Off to Alaska!

I am off to Alaska! I leave on Sunday.

Thank You

Northeast Passage for lending me a cross country ski to use! Without it I'd be nowhere and their lending it to me shows what a big family adaptive programs really are.

Fischer Skis for donating a pair of twin tips

New England Disabled Sports, who helped scholarship me and offers me so much support!

Julbo generously sponsored my with a stylish pair of mountaineering glasses to help protect my eyes up there!

GoGirl sent me out some product to help me figure out exactly can a chick go the bathroom on a glacier, More on this when I have experience.

My family and friends who have out up with my chaos and stress in preparing.

And lastly, Telluride Adaptive Sports Program for putting on this trip and offering me the Heidi Kloos Scholarship to Help it all come together.

Making this happen has been such a massive collaborative effort and to see so many groups working together to make this happen for me for seems miraculous. This trip is nothing short of a fairy tale for me and I am so grateful for everyone who has made it that much easier for me to go.

Regional Geology: Oregon Coast

As a 1 credit class for geology majors, we have a chance to do some intense in the field learning. This semester the class was a four day field trip to the Oregon Coast. It was a 9 hour drive, each way, and included about 15 stops total. The weather ranged from snow, to intense rain, to sun, but for the most part we were graced with some beautiful sunshine.

The stops ranged from an ocean research ship, which was absolutely amazing, to view points off the side of the road, to strolls along the beach.

Mary's Peak decided to snow on us.

Favorite Picture

This science center was amazing! We got to touch sea annenomes!

The Wecoma Science Research ship. An amazing stop on our trip. I would love to work on a boat like this.

I fell in love with this slump.

Terraces all along the coast.

Making our way back to campus.

The Month of May

Regional Geology Trip to the Oregon Coast

Kayaked the something (I forget what river it was) and did my first combat roll

I finished my freshman year of college

I drove across the country from Washington to New Hampshire in four days

Went into a cowboy store. And left with a hat for myself and boots for my sister's graduation present.

Received my quarterly botox shots.

Handmade my sisters birthday card.

Had the best conversation with a three year old about how my wheelchair is like her stroller.

Asked my doctor to pay me for once.

Saw more shredded tires than necessary.

Watched my little sister graduate!

John Day Trip

For my geology literature class "Pages of Stone" we took a trip down to the John Day formation down in Oregon. Three days, and two very cold nights of camping were spent attempting to stay warm. This is mainly a picture post, because my words won't do it justice.

However, out of the trip we wrote essays about processes we witnessed throughout the trip, and I'll just end my talking by saying I wrote a nice little piece about a serpent rock that eats other rocks. 

Our lunch stop on the first day, notice the snow on the ground.

The first time we used the iPads was at this outcrop to avoid the hike uphill. The iPad set up, worked flawlessly and I was even able to see some wonderful scoria patterns.

Simon, for scale of course.

Geology is an arm waving major. 

The Painted Hills

The entire group inside the John Day Fossil Beds, which were quite a trek into.

Reason to be a Geology Major #3

Marshmallow Volcanoes on Regional Geology trips

Whitman Articles

Accessibility prioritized on Whitman campus
Published April 14, 2011



ARC provides assistive technology for student use
Published April 21, 2011

Whitewater frees student from “disabled” label
Published October 20, 2010

Reason to be a Geology Major #2

We get to do constant experiments, not even in lab. It's fantastic. Especially in the case of volcanoes, which as an explosive feature, means we get to explode things. 

A fish bowl full of flour on a hot plate. In most instances, I would sure nothing good could come of this, but we have an awesome teacher who comes up with the BEST hands on activities! She snuck a balloon into the bowl before class and no one knew it was there. When the hot plate heated up the balloon, it increased the pressure, causing the balloon to expand and pop, simulating an awesome Caldera Volcano. Seriously, try this at home. Part of me was hoping the flour would just explode all over; it was a Friday afternoon at the end of a long week. But the good news is we were rewarded with candy.

Doing experiments like this make me so excited and happy I chose Whitman. If I were at a larger school, I am highly doubtful I would be doing all of these crazy experiments and enjoying my classes so much.