The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

I screamed with joy a lot today.  It was an exceptionally good day. I screamed when I crossed the Colorado and Utah state lines. I screamed when I caught my first glimpse of the mountains.  I love how you think they're clouds at first, and then you realize what you're actually seeing.  As soon as I saw them, I knew I wasn't going to just drive straight through Colorado without at least a little hiking. I found a trail near Breckenridge that sounded promising, but when I got there, the trail was closed.  So I found this trailhead and took off into the woods.  Two days into the trip, and I'm already breaking my rule about telling someone where I am if I'm hiking alone.  What is it about national forests and wilderness areas that make me lose all good sense?  I am powerless to resist their lure. As soon as I started hiking, it was, "Why hello, switchbacks... haven't seen you in a while..."  My lungs were burning within two minutes.  I told my

It was super hard to get up this morning after staying too late at Liz's wedding the night before.  But how could I have left any earlier?  I was having a blast!  The wedding was beautiful and perfectly Liz.  When it was time to say "I do," her response was, "I guess so." While driving this morning, I received the following picture from Nancy: (There is an ongoing joke among my friends about my love for manatees.  I can relate to them.)  My first stop was Des Moines for lunch with my favorite family.  It was so great to see them!  Jacob will be in 6th grade this year.  He will be in advanced math and science.  He gets great grades, but he still can't get the talking under control... Sorry, kid. :)  His basketball team is 1-24, but he's kicking butt at baseball.  (He's on two teams!)  He's going away to Catholic youth camp for a whole week this summer; very exciting! Apparently I can't drive through Nebraska withou

I don't usually consider myself a feminist.  I mean, I want women to be considered equal to men, but I'm not like some of my friends, who are always ranting about the patriarchy.  I'm fine with traditional gender roles.  I like to wear pearls and dresses and play the hostess.  I don't do well with violence and can't handle scary movies.  I like when guys are gentleman and insist on walking you to your car late at night and act protective. But this trip I'm taking has me wondering if maybe there is a feminist lurking somewhere inside me. Because I get SO MANY comments about being alone in the woods and the bad stuff that could happen to me.  Some people have legitimate concerns, and I don't mind those.  But often, there's this patronizing tone, and the implication is that I'm a silly girl and have no idea what could go wrong or how to deal with it.  Gwen Stefani has become my new BFF. Would people be making all these comments if I was a boy? I

This weekend, one of my very favorite people in the world is getting married. Liz and I became friends in 6th grade.  We were going on a field trip to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and I was mad at my friend Laura (who ended up becoming my arch enemy in high school), so I sat with the new girl on the bus instead.  Liz had just moved from Atlanta and learned how to shuffle cards in Vegas.  I thought she was terribly glamorous and exotic.  I decided right then and there we should be BFF's.  And so we were. This girl has been by my side through all kinds of stuff.  I still feel guilty about high school.  I wanted so bad to go to the dark side, and Liz fought so hard to keep that from happening.  I constantly ditched her and the other girls to hang out with people I thought were much more cool.  But when I needed a break from the partying, I knew I could always hang out with Liz. One of the girls is putting a scrapbook together for Liz, so I had to dig out pic

Yesterday, Margaret and I rehearsed for Liz's wedding.  We talked about music we want to do at church, and I mentioned a bluegrass piece that I think would be fun.  I found out that the pastor majored in guitar at Indiana University AND has his own bluegrass band here in the city!  Look out Lutherans, we are bringing bluegrass to church later this summer. I had "lunch" with Leisa at Bang Bang Pie Shop.  I was a little devastated when I saw a sign about the kind of lard they use, but did that stop me? Heck no.  This time I had the honey custard pie with graham cracker crust, strawberries, and fresh whipped cream.  You could tell that they make it with some kind of fabulous organic, local honey; it was amazing.  The company was pretty great, too.  Leisa is a total badass.  She spent a year on a mission trip traveling all over the world, doing amazing stuff like trying to stop female circumcision in Kenya.  When I get back from my trip, I told her I want to spend a few

There have been requests for the itinerary for this epic road trip I'm going on.  So, here's the plan: June 18 Meet Kristin and Jason in Green River, UT June 19- June 30- Canyoneering in Utah Lower Baptiste Draw/Chute Canyon Blue John Canyon (from 127 Hours) Shenanigans Pandora's Box (Capitol Reef National Park) Cheesebox Peekaboo and Spooky Gulch Das Boot/The Subway (Zion National Park) Echo (Zion National Park) Keyhole (night run!) ( Zion National Park) Behunin (Zion National Park) Yankee Doodle July 1 Drive July 2 Lassen Volcanic National Park July 3 Crater Lake National Park July 4-8 Paula!!!  (Portland) July 9 Columbia Gorge July 10 Silver Falls State Park Super Saturated Sugar Strings @ Alberta St. Pub July 11 Mt. Rainier July 12-14 Olympic National Park Forks & La Push July 15 Seattle July 16-17 North Cascades National Park July 18-20 Glacier National Park July 21-23 Yellowstone National Park Rodeo in Cody

