Table of Contents

Table of Contents Dear Reader Letter Introduction to Granite Peaks Lodge Granite Peaks Lodge Introduction to Reeder Pit Reeder Pit Introduction to Almost Perfect Almost Perfect Introduction to Road Trip Road Trip

Dear Reader Letter

Dear Reader,
Working in a fast paced Doctor's office, taking orders from everyone, while receiving low pay was a great experience for a recently graduated Medical Assistant, but the experience left me with wanting more. I decided that it was time to go back to school and become a Registered Nurse, so I could give the orders and receive the higher pay. Becoming a Nurse was going to be a long road for me and I didn't quite know where to start. I have been out of high school for seven years now and thought it would be best to start with English 97.

On my first day of English 97 I thought the class was going to be a breeze becasue I already knew how to write. Little did I know, there was a ton of stuff that I didn't know about sentence structure and punctuation. I ended up learning a lot about how to fine tune my writing, improve my skills, and how to use different writing techniques. After completing English 97 I feel that I am on the right track to becoming a successful college student and one day a Nurse. I am looking forward to learning even more next quarter in English 98.

The e-portfolio that I have put together refelcts a lot back on me. I chose pieces that I thought best show my writing abilities and pieces that are about subjects that are a part of my life. For example I have written several on different aspects of ATV riding, a hobby that I love to do; I also wrote papers on snowboarding .

Thank you for taking the time to view my e-portfolio. I hope you enjoy reading the pieces of writing I have selected as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Introduction to Granite Peaks Lodge

The first piece of writing I have chosen to share with you is our first major writing assignment. I wrote this piece in January 2007 and it's titled "Granite Peaks Lodge." This piece is a descriptive paper, and I chose it because I feel it is the paper that I have made several improvements to throughout the writing process.The strength of the paper comes from my descriptive word choices and the sensory details I have chosen. "The lodge's exterior mimics and old rustic log cabin, giving you a sense of warmth and an invitation for a good time." A good use of sensory details would be "The smell of Tully's roasted coffee beans fill the air with a heavenly aroma."I feel these sentences give the reader a clear picture of what kind of place it is and the paper allows you to know what I experiece when I am there. Another reason why I chose this paper is I love to snowbaord and the lodge is one of the high lights of my day when I travel to Steven's Pass.

Granite Peaks Lodge

A perfect place to unwind would be at the Granite Peaks Lodge located in the heart of Steven's Pass. After a day of hitting the slopes, you may want to spend the evening relaxing and conversing with fellow skiers and snowboarders over a hot meal. The lodge offers lounging and delicious food from cheeseburgers to crisp salads that are all prepared in the famous Cascadian Kitchen. The lodge's exterior mimics an old rustic log cabin, giving you a sense of warmth and an invitation for a good time.

Walking though the tall swinging wooden doors, you'll become instantly toasty from your fingertips all the way down to your toes. The smell of Tully's roasted coffee beans fill the air with a heavenly aroma. Overstuffed couches provide a cozy place to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or two.

As you make your way up the stairs to the second floor, long tables with wooden benches fill the room, all postioned to focus on the windows that surround the lodge revealing a winter wonderland. A wonderland of snow coated trees and heavy snow that blankets the ground and a snow fall so heavy that it covers up your foot prints after every step.

A man stands in the middle directing the crowd of people towards the grill or the salad line, like a sheep herder trying to herd his sheep home. An array of baked goods abd candy bars are displayed in front of the registers for you not to miss. Whether you're just relaxing at the lodge or feasting on yummy food and treats at the Cascadian Kitchen, a fun experience is always expected. When you want that sense of being on vacation, but don't want to travel far from home, the Granite Peaks Lodge is the place to be.

Introduction to Reeder Pit

The second piece of writing is from a show not tell journal that was written in January 2007. A show not tell journal is where you describe soemthing in a way that lets the reader know what your talking about without comming right out and saying it. For example the trails in my journal are difficult to ride on, but I decscribe why they are difficult, so that the reader can picture it. The title of my paper is "Reeder Pit", which is one of the places I go to ride my quad. I chose this piece as my best descriptive paper beacuse it allows to feel what it's like to ride some of these trails. The strength of the paper comes from the description of not only what the trails look like, but also the challenges I face when I'm riding them. My sentence that shows this is; "The trails are a mix of sharp, jagged rocks to giant, swampy mud holes with tree ruts and other debris to climb over." I also wanted to share the one because ATV riding was the focus of my blog this quarter.

Reeder Pit

A massive dirt pit filled with sand and rocks of all sizes. Branching out from the dirt pit are the beginnings of treacherous trails. Each trail contains a specific color of flag to help you determine to venture it or not depending on if you're a beginner, pro or somewhere in between. The trails are a mix of sharp jagged roacks to giant swampy mud holes with tree rits and other debris to climb over. One side remains a rounded cliff edge that allows room for only a curvy, bumpy, narrow road for you to ride up. Mossy trees shade the trails and protect them from rain, as if they had formed a huge umbrella over head. You could smell the fresh crisp air and taste the tiny drips of mud that slowly drip from your helmet. Around every corner lies a new challenge weather it be digging your tires deep in the mud to scale a hill or to watch out for enormous lifted trucks that were made just for the dirt. Either way your whole day consists of snap decisions on what to do next. If you successfully made it back out to the dirt filled pit, chances are your dirt filled yourself and completely exhausted. This place only exist at Reeder Pit an awesome place to ride if your up to the challenge.

Introduction to Almost Perfect

The third piece I have selected comes from one of my blog enteries that I wrote in February 2007 and it's called "Almost Perfect." A blog is kind of like an online journal. You can share stories, thoughts and pictures of things you would like people to know about you. My blog was all about ATV riding and this particualr blog I chose was about the best day I had riding because it was my day that I showed the most improvements on and had the most adventures. I chose this piece because I thought it would give the reader some prespective on what a typical day of ATV riding might be like. I also thought the story had a good climax with lots of events leading up to my first crash. I feel the papers strong point was "This day for me I knew was going to be different, for Nick had invited several of his experienced friends along and I knew I had to ride more aggressively then I had been." I picked that sentence as being the strong point because I felt it set the mood for the whole paper. The reader already knows that this paper was about a challenge for me that I had to overcome.