2015 Wrap-Up: A Peek Into My Crazy

Blown Away. How is it the end of the year?? This has just been a year of incredible changes. I sat down to try and get my head around everything that has happened, all the places I've traveled to and people I've visited, and frankly I'm a little overwhelmed. I'll start at the beginning, and hope I don't miss anything!

Over my birthday weekend in January one of my best friends and I took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and snowshoed to our heart's content. Megan and I hiked several miles worth of snow-coverd trails and frozen lake surfaces, and I developed a taste for snowsports.

Once I'd finally developed that taste for snow, I moved south. The end of February found me packing up everything I own, leaving my job at the vet clinic, and setting off on the biggest adventure of my life: moving to Texas. It's turned out to be the best thing I've ever done.

For the majority of March I was trying to settle in to a new home, new community and new culture. Oh, and a new job. Jared and I were figuring out how to live together, mesh our insane number of pets, and make new friends. I still managed to get out and explore my chosen home a little bit, even though it rained for the first six weeks after I moved to Texas.

In April, I picked up my travels again by taking a short trip north to McGee Creek State Park in southern Oklahoma. It was just me and many miles of poorly marked trail. That was the first time this year that I broke my hiking distance record.

I also took a trip south to visit friends in San Antonio. We managed to pack a cave tour, the River Walk and wine tasting into under two full days. I still don't know how we managed it!

May found me settled in and adjusting to life in Texas. And then I spent the last week of the month back home in Nebraska for my little brother's graduation, a 90 mile bike ride, and several days driving around in the Sandhills on the hunt for historical markers with my dad and sister. Because why not?

In June, things started getting crazy(er). I first took a weekend to meet up with Julia at Chickasaw National Recreation Area, which we spent camping and hiking. And drinking really cold spring water right from the source.

I also drove myself to Buena Vista, Colorado to white water raft with Megan, as well as visit a ghost town, the coolest waterfall I've ever seen, and Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Oh, and I stopped at a volcano. I also got the worst sunburn of my life and couldn't stand to be touched for days.

In July I went back to Utah! I met my whole family for a sort of throw-back family vacation in one of our favorite places. We hiked Arches National Park, bounced around on jeep trails near Canyonlands National Park, camped, floated the Colorado River and otherwise spent time together. When we parted, Alisha came with me and we explored Hovenweep National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park. When she went home, I headed south and hit several more national parks and monuments (here, here and here) before I returned home as well.

The last weekend of July interns from work and I spent a day at Caddo Lake State Park, the only natural lake in Texas. Did I mention it's full of alligators? And that I went canoeing for the first time? And that I didn't panic even though I wanted to? We also drove through Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and into Louisiana and Arkansas, just because.

I retraced some steps from last year and cheered on Torrey at Pike's Peak, Colorado as I watched her run her first ascent half marathon in August. I also finally accomplished the Manitou Incline, one of my top three most difficult physical activities to date.

I also camped out at Caddo Lake in late August with some interns from work, where we hit the bayou in canoes to look for alligators with no luck.

And for the last weekend in August Jared and I took a trip just for ourselves! We spent the weekend in Dallas, relaxing, visiting the Dallas World Aquarium, the Dallas Zoo, and drinking and swimming at our hotel. Also, room service.

The for first full week of September I received some major alone-time at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where I spent the week camping, hiking (breaking my distance record again), driving, and looking for bears. I found 'em, too! Can I just say: Take me back!

With October came a trip to Lawton, Oklahoma with Jared to watch my baby brother graduate from BCT, visit with my mom, dad and aunt, and explore nearby Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.

The following weekend I went back to Nebraska for the wedding of my sister's best friend. It was a short and sweet trip, but all the more fun for it!

Over the week of Thanksgiving Jared and I and some of our pets headed north to Nebraska to spend time with our families. We ate, drank, visited with family and friends, and tried to cram as many leftovers as possible into the car to take home with us. Did I mention the ice? The week was far too short.

For the first time ever, I went camping in December. Seeing that it was in Texas at my local state park, it really felt more like an autumn camping trip than a camping trip in winter, but whatever. Temps around freezing, a nice fire, warm food, and a nighttime visitor made it memorable!

I managed to squeeze in one last adventure before the new year when I visited Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas. I drove 2.5 hours south, broke my hiking distance record (AGAIN) with a 19.65 mile hike, and drove 2.5 hours back home, all in thirteen and a half hours. It was a gorgeous day, a brisk morning with temperatures around freezing, warming up to a wonderful day with highs in the 60s. It was bright, sunny, the trail was mostly flat (but a little muddy), and I saw a grand total of five other people. I could not have asked for a more perfect December day to smash my hiking record!

