"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  

Into the Wild

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*

Materialism

"The best things in life aren't things."-Art Buchwald

As a kid, I wanted to grow up so quickly.  I saw adulthood as a path to freedom; freedom to go where I want, eat what I want, and be who I wanted to be.  Technically, I can do these things, and try to as often as possible.  But, as an independent adult, I am attached to so many things.

Dream away,
 little Paige...

For example, on any given Saturday morning, I wake up and feel like I have to clean my whole (tiny) apartment (which really only takes about an hour), do laundry, clean dishes, go grocery shopping and suddenly it's almost noon! Then, I tend to to go on a hike, but really I should be cleaning my car (and fix the damn crack that has been in my windshield since February...of 2011!).

If I didn't have so many things, I probably wouldn't need a whole apartment.  If I had no car, I wouldn't need to repair it.  If my clothing collection didn't take up a closet and a whole dresser set, I wouldn't need to wash my clothes in such huge bulks of laundry (and forget about folding them, I do enough folding at work already.)  I think about how my impact on the Earth would be so much smaller without these things.

I don't even like coats!

But, what I have is all part of a certain lifestyle that I have chosen to live. To give all of this up means to change my life in a drastic way.  Being in this little hippie town of Santa Fe has opened my eyes to other possibilities and paths.. I see young travelers who live out of backpacks or vehicles.  I don't know if I am quite ready for that, but I am certainly feeling a draw.

Recently, I gave up my internet service and subscription to internet radio.  Now, I have to write my blog & do website work in the library, bookstores, coffee shops and friends' houses (thanks guys!)  I think I would eventually like to give up my apartment, furniture, most of my dishes and clothes, definitely my kitchen appliances, decorations and probably the awesome yellow couch my parents lament sending across country (I'll give it back!)

My living room! I'll be giving up most of those books...

I want to trade in my car for a truck, possibly live in the woods for a while and save money, then buy something I can live and travel in.  I dream of an Airstream.

What I will keep are old pictures that I don't have digital copies of, essential kitchen ware, Oliver the cat (and my fish, Link2 and Zelda if they are still alive!), towels, some clothes and shoes, art supplies, my guitar, journals, yoga mat, photography equipment, camping gear and definitely all of my costumes.

I couldn't survive without these glasses!