Tamika's Summer 2017

Summer is over?!? Apparently. This post will serve to update you on everything that has happened during my summer. Personally, I’d say it was a rather eventful summer, and I enjoyed most of the shenanigans I took part in.  Due to the fact this was my last summer before college, combined with
it being a somewhat busy (I actually had a real-ish job?), this summer felt noticeably different from past summers. It passed very quickly, and I felt relaxed in that I didn’t have the thought of another school year looming ahead, but at the same time, preparing for college was arguably more time consuming than any ECHS summer assignment has ever been. Enough with my musings on the nature of summer 2017. Let me write about what I actually did these past 3 months!

The beginning of summer (literally went to the airport right after graduation) started with a trip to the East Coast and Dartmouth to attend the graduation of that dear sister of mine. Yay! Mariko has a college degree. I found the juxtaposition of my ECHS graduation with her Dartmouth graduation two days later to be highly intriguing for social observational purposes, as the student body was vastly different, and high school and college are kind of different too. We were staying on a nice lake house in Vermont with the Js, so that was a load of fun and very pretty. The house seemed to have an abundance of moose-related decor, but sadly we did not manage to catch a glimpse of any meese. Notable events from this stay would include dinner with a couple of Mar’s friends and also the cake project in which Julia, Jenna, and I refrosted the King Arthur Flour cake with chocolate frosting after deconstructing the cake and removing the original buttercream.

After this little Dartmouth stint, our family headed up to Maine and Canada for a lovely family vacation. We covered a bit too much mileage (seven hours of driving  in one day was taxing both on our rear ends and our family dynamic), but it was probably worth it.

We went to Acadia (only East Coast National Park!) and then up to Canada to visit Prince Edward Island , the Bay of Fundy, and St. Andrews. We also made a quick stop in Freeport to go to the L.L. Bean and acquire a winter jacket for me. Some highlights of the trip would be the lovely coastline, red land in Canada, scenery straight out of the Anne of Green Gables movie, some nice seafood, some truly delicious PEI milk (ADL brand, ten out of ten would recommend), baby beavers and baby foxes!!, oodles of lupines in the lovely pink-purple-white color scheme, and plenty of quality hiking and family time.

Red chairs are a thing in Canada National Parks

Cool rocks at low tides

Trying to recreat Anne Shirley-Diana Barry moments :)

Acadia Views...there's an island out there

Sometimes this is necessary

More red chairs

I am ready for winter, thanks L.L. Bean

We look derpy but appreciate the lupines!

When we returned to El Cerrito from this trip, I had a couple of free weeks, mainly spent with Mariko and other family, and then Mariko went back to the Dartmouth and I started my job with Camp Galileo. During this period, we also went up to Tahoe for a quick trip. Highlights of that trip would include making ginger crème brulee (I have a blowtorch!!!!) and a 12 mile hike in desolation wilderness in which daughters and dads hiked up to a lot of beautiful lakes.

Lake at the top of our hike

Camp Galileo was my life for the next five weeks. I had the amazing and slightly exhausting task of herding 12-15 first and second graders to art, science, and outdoor classes as well as snack and lunchtime. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with these children and continued to be amazed at how hilarious, pure, and sweet young kiddos can be. So many quotable comments spout from their mouths! Also, so much fun being super goofy with them, dancing to super kid-friendly playlists, and having them guess my age (it ranged from 14 to 40-something).

I love my campers

The cherry-on-top of this summer was backpacking on the northern border of Yosemite with Andy and Grace. I cannot capture in words or pictures the beauty and peace created from being away from people, without WiFi, and surrounded by wondrous nature. I think my soul hath been cleansed and Peeler Lake will hold fond memories forever. Stargazing was a highlight, also lots of napping, the sweaty accomplished feeling of taking off my pack, and the greatness of the mountains and meadows and wow, I truly cannot describe it in ways that do it justice. Just imagine something really simple that makes you really happy and that should be about right. Kind of like the taste of cold water after a long run, but on a wayyyyy larger scale.

Meadows are my favorite

Sunrise over Peeler Lake

Barney Lake

Well, I guess I summed up my summer in five paragraphs. A few other things I feel like I should mention:

-My cousins Tom and Jack made friends with Miya so that makes me happy because I love it when people I love get along

-I tried sunbutter! Almond butter and peanut butter are my preferred but I did enjoy

-My Grandma made me sourdough starter (thanks Grandma!) so I made some fun stuff with that (mainly bread, but also waffles)

-We had a cross-country sleepover and Grace introduced me to jalapeno peppers on pizza, which I approve of highly

-I went to the SF Symphony with Grace and Jae-An J

-During my Galileo weeks I would spend Wednesday nights at my Bachan’s and it was a dream

-Running was a part of my summer because it always is

-I completely covered our living room in clothes and other belongings while I was packing for Vassar

-Stone fruit and heirloom tomatoes deserve to be mentioned, they are basically the best part of summer. My stone fruit ranking: nectarines, apricots, peaches, plums

Are there important parts of my summer that I completely forgot to mention? Definitely. Oh well. You’ll just have to wonder.