What's a Golden Birthday?

So Yesterday was my golden birthday. Have you every heard of it? Well don't worry, I'd never heard of it either until yesterday when I was at church and someone told me. It means that you turn the same age as the date you were born: so in my case, I turned 25 on the 25th. How exciting! To be honest, I didn't do anything all that exciting to celebrate, but I did have a good day: went to church and sang in the choir(they even sang to me in harmony), played my new card game called set (makes my brain hurt, but in a good way), played frisbee with glenn (with brand new frisbees!), talked to my family and friends:), then ate lots of chocolate chip date cake, sugary spicy candies, and fine chocolate truffles, and topped it all off with some nice thai take out food for dinner with a side of Academy awards- just like a good spoiled birthday american girl should. I know, doesn't sound quite like me ya? Well I tell you what, those big glowing boxes are hypnotising. But don't worry, it's not starting a trend, I still don't watch T.V. I am glad I watched though, it was pretty worth it to see Ellen as the host and hear Al Go
re say "my fellow americans" and see The Inconvenient Truth win an oscar- if you haven't seen this yet, watch it! I have a copy if you want to borrow it, or you can rent it, or you can buy it.
Anyways, the most important thing that I do on my birthday is to wish my twin brother a very happy birthday too...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!! (It's his golden birthday too...and no, we're not identical:P)
That's him-->

Oh ya, I do have to mention that I did have a fabulous little tamale party with some friends on Saturday night, which was a wonderful celebration equipped with all kinds of gourmet vegetarian fillings including mole (pronounced Moleh) from Mexico and cactus salsa; Plus a nice game of apples to apples with lots of good people:)- if you haven't played apples to apples, or made tamales yet, I would highly reccomend them both- especially in groups.
All in all, I'd say I had we had a pretty fabulous celebration. Thank you Caroline and Glenn for hosting and making my birthday special! And to all the cool people that came:)

So back to the golden birthday, I want to tell you more about the actual day because it turned out to be quite inspiring. Yesterday actually started out in a really nice way that kind of set a contemplative and rejuvinating mood for the day (which was a little jaded by all the hollywood stars, but definitely not ruined.) This being the season of Lent, which I have never really celebrated, but like the idea of re-evaluating what is wrong or missing in your life and making changes in new positive directions, i'm thinking it's a good time of year to think about what we are doing that we would like to be doing better, what we haven't been doing, but would like to start doing, or what have been doing that we probably shouldn't be doing.

I've been going to the Montclair Presbyterian church with Glenn and his mom Caroline (we all sing in the choir together) and the pastor women (her name is Karen) always gives really meaningful, thoughtful and inspiring sermons. Yesterday morning, after a couple different meloncholic, yet hopeful songs sang by the choir and members of the choir, she spoke about what repentance is and what being "meek" really means.
I always understood repentance to be the act of making your sins right through the grace of Christ and his sacrifice for humankind. She explained it in a different way which I think is a cool way to think about it: to turn around or change direction. Apparently when mary magdeline looked into the tomb to see that Christ was gone, she "repented", or turned around in a new direction, and that is when she saw the resurrected Christ. So really, lent is a time that is about changing directions and re-focusing to find what is truly important in life. This time of reflection happens in a lot of traditions too- I know in Judaism it's during yom kippur...

So seeing as I just celebrated my golden, once in a lifetime birthday, I'd like to take this special time to reflect, renew and repent.

So part of this process for me is going to involve meekness, which was the other thing that Karen mentioned in her sermon. Now I always thought of meek as being humble and submissive. In my shy disposition, I have always kind of identified myself as being a meek person, and therefore, was happy to read that according to the bible, I was promised to inherit the earth. But after hearing Karen speak, I have a totally different understanding. First she talked about how many negative conotations the word meek has, someone who is a "schnook" weak, wishy-washy, compliant, plain and passive. This didn't make me feel so nice, I don't want to be a schnook, even if I can inherit the earth. But then she continued to talk about positive definitions of meek: how we can be humble, gentle, and peaceful, without letting ourselves be trampled upon by others. She used an interpretation of Matthew's Beatitutdes in the bible from "The Message" by Eugene Peterson, a fellow pastor friend of hers. He interpreted the phrase from the bible"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth," to say "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are- no more, no less. That's the moment you find youreselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. " I like this perspective because often I feel like the shy disposition that I was feeling kind of proud of has been a hindrance to me often times in my life: I am too passive when I shouldn't be and can be too wishy-washy to make definite decisions when I need to.

Beth Grossman "She who dwells within"
-->she's a bay area artist who is hosting a workshop on Wed to make "green pin-ups."
They're kind of like war-time pin-ups that were used to boost soldier's morale except for these will be for the public to be boosted about saving our planet:) I'm excited.

I'd like to take this golden birthday to give up being shy and submissive and work on cultivating more confidence, pride, strength and assertiveness (in a humble and gentle way of course) filling myself full of spirit and gratefullness for all the beauty and magic and good in the world. I also want to work on building faith around the belief that a better world is possible, and each of us has the power to change it: the first step is belieiving that it can happen! This is a continuation from what I learned last week at the same Presbyterian church from a guest rabbi spoke (isn't that cool? a rabbi at a Christian church:) His name is Michael Lerner and he wrote "The Left Hand of God," which was apparently one of last year's best sellers in America: one of the central themes is that security comes through cooperation rather than domination, what a novel idea.... He also helped start the network of spiritual progressives- check em out. I think they're pretty cool:)
I'm feeling inspired, can you tell?
Bonjournee!

PHOTOS!! Hot Springs- Erwin July 7th-13th
So We're still thinking of trail names for ourselves. Everyone has one on the AT.

The latest ones are:

Glenn= Taut Line. He's super good at knots, and loves to use the Taut Line Hitch, a famous one used in Boy scouts. He's also always on top of it, has all of his stuff organized, knows where he's going, and knows what to do in tricky situations.


Krystal=palette or paint brush. I've been doing small watercolors every couple of days, appreciate a wide variety of colors, textures and life around me. I also collect and press wildflowers and, you know, do the artsy stuff I like to do.
Any suggestions for other names?


This is a typical view when we get out of the woods- looks like layers and layers of rolling hills- pretty eh?
These are either the Smokies, the Black Mountains, or the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's hard to tell since there were mountains in every direction, and we haven't been carrying very detailed maps..ya, so this was kind of a last minute trip okay?

"Are these called Mountains?"

View from the Fire Tower on Rich Mountain.

"Yee haw!!" Ridin the rock at Lover's Leap above Hot Springs.

MORE PHOTOS!!

Walnut Mt Shelter- it was pouring rain for a day and a half. This is about 13 miles away from Hot Springs.


Hot Springs North Carolina! The whole downtown is about 1/4 mile strip with a couple restaurants, an outdoor store, a post office and some bed and breakfasts. We stayed at the campground for $10, and splurged for some hot tubs fed by the Hot Springs! So very nice for a tired body. This is the French Broad River looking down from Lover's leap rock


This is our raging pop can stove- super light weight, easy, and burns clean denatured alcohol. It's a little slower, and quieter, than the MSR stoves, it works great for hot cocoa and yummy rice on a cold day:)

Here's us trying to keep bright spirits in the long dark thunder storm ..fur cute..







Here's us leaping off Lover's leap rock. This is hiking out of Hotsprings above the French Broad River North toward Erwin. The sunset was firey orange and we saw fireworks from the valley exploding up in the sky. (TN and NC have cool fireworks)






Cool Mushrooms eh? Glenn calls em chicken of the woods- we tried alittle piece and didn't die. Definitely a meaty-like texture, maybe we can cook with em next time? Just trying to scare you mom..tee hee.

Greetings from the Appalachian trail!

So ya, this is the complete opposite of the Pacific Crest Trail, but at least we're not trudging through 20 feet of snow and carrying ice axes and crampons!

