Can i post from China?

I'm having to circumnavigate my way to posting on Blogspot. So this is a test...

Another Countdown...

8 hours till first flight...

Denver to San Francisco.
San Francisco to Tokyo.
Tokyo to Beijing.
Beijing to...ok, havn't gotten that far yet.

2nd trip to China, but full of new destinations and experiences. It is finally hitting me. Traveling, kayaking, reading, writing, yoga, and all the awkward moments that come with being somewhere completely foreign.

Holy Cao.

Colorado and FiBark

Cottonwood Pass, heading to Crested Butte to chill-work-play with Kristi

I have to admit, this part of the adventure is just painful. Hours of organizing, packing, weighing, re-packing and never being able to shake the feeling that you are both forgetting something important and bringing something useless.

Tomorrow I fly to Beijing solo. This time I'll bring a slightly bigger boat, my Pyranha Burn, which the airline will charge me an additional arm and leg. This one weighs more so I can't pack gear into that bag, making for a larger, bulkier carry-on. I'll throw in some school books to prep for the fall semester as well as a few extra fun dresses, since this is vacation after all. Crossing fingers for under 50 lbs.

This particular packing session is also more overwhelming due to the harsh and abrupt transition leading into it. Just a few hours ago I was safety-boating for FiBark's 26 mile downriver race, as well as organizing 5 other boaters positioned throughout the course. This after 3 days of fielding WCKA questions from curious parents and excited students at a booth I had on the boat ramp for this legendary paddling event. Since my skills were needed for safety and conversation throughout the weekend I opted to just watch competitions, rather than participate. My healing shoulder and increasingly dilapidated wildwater boat also contributed to this decision. Although I think it was the beach ball-sized boulder that rolled onto my forearm, then the stern of my fiberglass boat after a practice run that sealed that deal. (No worries--only the boat broke, not my arm) Thanks to Mariah from Dawson school for the fix on that one!

Here are a few shots from the weekend...

Geoff and Peter duking it out in the head-to-head Wildwater Sprint. These guys make this incredibly challenging way to paddle downstream look too easy.

Althea, Hannah and Ben Dann enjoying sun and a great wave

Griff in the wave

A couple shots of the WCKA booth

Haley Thompson and Peter Lutter, two of the strongest Jr. paddlers I've ever seen, trying out the C2 together for the first time

Big crowds and this great event

A small world moment...

Memories of my childhood in South Carolina would not be complete without Bonnie Gerlaugh: days at the pool, playing in the creek and, of course, many sleep-overs. After moving to Pennsylvania in middle school, contact drifted away, until facebook brought us back together. Since then she has similarily come down with the travel bug and has trekked around Europe and other distant lands...not too dissimilar from my current lifestyle. Turns out, our paths were to cross, in unlikely Fairplay, CO during a congregation of couch surfers and vagabonds from everywhere.

Teva Mountain Games, Vail Colorado

Perhaps you are reading my posts and thinking...does this girl ever do any real work? Well, yes actually. In fact, that is what brought me here to CO..."work".


First assignment: attend Teva Mountain Games in Vail and watch friends and students throw down in Extreme Creek, Freestyle and Downriver competitions all weekend.






In addition, the world's top extreme athletes in climbing, biking, running and more were there all weekend to compete making for plenty to see and do in between kayaking events. Here are some of the highlights...

Here is Jake Greenbaum (shout out to local Ohiopylian) pulling hard on Homestake Creek for the extreme creek race. Jake is a fellow Nature Cure Race team member (he and I make up the kayaking team).





Nikki Kelly, female winner of the Homestake Race and long time Teva Athlete. The women all the young kayaking ladies look up to (including myself).







Pyranha team memeber Nicole Mansfield competed in both the extreme creek race as well as making it to the Finals for Women's Freestyle.












The competitions also gave me the opportunity to meet some of my students and their families who will be traveling with WCKA next year. Just a few weeks ago several of them made the Jr. National Freestyle Team in Glenwood Springs, allowing them the opportunity to travel to Switzerland this summer to compete for a World Title.
















It was a great, and exhausting, weekend. Put some of the world's most talented athletes together in a party town like Vail and you not only get some spectacular events, but even more spectacular parties.

If you know me at all you can imagine the torture of just watching these events. Next year I plan to enter and win. Watch out.

Next stop...FiBark in Salida, CO, June 17-21st...then CHINA!!!!

Who'se a cover model? Oh hell no...

I thought those back home at Penn State might be interested to see what I've been up to lately. Apparently it was interesting enough for the center article and cover shot! Just my way of telling all my professors, mentors and instructors back in Reading how my education helped me to get such a great job.

Thank you!

New Landscapes

After no more than a week spent in Colorado, some time with Grandma in the big city as well as Aunt Margie and George in Idaho Springs, Megan decided to take me on a vacation to Moab, Utah. Since I had never been and all. And since she was sick of living out of her truck in the cold/rainy/snowy weather Vail just kept dishing out.

Keeping with tradition we leave late in the evening, keeping the canyonlands hidden in the night alongside I-70. We immediately drive up to a place called Gemini Bridges, quickly gaining elevation as she weaves her car along the 4-wheel drive path cut into the mountainside. Vehicles on the highway below turn into matchbook cars, then disappear altogether. The whole time, my mind is painting pictures of what I imagine the view to be.

I wake up the next morning to this.

With no others camping in the area, we hung out in our personal canyon all morning. Simply soaking in the sun, reading, exploring and relaxing.

Megan's new truck couldn't fit her lifestyle any better. Equiped with kitchen shelves, a comfy, carpeted bed and even a "princess lair" she can basically go anywhere and still be at home. Oh, and rarely do we travel without a box of Delicious Red.

Driving out of Gemini Bridges exposed the amazing landscape, with aerial views of Arches National Park and the snowy peaks of the distant mountain range (whose name I can't remember). Amazing.

Hanging my feet out the rear of Meg's truck while driving around the canyons. Kind of like my own viewing window. 10 times better than TV.

The desert is a landscape I look forward to exploring more in the future. So raw and stark, with bursts of life in the most unlikely locations. I hope it begins with some trips down the classic rivers that carve out the canyons in this part of the country. Lucky for me, some good new friends call this part of the world home and might be excited to share it with me!