Author: Emma

Sometimes you’re the windshield…

I did the twenty-first century equivalent of tearfully smashing my piggy bank, transferring all the money we’d diligently saved since I started my Big Girl Office Job into our checking account and waiting for it to disappear. I thought of all the meals we could’ve eaten out, of the gear I hadn’t splurged on, of the airfare I’d resisted booking with $2,600. Instead of all that, we were buying a head gasket.

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Last week, our trusty 2007 Subaru Forester hit 182,000 miles. The week before that, it needed $2,600 in repairs. Continue reading “Sometimes you’re the windshield…” →

The Weekend Warrior Blues

We didn’t get into anything Super Duper Epic, because sometimes—even when you’re a Weekend Warrior—life gets in the way. We don’t have the time (or energy, in my case) to tackle first ascents or explore uncharted wilderness every weekend, but that doesn’t always preclude you from having a hell of a good time.

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This week, after nearly five years, the spacecraft Juno began its orbit of Jupiter, a mind-boggling 1.74 billion miles from its origin. As Juno embarked on its scientific mission in the Final Frontier, I lamented my own station here on Planet Earth, where, thanks to Bix’s on-call status, I was relegated to Cell Service. Continue reading “The Weekend Warrior Blues” →

Find Your Snack: Grin and Bear It

Hiking in the Tetons in the dark is a little different than hiking in places uninhabited by grizzly bears in the dark, namely because of grizzly bears and the fact that they live there.

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The National Park Service turns 100 years old in 2016, and dirtbags nationwide are finding creative ways to commemorate the NPS Centennial. (My favorite so far is the Dirtbag Diaries’Milepost series.) I, on the other hand, lack artistic sensibilities, and am thus marking the occasion in the same way I celebrate everything else: by eating. Without further ado, then, I present the next installment in this series about things I’ve eaten, or seen eaten (in this case, almost me), in national parks. Continue reading “Find Your Snack: Grin and Bear It” →

Bike to Work Day: Because it’s good for you and you’ll like it.

One day this spring or early summer, thousands of people across the country will hang up their car keys and do what every other developed nation does every workday: we’ll ride our bikes to work.

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One day this spring or early summer, thousands of people across the country will hang up their car keys and do what every other developed nation does every workday: we’ll ride our bikes to work. Continue reading “Bike to Work Day: Because it’s good for you and you’ll like it.” →

I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me

Rationally, I know I’m an intelligent, educated, conscientious woman with a strong work ethic and the savvy to handle most challenges you might throw my way, but I spend a good portion of every day fighting the insidious effects of Impostor Syndrome, which can basically be summed up like so: At any moment, a slip of the tongue, some small past error I’ve made, could tip everyone off that I am, in point of fact, a complete fraud.

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I check my watch for the umpteenth time, confirming that it’s still not quite eight o’clock on this muggy weekday morning. Despite the knot in my stomach, I sip my still-hot coffee. I’m leaning against an ancient van emblazoned with colorful logos, and sometime in the next hour, I’ll be addressing fifty volunteers who’ve shown up to maintain a popular hiking trail. Continue reading “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me” →