Heflin Camp

Very excited about a camping trip this weekend. I leave 6am tomorrow... This would be fine and normal but I forgot about plans I had made several weeks ago. I'm seeing the final Harry Potter tonight at midnight... Perhaps tomorrow I'll be so excited about the trip I wont feel tired?! If you are wondering why I'm not embarrassed to be such an avid Harry Potter fan, it's because I've been with them since the beginning... and I was only 11!

Every year for the past 80 years, my family (my mother's family) has been camping on the Talapoosa River in Alabama.

 It's perfect, the river is dammed, so all day long the deepest the river gets is about 5 feet, and the bottom is smooth pebbles and rocks. The water is so clear you can see the bottom. My grandmother through the years has built a stone wall going the entire length of the camp, with steps going down into the water. No one gets muddy! We put our tents right on the edge over looking the water. The water rises every afternoon between 4:30 and 6pm, the water obviously becomes much swifter... We (all my cousins and I) run to the head of the camp, jump in the water, and float to the end of camp... awesome!
We have an outhouse and shower house, and a shelter that we cook and prepare food under. The picture below is of the shelter during a thunder storm... Tents get wet, so we all go to the shelter.

The camp also has fresh water directly from a mountain spring! I'll take pictures when I'm down there this weekend and post them... The Heflin Camp is my favorite place on earth!
Also.... I have found a backpack in an old trunk in my bother's old bedroom... and it is Redneck delicious!

Apparently this gem belonged to my mother in the 1970's... I remember going "hiking" around my family's farm when I was little pretending I was a pilgrim... It isn't big enough for what I need it to do, but I think I will keep it around. Even though some of the straps have broken and it is now being held together by plastic string, it's such a fond memory! I think my nieces (I have 5) might enjoy using it the same way I did.

Off to pack, ciao!

Betty Ford died

So, obviously a strange topic choice for a 25 year old to be blogging about. But, I was actually very upset when I heard about the death of the 93 year old former first lady. I was a history major in university, and I reluctantly took a "women in american history" course. I was worried the class would be eaten up with feminism and neglect the true object of the course (history). It turned out to be a wonderful semester, Thanks to Betty.
My professor, as most of my history professors. Was a tad bit on the eccentric side, I loved it of course, but, never the less, she was what she was. She assigned a paper/presentation on significant women in American history in the last 50 years. My concentration was Northern European history before 1800, so you can imagine my excitement... I wanted to go with Monica Lewinsky... Just to be rebellious in a private christian university. She just lacked the excitement I needed for my project though (and my professor said absolutely not). We had to write roughly 20 pages about our historical figure, then present to the class and other professors (while being recorded) in first person (as our historical figure). I always need humor, and have to add humor to everything I'm doing, especially if it's in front of people. It's how I avoid being nervous, you can't be nervous if you're making people laugh.
When I chose Betty I knew nothing about her, just what everyone else knows, she started the Betty Ford clinic, and was a bit of an alchy herself. I started the project four weeks out, and in those four weeks I learned more about her than almost any other human being (save for some French and British Monarchs). She was fascinating  and spunky. But I think what I liked most about her was her ability to maintain her class! She was such a classy woman, but she didn't let the fear of losing that lady like-ness come in the way of helping others. I like the spunk/classiness combo, I like to think it's what I have... Well, possibly quirky/classy combo would describe me better.
She was awesome, that's all I'm saying, and there are not many people left around like her.
P.s. The presentation was awesome... I think I did her justice!


