The One Vagabond Headed South

Its been exactly one year, four months, and fifteen days since I returned to the United States... just about long enough to warrant another adventure abroad; but this time things are about to get crazy - I'm bringing my mom!

Kalyn saving the world!

The two of us are traveling to Central America to meet up with my little Humboldt grad hippie sister who's been saving the world building schools out of trash and milking organic cows! Our excursion will begin in Nicaragua, head south to Costa Rica, and then once Kalyn and I say "adios" to Mom (sadly, she has to go home after a week), we will be flying by the seat of our pants!

So, some of you might be wondering, what the heck has been keeping me in one place for so long? Not such a simple question to answer but here are the highlights:

Upon returning to California, I fell back into my decade-long "backup" job at daycare. "Backup" because although daycare aide is not a career, I haven't been able to go longer than a few months without feeling a physical need to get back to Desi's Daycare and immerse myself in the fantastic and wild world of toddlers, diapers, crafts, and trips to the park!

I also almost immediately began volunteering as a coach of the PV Ski and Snowboard team, ironic because I was a Chico High grad (very big cross-town rivals for those of you not familiar with Chico) and raced for the Chico High team. But in the name of promoting good sportsmanship and stepping outside my comfort zone, I donned blue and white for the first time in my life and helped coach the girls snowboard team to their highest finish at States in the history of the program.

During ski season I met up with a my old snowboard coach who hooked me up with an "in" with Odyssey Teams Inc., one of the leading teambuilding companies in the world. I felt honored to be among some of the most passionate and sincere motivators during rope course challenges, teambuilding events, and philanthropic workshops. To make things even more amazing, I was selected to be a counselor at Camp Royal, a week-long summer leadership camp for high school Juniors. At camp I experienced one life-changing enlightenment after another and formed friendships with my "girls", co-counselors, and Odyssey staff that will last a lifetime.

Rockin' the 80's jacket with ski team

Seven of the most inspiring young campers
 I've had the pleasure of knowing!

Within 24 hours of camp ending, I was on a plane flying to Boulder Colorado for staff training for yet another camp - Bold Earth Adventures. Staff training included very technical instruction on things like making pancakes "leader style" (i.e. having someone stand on the ground while a leader stands on the roof of a 15-passenger van pouring ingredients into a bowl 10-12 feet below), earthquake alarms (shaking camper's tents vigorously while shouting "EARTHQUAKE!!!!") and playing an outrageous number of rounds of the game "Ninja". Training prepared me for a summer of fun in the sun with 13 campers and three AWESOME co-leaders in Hawaii where I slept in a tent (or on the van roof) for 42 nights in between days filled with volcano exploration, surfing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, snorkeling, and learning to play the ukulele!

My tough and muddy rugby girls!

After an amazing first summer with Bold Earth, I jetted back to California to referee field hockey, practice my new uke skills at daycare, and startup the first-ever Under-19 Girls Rugby team in Chico! I teamed up with the newly formed Chico Rugby Foundation and my assistant coach Denita and we somehow managed to get a motley group of girls from five different schools together to learn and play rugby. We won our very first "friendly" game, and then got absolutely destroyed a few times on the pitch before finding our footing and battling our way to an epic end of the season - a thrilling and unexpected win over a more experienced and established team!

The rugby season culminated just this past weekend with Chico hosting the inaugural Wild Things Rugby Tournament - the first and only tournament of its kind in California to have high school girls in costume playing both Union and Sevens rugby! As tournament Director, I felt that the day was insanely fun for all involved and wildly successful to boot! To unwind from the tournament and get my adventure on before heading out of the country, Katie and I headed to Table Mountain for a mountain biking expedition that was one of the most epic days i've had since being home (hence, worth mentioning in my year and a half recap)!

Last State-side adventure with Katie!

Well, hope you are all now on the edge of your seats because Central America is going to be EPIC!