As you can see, I've been busy. My 2014 happy jar didn't even come close to being as full as this year's jar, but I'll write about that when the year is over. With all of the changes in my life recently, traveling is my way of injecting some sanity into my whirlwind, but also lets me live. There are many nights where I go to bed content, and I can count every night I've spent in a tent among them. I love my home, I love the life I've built here around my boyfriend and my pets (kids), my new and old friends, and my job, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't travel. I can't wait to see what new trips I get to go on in 2016, and am already in the planning stages of two, possibly three grand adventures!

Below I've listed out my stats from this year's travels. I'm probably the only one who finds this interesting, but whatever.

Total Number of Adventures: 18
Total Time Spent Traveling: about 45.5 days
Number of Nights Camping: 25
Number of Nights In Someone's House: 16
Number of Nights In a Hotel: 15
Number of Nights Driving: 1
Total Cost: $6,452.22
Number of States Visited: 15
Total Distance I've Driven: 17,928 miles
Total Distance I've Been Driven: 3,740 miles
Total Distance in a Car: 21,668 miles
Total Distance Hiked: 144.21 miles
Total Distance Biked: 90.22 miles
Total Distance Canoed: 7.42 miles
Total Distance Rafted: roughly 30 river miles
Number of National Parks/Monuments/Rec Areas/Refuges: 17
Number of State Parks: 7
Number of Human Companions: 33
Number of Furry Companions: 13

I hope your 2015 was as fulfilling as mine... Now bring on 2016!

What I'm listening to: Christmas at Hogwarts by John Williams

Volcanoes in New Mexico!?

Impulsive. Just across the Texas-New Mexico border, I started seeing mounds of dark rock rising up from the surrounding grasslands. I was about ten hours into a fourteen hour drive from my home in east Texas to Buena Vista, Colorado for a white water rafting trip with Megan. I'll write about that adventure in a week or two, but before I even arrived in Colorado I had a mini side adventure in New Mexico. Like I said, I had been driving and driving, stopped for the night and a few hour's sleep, then drove some more. I had (finally) crossed into New Mexico when I noticed the mounds, and they became more pronounced the farther northwest I drove. Eventually, I pinpointed what they looked like, rising up out of the prairie without a mountain range close by: volcanoes. And I was pretty sure the big one I was staring at and driving directly towards was a shield volcano, with it's broad, gently sloping sides. Easily the largest formation around, it kind of draws your eye.

Soon enough, I started noticing the more severe cinder-and-spatter cone volcanoes with their steep slopes capped by caulderas. Just outside the town of Capulin, NM I saw a sign for Capulin Volcano National Monument. I'm pretty sure I said "What the hell, why not?" out loud, and turned down the monument road. After my customary stop at the visitor's center I wound my little car around the flank of the volcano, circling up toward the rim. There were times where I couldn't see anything out my passenger window except open air and land far, far below. I love roads like that!!!

Once at the dead-end parking lot, I got out and marveled at the view. On one side, there was an ancient volcanic field laid out in front of me for miles. You could even see the Rocky Mountains from way up there! On the other side, the rim of the volcano rose up away from the parkinng lot, with a trail appearing here and there among the rocks. There was also a trail to the bottom of the crater of the volcano, and the volcanic vent that marked the center of the crater. I hiked the steep trail to the vent first, following behind a trio of high school graduates out on their first big adventure (I know because I asked-small talk, ya know?)

Leaving them at the bottom of the crater, I climbed back up and started around the rim trail. Capulin and the surrounding volcanic field is long dead, the product of shifting tectonic plates that have since settled down in that area. From up on the rim, you can see for miles in all directions, and get a sense of how the area would have looked when the volcanoes were active. Everywhere you look you could spot the dark volcanic rock, Cinder-and-spatter cone volcanoes, several shield volcanoes, rippled earth where the magma had once flowed hot under the ground, and is now hardened and proping up the covering soil and grass.

In all, my little side trip only took about an hour of my time, but it was well worth it. I had visited that National Monument with my family when we first started taking yearly two-week vacations every summer, but honestly had forgotten about it until I saw it again. It was neat to revisit and see things through adult eyes, especially on my own. Soon after arriving I got back in my car, thoroughly enjoyed the drive back down the volcano, and headed on my way to Buena Vista. I do have to say once again, it's the little things that make the journey!

What I'm listening to: The Medallion Calls by Hans Zimmer

A Sandhills Journey: A Quest for Historical Markers Across Northern Nebraska

Purposeful. Our adventure was characterized by looming thunderstorms, bright sun, cool mornings and miles of open road. My dad, sister and I took off for a four day trip through the northern third of Nebraska, on another quest for Nebraska State Historical Markers that took us to some amazing places. Who knew Nebraska could be so diverse, or have so much history! Our journey started by heading North out of Lincoln, two days after I arrived for a visit from Texas. I had already spent 740 miles in the car, what was a couple thousand more? We drove the highways along the eastern border of the state, stopping at historical markers along the way. As was typical for our trip last October, some of the markers were set right on the side of the highway, others we had to search for in whatever little small town they were illustrating.

