Implosion (book review)

Implosion: Can America Recover from Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time? by Joel C. Rosenberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Gilgamesh (book review)

Gilgamesh: A New English Version Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Hiking

Hiking and I aren't really compatible, at least in my mind. I lived a year in Denver and hiked only under pressurized circumstances, and that was a hiker's dream, especially with me being four miles from Red Rocks. However, in an effort to be back in shape while being unable to sustain martial art lessons, yoga training, or gym attendance with the travel lifestyle I now maintain, alternatives were on the table. When a colleague tweeted for asynchronous 'friendly competition' for hiking with the Map My Hike site, I jumped for it. There was a lot additional benefit that I could start this new endeavour while in Boulder and I now lived (for the most part) in Asheville, another beautiful hiking district of the country.


So far I have 11 miles under my feet for the week, which is an exciting start. The other hiking trail I did with Eric, Elle, and some of his colleagues was today "above" Nederland, which was a beautiful trail at about 9,000 feet called the Hessie Trail.

I'm excited to see if this new focus is sustainable, but for all my efforts, this one has the most hope given my new found enjoyment of discovering beauty around me.

The Black Hills: Who Knew?

Out West

Who knew how much fun the Black Hills could be, especially if you love history, geology, and animals (expertise not required, thankfully!). Getting to add two new animals to my Audubon mammal book is exciting, with siting of a white furry mountain goat and a plethora of prairie dogs. No, I've never seen a prairie dog before, I promise. Yes, I realise they are simply akin to annoying rats, but still. They're a lot cuter.

The joy of this trip is that it's not over! After Devil's Tower, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the petrified forest, a hand-dug gold mine shaft, the cool Reptile Garden, gorgeous driving, and finally, staying in town centre Deadwood, I would have been more than happy to putter on east again. However, the bonus of a week in Colorado should put me in an overwhelmingly good mindset for my no-electronics holiday during the first week of October....*starting drifting off in glorious dreaming of no electronics whatsoever....*. Wait, what will I do?

A couple funny stories....

A cop pulls me over in Wyoming. He sidles up and announces with a devastating air approximate to what you feel you would hear if you were being arrested "I clocked you going 49 in a 45 - what is the rush?" Ummmm, rush? With probably an extremely dumb look on my face because I knew better to argue, but at the same time am thinking that he must be high to be worried about 4 over, I stammer out a feeble apology with a clear air of "I really don't get this". Taking mercy on me, he benevolently (this was his approach) just warned me, but told me that Wyoming is a no-tolerance state for speeding. All I could do is stare out on the complete desolation and wonder what they were afraid of running over at these incredibly high speeds.

A story probably not so funny to the valet who I nearly hit was when he left my car (clutch) in gear and didn't put on the parking break. Not paying attention, I simply started the car and let off the clutch right away...right into the valet. I have experientially discovered that 1 mile per hour does zero damage, but causes a great deal of panic.

Lastly, but one of my favourite Elle statements...when we visited the Mammoth Site (I'll get those pictures included in the album soon), the guide was very good about explaining to her how this horrible yet natural trap killed so many mammoths because they would fall into the water and couldn't get out. Her response? "Those elephants really need to be more careful."

Westward Journey ... Commenced!

My three week tour of the west started this week, and I am quite excited! While travelling is always positive for me, this is extra awesome in the sense that nearly every place I am going is new to me. My original intention to scour the West when we lived in Colorado and Arizona across two years fell drastically short despite huge effort to still see it all as we visited Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, not to mention a lot of focused time within both Colorado and Arizona. As it turns out, the West is actually really freaking big.

So, first state on this journey....Wisconsin (because you have to drive through it anyway). Having never been to Wisconsin except to barely pop over the border for Six Flags as kid, I had grand visions of a state that looked like a cross between Ireland and Mission Peninsula just north of Traverse City, with a Wisconsin influence. As this description is probably boggling your mind, another explanation is my imagined scene of Jersey cows dotting the landscape on very old farms with cheese curd stands every where.

• There were no cows, let alone Jersey cows.
• I saw one complete farm that looked so weathered that it made me feel a bit depressed.
• The cheese curds were there! But only in the petrol stations...trust me, not the ambiance originally conceived.

So....Wisconsin not only did not meet my unrealistic expectations, it has earned it's place on my list of states that can disappear. However, this is just one small leg of the journey, and thankfully my return trip is not the same route.

Let's quickly move forward to Minnesota. Honestly, I can't say much about this state yet because I arrived at night and am now settling in Minneapolis. It promises to be a lovely long weekend being "stuck" in the two story penthouse suite downtown, thanks to my conference's use of a convention hotel where Eric has automatic upgrades :) I do miss Eric as he travels for work, but there is something to be said about really nice rooms as well as getting the cheat lines and flight upgrades at the airport. 

More updates soon as the Black Hills are discovered next week!

View into the downtown baseball stadium.

Re-definition of Resonating!

Thank you XKCD!!!

http://xkcd.com/1106/

Asheville Excursion #1: Linville Falls

I was told that that the many waterfalls in the region were truly beautiful, but frankly, after living in the gorgeous Rockies and the amazing desert, I wasn't prepared to be as impressed as I was. Our first excursion was to Linville Falls, about an hour north east of Asheville....it was so worth the journey!

Something discovered after living here only a few weeks is that the rain is completely unpredictable, but it's never a big deal because it's rarely heavy and never long. The benefit is that you discover beautiful, even tiny, scenes that can pull you into a long moment, such as this spider web outlined by the rain drops.

...and of course, there are the absolutely stunner views that you want to paint, but well, you're quite sure the beauty of the moment can't possibly be captured, such as this quintessential Smoky's feel.