Fail.

Mike has been plotting a secret Labor Day camping/hiking trip for months, ever since we got back from South Dakota. Usually I'm the trip planner, so I was really excited to see what he had put together. We bought a backpacking stove and freeze-dried meals and like 15 Clif bars, we made a ton of PBJ sandwiches and packed up all of our camping/backpacking gear. Then we drove four hours to Blue Mesa Reservoir, arriving close to midnight.

Then I spent the entire night scrambling in and out of my mummy sleeping bag, running from the tent to the vault toilet.

Over. And. Over. Again.

Ugh.

Thanks, stomach bug.

So, the secret camping trip ended quite abruptly. Mike was planning on hiking Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks -- two 14ers about two hours from our campsite -- on Saturday. On Sunday we were going to hike down into Black Canyon of the Gunnison for an overnight stay, and then we were going to hike back up out of the canyon on Monday.

Sounded incredible.

Instead, we spent Saturday morning driving through Black Canyon to see it from a tourist's perspective (aka the side of the road), then the afternoon driving back to Denver. Mike, of course, was a real trooper throughout my tearful, exhaustion-induced breakdowns (I felt really bad for ruining everything). Always thankful for that guy.

Regardless of the less-than-perfect outcome of the trip, we did manage to have a good weekend...after I spent the next 24 hours either on the couch or in my bed. Monday I felt much better, so we squeezed in a 6-mile hike in Indian Peaks Wilderness to Blue Lake.

And then we topped off the weekend with cream cheese & jalapeno stuffed burgers and Reese's s'mores. (Obviously by Monday night, my stomach was feeling much better!).

Peace, Love, and RuinedTrips.

This Week.

It's been a long week.


A very, very long week.

But I realized it was a week full of learning experiences. Here's what I learned:

I cannot run a mile as fast as I thought I could.
I have the ability to eat donuts 3 days in a row and not gain weight (this is a really great skill to have).
You can't always trust doctors or dentists, and sometimes you are way smarter than them even though they have an advanced degree that cost 94579871656 dollars.
I love hearing Conrad yell my name when I walk in the door: "Ant Isti! YAY!" Melts my heart.
U.S. Bank is annoying. So is Wells Fargo.
I can still cry to my mom when I have a bad day.
My husband rocks (but I guess I already knew that).
When the cat knocks water on to your computer, it doesn't actually break the computer -- it only causes it to make strange random beeping noises that are as loud as a smoke detector.
It's a great feeling when you can go to a restaurant with friends who you haven't seen in a year and begin dinner with a conversation about oral hygiene and how to keep your retainers from getting smelly. (True story, that conversation happened).



I'm glad it's Friday.

Not for the Faint of Heart.

This post is about poo.

Just thought I'd get that out there before you keep reading.

Because you see, people poo here at McMurdo, and we have to do something with their droppings.

Which is why the Wastewater Treatment Center exists. And yesterday, I got to tour it! Sounds gross, but it was actually really interesting to learn about the process...of processing...what our body processes. :)

I'm sure you're dying to know about processed poo (and other such nastiness), so I'll explain it. The waste (everything from toilet water to galley water to shower water) comes in and is ground up before it goes through a filter. After passing through a filter, it goes into the Aeration Tank, where it literally gets eaten by amoebas and other tiny bacteria-eating parasites.

After all the "bad stuff" is eaten by the amoebas, the solid waste settles on the bottom of what's called the Clarifier, and the water runs out of the Clarifier to get disinfected by UV light.



Yes, I did ask if I could use this machine to work on my tan.


After it goes tanning, the water just goes right back out into the ocean! The solid waste, however, still has a ways to go. After the waste is separated from the water, it goes into the Digester, which aerates the waste further and separates more moisture from the solids.

After it goes through the Digester, the waste moves on to the Belt Filter Press, where it gets pressed to squish out all of the leftover moisture. The leftovers are packed away in boxes so the vessel can carry them back to Port Hueneme where they meet their tragic fate: death by incineration.

Belt Filter Press

Box o' Poo

So....that's how poo gets processed down here. I thought it was interesting, albeit a tiny bit disgusting. :)

Peace, Love &....well, Poo!