This has been a rough year. I had hip surgery in November, and it's felt like my life has just been frozen in place since then. Covid made things worse, and now I'm back to being in a lot of pain and found out I'll most likely need another surgery. I had high hopes for a trip to Alaska this summer, or at least some vagabonding and hiking, but my life remains just... stuck.
I needed some ideas for things I can do that don't involve hiking. And I like to check things off lists. I had a very productive Zoom meeting with my friends Scott and Jen the other night, where he came up with some brilliant ideas for quests I could go on this summer, and Jen told me all about her three hip surgeries, which were very similar to mine. It was actually like a therapy session... we talked about all the emotions I'm having while dealing with health issues, and devised a treatment plan.
Scott is a pro-level quester. He's visited all 419 national park units, and he has tons of other quests, too, such as camping in every state, visiting a brewery in every state, visiting all the Japanese internment camps, visiting all the Manhattan Project sites... Scott lives a pretty epic life, and I feel lucky to have met him and Jen. Here's a link to his website:
Learning that I have to go through another surgery was pretty devastating, but I was in a much better place emotionally after my talk with Scott and Jen. Here are the things that I hope to accomplish this summer.
Quests
- Visit a historic site in every Utah county
- Make a list of common wildflowers in Utah. Track them down and photograph them.
- Visit 10 strange sites in SLC
- Complete a creative activity at every NPS site in Utah (painting, singing, poetry, etc.)
- Visit the National Historic Landmarks in Utah
- Drive the National Scenic Byways in Utah (as well as some in Idaho and Wyoming)
- Visit all of the city parks
- Find the best ice cream in SLC
- Visit 5 haunted places
Things to Do
- Learn how to fly fish (catch and release)
- Go canoeing
- Float trip down a river
- Explore the rock art in Nine Mile Canyon
- Fossil hunting at the Trilobite Quarry
- Make out at a drive in
- Play badminton barefoot
- Attend a few online lectures
- Make cookies from the vintage Betty Crocker Cooky Cookbook
Making these lists helped me see that there's a lot I can still do, despite Covid and my hip. I think it's going to be a good summer.
(This picture has nothing to do with anything, but the post needed a picture.)
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