I made it to Summit Charter School. It's a small school (10 or 12 8th graders) in the middle of nowhere that sort of looks like a fancy barn or stables. The administration quickly came out to greet me and tell me that they received me email and had been anticipating my arrival. A quick phone call was made to make sure it was alright for me to interrupt the 8th grade science class. The kids knew there was going to be a suprise, but one of them told me they figured it would be chocolate cake. He was even more excited that I was there to visit, but personally I would have preferred the chocolate cake...well maybe not, but definitely marble cake. The kids erupted with excitement when I entered and said, "Whoa! It's Jeff! I didn't really think he was gonna come!" A few weeks back this class told me that I should come visit them in Cashiers and so I said I would come up on the bike. We talked for a few minutes and they referred to be as their counselor from Barrier Island. I politely said, I'm not a freaking counselor! I'm a Naturalist! I teach about alligators and salt marshes and science and stuff! Just kidding...I didn't say that. We took a snazzy group photo and then I hung out to finish out watching a dinosaur video with them. These paleontologists were trying to figure out if there was a smaller sub-species of a Tyrannasaurus...then they realized they were morons and that the skeleton they found was from a juvenile. Class ended at 3:25 and they kids immediately proceeded to sing me the fish song that I taught them in our seining class. It was awesome. The song is like heads, shoulders, knees, and toes, but with these lyrics.
Dorsal, Pectoral, Pelvic, Caudal, Pelvic, Caudal
Dorsal, Pectoral, Pelvic, Caudal, Pelvic, Caudal
Lateral Line, Operculum, and Gills
Dorsal, Pectoral, Pelvic, Caudal, Pelvic, Caudal
And don't forget the Anal Fin!
It was pretty awesome that they still remembered the elementary physiology of an osteichthyes ;). After they sang the song I asked if anybody knew of a free place to stay. Ask and you shall recieve, right? Well, initally it looked like I was going to have to pay $28 to stay at a campground...bump that! I looked at maps with the administration and then the Principal came out and said that the Young family wanted to offer a shower, dinner, and a house to stay in for the night. Immediately after the offer was presented I said, Uh, yes please!
Kevin and Caroline Young are twins in the 8th grade class. Their older brother, Tyler, came out in the Suburban to drive me 3 or 4 miles to their house. Tyler just finished his freshmen year at Furman so we had a lot to talk about. When we got to their house Tyler, Kevin, and I threw the frisbee for about half an hour. Then my back started spazzing out because of my poor posture on the bike. I almost collapsed, but made it inside to sit on the couch and give myself a back rub. Eventually David and Susi Young, the parents, made it home with Becca, their daughter who is a NYU student. This family was awesome! They seemed to love each other so much and truly appreciate the small things about one another. I immediately felt like a part of the family, which made the stay with them very enjoyable. They took me down to the house where I was going to stay the night. Yes, I had a house to myself...a nice mountain lodge house. I was pumped up and didn't think it could get any better.
The Young kids took me to see an amazing part of their property, which was an 18 acre lake. Their Grandfather dammed it up and gave the lake to their Grandmother as a wedding gift. What an amazing gift! Kevin, Tyler and I hopped into a few of their kayaks and Becca, Caroline and Circi (the dog...his name means suprise in Italian) busted out the paddle boat. We tooled around in the lake for a bit and Kevin helped me with my Appalachian Mountain plant identification. This family was very well educated. It was cool how smart and humble they all were. I sat in the kayak in the middle of the lake and thought to myself, is this real life? I was pumped about the adventures I was having. Around 8 pm we loaded into the back of the pick-up truck and went back to the house for a fantastic dinner of hamburgers, chips, and some sort of rice, beans, corn, and tomato splendor. To cap of an extraordinary evening we watched some of the BCC series Life. It was great, but Oprah is no match for Mr. David Attenborough. I walked over to my personal mountain house and passed out around 11 pm.
What a day! I felt extremely blessed and fortunate.
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