I had a vulnerable moment at small group tonight.  The girls were asking about my trip, and Leisa asked, "What are you most nervous about so we know how to pray for you?" My first thought was to give a flippant response about grizzlies, but then the truth just fell out of my mouth.  "Being alone.  I'm afraid I'm going to be lonely.  I'm going to these amazing places, and I'll have no one to share it with." And I was instantly flooded with love and support as the girls started problem-solving.  They promised to email and text.  "Imagine how loved you'll feel," they said, "when you get back in cell phone range and your phone is flooded with texts from us."  I hope they remember.  That would be amazing. "And isn't there a way to stalk you with Google maps?" Ann asked.  "Like they did on Girls?  Drop pins or something?  Give me 24 hours, and I'll figure out how to stalk you." This is one kind of

I am twirling around my bedroom, singing "Come What May" as I put away laundry and imagine that I am in Moulin Rouge. I freeze mid-note as I spot something terrifying: a huge moth on my curtain.  I run from the room and slam the door behind me, taking deep breaths and trying to process the situation. It is kind of late to call for help. However, I cannot sleep with that THING near my face.  I decide that, before I resort to calling for rescue, I should attempt to save myself. I am, after all, about to spend 6 weeks in the wilderness. My first idea involves turning off the light in my room and turning on the hall light, which will at least get the moth out of my room, to be dealt with later. This is not aggressive enough. The thing is just happy to chill on the curtain. "Okay," I think. "It just needs an incentive to move." I have to rustle the curtain. But there's no way in hell I'm getting that close. So I start throwing hangers at the c

In addition to the concert yesterday, the rest of the weekend has been totally fabulous.  I had a bad week last week; lots of stress with trip planning and the job situation and everything.  This weekend, I finally felt back to normal. My dad took me to the zoo on Friday.  So random!  I was going to take him to the Cubs/Sox game, and he didn't want to deal with the hassle of going to Wrigley.  But he didn't want me to think he didn't want to spend time with me, so he suggested the zoo instead.  So went and had a lovely time.  My favorite thing to see there is the giraffes.   My dad told stories about going there as a kid.  Apparently my great-uncle Mont would always say, "Well, let's go visit the relatives first," and lead everyone to the monkeys.  I love when my dad tells old-time stories. Friday night I went to the Relationship Roundtable event at church.  The event itself was not spectacular, but I went for the social aspect, which didn't disap

Well, now I understand why Brad Paisley is famous. It reminded me a lot of when I saw Keith Urban a few years ago.  I like their music, but I'm not crazy about it.  But when you see them live, you realize what gifted musicians they are.  And, besides that, Brad Paisley put on quite a show.  I think the best part was right before he sang "This is Country Music" (one of my favorites).  He was talking about country music, and then he just gave his guitar to some guy in the front row.  38,000 people's jaw's dropped at that moment. There were a lot of Brad Paisley songs I liked before, but now I love them.  (Especially the song "Ticks," which has taken on a whole new meaning after my trip to the North Woods.)  I think this was my other favorite last night:  I love this song, especially the video of Andy Griffith and Brad Paisley on the park bench. Oh, and the final encore song was alcohol, which I think was my other favorite.  It was a good choice f

Today, I paused for a moment to reflect on my current life circumstances. I am currently unemployed and getting ready to go on a six week vacation I really can't afford.  I blew off an interview last week and now all my hopes are pinned on one district because I haven't bothered to work on my job search in weeks. I'm pretty sure my health insurance expires during my trip.  Better not end up in the emergency room again... Speaking of expiring, my teaching certificates expire in July and are $100 to renew.  And my license plates expired at the end of May, which will cost around $100 to renew, plus the $60 ticket I got this morning. I am planning on camping for 6 weeks and realized I don't even know how to start a fire. I have to learn how to shower at truck stops. I am about to put myself in a situation that necessitates me buying bear spray. There are a million things to do before leaving town for an extended period of time.  For every item I cross off my t

Today, I walked.  I walked with Margaret to Shokolad, where we enjoyed delicious crepes for brunch.  I walked to the bank to deal with my missing debit card.  And I walked to a new Mediterranean place to check out their falafel.  (Not as good as Sultan's Palace.)  As I was walking to the Mediterranean place, I crossed paths with a group of kids.  One of them was emptying a bag of Doritos into his mouth.  He then tossed it on the ground.  I stopped.  He froze.  Our eyes met.  I put on my best teacher face. I slowly looked at the bag, then back at him.  I raised my eyebrows in question.  Without me saying a word, he hurried to pick it up, wide-eyed and apologetic. That's right.  Whether in the classroom or on the street, I am Ms. B., and you better not show disrespect by littering.