Going Glamping

For quite some time now I have had it in my head that hiking the Appalachian Trail would be something that I would like to do. And up until recently I had two primary problems. The first being that I don't feel particularly safe heading out into the woods as a single female camper (an entirely separate issue, which I may blog about later) without friends who are willing/able to hike with me. The second problem being that I didn't have the appropriate gear. Well, when my brother dearest said he wanted to hike for a week from Shenandoah up to Harpers Ferry, I decided it was time to start picking out gear and getting ready to go.

Some of you may be wondering what exactly 'Glamping' is. Well, it's a condescending phrase when used by my little bother (no that's not a typo) when we get into discussions on backpacking gear. So, in a way only a sister can, I have made it my mission to be the most obnoxiously comfortable backpacking companion ever, hence the photo of me ready to go out in the woods with red lipstick on. Although our sibling camping trip has been postponed indefinitely at this point - I'm still hoping someday we'll be on the same mountain at the same time and I can take that opportunity to annoy the crap out of him.

This discussion of necessary gear has been an ongoing one, and so now that I have truly gotten into the thick of it – I’m finding the things I really love about my equipment and the things that are perhaps lacking. So to begin with, here are my lessons from my first adult backpacking trip. (As a kid we went hiking, but I most likely didn’t pack or select my own equipment)

1. Remember to bring your bandana.
2. Learn how to tie a whole bunch of useful knots.  Practice these until you are sure you will remember.
3. Familiarize yourself with your gear at home.
4. Don’t overestimate the number of miles you can hike.
5. Bring duct tape. 

My bedroom was in a state of disarray leading up to the trip, and as such I looked and looked and could not find my bandana. It is now tied to the top of my pack, and there it shall stay unless it is in the washing machine. I watched the video several times of how to hang my rain fly, and when it came time to set up camp, I couldn’t remember a single thing I’d learned. Luckily the knots I remembered held well enough in our calm weather. I have since downloaded the video to my desktop to I can review it frequently and load it on my phone just in case I need a refresher in the woods. My roommate and trail partner was ever so grateful that I had the duct tape when the soles of her brand new shoes fell off at mile 9 of our 12 mile first day. After a 23 mile round trip, we were both feeling as though we had exerted every last bit of energy we had – and thus treated ourselves to ice cream.

So – these are all of the things I packed for my first overnight backpacking trip. The total weight was right around 30 lbs, which is a bit heavy for an overnight, however I am also hiking for exercise and so it’s an okay weight.

I’m sleeping in a Warbonnet hammock with whoopie sling suspensions. Tried out the figure 8 shaped Nemo 40 bag, although my toes were cold in the early morning, and so I’ve returned that and next weekend will be headed out with a 32 degree Mountain Hardwear bag. I’m borrowing the MSR miniworks water filter from my very generous uncle. I bought a little Primus gas stove that screws right on to a fuel canister, it works great and for $20 it’s perfect for short trips. Carried some warm clothes and rain clothes that I happen to have laying around. The Helinox chair is lovely, and the salesman at HTO was right when he told me “after a whole day of hiking you won’t want to sit on rocks.” And the last little gem of my packing gear is the ThermaRest pillow I bought, 7oz of heaven at night! You wouldn’t believe how much this pillow fluffs up.

This upcoming Labor Day weekend we’re headed out again, this time I have a stuff sack for the clothes, so they’ll pack a bit smaller. I have a little square pack from REI for my toiletries, which will keep them all in one place and easily grab-able to hang with my bear bag. I have also splurged on trekking poles, which we’ll see whether they’re worth the $$ and lbs. My roommate swears that once you get the swing of them, it’s wonderful. Hopefully there will be something nice to look at along the way!

Happy to hear anyone's suggestions and opinions on gear or tips for being out in the woods. My biggest challenge for this upcoming trip is planning enough calories per day.

Are you there spring? It's me Lindsey...

Dear Spring,

I know you'll be here officially in 15 days - but I'm worried that when you arrive you'll only be here in body and not spirit. These days, though they are short on daylight feel like the longest ones of the year. You won't find me complaining about a seemingly endless summer. I need you Spring. Winter has worn out its welcome.

Winter is hard for me to deal with. Winter is my childhood friend who I remember differently in my mind. One of us has changed over the years, but we still spend these cold months together pretending it's the same as it always was. I don't want to give up on this, but I can't honestly say that this relationship is good for me. All of the darkness and death of the season reminds me that I haven't done the things I feel I ought to be doing, it reminds me that just as the leaves have fallen from the trees - that my leaves have fallen, and my metaphoric tree hasn't bloomed again. As the season of growth and growing is upon us the suspense of meeting my expectations builds and I have a pit in my stomach... "what if I don't bloom this season". Perhaps it is simply the bulb sitting in my stomach, waiting to be nourished with sunlight and warmth, or maybe the darkness of winter will simply consume everything. Only time will tell.