We're doing a few sections of the AT instead.
Check out photos below!

The Route
Glenn and I got a ride out there with a guy we met through Craigs list who was heading to North Carolina. We stopped by some cool spots on the way out (Petrofied Forest in AZ, White Sands in NM, and stopped by the Smithville Jamboree in TN for some authentic bluegrass gospel music). Esteban dropped us off in the Smokies and we started hiking from Clingman's Dome in the going North following the AT on North Carolina/Tennessee border. After hiking about 6 days (75 miles) we stopped at Hot Springs for a soak in the tubs (heavenly), some fried food and icecream. Then we hiked from there North to Erwin, TN (another 6 days and about 70 more miles) where we stayed at a cute place called Uncle Johnny's.
Got free shuttles into town, clean laundry, tv/vcr, nice hot showers, and 40 cent snickers bars. Can't beat that.

We hitchhiked from Erwin North up past Britsol with some old hippy friendly gus, then East to Damascus with a nice Baptist missionary man. It was way easier than we were expecting to hitch, we probably didn't wait more than 10 or fifteen minutes each ride- woohoo!

Now we're hanging out at "The Friendliest Library on the Trail" Damascus, VA. We're staying at a hostel called "The Place" run by the Methodist church for $4/night. We're heading back out on the trail tommorow morning after an all you can eat $4.99 pancake breakfast!
From here, we're heading North to Mt Rogers and Burke's Gardens up near Blend Va. From there we will hitchhike again up to Luray and canoe the Shendoah river for a few days up to Harper's Ferry. (Virginia is a big state!)

Then we're going to spend a day or two in DC before we fly back to California at the end of July. Quite an adventure!

I'll post more pictures as I can (which probably won't be for another week or two).

Check out this website if you'd like to know more about the trail:
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.727749/k.91A1/AT_Essentials.htm

Here's a map of the whole trail so you know what I'm talking about:
http://www.nps.gov/applications/parks/appa/ppMaps/ATmap.pdf

PHOTOS!!
Here are some highlights from our trip so far!


So as a lot of you may know, Glenn and I got inspire to make a lot of our own gear after reading Ray Gardine's book "Beyond Backpacking," which emphasizes light weight gear, and simple, fast drying clothes.

One of the tips was to wear spandex shorts hiking, which are supposed to help prevent chaffing, are flexible and comfortable, and quick drying.
Glenn just likes them because he can hike and feel like he's naked.
I think they're pretty comfy, but usually wear my nylon adventure skirt over top of them cause I'm not quite as confident in spandex as he is yet.


We've seen lots of wildlife on the trail so far: mosquitos, flies, stinging flies, moths....so okay, not that exciting. We have seen lots of butterflies, bees, and fire flies:), a black rattle snake (timberline rattler or something?), a mouse, some beautiful birds, wilde turkeys, and two turtles! This little guy was just walking right across the trail.
We heard a coyote or something the other night, and heard of a bear close by, but didn't see him...





So here is a picture of the Great Smoky Mountains- ain't it pretty? Okay, so it's a picture of a postcard we found at a hostel. We didn't get any pictures when we were in the Smokies cause the extra batteries I had were actually dead. Sorry, that's the best I can do for now.



AT vs PCT
Hiking on the Appalachian trail is a lot different than what we were expecting on the PCT. There are shelters along the trail, a lot of roads (and sometimes noisy people/cars), and lots of hostels right off the trail. This kind of caught me off guard cause I was expecting more of a wilderness experience far away from any kind of civilization.

There are shelters every 10 or fifteen miles that you can stay at (3 sided structure that can sleep from 5-16 people, with a privy, water source, camp fire pit, and sometimes bear cables to hang bear bags.) So it doesn't feel as rugged or backcountry-ish, because you don't have to set up camp all the time if you don't want to .
We were expecting to have to set up camp on the PCT, so we carry our lightweight net tent and string up our tarp if it looks like rain. We've only stayed at two shelters so far, it's nice to camp and try to see some stars and feel the stillness of the woods. It's nice to stay at a shelter when it's dumping outside, and it's nice to meet other people, but it's also really great to have the option to set up camp wherever we want, rather than being limited to staying where the shelters are.

