Blogging is Easy?

They said blogging was an easy way to keep track of my journeys and keep my friends and family (especially my very worried mom) informed of my shenanigans.  So why am I sitting here thoughtless for 30 minutes just trying to produce a sentence or two? It's so hard to put into words feelings and emotions for others to see without feeling vain or egotistical.

However, seeing as though the point of my travels is to explore my limits and push myself past comfort zones, the best place to start is pushing myself through a blog. Keeping in mind my goal of remembering my experiences for a lifetime and advice from blog post extraordinaire Danea Horn, here goes nothing!

It all started with an idea to turn a trip to the Gorge in George, Washington (to see Dave Matthews band) and an unrelated, separate trip to Milwaukee, WI(my boyfriend's hometown) into a month long adventure across the country passing through historical cities and beautiful National Parks that I had only dreamed of visiting and up until now only had the opportunity to appreciate their majesty through the teachings in my Geology of National Parks Class. As of now, our itinerary includes (but is ever-changing as we discover even more places to visit along the way): 6 National Parks, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Milwaukee, numerous lakes and lakeside campgrounds, a few baseball stadiums (a must for me), breweries and a Dave Matthews Groupie pilgrimage for a 3 day concert at the Gorge (a must for Matthew Caley). You can follow his blog by clicking on his name: it might be better suited for those looking for in depth information on the breweries we visit along the way.

This is by far the craziest thing I have ever done and will be far from the last (Italy is already booked for December). I was tired of coming up with excuse after excuse of why I couldn't do something I've always wanted to do. Excuses eventually run out, you realize they are all trivial when compared to your goals, and you finally realize you are the only thing holding you back.  I'm already pushed outside of my comfort zone! 1. One month? In a car? Who knows how long it will be before I get a shower let alone the worry of keeping my hair straight! 2. The obvious toll this trip will take on my bank account. The sacrifice of knowing the temporary hit in my account balance is being replaced with life long memories requires patience. Not one of my best traits.

So until we embark on this wild adventure, departure date August 23rd, I have loads of packing to do and the image of this plastered in my mind: