let's be adventurers

This morning I was taking the seabus to work and ran into a woman with a bike all loaded up with touring gear who really didn't seem to know her way around the station or the seabus. Since I was riding my bike, too, it was natural for us to talk to each other while we waited for the ferry. I learned that she'd just been cycle touring in Patagonia for ten months, and now she's here in Canada for ten months of bike riding and then is planning to ride to Alaska. I don't know for sure, but it looks like she was travelling on her own, and since I was just on my way to work and she was riding her bike to Whistler, I was super inspired by her and a little bit jealous, too. Our paths crossing was a nice reminder that there is a lot of possibility out there for all of us and that, up to a point, we can choose adventure if that's what we want. She reminded me that travelling is best done if you can really get away for a while...at least, that's been my experience. I miss those years when Jeff and I would just take a month off work (or quit altogether) and head off on an adventure together. Perhaps sometime I'll share some stories of our cross-country trip in 2002. Victoria to New York. We were such crazy kids.

In a couple of weeks I'm turning 31. No longer 30, I'm going to be in my 30s. Not that I'm even remotely considering quitting my job (which is kind of awesome), I still think this is a good time to make plans for adventures in the near future. Maybe something epic like a ten month bike trip around Patagonia, likely something a little more do-able (for me, right now) like a month long trip down the coast. Who knows, but a big trip feels like the right thing to aspire to now. A big trip that Lola and Jeff can come on, too.

I'm hoping to put together a little summer series on this theme, so if you're going on an epic (or even mini) adventure and you'd like to share it, get in touch. I think I have a couple lined up already that are almost literally polar opposites. At the very least the gears are turning and a new guest post series is in the works. I hope that some of you can be a part of it!

Book club post on Part One tomorrow!