Life Lately

Admiring the sunset on Galiano Island

Life lately has been full of severe ups and downs, with the ups being minor, every day fun things, and the downs being life-impacting. I feel like the universe has decided that after 10 months of loving life on the West Coast that I needed to get knocked down a peg or two. Trying to keep my head up has been really hard the last two weeks but thankfully not impossible due to my awesome, positive, and inspiring friends, family, and co-workers.

To keep my readers (whom I always assume are mostly friends and family on the East Coast) informed on what has happened, I'll try to go chronologically. On May 6th I celebrated my 28th birthday. Yaaaaay! It was a lovely birthday filled with loving and sincere happy wishes, Mexican food, and boardgames. I couldn't have been happier. Jon, despite his vow to not spoil me, spoiled me with adorable and thoughtful gifts and easily the best part of my day was hiking and lunching by a stream at a nearby park.

Thumbs up for relaxing and beautiful birthdays!

The day after my birthday started wonderfully. I had bought myself a year pass to the Butchart Gardens and I got to go with my friend Skjelse who also bought a year pass. I had been twice before but never during the springtime to see all of the flowers in bloom. That first full week in May had all of the tulips in the prime of their glory and I had so much fun exploring the park with someone who had never been. 

After I got home from the gardens and I got ready for work, I took note that Jon wasn't around. I called him as I was leaving to find out he was on campus, doing meetings to set up his committee for his comprehensive exams. I was (stupidly) on my phone while driving, and just outside my parking lot driveway the police had set up a speed trap. I was pulled over. Long story short, I ended up having to get my car towed back up my driveway because Jon and I were 9 months behind on switching over our registration and insurance and I needed to switch over my license ASAP. This has surely been the biggest hitch since we got out here. We figured we would have to switch over eventually, but thought we could last a year (and go through our insurance from the states), but we were never informed we were supposed to switch everything over within 30 days. Our car is still parked, unable to be driven but perfectly drivable, in our parking lot. I hope to switch over everything next week.

Tulips and fountains at Butchart Gardens

That following weekend I had planned a camping trip on one of the Gulf Islands for my birthday and, despite our car troubles, everything worked out great and I'm quite sure everyone had a blast! This trip was also a little bittersweet, for my friend's partner was preparing to move to Edmonton for work after only a few short months of living here. It was tough because I felt like I was just getting to know him and was having a lot of fun with him by the time we had to say goodbye. I hope he doesn't have to be out in the great north for too long!

Most of the birthday adventure crew (minus one) on top of Mount Galiano!

Amongst all of these happenings, I've been feeling pretty homesick and having feelings of FOMO. Jon's little sister got married last weekend, my dearest friend Tara is pregnant, my sister and my brother-in-law are moving into their own place again after months of being home, my two brothers have started new (and not so new!), exciting relationships, dear friends have married, and I have learned about some secret things all within the last three weeks! I feel like this is the universe's way of saying that I should be going home soon, but our trip home won't be for another 70 days or so.

Dock-side silliness with Skjelse!

The last bit of craziness that has happened is that my phone was stolen from work on Friday. It's a bit of a long story (and I've written a crazy amount on this blog so I'll spare the details), but I have the address of where it was taken to Friday night and suspicions (or hopes) it may have been one of the kids. We had some issues earlier this year about one of the kids taking another kid's toy, and I feel like at this age (5 - 6) they understand, but not entirely, the concept of stealing. I haven't reported it to the police in case it was one of my kids, and I hope that it has been or will be returned to the center that I work at, but I can't hold my breath. 

Meeting up friends at Cobble Hill Mountain

And there you have it: my manic-depressive last three weeks. I hope June brings a more mellow and less extreme changes in my life, but it also means the end of my employment by the 26th due to the end of the school year (things just keep coming, don't they?!). I'll have a new batch of worries by that point, but hopefully a car and phone to improve my standard of living. 

Keeping my head up is easy with West Coast nature!

