In 2022, I had a year of self discovery, somewhat documented here, digitally. In the last nine months, I have experimented with independence (I write now from my childhood bedroom lol), and I haven’t spent time writing digitally. Please enjoy this brief synopsis of what I’ve been doing since last December…
December & The Train to Bingen, Washington
The last time I wrote for this blog, I guess was November of 2022, when I was living at home and at my Grandma’s house, spending time with family. In December, I got on the Amtrak train (a day early on accident), and choo chooed West. A remarkable moment on my journey was when the train accidentally sent my bike, Gary, to Seattle. I remember the conductor approaching me on the train to tell me of their mistake, expecting my frustration in response, only for both of us to find ourselves blank and confused. I enjoyed the train ride still… 54 hours of train is a truly unique experience. I especially enjoyed the town of Minot in North Dakota, where I found many store fronts named “Keating.” Also in Minot, with the cappuccino I ordered, I received a tootsie roll and a genuine barista encounter, where some thirty-year-old woman called me sweetie or something. I wore my Birkenstocks and it was -10 degrees outside and my feet were so cold in Minot, North Dakota.
After a two restful nights of sleeping in a giant, dirty seat, I eventually arrived in Bingen, WA (which I kept pronouncing Bingen, as in Chandler Bing, only to find it is pronounced Bin-jen), where my friend Emma, along with her grandparents, picked me up from the train station.
Living in Bend, Oregon
I soon made it to Bend, Oregon, where I lived from December until May, spending my days working at Mt. Bachelor as a ski instructor. I had so much fun skiing every day, learning that I love snow even more. When I mention that I skied every day, I mean it earnestly, and it never got old. Sometimes, teaching four-year-olds how to ski got old, so I would give them soda. Then I learned, when my parents came to visit, that I shouldn’t give babies soda.
Showing my parents around Bend was entertaining, but I didn’t get to know Bend as well as I got to know the mountain, so I took them there and we had a blast. We were lucky with the weather, getting dumped on the first day that we drove up, and then the sun poking out the next day. Overall, the winter at Mt. Bachelor was fantastic… I have overflowing appreciation for the snow, the friends, and the growth. Ski instructing is an amazing job for my personality and lifestyle, and I imagine I’ll do it again.
April & Norway
At the end of April, I went to Norway and took a Wilderness First Responder class. Due to the nature of Things, I booked the ticket the night before I had to go, frantic and then, more poor. Navigating through the streets of Oslo felt seamless, and traveling in Northern Europe on Easter felt ethereal. The class itself, which was six hours north of Oslo in a town called Flåm, was amazing. I was lucky to have two amazing instructors and classmates from all over Europe. We all ate dinner together every night in the hostel that we all stayed in, taking turns cooking for each other, and having funny conversations in English, the second language for most people there. They spoke more clearly than I do, so I listened. I was blessed to be able to jump in the fjord most evenings, and to find friends to go jogging with. While I spent the night before my departure in a cloud of chaos, existentially worried about my choices about money and airplanes, those feelings lifted after I arrived in Oslo, and after completing my course, I will say that it was all worth the hustle. Norway is hilarious.
I’d have stayed in Norway if I didn’t have a job – an opportunity – waiting for me in Oregon. I arrived back in Bend with colliding worlds. My friend Emma (from high school) came to visit and we reminisced on our days of ski racing while enjoying some phenomenal spring skiing. Then, my friends Patty, Mo, and Lacey, from college, came to visit on their journey to Washington, and we were able to go skiing on a beautiful blue bird day. Then, my friends Finn and Keating came to town, and we also went skiing together. With such a tumble weed style of existing, life is as you might expect: exciting, jarring, and unexpected, and in the last nine months, my sense of home has evolved with my lifestyle. Coming home is no longer as tangible as it used to be, and I am so lucky to have friends who have forever changed what coming home means to me.
May & Working at Outward Bound
Soon enough, it was time to say goodbye to everything again, and transition to my next adventure: working at Pacific Northwest Outward Bound, just outside of Redmond, Oregon. I spent a month training with my coworkers, backpacking, rafting, and rock climbing around Central Oregon. My brain almost exploded because I learned so much from knowledgable mentors, peers, and the challenges of a new, desertous environment. One day on the river, I got dirt stuck in my eyebrows for a few days. Haha
In June, I led my first course, which was a fifteen day rock climbing and rafting course. My co-instructors were amazing and so were my students. I learned so much and I felt so loved by my little community. The universe hugged me then.
On my seconds course, I hurt my back, so I skipped out on my last course and learned about workers comp instead of hydrology. I spent a lot of time by the river on our base drinking iced coffee. I also played a lot of chess and visited Ellen in San Fransisco, via Amtrak train. A one night train trip feels easier after having taken a two night train, it’s almost… mathematical.
Eventually, Keating and I drove east, away from the smokey desert and back toward humidity. We spent nights in Montana, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Northern Michigan, sleeping at truck stops in beds for deer and Midwestern trail heads, smelling morning dew once again. After years of talking about going on a roadtrip together, we were finally able to make it happen. Notable parts of our journey are the Badlands, which were magical, and of course, the Au Sable. After some days, we made it to my parents house, just in time for Keating’s 22nd birthday. We went canoeing, ate tacos, ice cream cones, and of course, played chess.
Now, I am here again, eating vegetables, spending time with my family, and grieving my dog. My back is hurting and I am stir crazy, but now I have found time to do the little things… Now is time to reflect, reset, and eat expensive yogurt that my parents bought. I could have never begun this “vagabond life” (as my dad says), without them anyway. Now is time to ruminate in my gratitude.
A special thanks to my parents and sisters, my Christmas family & everyone involved (long story), my buddies Keating & Finn, Emma (who is the reason why I made it to Bend in the first place), my roommates Zach & Jack, my family at Outward Bound, Anika (who taught me so much), Charlotte, Wade, Alexa, & Emma, all of my people from Orono, Ellen & Haley, Mira (remember when I got on the train a day early?), Gary, and everyone else. I don’t believe anyone exists truly alone, even in our most independent days. Thank you-
Love, Sal