Wilderness 2012

So five days after I got home from London, I headed up to Colorado for a week long backpacking trip! I've always enjoyed hiking, and I went on my first backpacking trip last summer. I absolutely loved it, and when I heard about the opportunity to go back, I jumped on it immediately! I went with the small group that my senior Bible teacher and his wife led.

Look how clean and fresh we look!

It was a great trip, but there were some interesting moments! First off, we drove to Colorado. If you include stops, that is a 20 hour journey. That is a lot of time on a coach bus. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. I was able to sleep during the night, which tremendously helped to pass the time. So, if you ever find yourself on a 20 hour bus ride, here are some tips:

• Make sure your ipod is fully charged! But also ration your ipod. If you are content to talk to people, read, sleep, or just sit, then do that. Save as much battery as possible for when you really need it!
• Bring a blanket and pillow! Buses get cold and pillows help you sleep! Special thanks to Alexandra for lending me Peels, her panda pillow pet.
• Have some travel toiletries in your carry-on. Remember, it's 20 hours before you can properly brush your teeth or wash your face!

So we finally got there, and our guides were there to greet us. Our base camp was at Wilderness Ranch, a YoungLife camp. We got our gear, packed up, ate lunch, and headed out. It's a good thing it was only a half day. We weren't fully acclimated to the altitude or adjusted to our packs yet, so the hiking was pretty tough. We were extremely grateful to get to our campsite that night!

Whenever we took long breaks, we did two things. At meals, we answered "meal questions." Those were just random questions that ensured that everybody got involved in conversation. Examples include: "What is your patronus?" (owl!); "If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have 1 book, 1 movie, and 1 CD, what would it be?" (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a Bourne movie, and Ceremonials by Florence and the Machines); and "If you could play a minor role in any movie, who would you play?" (a pirate on the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean). We also told life stories, which were kind of like faith journeys. The point was so we could all get to really know each other. 

So here are some highlights from the week:

Climbing through deadfall: I woke up our third morning feeling pretty good. I was finally fully acclimated to the altitude, and my pack didn't seem as heavy. The morning hike felt easy and all was good up to lunch. Things went downhill in the afternoon (only metaphorically though; literally, everything went UPHILL). The trail disappeared, so we were hiking along the side of a mountain on really rough terrain. Then we hit the deadfall. Colorado has had a problem this summer with pine beetles killing trees, so there are dead trees littered all over the place. And the problem with these dead trees is that they also have sharp branches sticking up all over the place. We then spent the entire afternoon climbing over dead trees and cutting ourselves on branches. It was exhausting, challenging, and we all came close to breaking down, but looking back, we decided that it was a part of the experience that we would not have changed.

Goose Lake: When we finally set up camp after battling the deadfall, our guides told us that we would be summiting the next day. I was super excited about this because my favorite part of backpacking last year was reaching the summit. So we got up unnaturally early (3:30) and covered a fair bit of ground before the sun even came up. It was another rough hike; the trail still hadn't appeared, the deadfall was just as bad, and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos. After hiking straight up for several hours, we reached a huge, gorgeous lake and set up camp near the shore. Our guides told us that we weren't going to make it to the summit because the weather was a bid dodgy, but we did get to spend the rest of the day relaxing by Goose lake. I was disappointed that we didn't get to summit, but after 2 days of intense hiking, relaxing by the lake was spectacular.

so intense!

Whiffle ball: My Bible teacher brought a whiffle ball set and we decided to have a game by the lake. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I've never played baseball, softball, or whiffle ball, so the others had to walk me through everything. I can't hit a ball to save my life, but at least I can catch and throw. After lunch, stakes were added to the game. The loosing team had to go jump into Goose Lake. The thing about Goose Lake is that it is fed by melted snow, so the water is freezing! Of course my team lost, and I had the privilege of leaping into the lake. At least it was refreshing...

Solo Night: The title says it all. When my 

my solo spot

teammates and I had recovered from our lake jump, our guides informed us that we would be having solo night. They found each of us a separate spot for the night and gave us some scripture to read and think about. Spending the night by myself in the woods was an interesting experience. It was extremely windy, and it sounded eerie through the trees. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I heard an animal rustling near by, so I decided to hide deeper in my sleeping bag (though it was probably just the wind or a chipmunk). But the stars were incredible. Every time I woke up, I just looked at the sky and stared at millions and millions of glittering stars. You don't have many opportunities to see a night sky like that.  

Our last 2 days on trail were great! The trail magically appeared and we were beyond the land of the deadfall. We felt very accomplished by the time we got back to base camp. Taking a shower was amazing!!! Our guides also took us into a map room and showed us exactly where we hiked. We were on the longest trail (which is ironic, considering we were never on a trail!) and hiked 33 miles in 6 days. It was a great trip, and I would love to make backpacking an annual summer trip.

clean once again!

London review

So I got a little behind on blogging about my London trip! Here are some of the highlights from my second week there.

Henna: I got henna done on my hand! I've wanted to get a henna design ever since my sister came home from India with an authentic one. Alexandra and I both got it done at a Green Festival in Regent Park. Alexandra has a blog post dedicated to this. 

Rock of Ages premier: The Rock of Ages movie premier was happening at Leister Square, so we decided to stop by. There were the hard core people who had been camping out since 8:00 that morning who had the best spots right up at front, but considering we got there at like 5:00, we were able to get up fairly close. They had music from the movie playing, and at one point a band got up to perform the same music live. It was fun to listen to, and I had those rock songs stuck in my head for the rest of the evening. Oh, and I saw Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, and the rest of the cast! Ok, from a distance...but I still saw them. There was a stage set up, and all the major cast members got up and did an interview.

Harry Potter Studio Tour: We went to the Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour. It was really incredible! This is a tour of all the sets, props, costumes, and designs for all the Harry Potter movies. For example, I saw the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room, the boy's dormitory, Dumbledore's office, 4 Privet Drive, the Knight bus, and a whole bunch more. This is where they filmed the majority of the films. I felt like I was reliving my childhood since I grew up with the Harry Potter books and movies! Parts of it were just too much to handle! I think I took over 100 photos ( I promise I won't post them all!). And then there was the gift store...oh my goodness. It's this huge space with every Harry Potter item you could ever imagine. I got a pair of mittens that had the Hogwarts crest and colors. I really wanted one of the concept drawings. They were beautiful, but so expensive! Oh well, I'm happy with my mittens. I'll use them in Scotland. 

ahhhhh!!!!!!! We're so excited. :)

Gryffindor common room

Knight bus (all destinations except under water!)

Diagon Alley (strange lighting...)

model of Hogwarts Castle

and cue tears.....

Frankenstein: So a year ago, the National Theatre presented Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller. They switched playing the roles of the Creature and Dr. Frankenstein every night. So Alexandra and I went crazy last May, knowing that it was playing in London and we couldn't see it!!! But alas, the National Theatre filmed in and showed it in theaters in June. When we saw it, Ben was Frankenstein and Johnny was the Creature. It was an incredible, beautiful, heart-breaking production. The acting was phenomenal, and I wish we had been in London to see the second showing so I could see Ben and Johnny switch roles. 

Other Shows: Besides Frankenstein, we also saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at Kensington Gardens, the musical Matilda, and Henry V at the Globe. They were all very different shows, but I liked them all! I love the London theatre, and I'm definitely planning on taking a train down from St. Andrews to see some shows. 

inside the Globe!