East Texas Piney Woods

I have been soaking up the good of Texas as much as possible before I head west. Of course, as I do so, time seems to go faster and faster. Last weekend I struck out to the east to hang out at my friend Brian’s parents’ lakehouse over near Sabine National Forest. Public land in Texas, you ask? Well there is a little bit of it here and there, and a fair chunk is sequestered over in the eastern part of the state where a series of dammed rivers form a chain of lakes that act as the boundary between the independent republic and our neighbor Louisiana. East Texas is different than up here and the vast, dry sprawl of West Texas into which I have ventured several times now. East Texas is green-- piney and deciduous. Where we were (to the South), there is quite a bit of Cajun ancestry and culture that has spilled over from even further east. It is hard to imagine living in an area like this given the lack of industry, the small towns, the non-existent cell phone coverage, and the preponderance of Dairy Queens (one per town, regardless of size), but little else in the way of restaurants and businesses. It didn’t really seem like a farming community, although there were many fields of hay. Something is sustaining the folks that live in East Texas, it just wasn’t obvious from looking out the car window what that might be.
Once at the lake house, the task of relaxing was all that laid before us. Brian’s parents were wonderful hosts (and excellent cooks) and the idea was to be as lazy as possible on the porch, on the dock, and in the lake (essentially the antithesis of Darron’s lake weekend—coming right up!) The rocking chairs and ceiling fans on the porch facilitated a great deal of this, as did the array of fishing poles on the dock, and the flocculent-filled, bathwater warm lake at its end. Those of you who know me well know that if there is a lake nearby, I prefer to be in it. And so I was, with occasional nibbles from something sharp amidst the murky waters providing enough of a boost to launch me straight up and out, at least momentarily.

Taking a weekend off from doing felt great. It is a rare thing for me; I remember the last time I relaxed and did nothing for a whole day-- it was in Belize in 1995 while visiting my friend Betsy. We laid on the beach (I had never and have never since been so tan as that day) and ate fish tacos and did nothing for a whole day. It was great, but apparently satiated my desire to completely relax for about 15 years. Now I am rested and ready for Lake Weekend, a trip to south Texas the weekend after that I hope, a westward odyssey, and whatever else is in store....

PS. Some folks have been asking—what is the fate of schaackmobile in Oregon? (the trailer, not the blog) Fear not aspiring hall-of-famers, your days are not numbered. The trailer will remain my primary residence in Oregon until I a) grow up or b) find a non-mobile living situation that is somehow more appealing than my current chelonian (house-on-your-back) lifestyle. Seems unlikely... once you have given up furniture and other domestic trappings (like vacuuming and household chores), it is hard to imagine ever going back. And the moving! Other than the fairly daunting idea of trying to schlep my house with my little car over the Siskyous, there is no easier moving than this. Leave everything right where it is in the house, and just move the house. None of that pesky packing or unpacking. As always, mi casa su casa.

Aquasafari

Trying to get back into the groove after a few weeks of very fun traveling. About 36 hours after I returned from Oregon, I hopped into the car with Jesse Meik and Christian Cox (both of whom have graced the cyber pages of this blog previously) to head to Mexico. Mexico? you ask. Didn't you just go to Mexico in March? Yes, I did. But there is never too much time spent in Mexico, and that is especially true when it comes to fish tacos and finding rattlesnakes. So we went back to Baja with both goals in mind, and returned victorious on one count. Boy were those fish tacos tasty! In contrast to our March expedition, this trip lacked both near-death experiences and the plethora of snakes we encountered last time. The former was a welcome change of pace, but the latter was somewhat puzzling. It was an unseasonably cold year for Baja, which made it quite comfortable for snake searching, but perhaps more difficult for snake finding. On our way out to the island, however, we had the good luck of stumbling upon a small pod of sperm whales. Yes, sperm whales! Just like the ones in the cartoons of your mind. It was very cool to see them unexpectedly, so when our snake hunting came up empty, Jesse suggested we ask Jose (the man with the boat) to take us into the shallow part of the Bay of LA where there are whale sharks. They are extremely impressive fish-- they are very shark-like in the back, very whale-like in the front, and very huge (weighing 20 tons on average, apparently the largest ever measured was ~40 ft. in length; the three we saw were about half that size). Here is a picture I took of one whale shark which totally does not do it justice, but gives you an idea of how cool it was to peer over the side of the boat and see something like this...In the end, we ended up experiencing quite the aquatic safari and got to spend some time exploring the sand dunes (pictured below) and the mountainous central part of the peninsula (pictured above). All in all-- 7 days, 4000 miles, many habitats, delicious food, and lots of cool new species for me to see and learn about. Perhaps most extraordinarily, for most people this kind of trip is vacation, but for biologists it counts as work! Yet another reason to love this job....

The Oregon Trailer

The double entendres in this blogpost title are too numerous to go through so I will leave it to you my astute reader(s?) to deduce and create. I just got back from a fantastic trip to Oregon for my sister's wedding. Yes! A wedding in the Schaack family. It has been 38 years since the last one, so we were ready for a party, and my sister knows how to throw a party! It was a joyous event at a beautiful park on top of a small mountain in Eugene with lots of friends and family and flowers and cake and music and toasts. Everyone was thrilled to be there, including Gen and Jerm and a gaggle of their favorite people who came to celebrate. Gen walked down the aisle with her loyal canine escort, Earl to the sound of In Your Eyes blasting from a radio being held over Jeremy's head. It was great, and the party, like Gen and Jerm's lives, was a great big mash up of family and friends. I was honored and excited to be there and my sister looked beautiful, as usual, but fancier.
After the wedding, a subset of the family went out to the coast to explore. We stayed in a yurt at a state park and had a ball "roughing it" in the most luxurious camping accomodations I have ever experienced. The next few days were spent mixing up visits with my family and friends in the area with some work, before heading up to Portland, my future home, for the Evolution meetings. I was not expecting much from the meeting and was trying not to expect too much from Portland, but my expectations were definitely exceeded on both counts. The meeting was fantastic and the city is so great I already feel guilty for living in such a great place and I am not even there yet. I can't do it justice, but imagine a city with terrific public transportation, beautiful topography, and delicious restaurants. Now, add the fact the the train is free in the inner city, the mountains and valleys are overrun with trees, roses, snow-caps and beautiful rivers, and the restaurants are all individually-owned and full of food made from local ingredients. These are examples of the ways in which Portland exceeded my expectations, but there are more. The only way I will be able to relieve my guilt is if everyone comes to visit so they can share in how great it is. In fact, if everyone could just move there with me, that would be great. You will not regret it! Come. Now. Or in September. Whenever works for you.