- Penguins are my friends.
They’re holding flippers! - Spanish is much more useful than German. Visiting Teri at her Peace Corps assignment and traveling in Mexico during January and February 2017 happened at the best time, as it gave me the chance to learn the traveler’s Spanish that I’d need in Chile that same October. I used it to travel in Chile and Argentina in March and April 2018, and I just finished up 2.5 more weeks of travel in Patagonia in November 2018.
- The Bering Sea is my home in Alaska. Whether I’m on the Tiglax, in a skiff, or living on an island (St. George, Buldir, or St. Matthew), I’m comfortable.
Driving a skiff in the waters around Attu, the end of the Aleutian Islands - Wearing shorts, riding bikes, and eating fresh peaches across the country makes for a wonderful summer. After living on St. Matthew for a month, I traveled through Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin (bus ride), both peninsulas of Michigan, Texas, Wyoming, Utah (bus ride), Idaho, Montana, Washington, and California from mid July to late September.
The delicious, delicious taste of summer - Sometimes you unexpectedly meet someone who coaxes out the good cry you’ve apparently been needing. Have you ever pulled away from a week-long Wilderness First Responder course in tears, telling your passenger that you’d be stopping for ice cream before starting the drive back to Denver – and then proceeding to tell her things that your best friend only recently learned? And alternating between crying and laughing for the first hour of a drive? It was intense.
- Jason Isbell is incredible. Listening to the music of a talented artist while sitting with friends (one of whom has an amazing voice himself) in the coolness of a summer night on a grassy lawn at KettleHouse Amphitheater in Missoula, MT, gave me the chills. Isbell’s lyrics are beautiful, and here are a select couple: From “Cover Me Up” – Home was a dream/One I’d never seen/Till you came along From “Traveling Alone” – And I know every town worth passing through/ But what good does knowing do/ With no one to show it to
- I am not going to bike throughout an Alaskan winter. When it’s time to spend a winter here, I’m going to invest in one of those fancy 4-wheeled contraptions. After all, I’ve gone 11 years of being based in this state without one.
- This lifestyle is lonely. … but I love travel and have no skills or interest in jobs based in town.
- As long as Kirk Cousins plays for the Minnesota Vikings, they are my team. I started following the Washington Redskins while he played there, and now he’s sporting purple. As a fantastic person and former Spartan, he’s got my support more than anyone else in the NFL.
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