I've been focusing on some wanderlust lately. Usually, for me, it comes after a challenging or stressful time (I suppose they're one in the same, aren't they?). This past year and a half has been fairly stressful for me. With the purchase of our house, my partner Alex and I have had to make sacrifices regarding finances which in turn had to curb all our travel plans. So far, we've only been able to visit family in Pennsylvania for the holidays (we grew up together there), gone on a climbing trip in northwest Georgia, made a quick trip down to the Florida Keys and went on an extended car camping trip where I had to drive back into town to work for the day then return to the campsite in the evenings.
Of course, I'm thankful to have the ability to get away at all - even for a day or two - but I'm feeling stuck. It's been hard to take it all in stride. To understand that the work and money toward our house is an investment? I never wanted to own a house. I'm not a homebody. I like to expand my knowledge of the world through exploration and travel. I feel burdened and in limbo. On one hand, it's really nice to feel the ownership of the place I live in. Before I moved to Florida (I was living in Portland, OR at the time), I didn't have a single room call 'home.' All of my earthly possessions were stored in a small storage unit and set up like a walk-in closet. I lived in extended stay hotels and sometimes stayed with friends. Once I sublet a room for a couple months, but couldn't justify the cost of the lease because my job had me traveling so much (a minimum of 5 days a week, sometimes for a couple weeks at a time). I had been a Stormwater Supervisor for one of the largest asset maintenance companies in the nation. I got to see a lot of the Pacific Northwest, Montana Idaho and Nevada because I had to drive from location to location for inspections and maintenance.
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| Along the way somewhere in Wyoming 2011 |
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| Elk and geysers in Yellowstone National Park at dusk 2011 |
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| J. N. Ding Darling Nature Preserve 2012 |
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| In a retention pond in central Florida 2012 |
Before that, I spent a year and a half in the wilderness of Washington State and in Forest Park in Portland through AmeriCorps working on building and maintaining recreational hiking trails and bridges.
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| Mount Adams Wilderness 2009 |
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| Mount Saint Helens NVM wilderness tool & supply drop 2009 |
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| Volunteer party carrying in wood to rebuild a bridge in Forest Park 2010 |
I'm ready to take a trip. Somewhere. Anywhere. So I'm beginning to plan. Everything is in a state of impermanence and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm planning for my re-emergance!
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| Kings Range Conservation Area CA 2012 |
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| Triple Falls Trail OR 2011 |
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| Triple Falls Hike 2011 |
