"Driving Directions to Santa Fe"

That would be significantly out of the way.

This is actually the map of what my life - with Nick - is going to look like from July 9th until ??  And, just to add, this does not include July 1-9, which is driving from Santa Fe to Denver, flying to DC, taking a bus to NYC and flying back into Denver.

We just bought a car on Friday and I sold my car about an hour ago. I gave my notice at work on Thursday.   This past week has been exciting, crazy, maybe a little scary... and it's only the beginning of the adventure.

Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Banff National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Denali National Park, Gates of the Arctic National Park, The ALCAN Highway, Vancouver, The Pacific Northwest, Mount Rushmore, Acadia National Park...etc.

So, it is likely that I will have a lot of blog updates pertaining to this trip.  Or, unlikely, depending on how much internet is available along the way!

2 countries
3 weddings
230 hours driving time
2,000 dollars in gas
13,000 miles across North America

Small Steps

“Little by little, one travels far.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien  

Feeling Stagnant and Book List Update

Yesterday I had the post-vacation blues. Nick and I did a very fun cross-state adventure over the holidays... it was something I had been looking forward to for a few weeks (really, I had wanted to do this trip for a couple of years).  It was so much fun!

Then, yesterday, I hadn't packed a lunch and therefore needed to buy something from a nearby restaurant. In that moment, I felt as if I had already tried everything I could eat with my "different" (not restrictive!) diet.

I expressed this to Nick via a text message.  A couple hours later, he showed up at work.  I still hadn't eaten lunch (because I couldn't pick anything I wanted to eat).  We took a walk, I ordered a vegan burger from The Shed, and we talked about how I was feeling.

During the walk, I remembered that Nick was playing an open mic at Second Street that evening.  I remembered that he is going to L.A. this weekend and I am going next week.  I remembered that there's actually a lot to look forward to in life.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Such as:

- Next weekend is one of my best friend's birthdays and we'll be going to Ojo Caliente, Gabriel's, and snowshoeing to San Antonio Hot Springs 
- My parents are coming to visit next month and we will be skiing, hiking and visiting breweries
- My sister is coming to visit in March and we will be going to Ojo Caliente again
- My sister is getting married this year and I will be able to see my entire extended family on both sides
- Nick and I will be visiting my dear friend Ally later this year in Whidbey Island, Washington

And there's so much more.

"It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves." -Andre Gide

Also, a book list update:

1.  Wind, Sand & Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
3. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway*
4. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway*
5. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
6. Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
7. The Nigger of the 'Narcissus': A Tale of the Sea, Joseph Conrad
8. Afterwards, You're a Genius, Chip Brown
9. Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order, George Johnson
10. The God Theory: Universes, Zero-Point Fields and What's Behind It All, Bernard Haisch
11. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver
12. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
13. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez*

The Greatest Adventure

“The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.” 
 
-J.R.R. Tolkein