Celebrations

My idea of celebrating getting my master's degree was to go on a 3 day solo adventure near Winter Park, meeting up with Chris the 3rd night and spending the 4th day with him. Overall this was a really really good trip. It was very nice to be alone for a while. And since Chris and I were mountain biking on the last day, I had his ridiculously large mountain bike with me the whole time - so it at least looked like I was traveling with a rather large male. I seriously think I will take his bike with me on future solo trips.

I had lots of time to think about things. First, I met this elderly man at the campground I stayed at the first night near Fraser. He was with his wife, a friend of their's, and their friend's sister. The first three have been traveling together every summer since 1961, along with the friend's wife. I thought this was amazing, and it made me really hope that I am still friends with many of the friends I have now in 47 years. The friend's wife died this past year and this is their first trip without her. Sad, but still an amazing testament to their friendship.

Second, I spent lots of time looking at wildflowers. I have a wildflower book and I tried to commit as many to memory as possible. Usually I will look up a flower, see it's name, and forget it by the time I close the book. Seriously. I really love wildflowers and there were a ton.

Third, I read the Alchemist. It was a really good book and ideal reading material for a solo trip. The idea of it is that we all have a personal legend (or destiny) to fulfill. The main character is seeking out his destiny and is constantly reminded that when we really want something, all the universe will conspire to help us. I thought it was neat and it made me wonder what mine would be? Am I living it out? What about Chris' destiny? Am I enabling him to live his? In the book, the main character is told that your personal legend is most clear when you are young. I've often wondered (I know this will sound strange) if the adult me encountered the child me, would the child me like me? Haha, that sounds really scitzo. But I wonder because when we're kids, we're very idealistic and have huge dreams. Then reality sets in and that inevitably changes us, but hopefully not too much. Anyway, good food for thought.

Speaking of food, I decided that from now on I will always bring Jelly Bellies on camping trips. They are the perfect dessert, other than chocolate (which melts).

Being alone was really nice but being with Chris was lots of fun, too (once I got used to being around another person again). We had a blast mountain biking downhill at Winter Park (I cannot say the same for the uphill part). I am really pleased that I somehow lost much of my fear of riding fast on a mountain bike. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'm glad it did! We went down a difficult trail and I was hitting jumps right behind Chris. I never thought that would happen! And no falls after 2 days (~31 miles) of mountain biking! :)

Sweet singletrack in Fraser


My car has a card table hidden in the back! It made breakfast very pleasant.


Chris and I at the top of Mary Jane, 11,200', the highest I've ever mountain biked.