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Her Odyssey
  • Speaking & Engagements
  • HER ODYSSEY
    • MISSION
    • BIO & ARCHIVES
    • ROUTE RESOURCES
    • FINANCIALS
      • Budget
      • Pay it Forward
      • SHOP
    • PARTNERS
  • EXPEDITION ARCHIVE
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December 23, 2011December 23, 2011

Bootleg Christmas Tree & Hopes for Holiday Future

It was a clear, cold Sunday night when Anne and I took a handsaw out into the Church of Wilderness, offered up thanks, and brought Norman the 4 ft. Christmas Tree home.

I’ve seen Christmas Tree lights all my life, but that was the first time I witnessed what the strings of bulbs attempt to emulate. The full moon had shed her skin into the brush around us, flecks of night light danced like fractional fireflies.

I can’t say there is much that’s ‘comfortable’ about winter night hiking. Depth perception gets wonky, cold gets deep, brain gets base; but there is impossible beauty to be found. Then found all over again in a new way when you tumble back into to warmth of hearth and home. And Christmas Tree.

We had our first SOS ride day and my kids are The Future in Miniature. It is a brilliant prospect. Each brings some unique ingredient, which, with mixing time outside, is blooming like a snowball. Get ready. Between Bell Ringing, serving Community Dinner, and hitting the slopes, we are a forward moving force and these kids are going to catapult into life like they launched off the flagged ‘crazy rollers’ at Keystone.

Would have been fine if not for the hidden tree...

‘Tis the season. Passersby wear Santa Hats, Gold Bond is an essential ingredient in boots, even good drivers slide off the roads, and friends from the Flatlands (up to work loaf for the season) have begun to wear down the fibers of hosts’ Couches and Welcomes. We walk with a permanent defensive hunch against the cold and roads are not to be trusted. Still we wait for snow. Only people from Texas think these are the best skiing conditions ever. And I can say that because it is my job to ask such things.

Ah but yes, my job will be changing as of the New Year. I escaped retail just in time and will be scaling my Breck hours back to once a week in order to make time for a Grown Up Job!

As a Community Support Coordinator with the Family and Intercultural Resource Center I will facilitate the application process and advocate for local families seeking Medicaid and CHP+. It is an ideal and promising opportunity. These days it is near miraculous to obtain a position in one’s field of study (especially when your field of study was ‘Institutions & Policy’…). I am further thrilled by the  potential for a Colorado Trail Fundraising Hike next summer.

And so, as 2011 wraps up, remember these things:

~It’s always worth it to get out there.

~Our future is brilliant and bombing the slopes. (so ride easy)

~ Keep your chin up and your boot liners dry.

~Sometimes you’ll strike gold.

Snow Minor Matter
Snow Minor Matter
Posted in Community, Skiing, Snow Sports, Uncategorized
Tagged Breckenridge, FIRC, Gold Bond, SOS Outreach
3 Comments
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Comments (3)

  • Krista December 23, 2011 at 2:53 am Reply

    Oh nooooo! Grownup jobs are for… Ick… Grownups!! Congrats, tho, that’s super awesome and I’m glad to hear it! The second paragraph of this post pretty much took my breath away. You and your words. Grin. Wonderful imagery.

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  • Uncle Alan December 23, 2011 at 5:39 pm Reply

    wonderful post! and mega congrats on the “grown up” job too. Proud of you.

    Uncle Alan

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  • Aunt Marva December 26, 2011 at 8:13 pm Reply

    Thanks as always for bringing the rest of us along on your adventures. I’m commenting from the Denver airport…so close and yet so far away. Congrats on the job!

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Attending the very first CWW led 'Packraft Soiree' Attending the very first CWW led 'Packraft Soiree' 2023 on the North Fork American River was a blast!

Big gratitude to all the folks and brands out there making it happen!
A few who've buoyed my water dabbling:
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A healer told me to go find big rocks. Loved ones A healer told me to go find big rocks. 
Loved ones've been telling me to seek joy. 
I've been craving time in water.

So gathered some rockstars, and in we went.
I am beyond stoked to be speaking at this year's @ I am beyond stoked to be speaking at this year's @aldhawest Gathering! Sharing stories and precepts of Slow Travel, distilled from Her Odyssey and a life abroad. 🌎

Bringing it first to the thru-hiking community who expand horizons and honor markers such as the prestigious Triple Crown Ceremony, will make for a lively community event! You should probably follow their page to keep up as they announce the rich variety of presenters I've been hearing whispers about. 
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~Fidgit 💚 
 
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1/5 *THE FIRST WOMAN TO WALK THE LENGTH OF THE AME 1/5
*THE FIRST WOMAN TO WALK THE LENGTH OF THE AMERICAS: 
MARGUERITE GEIST* 

To conclude this digital account of Her Odyssey, I would like to share the earliest record I’ve found of a modern person walking the length of the Americas. Circa ~1920S

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🌲 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY💐

Words by @drsuzannesimard
#findingthemothertree

". . .  we know Mother Trees can truly nurture their offspring. Douglas firs, it turns out, recognize their kin and distinguish them from other families and different species. They communicate and send carbon, the building block of life, not just to the mycorrhizas of their kin but to other members of the community. To help keep it whole. They appear to relate to their offspring as do mothers passing their best recipes to their daughters. Conveying their life energy, their wisdom, to carry life forward." 

 -From the book 'Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest'

I will always treasure hiking into Machu Picchu with my mom in 2017. 💚
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Bonus young mom/childhood #throwbackpic of the Hughes (Fidgít's  fam)
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