Living the Redwood Dream

The first week of training has ended here in Santa Cruz. We are staying in Mount Hermon while learning about the slough, berm, upsloping and outsloping of a trail. What a beautiful place to be with such amazing young adults. They sure did a great job picking people out for this internship. Every single one of the people in my group are constantly challenging and inspiring me. The conversation we hold as a group and during one-to-one are intelligent, thought-provoking discussions. I have learned and grown so much already. Where will I be in another week? Month? Full term?

They say that there are signs directed towards you pushing, prodding and whispering you to the place you are suppose to be. I was not sure if this was it at first but there have been too many signs since this thought. I am meant to be here, with these people, doing this work.

So I lay here in a hammock writing this blog post. Tonight I go to a concert. Tomorrow is filled with beach BBQ's and sunshine. How lucky am I?

Keep Santa Cruz Weird

After rolling into Santa Cruz after being on the bus from 8AM to 12AM, rain coming down in buckets on me as I stood at the bus station and stupidly forgetting to pack food (who eats turkey sandwiches out of a vending machine? Not this girl...) I found a place to crash on a friend of a friend's couch. I fell asleep wondering if I had done the right thing: loneliness and just being outright scared of the new challenges present in front of me had sunk in...

When I woke up this morning I still had some lingering doubts and a foggy mind (no coffee yet). Ironically one of the roommate asked me to drive her to her morning class and of course I said yes! I got lost for an hour on the way home, my phone lost service (along with the ability to GPS my ass out of there) and I was still wearing my PJs when I asked a cop where I was going. What I discovered on this adventure was the hills of Santa Cruz; where people run and bike on established trails, trees drip with the morning fog, redwoods gleam in the rising sun and music streams out of the open windows as the sun begins to light up my face. So I woke up this morning feeling unsure about my decision to leave  Mammoth and my routine there and begin something brand new here. But after that car ride I began to understand why I had come here...

So why in the world did I leave my skiing season early at Mammoth, travel for over 16 hours on a bus with all of my belongings to a new city, new job, and new people? I begin my 6 month volunteer work with the AmeriCorp ACE this Sunday. I will 'donate' over 1000 hours of labor cleaning and building trails, working with the community and educating them about conservation and the trail system, and living in the woods frolicking with people just like me while being dirty. Sounds about right for me, doesn't it? Yep, that's why I am here.

Am I making money? Hell no. Am I establishing a career for myself? Nope. Am I doing something I am passionate about? Absolutely. Am I surrounding myself with people and experiences that will push me, build me and allow me to flourish? 100%.

Life comes fast, hard and sometimes absolutely unpleasant. I am not trying to sprint through my life so I can surround myself with objects and money. At the end of the day, year, my life I want to be able to rummage through my memories, scars, photos and friends and relive those years over and over and over...

To view some information about my projects and other's projects go here.