Someone who, when given the chance, will escape to somewhere else.
'The desert, when the sun comes up...I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the Earth began.'-Tom Hanks One of the hidden gems of Central and Eastern Oregon is the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. That an area like this exists is remarkable! The (free) park is actually three locations, Sheep Rock, Painted Hills, and …
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'Don't go through life, grow through life.' - Eric Butterworth If you had told me in January, as I was learning to embrace my new town while mending a broken heart, that that would be the high point of normalcy, I would have laughed because, well, look around. But I (and we) made it! This …
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'I am furiously happy. It’s not a cure for mental illness … it’s a weapon, designed to counter it. It’s a way to take back some of the joy that’s robbed from you when you’re crazy.'-Jenny Lawson As I mentioned at the start of my Adventures in Utah series, I was in desperate need to …
'Land really is the best art.' —Andy Warhol After an evening in Moab, I hit my last 'Mighty Five,' Arches National Park early in the morning! Arches is considered the gateway to the Mighty Five and it was supposed to be mine but it was my final stop (due to Covid restrictions at Zion). It …
'Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.' —Rachel Carson Of the all the 'Mighty Five,' Canyonlands was my favorite. Located outside of Moab, it is usually paired with Arches National Park. I went in the afternoon and it was quite crowded! You …
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'Capitol Reed is filled with geology that takes shape, color, and dimension to a level beyond comprehension.'-Stefanie Payne My third 'Mighty Five' is the hidden gem of the lot, Capital Reef National Park. It is the least visited, mostly because it is out of the way. As I mentioned in my previous post, SR-12 connects …
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'The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.'-Sir Richard Burton When I was talking to my brother about my trip, he said that I had to take this road he had heard about that was supposedly the most beautiful road in the United States. A quick google search led …
'Nature is the art of God.' – Dante Alighieri After my morning at Cedar Breaks National Monument, I headed to Bryce Canyon National Park, my second 'Mighty Five.' Actually, I picked up SR-12 which starts just before Bryce but all of that will be in my next post (and trust me when I say there is …
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'The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.'-Unknown Much like my decision to visit Great Basin National Park, I stumbled upon Cedar Breaks National Monument by looking at a map and seeing what was cool! Cedar Breaks is about 40 minutes from Zion and just a slight …
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'No matter the risks we take, we always consider the end to be too soon, even though in life, more than anything else, quality should be more important than quantity.'–Alex Honnold Zion National Park was the first stop of my quest to visit the Mighty 5 and, boy, did it not disappoint! A few things …
'Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.'–Walt Whitman Originally, I was planning on starting in Moab and working east. Since I had to go to Zion first, I looked at the new route to see if there was anything to explore and there was...Great Basin National Park! …
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“There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.” ― Charlotte Eriksson As I've written about, this year has been hard. I knew for my mental health, I needed to get out of town and hit the road. I'm incredibly fortunate that Bend has nearly no cases of COVID, …
'You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away.'-Fredrik Backman Things I have learned this summer...summer in Bend lasts about three weeks and during those weeks, it hovers around a hundred degrees. It's a Catch-22 because I've discovered that I need more weeks of it being warm but that it allows …
‘You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you …
'Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.'-Confucius Sometimes, you just need to get into your car and drive. I was feeling overwhelmed and needed to get out of my head and out of Bend. As I've said before, my favorite place to do this is the Pacific Coast...so I went. I worked Saturday morning and …
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'Crater Lake is the greatest asset to southern Oregon. It is worth traveling hundreds of miles to see. I thought that I had gazed upon everything beautiful in nature as I have spent many years traveling thousands of miles to view the beauty spots of the earth, but I have reached the climax. Never again …
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'Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical …
‘In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.’ –Ralph Waldo Emerson 2020 has been a lot...on all levels! But I have had a lot of personal growth. Once Bend and Central Oregon starting reopening, I was so glad to be able to explore and clear my …
'Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way.'— Emma Chase Bend is slowly starting to open and not just because of corona. My new town is at about 4,000 feet elevation and surround by mountains that are 10,000 feet plus. Due …
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“There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!”-Mehmet Murat ildan Central Oregon is slowly starting to open again and I have taken full advantage! I have spent the warm days wandering local trails. I have followed all guidelines and have stayed close to home …
'I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so fuckin' heroic.'-George Carlin I have had a strange obsession with volcanos for most of my life. I am not entirely sure where it started...perhaps multiple rewatches of National Geographic documentaries on the Ring of …
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” – Jhumpa Lahiri I have spoken of my love of reading and my deep love of Harry Potter so I'm going to share some favorite books and some I have recently read. It sounds really cliche but you can go anywhere via …
'The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on.'-Bob Dylan Well, it has been an interesting couple of weeks. It's been hard and relaxing. I have baked a lot!!! I have so much free time. I have read a lot of books-I highly recommend Dear Edward and the new Jane …
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'In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.'-Alice Walker I love to be outside and there are few places better to do this than Oregon. Bend is a nature lover's paradise. The temperatures are starting to rise and the sun. Spring is …
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'Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn't mean to take.'-Angela Blount I had the best weekend and it wasn't the weekend I had originally intended. It just goes to show that if you live furiously, life can take some amazing turns. See, I had originally intended to spend the weekend …
'Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, you'll land among the stars'-Cecelia Ahern I have officially been in Bend (and my apartment) for six months. What a whirlwind it has been! It started a bit rocky, seemed to get better, fell apart around my birthday and into the holidays, and I am now starting …
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll
I really love Norman! 'The only person you need to be better than is the person you were yesterday.'-Jenny Lawson The end of the year is always a time for reflection and 2019, I can honestly say, was the greatest year of my life. I began the year in Iceland and concluded it in Oregon. …
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‘You will love the ocean. It makes you feel small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger.’–Lauren Myracle When I moved to Oregon, I had hoped to spend the weekend before my birthday in Philadelphia. Friends were getting married and my best friends just had a baby. …
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'Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.'-Lao Tzu When I was home for Christmas, my dad asked me if I would ever move back to Greenville, SC. I told him not a …
'It’s about taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they’re the same moments we take into battle with us'-Jenny Lawson I still cannot believe that I flew across the globe, by myself, and spent two of the most glorious weeks …
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'The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.'-Wyland I have come to the end of the road Down Under so it seems appropriate that the last thing I did was spend the day on the Ocean Road! Much like the Pacific Coast Highway, of which this is very reminiscent, the …
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'Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.'-Albert Einstein Melbourne, Australia was my final stop! I actually did not spend any time in the city other than to sleep, so I cannot speak to the city itself. …
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'The ocean is everything I want to be. Beautiful, mysterious, wild, and free.'-Unknown I have loved the ocean for as long as I can remember. Going to Sea World was a highlight of my childhood summers. I have watched every documentary about the deepest parts of the ocean. I love listening to the waves crash …
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'The sea is a desert of waves/A wilderness of water.'-Langston Hughes The second stop on my Australian adventure was the coastal town of Cairns. I spent three days in this tropical paradise. When I arrived, an Iron Man competition had finished the day before. You want to feel out of shape...where a bikini with triathletes! …
'Do one thing every day that scares you. '-Eleanor Roosevelt I wasn't going to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was on the provided list as a possible excursion but I am terrified of heights and immediately crossed it off. I panic and hyperventilate. Once, when I was at the Eiffel Tour, the elevators were …
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'May as well be here we are as where we are.'-Aboriginal Saying When I was heading to Sydney, I did not actually think I would be spending much time in the city. I was supposed to go the Blue Mountains and see the Three Sisters. I was going to arrive back around 4:30, so, with …
'Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. ... There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.'-Rachel Carson Visiting the Doubtful Sound (and the Fiordland National Park) was …
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'Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.'-Helen Keller Sorry I've been a bit MIA. I had a massive life change...I moved to Bend, Oregon! While moving back to the West Coast had been in motion, the move itself was a bit rushed. Due to my life on the road, I have had horrendous wifi. …
'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'-J.R.R. Tolkien Let me start off by saying that Queenstown and the surrounding area is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It is …
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'My friends, this is the essence of life'-Maori Proverb My last stop of the day was to Te Puia, a Maori cultural center in Rotura (about two hours from Auckland). Between this and the Waitomo caves, I was able to get a sense of the Maori culture and how intrinsic it is in New Zealand. …
'[She] knew that little ideas that tickled, and nagged, and refused to go away should never be ignored, for in them lie the seeds of destiny.'-Babe Welcome to the AGRODOME!!! Sorry, whenever I say the name in my head, I think of Mad Max. This place is much less aggressive! It started out as a …
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'Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.'-H.D. Thoreau On my first full day in New Zealand, I left Auckland and headed to the wilderness. My introduction to the most stunning things I will ever see was the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. It was an additional excursion and was a no-brainer. It is …
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After about a million hours of air travel, I finally arrived in Auckland. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the city for very long...something that will be fixed next time I come because the area is beautiful and as someone has pointed out (repeatedly), I did not go to Hobbiton. I arrived and my shuttle took me …
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I have been home for a week and I am still in complete awe over what I experienced over my two weeks in New Zealand and Australia. This trip changed me in so many ways but, mostly, I think that I am braver. I did things that I never would have thought I would. I …
I am getting ready to head Down Under for 16 days! This is by far the furthest I've ever been out of my comfort zone and I couldn't be more excited and more terrified. I spent Friday night seeing Hamilton (finally!!!) and it was wonderful. I feed off the energy in NYC. I have said …
This is going to be a long post, so thank you to all of those who stay to the end! To say I love seeing live theatre is an understatement. I have always loved a show and have seen many a touring production, but there is something about seeing a show on Broadway (or the …
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As you may have noticed, I spend a lot of time in Midtown Manhattan. One of the places that I visit the most is the area around Rockefeller Center. The reason is simply, it is close to the Theatre District, there are lots of food options, and it's a great place to kill time! Around …
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'I AM GOING TO BE FURIOUSLY HAPPY, OUT OF SHEER SPITE.'-Jenny Lawson It's been a minute since I talked about my personal philosophy: to live 'Furiously Happy.' I have discussed it in other posts, but as I was walking around New York City Saturday, I felt immense gratitude and wanted to share. The last year …
One of the most famous museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) lives up to the hype. It is one of my favorite museums anywhere in the world. Easily accessed via Central Park (it is near the Guggenheim), you can see mummies to Picassos and everything in between. You can spend …
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