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Rocky Mountain High, Colorado
After 46 hours of travel, two weeks gone and a whirlwind of significant life events, I came home needing to get away. We can call it running, because maybe it was. Away, I’d felt a yoke slip across my shoulders, felt the weight of it start to crush the best parts of me. I’d heard a voice from before that rattled me, that took me down a misery-wrecked road I never, ever wanted to visit again. I woke up that first day back with a thump in my chest pushing me to get a-way, a-way, a-way. I needed space to work it all out, to process the past, to contemplate…
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But Maybe It Won’t
Sometimes, when things change, you have to hold a funeral. You have to light some candles, say some words, feel some feels. Sometimes, you just have to say goodbye. —
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Mojave National Preserve: Terra & the Tarantula
It’s National Park Week! The U.S. National Park Service oversees nearly 425 sites. This includes not just our fabled national parks, but national monuments, preserves, battlefields and historic sites, too. So far, I’ve explored 110 of those sites. I’ve hit a few of the big ones, like Yellowstone, Denali and the Grand Canyon, and lots and lots of little sites in between. Since I can’t get out and explore the parks this week, I’m sharing stories instead, like this one from a visit to Mojave National Preserve back in 2019. Terra & the Tarantula The first time I visited Mojave National Preserve, I was just passing through. It was at…
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The Iditarod: A Different Sort of March Madness
When five-time Iditarod finisher Jeff Deeter asked me how I got interested in the Iditarod, I blamed Winterdance, Gary Paulson’s 1994 book on his 17-day run to Nome. But really, it seems like at least a small awareness of the Iditarod was always around. Maybe that’s just what happens when you’re raised by wolves. For the uninitiated, the Iditarod is a 1,000+ mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome, dubbed, “The Last Great Race.” Mushers set out alone, with up to 14 dogs, a pile of gear and a dog sled. They stop along the way at checkpoints where previously-packed drop bags refill their supplies. The dogs are the…
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This is Claude
In the months after Sadie died, I followed a bunch of dog rescue organizations. Luke, my other dog, has always been part of a pair. He was surrendered to our local SPCA along with a twin sister before I brought him home and then he spent a decade plus with Sadie. He needed a dog, I figured. He needed a buddy. I looked hard for a lady husky mix for him, like Sadie was. But, I realized, what I really wanted was Sadie, and that’s not how this works. Looking at other husky girls felt like I was trying to replace her, as if such a thing were even possible,…