Wanderlust

Goldstream Provincial Park

I've got it bad. Oh man, I've got it bad. Call it the travel bug, wanderlust, that itch, FOMO, whatever, but I need to go somewhere. Maybe it's because I'm unemployed and have nothing else to think about, or maybe it's just that wonderful time of year where all the beauty that I began to take for granted suddenly stuns me again, but I need to get out somewhere. I need the woods, I need to go camping, I need vistas and waterfalls and moss and tall trees and wildlife.

Badlands National Park

I know, I know, I know, I know. I just traveled 3,000 miles on a trip of a lifetime across the United States with the love of my life. I know I saw more amazing things on that trip than I ever have in my whole life. I understand this. But I think that's what started this! Towards the end of the trip, probably about the time that we hit Washington, I remember Jon saying he just wished that we could get there and settle in. A part of me felt that way, too, but an even bigger part of me wished that our road trip was lasting another week. Or three.

Yellowstone National Park

I know, I know, I know. I went to Oregon and California back in March when Jon and I eloped, where we drove along the Pacific Coast highway and saw huge washed up trees along the coast and I saw redwoods for the first time. I also went to Costa Rica in January with a dear friend of mine. There I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time, traversed inside a rain forest for the first time, and saw more wildlife than I have ever seen. I even traveled from Boston to Virginia in April, a small trip of its own, to go camping with some of my favorite friends. I am very, very lucky to have traveled this much this year. This has been, by far, the best year of my life. But... I want more!

Olympic National Park

I feel like a spoiled child at the point, but I think knowing that there's all of this undiscovered (to me!) natural beauty around me is giving me this wonderful, horrible, insatiable itch that won't be satisfied until I'm on the road. I've been planning trips to Alaska and Hawai'i, telling myself that "$500 for a flight really isn't that bad" when I don't have any income. Maybe it's because my sister landed in London earlier today, maybe it's because I keep seeing photos of my favorite bloggers traveling, or maybe it's because I'm seeing photos of current and past adventures that my crunchy friends have had.

White Mountains, New Hampshire

I'm sincerely jealous of all those people in my life that are traveling, and I feel like I need to create an adventure. I've never done it alone, but I feel like this is the time and place in my life to do so. I don't know why there's a feeling holding me back, but there is one. I always go adventuring with people that I love, and experiencing those new places with them or having those new experiences brings us closer, and that may be a reason why I love it so much. So until I can build up the guts to do so, I'll just keep sighing at pictures of bygone adventures.

Great Falls National Park

Redwoods National Park

Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Catskills Mountains, New York

Shenandoah National Park

Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania

Hickory Run State Park, Pennsylvania

My sister and I were talking a few days ago, and I realized in middle of that conversation that I'm the happiest I can be when I'm in nature. Maybe that's a reason I'm hankering for some travel: knowing that it'll bring my happiness when I'm feeling vaguely depressed and homesick. When I'm out there, all my worries disappear as I indulge in some of my favorite things, and spend time with some of my favorite people.

Delaware Water Gap National Park

Looking Forward: Cross-Country Road Trip

Yellowstone National Park Map

Bing Image Search

Jon and I are really really looking forward to our road trip! We'll be starting from Philly and driving, mostly along route 90, to Victoria. Along the way we'll be seeing family in some cities and possibly friends in some national parks. In total, it'll be around 3,000 miles from point A to point B, and if we were to drive straight through it'd take us just about two days. 

We're not power-drivers, I get cranky without sleep, and we want to see and do stuff along the way, so we're going to take about two weeks to get out there. Our highlights include Chicago, Minneapolis, Badlands National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park. Yellowstone is the part we're looking forward to the most, and intend on spending the most time there. One of our friends road tripped for months before he started med school, and suggested we try and spend the most time at Yellowstone, and the more we read about it, the more I see his point of view. With all of the natural wonders, wildlife, and beautiful sights, I could see us easily spending two weeks here alone! Too bad we won't have that time, but we'll make the most of it.

Chicago

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St. Paul

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Badlands National Park

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Grand Teton National Park

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Yellowstone National Park

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Yellowstone National Park

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