You never know what you're going to find

We reached our destination for the first night, O'Neill, on the edge of a severe thunderstorm that produced some amazing mammatus clouds. After a quick trip to scout out the town's access point to the Cowboy Trail, we headed to a hotel to get some sleep. The next day started way too early. Dad and I were up before dawn and headed to the Cowboy Bike Trail while my sister slept in. I left town at 6am, on a solo journey with the goal to bike from O'Neill to Valentine (115 miles) in one day. Dad and Alisha backtracked to the eastern part of the state and continued the quest for historical markers. You can read the story of my bike trail journey here, but just let me say it was one of the most mentally challenging activities I have ever attempted. They picked me up towards the end of the day and we found a motel in Valentine, and after I cleaned up we went to get some good ol' Nebraska steak.

Our third day started slowly, with me sleeping as much as possible and moving as little as possible. Dad's truck is huge, and I had to use my arms to pull myself into it every time. Getting out of the truck was pretty much a controlled fall. We continued our trek West, driving through some of the most stunning sections of Sandhills in Nebraska. Our road led us through small town after small town, and nearly every person we passed on the highway acknowledged us with a one-finger wave. Also, they all drove Ford trucks. Anyway, we reached the fairly good-sized town of Chadron at lunchtime, and stopped to eat and check off historical markers as we found them. We planned to stay there for the night, but continued on down the highway toward Fort Robinson State Park.

Bison. NOT Buffalo

While driving down a small town just outside of the park's borders on the hunt for an elusive marker, we passed a house where a person was laying on their porch. Dad and Lisha spotted them, and thought it odd enough to warrant a second look. As we swung around, it became apparent that an elderly lady was lying on her stomach, her walker on it's side and her front door wide open. My sister and I jumped out of the truck before dad even fully stopped, and I moved faster than I thought was possible given how stiff I was from my ride the day before. The lady had clearly fallen, and as we sprinted across her lawn we saw she couldn't move much, and she was bleeding from where she had hit her chin and nose. I shouted for dad to call an ambulance and Lisha started talking to the lady, reassuring her we had help on the way and starting to assess where she was hurt. We retrieved a pillow from inside, trying to make her comfortable but afraid to move her. The lady's elderly daughter came down the stairs after I called through the house to see if anyone else was home. We stayed with them until the sheriff, then the ambulance and medical team arrived. As we drove away after giving our information to the sheriff, we saw them gingerly rolling the lady onto a stretcher. By the time we found our marker and returned to the main road, the lady and ambulance had gone.

 With that excitement on our minds, we continued on to Fort Robinson, and nearly became overwhelmed with the multitude of historical markers scattered through the park. We drove all of the park roads, and nearly every time we turned around there was another marker. We figured it might take us two days to track down and visit every marker. We located and photographed all but one of them in less than two hours.

Sure, let's drive over a flooded road. Only my father.

When we couldn't easily find the final marker, we continued up the highway and drove straight into a torrential downpour, only to drive out of it minutes later. We had a couple of outlying markers to get, one of which was so close to the Wyoming border that we couldn't resist but to cross over and add in a visit to that state. As we returned to Fort Robinson we explored the side roads that we had passed over during the storm, and finally found our final marker. We reached our motel for the evening, tired and pleased about how the day had gone, though I wondered how the elderly lady was doing. Our fourth and final day was a long one. We started our morning early, making the drive down a bad road to Toadstool State Park. Remember how much I love bad roads? They almost always lead to a spectacular destination, and Toadstool was no exception. I almost forgot I was in Nebraska.

White clay mounds broken by rusty striations stretched out in front of us as we reached the single sand road that leads to the park. We parked and started on a short hike through the wet clay and squishy grass of Ogallala National Grassland toward the whimsical geology of Toadstool State Park. Great slabs of rock rested precariously atop white clay hills, and it was easy to see where the name of the park came from. With all of the rain the area had been getting, the usually semi-arid region was soaking wet and muddy. We didn't even go half of a mile before we reached a little creek cutting through the milky clay, and our hike came to an end. Lisha and Dad didn't want to get wet and muddy, plus we still had our quest to finish.

 I conceded, but made the promise to myself that I will go back and hike the whole loop some day. It looked awesome! We drove the bumpy, washed out road back to the highway, and continued on our journey. Several historical markers and hours later, we found ourselves within two hours of home, and even though it was late enough that we'd be getting back after dark, we headed on home. We found many markers on our quest, and had some great bonding time. I don't know when I'll be able to go back, but I'm sure we'll have another quest to fulfill eventually. After all, there is still plenty of Nebraska left to be discovered.