packing & coming home

the summer has been long and full.... and as much as I have enjoyed every minute of my extended adventure, u was good and ready to make my way back home to the bay area after we got out of the canyon.

one of the more annoying aspects of living out of the car for so long is the constant packing. pack, unpack, reorganize. repeat. ugh. before being able to set off for home, just about everything had to come out of the car one last time. the canyon gear was laundered, separated, and repacked. this process took me an entire morning. all I wanted to do was throw it all into the car, and dump it all at home, but it simply wouldn't have fit, and the gross damp muddy canyon gear would have rotted in the days it would take to get home.

marlowe and i iced up the cooler, and checked out of the hotel at noon. one last stop at a brewery in town for lunch, made a plan for the journey, and we were on the road.... or so we thought. during lunch, we got a text from one of the group participants that she had ended up in the hospital that morning, so we delayed our departure to make sure all was ok and lend a hand. our delay ended up being another night and day in flag. once we were sure the girls were stable and set for their change in plans, we left once again, around 5pm the following evening.

pretty tired and worn out, an adventure home (via the north rim if the grand canton) was no longer quite as appealing as just getting there. that first night we made it 5 hours through fantastic lightning storms to Barstow, where we got a nights sleep, and looked at our route with fresh eyes in the am.

Gettin home was a priority, but driving up the 5 for the day would have sucked out my soul. we decided to take the scenic route up 395 on the eastern side of the sierras. it was a gorgeous day, answer both enjoyed seeing the landscape change to the dramatic mountains (hello mt Whitney!). after a prolonged stop in mammoth for lunch, and a tasting at the brewery, we continued on crossing west through Yosemite, where the golden cowboy got to say hello to half dome again! instead of rolling into SF super late at night, we took one last detour up to the river camp for the night to get the end of season download. boy am I glad I didn't go through angry August. ha.

slept next to the river (best sleep I got since the canyon!), and was refreshed in the am. we said our good byes. and made one last stop in the way down to the bay to meet marlowe's brand new niece Ava in Sacramento.

it was a long journey, but we made it to Berkeley to drop marlowe off mid afternoon, and enjoyed a beer with Allison while we told some stories, and relived a few highlights from the trip!

back in the car.... I was on my own for the final push into SF, my home. ;)

on the flip side

had a amazing 15-days floating down the Colorado river through the grand canyon with the ETC folks. i won't lie, it was a good amount of work being the trip leader for the ETC folks, and making sure that everyone was getting the most out of the trip as possible, but always worth every second spent in the magical place. a big piece of my heart and soul lives in that canyon, and I treasure every opportunity I have had to visit it down there.

it is really hard to begin to summarize the experiences, or put into words the cohesive community that our group became. the guides we partnered with in this trip really brought an amazing amount of experience and energy, which allowed us to push boundaries, and make the accessibility of the adventure a success for everyone.

some highlights were:

-playin a knock down, drag them out game of whiffle ball in redwall cavern mixing up folks in wheelchairs at bat, and folks with visual impairments as the runners. not to mention barbara diving into home plate flat on her belly, missing the plate by 6".

-using the IKs and wheelchairs attached to poles to carry Elena and mandy up into some of the side canyons, especially shinomu creek to the waterfall where we all frolicked together.

-moonlit hike up to nankoweap with the rest of the guides. (ssshhhh... don't tell! ha.)

-paddling the double IK through Upset rapid with marlowe, and getting chomped in the last wave... only to look downstream and see Liz come through upright on her own!!!

-pillow talk at night with marlowe! :)

-making the rounds and checking in with everyone in the morning and throughout the day. I had some amazing and wonderful conversations with each and every individual on the trip. learning to balance emotional and physical needs.

-dressing up in my pink frilly dress at tequila beach, and then putting myself to bed after a few too many g&t's. (tinkerbell down!)

-Mandy and Dori's constant laughter!

-quickly arriving in the canyon, getting my dirty river guide on, and cherishing every moment I was there!

-barbara and somer taunting each other with profanity playing koob!

-learning new information and techniques from our guides.... trying to remember as much as possible.

the memories will keep coming, and keep a smile on my face for a long time to come. I hope that I can be part of many more trips through the grand canyon in my lifetime!!

we had a pizza party back at the hotel in flagstaff to celebrate the night we returned. more laughs, memories, hugs and smiles were shared over a few well deserved cocktails! it was bittersweet as always to break from the group we spent 15 intense days with, but time to move on.