So, this post is about an event that happened nearly six months ago, but I've been busy. I'm working on catching up.
Anyway. Potlatch. This is currently one of my top 3 favorite things in life. What it is for the uninformed: a frisbee tournament that takes place in Redmond, Washington over/around 4th of July weekend. I was lucky enough to be invited two summers ago by my favorite Bears when they still lived in Richland, WA. That weekend was so fun, amazing people, amazing team, amazing tournament, and I got to visit Seattle for the first time.
My friend Rebecca took me on the whirl wind tour of Seattle, including Pike Place Market, and Puget Sound, along with the BEST Indian food I've ever had. Then the weekend started- we the Bear's showed up, the girls camped at the fields while the boys stated at Rebecca and Christophe's with the Bear (back when there was only one little Bear). It was a great weekend with lots of frisbee in it's purest form, Lorax trees, and so much love and fun for the game and my teammates it is hard to describe.
Pike Place Market required picture. I love this place.
Love these two, and the story of Loopy and Sarah begins because of Susie.
Team picture, Lorax love at first sight.
One year later I got to do it all again, with some slight differences, but amazingness nonetheless. I was able to get Kyle to come with me, we did some hiking on the Olympic Penninsula, we went tidal pool hunting, and I managed to hurt myself before the point of the weekend- the frisbee- even started. I got to see Sarah again, which only cemented our soul mate status (at least in my book), see an old friend from Atlanta, whom I love and don't get to see enough, and again, play frisbee with some people that make me love the game and remind me why I like it so much, along with meeting MORE awesome people that I've remained friends with.
I love this kid. ATL y'all.
Lorax camp sight- so easy to find, day or night. And honestly, the best one too.
Glow stick ultimate! I on the hand decided to just make things with all the glow stick accessories. PURPLE!
Post-tourney Monday Funday. Another Seattle must crossed off the tourist list.
Fast forward to July 2014 and I was doing it again, only this time while working a 40 hour a week job and having pretty much just the long weekend to get out there, play three days for frisbee, and fly back. Spoiler: still totally worth it.
So my Potlatch 2014 experience started with a 6am flight across the country on Thursday, July 3. If you have to fly to Seattle and back in five days, 6am flights west are definitely the way to go. I got to Seattle about 11am, had a snafu with Hertz, which I irately and unsuccessfully called their customer service number about, and eventually got my car. I picked up my friend Gabby (from Dallas), and thankfully she hung with me while I pretty much began the process of losing my mind for the following four days. We went to the Indian place and stuffed our faces, then we ran to the nearest grocery store to get essentials, then off to the fields. Part of my team was already there, and I got to meet one of my teammates, Elodie, who also happens to be on the UT Women's Ultimate team, and I love her, as any good alumni should. The first day was much of the same as in previous- hanging with the Lorax, waiting for everyone to show up, looping the fields meeting people, dancing at moving dance parties, and finding old friends. I saw people from Atlanta, and one guy whom I used to play with back in our UT days. I had to force myself to stay awake for Sarah so we could slumber party all weekend, but it was worth it, and the night went on until I went to sleep in our tent, while at least 40 people were partying about five feet away. What can I say, it's my super power.
Friday morning rolls around, and due to time changes and the suana that we were sleeping in, I was bright eyed and busy tailed at 6am. Due to this, I was able to get coffee for the team (and fancy coffee for me), and I was ready to go for the day, as this picture shows:
Friday morning, when I had already been up for three or four hours. This is how I get paid back for buying stuff at the swag tent for teammates. Not inappropriate at all.
I want to talk about the whole weekend, but really it all starts to blur together, especially with all the playing. It was a weekend of tutu's-playing in tutus! dream come true!- and crazy classic Kirby cheers, and lots of hanging out. There was a gin cart, and a new lorax tree, and night frisbee (which may be against the rules now... oops), just so many things. I completely let my crazy (but the fun kind) show by hanging out with Sarah all weekend, and I loved it- every freaking moment. I got both the amazing D-tutu (first game of the weekend) and the amazing O-tutu (last game of the weekend), and I just can't tell all the stories. BUT I do know that my red-eye home Sunday night/Monday morning was awful, and totally worth it, and I can't wait to do it again next year.
Big Orange Screw love, from one captain to another.
Desert Lorax: best team at Potlatch, hands down.
I apologize for the randomness and discombobulated-ness of this post, but that's also kind of the theme of this kind of a weekend too :)
I live in DC. Sometimes I think I can't possibly live here, because it's so far from where I was just a few months ago. I moved to DC at the end of May and I'll be here until August 2015, and it's all part of my grad program, which is a little crazy, but awesome all at the same time. AND I'm working at National Geographic (again). It's great, my place is pretty great, and there's always something happening in this city.
Getting here was an adventure though. When I moved to San Marcos I thought that I was going to be there for at least two or three years before I had to move again. I didn't even plan on changing addresses- something I had been doing every four to six months for three years. And then my adviser told me otherwise, and I said OK- to DC! So I made plans to store my big furniture and the little things I wouldn't need in DC, sold the furniture I didn't particularly care about and/or could replace easily and cheaply, and took everything else to goodwill. I found a furnished place in DC, figured out the car situation, and made some plans. I got to spend about five days with my family in northwest Tennessee, then five more days in Knoxville with my bro and some very good, very dear people whom I don't get to see nearly often enough, then continued on to DC.
