Wedding planning without a father. There isn’t a lot that needs explaining, because weddings are so patri-centric and you don’t really notice it until you don’t have one anymore. I had a lot of questions. Who will walk me down the aisle? What about the father-daughter dance (you know, because there isn’t one?) Who will my mom sit with? Will this be weird because my fiancé … Continue reading Planning a Fatherless Wedding
Yellow Fever has always been one of my research interests — specifically, the Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793. So when I got a chance to visit Philadelphia for the first time for a professional librarian’s conference, I could not say no. The conference was Tuesday to Thursday, but I was arriving a day early to explore the city and particular spots of interest: … Continue reading Walking Philadelphia like it’s 1793
Friday, April 21 I’ve been here before. Specifically: 10 years prior. The summer of 2007 was full of wonder and adventure for me, a new page in a new chapter in my book of life. April, 2017 felt a lot like that, like the jaded world was wiped away and I was wide-eyed and awed again, just like when I was 15. That feeling is … Continue reading The Old Haunt
Tuesday, April 18 Vegas, the DisneyWorld of adults, is in the middle of nowhere. How did someone decide to build a gambling city and ultimate vacation spot here? Well, it was originally chosen by the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) to build a fort between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. In the mid-1800s, however, the fort was abandoned, though its remains remain. Las Vegas … Continue reading A Night on the Town
Friday, April 14, 2017. For the few days before our trip, I was in a funny mood. I’d decided for some ungodly reason to try and read everything I could about the Cheshire Home Invasion just a few days before our trip. I still feel nauseous and terrible when I think about it, even after trying to flush it out of my system with every … Continue reading Big Texas Everything: Did you know you’re in Texas?
“Saguaros only grow in Arizona, did you know that?” No I didn’t. The more you know! Thanks Uber driver! Thursday, February 16 We had a looooooong drive to Charlotte, and then from there, a four-ish hour flight to Denver, landing at 10:30 a.m. And once there? Not only had we gone back two hours, we discovered that our next flight left at 3:30 p.m. “It … Continue reading Saguaros only Grow in Arizona!
Saturday, Feb. 11 We left only a day after a huge snowstorm. You know the type, if you’re from New England – blinding, whiteout winds and bitter cold dropping over 15 inches of snow in just a few hours, and you’re torn between standing in your warm house, cooking pancakes and bacon, and getting out there to shovel. Well. After SIX HOURS of plowing and … Continue reading Between the Smokies & Infinite Stairs
It was never explicitly stated, “we don’t talk about that,” but it didn’t have to be. It is so rarely a topic of conversation (twice in three years!) that my ears immediately perked up whenever I heard that word: Adoption. It might as well not have happened. Pat knew he was adopted from a young age but nothing more than that. Finding some files and … Continue reading You don’t talk about that
June, 2016. Rule #1: Place is Character. So, I went to Phoenix in high school ten years ago, then somehow just a few months ago ended up in the Pacific Northwest. So I guess I’m Bella Swan now. Twilight is still very much a guilty pleasure of mine. I enjoy the story when I don’t have to think too hard, mainly because the relationships between … Continue reading Endless Afternoon (or, the new-and-improved Twilight)
It is now 2015. In retrospect, I still locate and consider two events as the most defining moments in my life: My dad passing away in 2009, and backpacking the Grand Canyon in 2007. To say that I “learned” things or that I changed is obvious. I just completed a series of nine (now ten) blog posts about the experience and as you can probably … Continue reading Something Has Changed Within Me; Something is Not the Same: Canyon Odyssey X
Day Ten: 15 August 2007 In the morning, we made pancakes. PANCAKES! My favorite breakfast food ever! Kathryn and I cooked them while discussing my first impressions of Fire Bringer. I wanted to hang on a little longer. Finish the book, maybe. Now pros at this, we packed up the campsite yet again because we would be sadly driving back to Camp Sombrero. But before leaving, we … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey IX: Back to Phoenix for the Last Days
Day Nine: 13 August, 2007 Though I don’t eat eggs, and never have since I was small, I got up at 9 a.m. to help cook eggs for the breakfast burritos. That was the allure of being at Mathers: we could eat “real” cooked food, rather than peanut butter and jelly, tortillas, and pretzels. We packed up the campsite and said a solemn goodbye to … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey VIII: A few days in Sedona, Land of the Red Rocks
Day Eight: 12 August 2007 Day Four on Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon. Miles Hiked: 14.9 Miles to go: 4.9 Some say the world will end in fire Some say in ice From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire But if it had to perish twice I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction, … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey VII: Are We Out of the Woods Yet?
