mountain and a new Hiking Pack

As part of getting ready to move to Denver, I have taken it upon myself to re-take my favorite hikes here in north Georgia.  Yesterday it was Neil's gap to the top of Blood Mountain on the Appalachian trail.  It is only two and a half miles one way, but you climb about 1500 feet from the base of the approach trail to the very top.  Parts of it are steep and quite rocky, which is unusual for Georgia.

I think this is how Frodo got into Mordor.

Parts of this trek are less of a trail and more of a collection of white rectangular blazes randomly scattered on trees and rocks.  That makes it one of the toughest and most fun hikes here in Georgia.  At the end you get this beautiful view.

My parents house is actually on one of these mountains.

I sent a pic from the top to a friend of mine in Denver.  (Cell coverage at the top, not many empty places left in Georgia.)  She though it was cute that I called it a mountain.  At it is true that Colorado's mountains are bigger.  Blood mountain is less than 4,500 feet in elevation and is less than 2,000 from base to summit.  In a month I'll be living at a higher elevation than the top of Blood Mountain.

New Hiking Pack!

Over the years I've had various backpacks I've used for hiking.  Most of them were repurposed from my kids or simply cheap to purchase.  As spring approached I decided to actually get a couple of packs that are actually designed for hiking.  Both are day packs, one for shorter hikes, one for longer ones.

My short hike pack is really an oversized fanny pack with two water bottles.  While a bit eighties, it works very well for a few hour hike, or as a second pack when hiking with a group.

My long hike pack comes from No Limits.  I choose it for the amount of space it had and how it felt on my back.  I don't know how long it will last or how well it is made, but it feels sturdy.  Loaded with lunch, first aid kit, camera, phone and two genuine Science Getaways water bottles I was able to carry it for hours without my shoulders wearing out.  I'm very happy with it.

I'm not professional enough to use a neutral background.

Bonus Track

As a kid all the way to now I have loved the work of painter Bob Ross (aka Fuzz Head).  I can watch his shows (which ran on PBS for eons) simply to listen to his quiet voice and watch him create something beautiful in a short time.  He inspired me to take up painting in college and for a while it was an obsession.  I was even kind of good for a while, had a few pieces in a gallery show.

The 538 blog ran a statistical analysis of Bob Ross' paintings, and I thought it was a fun read.  Here is a link to it.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-statistical-analysis-of-the-work-of-bob-ross/

Jon.