So now I've been here for just over eight weeks, and I'm loving it. I've done some exploring, most of the monuments and major (read: free) museums, Georgetown, and the area directly around my place. I've finally bought the camera I've been lusting over and I've been trying out my very amatur photography skills. I was able to go to Potlatch again (another post) and to Jersey for my first Wildwood beach tournament (hopefully another post), as well as a trip to Memphis for NCGE and some family time on Hornbeak, TN (that's right, there's a place that my family goes called Hornbeak- we're not even pretending to be white trash, we just straight up are). It's been a good time so far, and I'm starting to get excited about fall and everything else that's coming.
It's funny because I'm nearing the one year countdown to when I have to go back to Texas, and I'm as happy as I've been in a long time. With the countdown happening it reminds me to live life here to the fullest, to continue exploring the city and try to get to the parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast the I've never been to and probably won't have another chance to visit. To continue to live a vagabond life, and live it to the fullest.
Ah- I had all these plans for this blog. I was going to be better about writing, using this as a place to write about my travels and adventures, about life. BUT that is not what has happened. So I'm going to start writing now, and maybe I'll get to tge present and maybe I won't, but I'm going to try.
So last post was about airports, and that was precipitated by my trip to visit the Bear Family in Richland, Washington. I love this family, they are my absolute favorite. They make me infinitely happy, in ways that it is hard to find with others. I've been friends with Kevin since I was 22 (I think), and when he started dating Susie and (eventually) introduced me to her at one of the many Savannh Hat Tournaments I attended, it was friendship pretty immediately, at least for me. Both of tgem have always been my friends, telling me when I'm being ridiculous and nice to me when I need it. I hate that I live so far away from them, but that is life.
And tgen there is the girls. The two baby bears- Eliza (2.5) and Hazel (1!)- they absolutely own my heart. I love when I get to FaceTime with them, seeing them grow and change- it's just too much. So back in January I decided I wanted to visit them, so we decided on a time frame, and the beginning of May, along with my 30th birthday, was the chosen time. It was great, outside of being the last in line to get the kid stomach bug (Eliza, aka: patient zero). There were no big plans, tge plans we had changed due to sickness, but it didn't matter. I got to do a Saturday morning trip to Starbucks and the park with Susie and the girls, we hung out at tge house, went swimming with Eliza, went by the frisbee fields, and generally just say around looking at each other.
And it was exactly what I wanted. Most people go all out for their birthdays, especially 30, but I was so excited to spend mine with my four favorite people, two of which are under the age if 3. There isn't anything I'd rather do, and I got to. There was a three layover flight to get back to Austin, but I didn't even care. It's part if it- the traveling, the seeing of friends and their babies- I'll gladly spend all my money to travel, because that 'a part of my life adventure :)
I love airports- always have. I can remember when one could go ALL THE WAY to the gate to pick someone up or drop them off- the joy of seeing how happy people were as a loved one got off the plane and saw them- it's amazing. These days, there's only so far one can go without a ticket, but that feeling is still there where people come into the main terminal. The movie Love Actually does a good job of portraying this at the end of the movie. I'm one of those people that still likes to go into an airport to get friends that are travling, not just grab them at the curb.
Oh the places you'll go....
But back to the real reason for this post. At the beginning of May I got to go visit my very favorite people and their two beautiful girls in Washington. On the way there, while in the Denver airport (probably my favorite airport for a layover), I marveled at all the places that one can go from an airport. I know this sounds ridiculous, because isn't that the point of airports? To go somewhere? Yes, that is the point, but still. I just walked through and looked at all the places, domestically let alone internationally, that is was possible to fly to just from Denver. This mind set opened up so many day dreams for me- thinking about all the places I want to go, what I would do there, what friends I can go see. I believe that there's always somewhere new to go, someone to visit, or a dream that needs to come true. Most of mine revolve around traveling, so airports are like heaven for me.
Next time you're at an airport, look around at where the different gates can take you- whether some place big or small- and think about where next you're going. It's always good to have the next adventure in the woks, that way there's always something to look forward to.
Happy vagabond-ing :)
San Francisco from the airplane. And on the list you go SF
Hi, my name is Loopy, and I'm an outdoor adventure junkie.
If there was a support group for this, I would definitely be in it, and this would always be my opening line. I love outdoor adventures. LOVE. Ever since I was a kid, about age 11, I have loved all things outdoors- camping, paddling, hiking, swimming in rivers, walking through creeks, rapelling, caving... these are things I love to do. It all started with a church trip that let kids ages 11-13 do all of these things in East Tennessee/Western North Carolina. I fell in love with all these things immediately, and the affair has been going strong ever since.
Unfortunately, being the southern female that I am, my opportunities to do these things and try cold-season outdoor activities was limited. As I got older, I did get to do some other things- in high school I got to do a multi-day hiking trip in Colorado
Freshman year of high school... so fall 1998. My parents and the Ralph's took ALL these kids (checked us out of school for two days), plus a few college kids that met us there, to the Ocoee for the weekend. I have the best parents EVER.