Day Seven: 11 August 2007 Day Three on Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon. Miles hiked: 9.9 Miles to go: 9.9 …Mountains often weed out the unfit so early in the game that, once they realize they have bitten off more than they can chew, they can often return fairly easily downhill to their staging zone. In complete contrast, canyons do the opposite. While descending … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey VI: Sweet Summer Evenings, Sapphire Skies
Day Six: 10 August 2007 Day Two on Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon. Miles hiked: 4.9 Miles to Go: 14.9 I opened my eyes at 4:30 a.m. and saw a deer picking her way carefully through the campground next to my head. She turned and looked at me, then kept walking. Wow. We packed up our junk. I always had trouble rolling my sleeping … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey V: Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Hike
Day Five: 9 August 2007 Day One on Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon. Miles hiked: 0 Miles to Go: 19.8 It was cold — shivering cold– and dark at 4:30 in the morning. I donned the clothes I’d be wearing the next four days–a coral tank top and khaki hiking shorts, wool hiking socks, and boots. Lastly, I put on a pink hat to … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey IV: A (Not-So-Average) Walk in the Park
Day Three: 7 August 2007 According to my journal, I slept well the previous night after running, diving and swimming all evening. The next morning, my group and I gathered to pack up everything we would need for the remainder of the trip. We rushed around like madmen, packing our backpacks, making sure we had all the food, and books, and anything else we might possibly … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey III: North to Lake Powell
Day One: 5 August 2007 True to my nature, I brought a notebook with me to chronicle the entire trip. The Destinations website suggests bringing a journal on its trips, but I would have done so regardless. I picked a bright red one because Bilbo’s adventures were recorded in what was later called the Red Book, but what we know as The Hobbit. So I named mine … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey II: Phoenix & Camp Sombrero
Long ago, there was a great wise chief, who mourned the death of his wife, and would not comforted until Ta-vwoats, one of the Indian gods, came to him, and told him she was in a happier land, and offered to take him there, that he might see for himself, if, upon his return, he would cease to mourn. The great chief promised. Then Ta-vwoats … Continue reading Canyon Odyssey I: Getting There
If it were not for that — at the time, damned — deux ex machina. If not for that,I could have stayed stranded in the half-mile bend-in-the-road, letting the bugs and mosquitoes pick me dry as the firesome sun set. It was sticky, and I felt like a warm popsicle. But, as it was, I listened, and by sheer chance decided I’d really listen, while Laura … Continue reading July 5, 2013
10 March, 2011 That could only mean one thing– Besides that it was Thursday, my favorite day of the week, it was also SHAKESPEARE DAY. SHAKESPEARE DAY meant I could recite lines from Hamlet and no one could stop me. It was the most appropriate time to act fanciful and relish in the world of Shakespeare’s histories (which were totally relevant to our trip to the Tower … Continue reading England V: In which I am introduced to the Poet of the Globe
March 9, 2011. My Dad dead two years, me beginning the day in confusion and sorrow–wondering how I should feel, how I would make it through. We continue my adventures deeper into England (or should I say less deep, because technically London is closer to the coast?) Anywho, we are still in the lowlands of Britain where, 2000 years ago, the Romans built the “city” … Continue reading England IV: A brief overview of the Tower of London
England Journal; Tuesday 8 March 2011 Oxford has 39 colleges around its vicinity–we saw a few of them: Christ Church, Merton and a few others. The campuses are small–usually consist of a few buildings close together. Some of the colleges, such as All Souls, have 73 members and are extremely selective… It’s incredible because where I used to be fascinated with the buildings of the … Continue reading England III: Why I couldn’t stand Blenheim Palace, After Oxford
Haha. I just realized that we’re all going to be wearing the same clothes two days in a row…because of not really sleeping/waking in a traditional manner. I bet nobody thought of that when they were getting dressed…Okay so I probably slept about 2.5 hours on and off. I got woken up with the prospect of breakfast… So on 6 March I wrote this on … Continue reading England II: Why I’m a nerd for historical places
Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the Road. -Roger Miller & Into the Wild In March 2011, I went to England on a whim with my College in order to get off to Europe, to see something new. On 5 March, our plane took off and I started … Continue reading England I: A Little About Myself
