The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

The title pretty much sums it up. Last weekend I went rock climbing in the Red River Gorge near Lexington, Kentucky with Nina and Stephanie. This is the view as we pulled up to Torrent Falls Climbing Adventure . Behind the building were cliffs on which you could do the Via Ferrata . We signed up for a full day of rock climbing and rappelling with our own guide. Nina and Stephanie demonstrate how to properly check each other's gear. I sucked at climbing. No big surprise there. I am uncoordinated and unathletic. But, I still did it. At one point, our guide Rick (whose middle name is James) told me I was doing something awkwardly. I explained to him that awkward is my middle name. And then we tormented him for the rest of the day for being Rick James. It was so so cold! Our hands were numb, making it difficult to climb. Nina was a rock star and loved it. It was Steph's first time, and she was a bit apprehensive at first, having Googled "rock climbing deaths in the Red

Last weekend, I met an interesting guy named Lang. He's from Alaska. He enjoys rock climbing, milking goats, reciting Shakespeare, and trying to change the world. We got into a conversation about the awesomeness of my favorite Dixie Chicks album, Home. When I mentioned how much I love their harmonies, he suggested I check out The Wailin' Jennies. So I did and they're amazing and everyone needs to be listening to them. Their music is peaceful and beautiful and uplifting and their harmonies are so pure and sweet you'll want to cry. If you liked Home, you will love everything by The Wailin' Jennys.

For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid. I've been convinced I will fail. In elementary school, my dad would sit with me at the kitchen table and help me with my math homework. By 4th grade, I'd be in tears before we even started. I felt there was no point in him helping me because I'd never understand it. Another perfect example of this occurred when I was in chamber choir in college. We were singing a beautiful piece that required the first sopranos to hit a high C. The first soprano section consisted of me and one other girl. When I saw it, I said, "Sorry, P.B., I can't do that." (P.B. is what we called our director.) "I'll just drop out and let Jen sing it." He didn't seem to mind or think it was a big deal. And it never even crossed my mind that I could sing that note. Jen is a very talented singer, so I was happy to leave that feat up to her. At first, I just concentrated on making sure it wasn't too obvious when I dropp

The drive to Cathedral Canyon was quite entertaining due to scenery like this. (Notice the Confederate flag and the silhouette of a hunter with his rifle) We went down a few gravel roads before turning onto the “primitive” road that would take us to the trailhead. I wasn’t even sure this WAS a road; it looked more like a trail! But this “road” was no match for my badass Subaru. Kristin and I realized we were in a Subaru commercial. The directions said to follow an old road, and after a few hundred yards, when the road forks, take the trail to the right. Well, we did not see a fork. And we knew the hike we were doing had no official trail at all, so we figured we’d find our way. We knew we were supposed to climb a “low divide” on the way to the canyon, so we weren’t concerned with going uphill at first. But then, it started to seem like we’d been going uphill for a long time. I thought to myself, “’Low’ is a relative term. If someone from Backpacker Magazine used the word low, they coul

Kristin and I were up bright and early Sunday morning, eager to check out this "slot canyon" in Missouri. The hike was beautiful! Very similar to Garden of the Gods in southern Illinois (the same ocean covered this whole area). So, familiar to me, but new terrain for Kristin. It made me happy that she got to have some new experiences in the Midwest. She commented that she particularly enjoyed the sound of the wind in the leaves. After treating the hike like our own personal playground, we headed to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. Honestly, I was kind of skeptical about this place. The pictures on the website looked like rocks in a river. Not too exciting. But it was so much more. It was volcanic rock formations that you could play on. They'd created all these little pools and waterfalls. It all culminated in what looked like a bottomless pool. The water was crystal clear, but you still couldn't see the bottom. We stopped to relax on some rocks and watch a guy an

3 began with Kristin’s exclamation: “Now I know what morning dew is!” I forgot that everything’s not all wet in the morning in the desert. This was the day I told Kristin I had a surprise for her. There was a bit more driving than I’d anticipated, but it was still fun. We went to Alton, IL and saw: The Robert Wadlow statue (tallest man in the world at 8’11”) The spot where Lincoln and Douglas had the last of their famous debates The Confederate Cemetery (kind of creepy because there were no headstones; I think they just threw the bodies in a mass grave) Then we headed back into Missouri via 55 so Kristin could get a good view of the Arch. We also drove by St. Louis’s version of the Occupy Wall Street protest. I was excited to see it spreading- I thought it was just in New York, D.C., and Chicago! We had brunch at Rooster, where the waiter told Kristin they were soulmates. They had amazing crepes, including gluten-free vegan crepes for Kristin. Our last stop of the trip was Bellefont

Because Whitney needed a ride to Fed Ex to pick up a box, and we knew the Subaru could handle the job. When she mentioned that the box was an island she ordered for her kitchen, I knew it was going to be big. But we were most definitely not prepared for the sight that greeted us at Fed Ex: 5 boxes, 2 of which were 75 pounds. But my Subaru is a badass, and we somehow managed to make them all fit, putting on quite a show for the Fed Ex employees in the process. Then came Step 2: getting the boxes up to her 3rd floor walk-up. We managed to get everything up to the second floor when a lady yelled across the ally to hold on, she was sending her husband over to help. He and his brother showed up and thanked us for providing entertainment for the evening, especially since they could tell one of us was wearing inappropriate shoes for the task. (I was still wearing heels from work.) After watching us struggle up the first flight of stairs, they felt guilty, like they were in that episode of Sei

Friends, are you reading The Bloggess ? If not, I highly recommend you do. You will laugh so hard you cry, get a stomach cramp, or pee your pants. I had tears streaming down my face as I read her latest post; it was the picture with her cat, Ferris Mewler, that got me. I want to be best friends with this lady. But, the awesome thing is, my friend Jenna is very much like the Bloggess. So when I want to laugh or hear a totally random story of ridiculousness, I just hang out with her (or read her blog , since she's now 2,000 miles away).

Last week, I decided to trade in my beloved Saturn for a new Subaru. My Saturn was just a 2007, but there were already 122,000 miles on it. I realized that car has literally been with me from sea to shining sea, from Daytona Beach to Laguna Beach. It took me to Phoenix and brought me home again. As I cleaned it out, I found brochures from Canyonlands National Park, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, a sticker from the Ocoee River in Georgia that I rafted a few years ago, and parking passes from Sedona and the North Woods. That car has taken me to amazing places. It was also difficult to not buy another Saturn. I've loved Saturns since the one my parents let me drive in high school, an ugly gold car named Simon. I put a bumper sticker on it that said "Eat people, not animals" and took that car all kinds of crazy places. Seriously I can't figure out how my parents never caught me lying when I said I was sleeping over at Nina's and went to a rave in Madison i