My first trip to Colorado, summer 1999. Fell in love, haven't stopped since. Still trying to make a life there, but my road just hasn't ended there yet.
(my first trip out there, and the beginning of another love affair, and a story for a different post), some kayaking in high school and more in college, and then I started playing competitive ultimate frisbee in college, and all my time spent outside was on a frisbee field. My love for all things outdoors continued though, and I've had the super awkward tan lines over the years to prove it. I was lucky enough to have parents that would check me, my brother, and our friends out of school so we could go camping and rafting at the Ocoee during high school, and friends that would take me to do things with the patience to deal with me as I tried new things. Moving to Wyoming opened up an entire other world of outdoor activities- Rocky Mountain hiking, some snow shoeing, winter hiking, and cross country skiing a few times (something I am NOT very good at but enjoy nonetheless). All these experiences did was feed my junkie habit for outdoor adventure.
My second attempt at cross country skiing... this is me standing in the hole I made because I didn't know how to stop. Or slow down. Or turn.
And then I discovered Banff. Banff is an outdoor adventure film festival held in none other than Banff, Canada. I got my first opportunity to see these amazing films when I worked at National Geographic as an intern- I think I volunteered to work four of the five nights it was playing. It was AMAZING, even though some were super odd, some were a little too artsy, and some made me think "Y'all are just STUPID." But then there were the ones that I fell in love with, like this one, called Eastern Rising.
Or this one, called "A Life Ascending.
These are great, and were just fun to watch. Since then, I haven't gotten a chance to see any Banff films due to life, until this year in Austin. It was awesome. These movies again, can be odd and a little overly artsy, but they're SO good, and really give an idea of what is possible if you have a love for the outdoors and are willing to try new things. I personally will probably never be able to do most of the things these films show, but it feeds my need to try new things, push my personal boundaries, and the need and drive to keep traveling and see more of what the world has to offer- not just cities, but the natural beauty specifically.
So, whatever drives your need for travel and adventure, embrace it. Watch films, get outside, and be happy about it. It's great, and sometimes, there's free smartwool socks involved.
Austin Banff program and FREE SOCKS. There's very few things that are better than new socks. Except when they're free and Smartwools.
I sometimes think I'm a writer. I know I can write for academics- I can churn and BS my way through a 15 page paper like no other- and then I remember that I'm not writing an academic paper. This is supposed to be fun writing, something that I'm proud of and wouldn't care if other people saw.
I started blogging back in my early 20s, when many of my friends started to become scattered around the South (and the US). It was a way for me to keep up with them and for them to keep up with me. I was traveling a lot, playing too much ultimate, and living life. Then after college happened, and life started to take on a monotony that I didn't think others would find that interesting, so I started blogging less and less, until eventually I would go months or a year between postings. I would find some inspiration when exciting things happend-like moving to Wyoming- and then I'd think "I'm writing about the same things" or "I don't think people are really that interested." So I'd stop again, and now it's been nearly a year and a half since my last blogging session. Then the other day I realized something.
I want to write. I don't necessarily care if others find me interesting. I think my life and my stories are interesting. I want to have an outlet for my adventures and ideas, musings, and random thoughts. So here I go again.
The other day, after posting to facebook that I was in Tampa, a very good friend of mine commented "Do you ever stay in one part of the country[?]" My answer was simple. Never. I don't like to stay in one place too terribly long, whether it be traveling for fun, for ultimate, to visit friends, or because life dictates that I pack up all my worldly belongings and start over again somewhere else. The world is too big and there are too many things to see to stay in one place too long. The last place I lived for more than two years was Atlanta, and I left there in the summer of 2010. Since then:
Laramie (Address 1): August 2010- mid-January 2011
DC: mid-January 2011- end of April 2011
back to Atlanta (but different address than before): May 2011- mid-August 2011
Laramie (Address 1): mid-August 2011- early-January 2012
Laramie (Address 2): January 2012-July 2012
Laramie (Address 3): August 2012- mid-December 2012
Dyersburg, TN: mid-December 2012- mid-July 2013
San Marcos, TX: mid-July 2013-May 2014
Now I'm preparing to sign a 15 month lease to head back to DC as part of my PhD program, and I am so excited. I get to live in DC, actually live there, for an entire year, making enough money to live on (poorly, but live on), for everything it has to offer all year long. There experiences and opportunities I'll get are beyond thinking about. And with that comes more traveling- outside of my normal random things. I've lived there before, working at the same place, but this time is different. So here I go again.
On a parting note, I told my friend Annie that she didn't have to envite me to Atlanta events anymore, since it had been so long since I lived there. Her response was "I never know when you're going to pop up". Good. Let's keep it that way- always guessing where I'm going to be next.
So, I'm one of those people that is still learning the art of hashtagging, but I felt that this was a good way to get started, with blogging (again) and with keeping up with what I'm doing in my life. This blog will be where I keep track of my travels, adventures, thoughts, and life in general. Check back periodically for updates, new stories, rambling thoughts, pictures of my #vagabondlife, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
