The last time I wrote on this blog I was in an ice storm in Texas. Today it is in the middle of Autumn in Banff, Canada and its so warm I’m wearing flip flops and shorts. How weird is that? I’d like to pick up with a brief synopsis from where I left off until now…..
Stepped outside of the coffee shop I’m working in just now and had a stranger snap this cell phone image of me in my shorts and flops October 9th in Banff! This is practically unheard of not unlike that of a Texas ice storm.
Here I will be starting off where I left on my last blog. You can find that reading just below this one. After surviving the ice storm in Texas (February 2021), I traveled through the carnage of wrecks from there to Nashville, Tennessee. I have family and good friends who reside in the city. I stayed nearly two months and worked as a Lyft driver. My experience doing that coming from a small town could use a full blog post to itself! Late March I drove all my way back to Idaho and afterwards during the weekends drove to Spokane or CDA and worked as a Lyft, Doordash, and Uber driver until getting called to drive a water tender on wildland fires. I stayed out fighting fires until October where I then spent the Fall and part of Winter mostly back home in Idaho. I went through a short relationship during this time and when that ended took off for some self reflection. I have friends in Oahu, Hawaii and I stayed there for two weeks early February and then at my parents place on the Oregon Coast until mid-March. I seen a lot of beauty and learned about myself during this time.
Church Outreach on Broadway. Nashville, Tennessee. My sister Ahriel is the one singing.
Helicopter makes a drop close to sunset while I was on fires summer 2021
Oahu’s self proclaimed Kailua Birdman. Very fun experience to watch this bird whisperer.
Sunrise Hike from Lanikai Pillbox on my last morning on Oahu.
“Rider on the storm” Oahu North shore
Sea Lion Oregon Coast
Self Portrait, Oregon Coast sunset
When I got home this spring I decided to try my hand at waiting tables and was hired at a local fusion restaurant. I really enjoyed my time there. This summer I had them lay me off so I could be on call for fires again but I never got the call! That meant almost an entire summer exploring Montana and Idaho from the backwoods, Glacier Park, to the small towns in between. It honestly has been the best summer I can remember in a long time. On top of all the adventuring I’ve learned more self discipline, made many friends, and got involved and found a local church body that feels like home. I did a short stint back at the restaurant recently but because I was filling in, when they slowed down I was let go.
Sunset over “Chimney Rock” Idaho
Sunrise near the top of Mount Reynolds Glacier Park
This brings us to the present. I had been wanting to take a couple weeks to go to the Tetons and Colorado in the Fall for quite some time. Two days before my trip everything changed when I heard Canada had opened up their borders to people who did not have the Covid Vaccine! Well here I am now a week in on the trip. So far I’ve been up to “Larch Valley”, Shot the “Three Sisters”, Two Jack Lake, and jumped into the icy waters of Two Jack and the Bow River. Man that river was cold yesterday!! I have been sleeping all but one night in various places downtown Banff in my car. Hence the icy cold baths. As told in a previous blog I have built a bed and shelves in my Subaru Outback. It saves me a lot of money and gets me the places I want to go when traveling and if I am out shooting late, which happens a lot, I can crash anywhere instead of going back to a lodging location. Hopefully at some point soon I will be sharing some more of my memories of this summer with all of you as there is so much I can’t fit it in this short synopsis.
Sunset in the Valley of Ten Peaks. Alberta, Canada