Fail blog

Friday 8:54 AM- Wake up

8:56 AM- Try to check in for my flight to NYC to see Sesh* because I forgot to check in last night

8:57 AM- Read that my flight to NYC today is DEPARTING FROM RALEIGH...er WHAT?!?!?!?! NO!!  HOW did this possibly happen?!  Then I curse google chrome.

9:10 AM- Call Sesh.  She screens.  I hate that.  But she's legit in a meeting.

9:11 AM- Call home.  Lecture from brother.  Hang up.

9:15 AM- Call Dad.  Sympathy.  Much appreciated.  Find out they're going to the mountains that afternoon.

11:02 AM- Finally talk to Sesh.  I have never been so disappointed.  I still owe you a trip to NYC for a big weekend, but another time.  Her thought: "Maybe this weekend just wasn't supposed to happen.  Maybe the plane was going to crash, or maybe something more was meant for us this weekend."  Profound and optimistic and kind.  

2:53 PM- After getting my life together after the catastrophe of a weekend, I salvage and call my brother.  I'll meet you in Asheville.  Don't tell Mom & Dad.

9:15 PM- The surprise was classic.  I thought my Dad was going to have a heart attack.  

Saturday-Sunday: Peak color season in Asheville.  Carolina blue skies.  Perfect temperature.  Just got home.  My brother really considered stealing my dog.  I don't blame him.  She's amazing.

*Sesh, in addition to being my BFF from home, is the most wonderfully understanding, supportive, and ever-present friend I could ask for.  She wasn't even mad at me, which made me feel like I had disappointed her that much more.

Mom reminded me that I was away from my family for the longest amount of time since I was born.  I think Seshie was right, something more was meant for me this weekend.

 Sweet home Carolina.

NC Loves Mountains

Big Fat Gap, Matrimony, & Dewi Sant played at the Local 506 last night in an event sponsored by Appalachian Voices. My dear friend Parker works for them in Boone and she is a dedicated supporter of stopping the mountain top removal that is happening all over the Southeast.

Mountaintop removal is a form of extracting coal that uses heavy explosives to remove hundreds of vertical feet of a mountain to access thin seams of coal underneath. This “overburden” is then dumped directly into adjacent valleys, burying headwater streams and turning freshwater into brown muck.

You can help support the efforts of ending mountaintop removal in the Appalachian mountains by writing your congressman or senator and signing the petition to keep our water clean. I did.

Buy a bumpersticker, tattoo, or pin if you heart mountains too.

UnLabor Day

To all those people who work 5 days a week: I understand your pleas for Friday now. I skipped town and made it to Colorado just in time for happy hour. Golden City Brewing in Golden, Co is the 2nd largest brewery in town... and they have pickles.

The Tour de Fat sponsored by New Belgium was going on in Fort Collins. Imagine Halloween on a Saturday morning... on bicycles. I felt right at home in this little college town, especially since I met up with Kelly-- my long lost from my Carolina days who now lives in Buena Vista.

After extensive research and asking a few locals for beta on where to climb, we set out for Poudre (pronounced "Pooter") Canyon for a gorgeous day outside. This is what we found...

We chose The Palace as our destination... a wall of sport climbing that requires navigating across a freezing river for the approach. Kelly and I led a couple of routes that turned out to be pretty "chossy" but we came out on top.
Never thought I'd see the day, but we even got Richard on the rock!
After a hearty meal and long nap for recovery, we headed to Boulder to check out the city. As we got closer to the city we could see an ominous brownish gray cloud over the city. Rolling down the windows sent ash and the smell of burning wood into the car. We had no idea that the fire started just a few hours before we arrived in town. Flagstaff Rd. is a parkway that overlooks the mountains and Boulder area and everyone wanted a view of the forest fire as well. It's probably about 10 miles as the crow flies, but the winds proved to be the most deciding factor in the fire's behavior.
Many thanks to my great tourguides Kelly, Richard, and Javi-by-email for a great trip in Colorado!

How I love the things we do at Camp Tekoa...

Hendo (Hendersonville), NC: My long awaited return to Tekoa came not a moment too soon after the end of my endless summer semester of class. I used to work at Camp Tekoa and miss it nearly every day. There is a smell that is distinctly Tekoa-- I think it's Hemlock mixed with camp fire-- that makes my heart warm and get all mushy inside. Needless to say, I was thrilled to be their nurse for a week.

A week in review:
Number of campers to take care of: 250
Number of staffers to take care of: 60
Patients I sent to urgent care: 14
Safety pin surgeries to remove an embedded earring from a child's ear: 1
Pranks pulled: 2
Successful pranks pulled: 1
Hours slept that night: 2
Hours spent in the rocking chairs of the front porch througout the week: 40
4 square games that I dominated in: ALL OF THEM
Weeks until I can go back: 40 (I'm counting!)