On a different (and more in tune with my blog) note, I still don't have a backpack, but I do have a prospect. A somewhat awkward prospect, but, if it means I don't have to buy a $300 pack, then I'm willing to cope. The pack belongs to a guy I have like recently and in the past, we have been on dates, but he never calls back (crippled by shyness is the word on the street). He an extremely nice guy, but truly is very shy.
AnyWAY, his cousin is how I know him, she is one of my very close friends (we rushed Chi Omega together) and I am also now friends with his younger sister, and see her frequently. His mother wants to adopt me for her own (which I would love) and his father and I have awesome history chats!
Ah, getting side tracked AGAIN! So, I was over at their house this past Saturday, playing apple to apples with the fam (no, he was not there, and yes, it was awesomely weird), when I was leaving I was talking about my trip and what I needed. His mother volunteered his pack (he lived in Europe for a semester). Now, I NEED a good backpack, but I also like to avoid awkward situations... I can either pretend I never heard her say it, OR take her up on the offer and use the pack. BUT, what if he doesn't want me to? And this is where things get ridiculous.... I don't want his pack if he doesn't want me to use it, but he is too polite ever to say he doesn't want me to use it. Even if he tells his mother so, I think she will give it to me to use anyway. Ugh... I'll figure out something!
More exciting news for me however is: I HAVE FOUND PLACES TO STAY! In Switzerland AND Paris! I sent some messages out to friends a while back, just putting out feelers of who was the most excited about me coming... My lovely Swiss friend Tabea, who I actually met in Nashville offered me to stay with her. I'm so excited about it because we need catch up time severely! I'm not so hot with electronic communication (i'm getting better, hopefully).
For Paris I went to http://www.vrbo.com/ which is an amazing website! Grace and I are staying in the first district of Paris for a few days, walking distance from EVERYTHING, well, except Versailles, but that's okay because Versailles isn't Paris. You can find SUPER affordable prices as well, which is nice since I'm practically broke. It's so much nicer than a hostel, but I have never stayed in a hostel, so I really don't know, do I. But, I can tell you this, you save money if you have a kitchen to cook in, and I love going to the grocery in other countries, you can learn so much about the people, and you save so much money by doing this as well, and the food is better than buying it from street vendors, and cheaper than going out to eat all the time! Picnics are the way to go, always!

OTHER NEWS: I did like this old guy, now I don't. Don't know how I feel about Mr. Shy. And there is a young Sgt. that intrigues me and makes me a little crazy.

Ciao

It's been a while

I realize that I'm pretty much the worst blogger ever... I was afraid I would be.. but, seeing as no one really reads my blog, I figure it's okay.
The reason it's been so long is that I thought my trip to Europe wasn't going to happen. I was originally going with a roommate from college. She's a nurse now and has a pretty busy schedule. She's trying to figure out where she's going to be at the end of July and it just didn't make sense to be planning a back packing trip around Europe. So, my plans were dashed for a little while. I was thinking of other things I could do at the end of the summer. I thought about going up to Canada to visit my friend Grace, going on an Alaskan cruise by myself and just taking a ton of books with me and having a massage everyday. But, while I was talking to my Canadian, she said she would like to go back to Europe as well (you see, that's where we met). So, about three weeks ago I bought a round trip ticket to Zurich.
My plans of having everything planned out perfectly for my European adventures have gone down the drain. I do not have a backpack, or a place to stay in Europe. My financial situation has changed drastically. But, according to my mother, now is the time to live, I may not have money, but I have life, so I'll use it.
In 25 days I take a plane to Zurich. No plans, that's all I have for now. And I'm happy with it.

Things I Didn't know about Backpacks

NOTHING... Apparently. It doesn't seem like it should be THAT complicated, but it is. I'm sure if "backpacking people" read this they would think that I am pretty ignorant...
Today I decided to pop into REI (www.rei.com) to look around and get comfortable with all the outdoorsy stuff and try to not be judged too harshly by the hardcore outdoor enthusiasts that work there. 
I think I may have failed... I found the backpack section, and there was a man helping a couple try on different backpacks. I was just staring at this massive wall covered in packs, reading this plaque in the middle of them all that said how to choose a backpack... which is EXACTLY what I need to know, so I was pretty absorbed. I don't know whether he thought I was lost in REI or just lost in general, but he asked me if I was looking for a backpack for a man, well, no, I wasn't, and told him so... and that was when he informed me that I was in the men's section and womens packs had their own section. AHH! I was trying to be so mellow and cool in the store, and within the first ten minutes, this old man wearing water shoes that looked like toe socks makes me feel like I should know the difference... believe me, they look the same!

