Choose another map, showing:

• USA (west)
• Mexico
• North America
• Transatlantic
• The World

Other entries in San Diego

Last week before Christmas

This week everyone was looking forward to the break. We still worked hard, but I feel like it wasn't as hard as the other weeks. It was a short week for us and was jam packed with so much to do.

Monday - Today we finished up the trail we had been restoring. At the end we made a loop that made it go back around to where it came from. At the end was a look out point that was really pretty. It was Dan's (Ranger Patty's husband) 60th birthday. Their kids came in town so we got to meet them. We went out to Olive Garden for dinner. It was a huge group of around 25 with all 13 of us plus family and friends. It was a later night than we are used to but we enjoyed getting to go out for dinner.

Tuesday - In the morning one group went out to the trail we had built a couple of weeks ago and checked on it. We wanted to see what had happened after getting rain. The new part of the trail was still in very good condition. The rain had not washed any of it out or anything. In the afternoon we worked more on the discovery kit. It's a slow process, but we've gotten really far on it and I think it won't take much more to put it all together and be done with it.

Wednesday - In the morning we split up into two groups. One group worked on the discovery kit while the other half went to a native plant nursery to buy some plants to replace all of the plants we've removed. I went to the nursery. It was about an hour away so it took all morning driving there, picking out plants, and then driving back. That afternoon we started to plant some of them. We ran out of time planting because then it was time for Wilderness Wednesday. These local volunteers, Tom and Sue, have been sharing with us some things they have learned about survival. This week we learned how to build fire. We used a bow and drill to heat a coal which then is put into dry grass and blown on to catch on fire. Two guys on my team got it first and then I did! I had given up and taken a rest, but then I went back and tried again and I got it! That night we revealed our secret santa's for the team. We had drawn names and had been giving small gifts for about two weeks. We then had an end gift at the revealing. I had Mary, Mary had Allie, and Allie had me. We made a small triangle and that was cool to find out.

Thursday - This was our last work day! We went out and finished planting all the native plants that we didn't get to the day before. After planting plants, we removed more non-native plants, mostly caster beans. I think there are enough non-native plants to keep us busy the rest of our spike. We took half a day this day. We were about to end our morning we our Green Unit leader Jeaneen came to visit. It through us off schedule a bit, but we still got everything done. Thursday night we had a potluck at Patty's house for all of us and all her parks staff and volunteers. We also had a dirty santa gift exchange. We helped Patty bake cookies and get ready for the party.

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit