Photo of the Day – Week 38

Serendipity on so many fronts.  A new buddy of mine just happened to have the Lonely Planet for my next destination, just happened to have formerly lived in my friends’ neighborhood and so have a favorite coffee spot there, and just happened to have the time and required geography to deliver it.  Thanks, dude!

These two are an incredible amount of fun.  All the laughter, all the time.  Thank you, amigos! <3

Olympic National Forest prep.  I couldn’t get both our gear piles in one photo, and Erica’s was more photogenic.  

I’ve been trying to get to this west coast spot (Olympic peninsula and its forests) for over a decade.. ever since a college girlfriend raved about it.  Mission accomplished!  Seven Lakes loop was even better than I expected!

Along with snow on our Olympic Peninsula trip, we got temperate rainforest, bears galore, an insane amount of blueberries, high alpine lakes, glacier views… and we didn’t freeze!

In January I met an awesome woman in Austin, Texas.  I admire her authenticity, her ability to be honest with herself and others, her laser-insights, and her courage.  We’ve both traveled many places between our first meeting and now.  We are both on paths to semi-settle.  Really grateful I got to meet her new beau and see the new foundation of her world.

I’ve been given a hard time by people who read my packing list because I don’t have photos showing all my stuff laid out.  Although I’ve explained how annoying it is to completely dissemble one’s luggage, have all laundry clean, and take many items out of service in name of a photo, some still doubt that “all that stuff” really fits into a school-size backpack.  So here’s the proof, negative Nellys. 😉