I played it off, and laughed at myself... told him they all looked the same and I didn't realize, and started walking over to the ladies section. This is what met my eye:

Terrifying... Well, not REALLY, but still, that's a lot of packs.
I learned several things I didn't know about backpacks:
1. There are men's and women's
2. Deluxe, lightweight, and ultralight (how much they weigh, or support they have?)
3. They are sized by liters (40 liters being a small pack, 75 being a huge pack)
4. They come in sizes, like for people... for torso length! (I was measured today and am on the border between extra small and small... my torso from the top of my hip bone to the base of my neck is just over 15 inches...)
5. There are packs for summer, that have more ventilation
6. And lots of other stuff I don't remember.


Anyway, I got a little scared away and decided to go look at shoes... because those will be important. They were all pretty unattractive, so, my quest for attractive walking/light hiking shoes will have to be continued later.

I kept getting asked if I needed help, so I was taken back to the women's packs by a nice guy who I do not know the name of... and he understood about me being very girlie but still liking the outdoors and such (his girlfriend is the same way). He was able to show me some different packs and sizes and talk about the benifits... I don't remember all of it, I really just ran in to look around before I picked up the kids (I nanny) from school. He gave me a brochure of all the packs they carried (yikes) 

and was nice enough to underline the few I liked.

1. The Osprey Aura 50 

2. The Gregory Jade 60

3. And the Deuter ACT Lite 60=10SL

Now, I haven't researched these brands yet, so I'm not sure which is better than the other, or if there is a better pack out there... but these are the three that I liked the best out of the wall of packs. I'll find some more information out about them obviously!
But, it does make me excited! But, a little nervous to fit everything for a whole month into a backpack... I took a small backpack to Budapest last spring and managed fine, but that trip was only five days long. I'm up for the adventure though!




Before I went to REI I had to go feed my Boss's cat (my other boss, I have several jobs), anyway, his family is out of town and they are paying me to go over and feed this cat and empty his litter box and give him water... I'm not really a cat person (even though I have one), but, this cat is awesome! His name is Wally, and today was the first day of what I am calling "wally Watch"

I also was able to save a Toad from getting hit by a car while I was leaving church tonight and put him safely in the grass! I felt really good about doing this, because there were two hopelessly hipster boys just starring at it, wanting to help but not wanting to touch it, so I flounced over and swept it up and put it in the grass, then decided to take a picture for documentation purposes:

Doesn't really look like a toad in grass though, does it?


Well, that's all I have for today, Tomorrow is my GREAT friend Jande's Birthday and I'm taking her out to lunch! I'm sure I'll have some funny (to me at least) stories to post tomorrow!

The First Post

First of all, I think "blog" is a weird word. Just wanted to get that out there... 
–noun
1. a web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.


Second, I think blogs make me nervous... and I'm not really sure how this works. It's taken me entirely way too long to figure out how all this goes, my friend Danielle helped me by telling me a place to get a back ground, I didn't even know blogs could have backgrounds (yes, I do realize that's slightly lame).


Okay, I feel like I'm getting a little off track... My blog name, is referring to my love of traveling, and love of being a girl, and not just a girl, but a very feminine girl. I am planning a trip back overseas for this coming August, and I have never backpacked through Europe (although I lived in Switzerland for a year, I always stayed in hotels). I've never really "roughed" it. So, as I was looking online for tips for traveling ladies... there wasn't much out there, except for some people making fun of "girlie" travelers... and I thought it was ridiculous! There is no reason women can't travel comfortably and practically while still retaining their femininity. That's what I'm going to try and find, and put on here... But I might post everything in between as well...


Today was a good day and I'm glad good friends Amy, Danielle, Rachel, and Angela encouraged me to do this, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I think it will be fun! 
Another reason why it was a good day: I was able to tell off a bully park ranger at the park today!  He was being a complete Nazi about me waiting in my car to pick up the girl I nanny... so I ignored him... not in a defiant anarchist way, but in a subtle "we're grownups and you can't bully me" kind of way... I feel a little bad now, maybe he was just having a bad day?