Oktoberfest in Vail

Everyone dancing down at Lionshead

It was a crazy weekend working up in Vail for Oktoberfest. Lots of work, lots of brats and lots of shots!

A couple times a year I get to work in Vail setting up and breaking down events. Usually we are working in snowpants and boots so working in shorts was a welcome change.

People were not signing up for the Brat Eating Contest so I did. They are a lot harder to eat than a hot dog, trust me. I'll have to work on my technique for next year =)

 

Brat Eating Contest
 The giant two down from my right won. He ate 5 brats in only 3 minutes! I got down 2 =)



I had to sign a sausage waiver...incase I

choked on one??? haha!



It was totally worth all the free beer! And I even made the
newspaper - my parents will be so proud!



 

The spill from our first night. It only took 3 days to clean up

Last night out at the bar with George in the background

 

Our second weekend getting away with skinny dipping in the pool next door =)





Awesome weekend with awesome friends...I was not kidding about the surplus of shots!



Luckily I didn't find out about the shot wheel till the last night!

Loki Jackets - Bring on the mischief

30 Before 30

While in Glacier in June 2010, I worked with an awesome guy who inspired me to come up with my own 30 things to do before my 30th birthday list (30 before 30). By the time I got around to making the list it was already September 2010. At the age of 27 I made this challenging list while I was hanging out for a few days in Portugal. I have managed to knock off 6 things in almost a year...lots left to do!

1. Lasik - no more contacts! (March 2013)
2. Go to Africa (my last continent) (March 2012)

3. Swim with a whale shark

4. Swim with a whale

5. Get my dive instructor certification

6. Hike the PCT

7. Work for the NPS (5/9/11)

8. See a giraffe in the wild (March 2012)
9. Dive in the Red Sea
10. Finish a triathlon (9/17/11)
11. Sea kayak with whales
12. Stay at the 3 Moose Lodge
13. Learn a new sport (white water kayaking 8/15/11)
14. Sail across an ocean
15. Buy a sailboat (hopefully a laser!) (May 2012)
16. Visit the Banff and Jasper areas
17. Work/intern at a wildlife rehab center
18. Visit PNG
19. Get published (photo, book, article)

20. See Jimmy Buffet live (Oct 2011)

21. Go to a multi-day music festival
22. Learn Spanish enough for a conversation
23. Go to a Steelers game
24. Go hang gliding/ paragliding
25. Go to the dentist (May 2011)
26. Learn how to put makeup on (Winter 2011)
27. Take Hunter backpacking
28. Master 25 recipes
29. Ride a camel (Nov 2011)
30. Go winter camping (Feb 2011)



Jimmy Buffett live in Denver, CO - October 2011

Working as a Park Ranger 2011

Winter Camping in Rocky Mountain 2011

Rode a camel to break some change - Nov 2011

First day in Africa - March 2012

Wild giraffes - March 2012

9/17/11 - Finishing the Triathlon

Kayaking the Gunnison Gorge 2011

Web Address

I think I might really start to like this whole blogging thing. I love rambling in every sense of the word! It is a strange concept that this is open to the whole world, but if you have know me for more than about 5 minutes then you know there is not much I wont tell you - whether it be about myself, my opinion on the current topic or whatever. I am an open book.

It may be a strange web address, but after 28 years of exploring around the world I really think that wild strawberries might make me happier than anything else. Diving with hammerheads is up there too, but the strawberries are just something else! And also something that happens on a more regular basis. 

For those of you who have never had a delicious tiny wild strawberry it is probably hard to understand. Maybe it goes back to the summer after I first graduated from college and I decided to go on a 3 month long backpack
trip (after only doing one overnight trip ever before). It was a fantastic summer!
I saw so many beautiful places- Glacier Park and Alaska, met great people,
hitchhiked over 3,000 miles, saw my first grizzly, moose, wolf and wolverine, ate my first wild strawberry and huckleberry, almost died half a dozen times, nearly gave a sea otter a heart attack and sooo much more.

Now I def love huckleberries and thimble berries and raspberries and black berries and blue berries but the wild strawberry is the hardest to find and that helps to make it the best =)

Until this summer the most I had ever found in one bunch was maybe 20. And that was and still is exciting. But one day hiking after about 15 miles a couple weeks ago I stumbled upon hundreds! It was amazing! Beyond amazing! I couldn't even eat them all, even though I did try.

So that is the long round about story about why I decided to call it that.

Mesa Verde

I just got back from Mesa Verde. My Dad decided to pop in for the weekend and we were able to spend his last day here in Colorado exploring the Mesa Verde. So glad he was able to make it out for a visit!

This is my first blog! We'll see how it goes...

4 more weeks working as a Park Ranger at Black Cayon National Park then the traveling begins

I have my freedom back!