A Job Scare, Stowe Pinnacle, & Moss Glen Falls

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

So, today I almost lost my job. Actually, it all started innocently enough yesterday morning. I got a call on my cell phone from a dean at school, just as we were getting into the car to go to the Alpine Slide. The call began pleasantly, with him asking me how my summer was going. Then he mentioned the reason for his call, which was that they had received notification at school that there was some problem with my certification. He encouraged me to take care of it as soon as possible, and I assured him I would.

As soon as we got home, I logged into my school e-mail. The same dean had e-mailed me, but his e-mail message was much more alarming than his phone call. It stated that because of the problem with my certification, I was going to be terminated -- unless I got it fixed. He advised me to get in touch with a woman at the school board. Unfortunately, he didn't say exactly what the problem was. I immediately sent an e-mail to the woman, and started trying to call her. I didn't get a response to my e-mail, and the phone was constantly busy.

When we got home from Ben & Jerry's last night, I checked my e-mail, but there was still no response. I woke up at 5 this morning, thinking about it, and decided I was going to send another e-mail, reiterating the urgency of the situation. When I opened up my e-mail there was a response. She said that I was going to be terminated because I had not taken two required reading classes, which I needed in order to teach reading. When I read this, I felt relieved because, of course, I had taken the reading classes, and I realized that at least the problem could be fixed. I e-mailed her back, letting her know that I had taken the classes, and asking what I needed to do to fix the situation.

At about 7:40 a.m., I got a call from the school secretary, (to whom I'd been copying my e-mails). She wanted to make sure I'd seen the latest e-mail, which stated that they had proof of the first class I'd taken, but not the second, and here's the kicker: I needed to get proof to them by NOON TODAY in order to keep from being terminated. Lucky for me, I had a copy of the certificate from the second class on my computer, and I quickly e-mailed it off to the certification woman. When I didn't hear from her, I called her, and was actually able to get through. She looked at the certificate, said everything was fine, and wished me a good rest of the summer! Now I can laugh about it, but at the time, not so much. I can't help wondering what I would have done if I didn't have that certificate on my computer!

At about the same time I got the good news about my certification, Doug discovered that I actually HAD taped them jumping on the bungee trampoline. All in all it was a good morning!

Before my little job scare, we had planned on getting an early start on a hike up the Stowe Pinnacle trail. Our hiking brochure said it was a 2.5 hour hike, if you went at a leisurely pace. It promised a great view of Stowe from the top. Jerry figured if we started early, he would still have plenty of time to get some work done. Mom agreed to watch Zoe. Because of my troubles, we didn't actually get on the trail until about 9:15.

Here we are at the beginning of the hike, all full of energy:



Here we are about 30 minutes later, a little more subdued:



We saw some cool things along the way, like this teepee made of branches:



Kyra hadn't been feeling well before we left, but really wanted to hike, so she came anyway. She wanted to rest more often than the rest of us, and talked about turning back a couple of times. Then Katie had to go to the bathroom. Katie can hold it a really long time, so I have a feeling she did not go before we left the house. I tried to get her to go behind a tree, but she wanted no part of that. Finally, she, Kyra, and Julie, decided to turn back. At this point it was 10:30.

Doug, Jerry, & I kept going. It got steeper and rockier as we climbed:





By now, we were having to rest pretty frequently, and were glad the others had turned back. Along the way we ran into several very strong college-age kids who were working on the trail, using pick axes and shovels. Mostly it looked like they were moving rocks to make the trail easier to climb. They told us they were employed for the summer by the Green Mountain Club, which contracted with the State of VT to fix the trails. After 2 weeks on this trail, they would be moving on to Mount Mansfield. They kept assuring us we were almost to the top.

Doug took his shirt off because he poured water on his head, forgetting that he had added Propel to it. With that sticky stuff on him, we knew he'd be a magnet for all kinds of bugs. I was wearing a jog bra, so he convinced me to take my shirt off too. It was so hot, I didn't need much convincing.

Along the way we met some other hikers, from guess where? Of course--FL. It's funny that we came to Stowe, only to meet a bunch of Floridians. When we finally made it to the top, they took a picture of us. The view was as beautiful as promised, and definitely worth the climb:



Our 2.5 hour hike actually took us 4 hours. By the time we got home, Mary, Erin, Meghan, Conner and Brooke were at our house. We ate some lunch, and then it started to rain. The kids played, Jerry worked, and the women chatted. When the rain finally stopped, and the sun came out, it was about 4:00. We decided to go to Moss Glen Falls, which we had read about online. It was supposedly just a short hike to the falls. Once again, Jerry stayed behind to get some work done.

The trail started out very narrow and very wet. In many places boards had been laid to walk across, but we still had to tromp through a lot of puddles. At the top, the trail was wider and dryer, but also much steeper. Once again it was longer than what we'd anticipated. None of us were wearing proper shoes. There was a lot of complaining, but I thought the view of the falls was worth it:



This picture was taken on the ridge across from the falls. You can't tell from the picture, but it was a little scary. Mary, Erin, Connor, and Mom, all had to get down.



Next, we went down to the bottom of the falls, so the kids could swim. They had a good time playing in the mini falls. The following pictures were taken by my niece, Kyra:





Someone had made some cool rock sculptures:



At one point, Doug headed up the river, and then started to call for me to follow him. I did, and we both got a magnificent view of the falls from below. It was really even more awesome from below. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought my camera. By this time, the rest of the crew had already packed up and started heading back. I promised Doug we'd come back again to show Daddy.

Everyone stayed for dinner and then Mary, Erin and the kids left at about 7:30 to go back to St. Albans.