There is someone out there that has helped me realize what I
need to do in life and has shown me that you venture on journeys because there
is a reason behind it. There is a meaning for the decisions that you make, and
even if you don’t recognize them now, you will. “You have to measure yourself
at least once.” – Into the Wild
I know I’m no expert in moving or figuring out where you should go in life, but I think the one piece of advice I can say confidently is; explore your options, take risks, and make mistakes, because those are the factors in determining where your life will take you. You can come up with every excuse in the world as to why you can’t live your dream, but the only real thing stopping you is yourself. Every problem can be worked around. A plethora of opportunities are waiting and the only thing you really have to do is go and dive in head first.
So, sincerely, thank you (you know who you are), for helping
me realize this and allowing me to share it with everyone that I know is at a
phase in their life where they are just as stuck as I am.
*** Two Days Later
***
About 5 minutes ago, I reread the piece above so I could
remember where to continue on my blog, and for some god forsaken reason, my
memory has been obstructed by the views of the mountains and the delicious food
I have been constantly consuming (I really just don’t want to admit that I can’t
remember what I did 3 days ago). So I’m going to eliminate one of those days
and talk about the only thing I can remember: My trip to Estes Park.
Paul (my roommate), my friend, and I had the intention of
going to Estes Park to venture into the mountains in search of the boulders
that the Estes is famous for. What we didn’t account for was the weather; but
let’s back up to the beginning of the day. The drive up there was about an
hour, taking Route 36 up to Rocky Mountain National Park. But here’s the thing
about Colorado that always makes me end up in a state of awe. Boulder is a busy
city. Not a New York City, I’m going to get hit by a cab while attempting to
hold my cell phone, beeper (do those even exist anymore?), ipad, ipod, and
laptop while jay walking across one of the busiest streets, busy. It’s busy in
the sense that there’s always something going on. It’s almost as if Boulder is
never at a stand-still. Every day you will see bikers in groups of 20 riding
along Pine Street or musicians and jugglers occupying the areas on Pearl
Street, entertaining the children that are holding their ice cream cones in one
hand and holding the hand of their parent in the other. Food carts and farmer’s
market filled with people from as early as 8am. You can’t turn a corner here
and not find something going on. It’s consistent movement, in a mellow way,
24/7/365. So here is my sales pitch to you on Boulder: *said in a Mr. Moviefone
tone of voice* “If you love the outdoors and want to get away from the rambunctious
noise of the city but still want liveliness in your everyday life, Boulder is
the perfect place for you! Climb a mountain, grab some food at a local coffee
shop, and listen to street musicians all in one day!” (Did I convince you to
move?)
Do you love to deviate away from a topic? Well, obviously I
do. So let me get back to my original purpose of that whole paragraph. Boulder
may be a busy city, but if you drive on Route 36 or any highway for that
matter, within 10 minutes, you are in the middle of nowhere. You have zero cell
phone service; you see no form of civilization. It’s just mountains. Pure
beauty for miles and miles. Something you can’t find in New Jersey. As we
drove, we saw ranches, elk, and mountains. The temperature dropped by the
minute and you could start to see snow at the peak of the mountains in the
distance. No matter how long I live here, I know that the landscape in Colorado
will never not take my breath away.
We finally arrived to the Estes Park welcome rock, which is,
of course, where we stopped to take our obligatory touristy photo in front of
it so we (or maybe just I) could post it on every possible social networking
site available.
Our original plan was to go to Lumpy Ridge where there was
supposed to be some easy and harder climbs so all of us could be satisfied. We
were told by a worker at the outdoor store that just look for the twin owl
rocks and that’s where we have to go. Strangely enough, there are these two
huge rock formations that look EXACTLY like two owls looking at each other. We
were all in shock that we actually noticed them because we aren’t the most
observant people. But when we saw the owls we clearly stopped to be tourists
again, took pictures, and continued on to the entrance where we saw a sign that
gave us the depressing news that the area was closed due to raptors (Yes, I
immediately thought Jurassic Park and wanted to make a raptor sound so badly
but I really need to keep my friends, so I withheld). We then decided to turn around
and go back to the guy from the store and ask for the next best option, which
was Endo Valley. We headed down the main street of Estes Park to a gate where
we paid to enter a dirt path that took us to a campsite where we could park and
hike a path to what would be the bouldering area. What we didn’t realize was
that even though it was 70 degrees in Boulder, that doesn’t mean it’s 70
degrees an hour away. That being said, it was 55 degrees and the rock was still
wet from the snow that melted from the day before. And as we continued walking
up the mountain, our breathing became a lot heavier due to the altitude and
exactly what we feared happened: snow started to trickle down. I’m pretty sure
that within that 3 hour period from being in Boulder and getting to that point,
we had experienced all 4 seasons in one day. About 20 minutes later, my Sanuks
were soaked along with my socks and as my breathing was becoming heavier and
heavier, we hit a foot of snow with more coming down. That’s when we realized
that bouldering may be out of the question. I decided to back out of any
bouldering that day, even if rock was dry, because I really don’t want to
reinjure myself trying to climb something I’m not capable of. So my friend and
Paul tried two climbs but with the rock being wet and the weather just not
doing it for us, we decided to bail and just explore town for a little bit. We
realized we have all the time in the world to go back, so it’s just going to
have to be an adventure we take on another day.
(Please excuse how awful i look in this photo. I swear I'm much better looking)
When we got back to Boulder, and after the hour long nap I
took in the car (Those winding roads and quiet mountains sure can put a girl to
sleep), my friend and I decided to grab our crash pads and head into Boulder
Canyon to see what we could get in last minute because everything was mostly
dry. We first headed to this hiking trail that had these angelic red rock
cliffs. They weren’t really boulder(able), but we still put on our shoes
because they stick better and climbed up some 30-40 foot rocks. The view was
what made the easy climb worth it and being outside at any point in the day
overlooking the city is just inexplicable. We then moved on to a boulder that
was on the side of Boulder Canyon Road that we saw in a guidebook. The climbs
would’ve been good, but the landing spot wasn’t the safest and the beginning
footholds were wet which we didn’t consider. And to top it off, it started
raining, so we just decided this wasn’t our day and went home.
Some may say that day was a complete bust and some may say
it was a waste of time. But I saw it as another travel experience. Another day
to explore what surrounds me. I may have not been able to climb, but I saw 4
seasons in one day, I sat on a 40-60 foot rock formation that overlooked the
entire city from a 360 degree view, I was able to spend the whole day outside
with great people, and I can cross Estes Park off my bucket list (not for
climbing of course).
I like to see the glass half full. If one day isn’t the way
you expected it to be, that just gives you the opportunity to make another day
that much better. You have your whole life to do the things you want, but if
something doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, then turn it into something even
better.
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