The terrain is a lot different too, obviously. The "mountains" are more like rolling green hills, with LOTS of foliage and trees galore, plus some kind of stinging nettles which we are getting pretty tired of hiking through. The streams are pretty hilarious too, sometimes when we filter water, we have to dig a little trench to make a deep enough puddle to cover the filter tip, but there are some big wide streams and rivers too.

There are a lot of little hostels to stay at with people who love hikers, since the trail is older, there is just a huge community of AT supporters who love to hear about where we've been and where we're going. Glenn keeps saying that a lot of the cool part of hiking the AT is all the cool little towns and communities it passes through on the way, it's not just about the scenery, cause honestly, it can get monotonous sometimes. Some hikers we talked to said the AT is sometimes referred to as the "Green Tunnel" and I think we're just getting a little taste of it. It gets tiring to not see the sky for hours at a time (because of the tree canopy overhead). Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, and it's really nice when we get to a high spot with some views, but it's definitely not what we're used to.

Some Thoughts on our Trip so Far...
There are not too many people out on the trail where we are, since all the thru-hikers are in Northern VA by now, but we've met some other section hikers like ourselves, and other couples out for a week or a few days...Lots of time to relax and think. And NOT ThinK.

It's nice to live a simpler life with everything we need right on our backs. We switch off doing the chores (hanging the bear bag, cooking meals, setting up the tent, filtering water or gathering fire wood.) Then I try to paint every so often, and we write in our journals, and I press flowers that I pick along the trail. We've also been reading some short stories about the area we're hiking in from the Civil War, which really gives us more insight about all that has happened in this land we are hiking through- pretty cool.

I think Glenn and I are spoiled, being used to the tall 10-14000 ft moutains with rushing streams and icy lakes galore, so I guess we're getting used to appreicating a different kind of beauty out here on the 6000 ft "peaks" and trickling brooks. There is a whole lot of history in this part of the country, and it's cool to get a little taste of southern hospitality and culture- most of the people we have talked to have been very friendly, talkative and helpful. We're looking forward to a little different terrain in VA, and canoeing will be a nice treat.
I'm still itchin to do the PCT, perhaps we can do a big section next summer, let's pray for less snow (or maybe we'll just have to take some self arrest classes to deal with some of those icy passes... we will see)

It's nice to be flexible and change our plans as we need to, as we have already re-routed a few times. "Do it while your young" right mom and dad?, that's what they always say.

Kauaii!!

The First Day of our PCT adventure starting at Burney Falls south to Old Station (40 miles). Our good friends Jesse and Lisa from Arcata came with us, equipped with a small guitar and smoked salmon! We had a lot of fun together!



(What a great way to start our adventure, even if we only made it 40 miles before there was too much snow to keep going!)



Krystal and Glenn at Burney Falls, the starting point of our PCT adventure.






Burney Falls is about half way between Canada and Mexico, the length of the full Pacific Crest Trail is over 2000 miles!







Finding the trail- Glenn got really excited about using the GPS, we could find exactly where we were on the map- THanks Dad!







Here is the infamous Baum Lake- A great place for the locals to go fishing, but so many mosquitos!! This is where I lost my camera, and after 2 hours of searching the lakeside, Glenn found it aobut 10 feet from where we had stopped to filter water- what a lifesaver!
Thanks a million times Glenn!!
What would I do without him?



After searching for the camera, it was too hot to hike, so we waited till later afternoon to hike the next six miles to our campsite. In between, Krystal got sick of her hair and decided to cut it off with her pocket knife!
Going Ultralight eh? After a dip in the mucky lake, I felt renewed and refreshed ready for a night of hiking and bug dodging- short hair is so easy!