This is my plea to you Spring, come swiftly and surely - let the worms come back to our balcony where they can produce nutritious soil for our plants, let our plants sprout from their seed prisons and unfurl through the top soil to produce fruit, let the sun warm the animals and remind them that life is good, and the season of bounty is here. Perhaps we can have another young praying mantis friend this year, you'd like that wouldn't you?

I anxiously await your arrival dear friend... 

Yours,
Lindsey

From Russia with love

If you know me, than you probably know that I was an exchange student.I've had diverse experiences in both developed and less than developed nations, and it makes me wonder what the big fuss over the Sochi Olympics is? I've seen the twitter feeds of the reporters complaining about not being able to drink the water from the tap, or not being able to flush their toilet papaer - have our reporters never traveled? What have they seen if they've never been somewhere where you'd be better off brushing your teeth with bottled water? If you've never been anywhere that you can't flush your toilet paper, much less somewhere where there isn't a toilet to flush? I mean honestly folks, if these are the people you are entrusting to provide you with a view of the world and this is shocking or newsworthy to them, you're getting your news from someone with a silver spoon in their mouth. 

The second question that comes to mind which may actually be more important than my first is why all the hate on Russia? I don't remember there being nearly as much noise about the Beijing, Vancouver, or London Olympics? And these all occurred during the age of Twitter, Facebook and Social Media as legitimate outlets for our news reporters. Maybe we just think it's funnier to slam Russia because we have memes generated from '90's comedians? Obviously it is going to be a challenge for a largely unheard of Russian city to prepare for the Olympics. Hosting the Olympics anywhere is a unique challenge I'm sure, but what is all the fuss about? I'm sure the reporters aren't being put up in the nicest hotels - I'm sure they could find something to complain about in the 1 & 2 star hotels of any Olympic city - so what's the big deal? 

Anyway, this is turning into more of a rant than I initially intended, but my points would be thus: 1. Go see the world. Don't judge it based on what you know as that is the most foolish way to judge something and the surest way to miss the beauty in a new setting. 2. Quit picking on Russia for stupid things. If you want to write an expose about human rights violations, the environmental impact of Olympic games on a whole, anything with content feel free. But save the snarky comments about how you've never had to use anything less than a western toilet connected to toilet paper safe plumbing for your Facebook page, and I'll continue not following you. 

Lastly - the Sochi mascots are so adorable! *cough* London had the ugliest mascots *cough*

The best things in life are free...

But you can give them to the birds and the bees - I want money! 

(Yes, that link takes you to the very strange music video of that very silly song... and that is what is running through my head this morning) 

So in July 2012 I wrote a blog about my dedication to, and my 4-step plan for becoming a fiscally responsible individual. When I had these grand ideas of getting switched entirely to cash based finances I worked at a company where I was making a reasonable entry level salary with good benefits. My employer matched a small percentage of my retirement savings and I made enough to cover all of my bills with a little extra left over. It was the perfect time to put my plan into action. And then two months later I was fired... and we all know how that went. Unemployment compensation is not a lot of money, even less if you happen to live in a metro area where the cost of living far exceeds the national average. Luckily my unemployment coincided with taking on a third roommate in my two bedroom apartment and I didn't have to move home to Michigan hanging my head. My common sense of paying for consumables with cash or debit rather than credit quickly flew out the window as my pride led me to last as long as I could without asking for financial help from my family. Granted, I wasn't so pigheaded as to reject help when offered, but I wanted to make it in at least the smallest of ways when I felt like everything else was failing. 

Although being unemployed and living off such a shoestring budget sucked big time, it really taught me a lot about what I can manage with and without. So what if lobster tails are only $5 at Safeway? I can get enough pasta and sauce to eat for a week with that money. I learned how to stretch my dollars, how to shop sale items and how to say no to the boozing and shopping and a number of other temptations to run things up on credit. I learned how easy it can be to just quit buying shoes and clothes (particularly when I have so many already). I found a variety of unconventional ways to make money and ways to save money, and some of them I've continued doing, no reason not to be thrifty simply because I have a job.

Fast forward to January 2014... I am working at a job making a significant amount less than my previous job, and I don't have employer contributions to my retirement savings plan, but I finally completely paid off my highest limit/highest interest rate line of credit. I can tell you - it feels amazing! The next step is paying off the other credit cards and starting back in on my retirement savings. And while sure if I stuck to a very strict budget I could reach these goals much more quickly than I otherwise likely will, but I'm not presently in a place where I need to eat ramen noodles every night for dinner. Another year chipping away and I'll be in a much better position than I was before, and on track for some of the more exciting life changes that I will want to prepare some funding for (hint: grad school). 

 Anyway, here's to being older and wiser and debt free before I'm 30!