2013 in Review

Some years are much more eventful than others. Thinking back to a year ago, I hoped 2013 would be an adventuresome year, but expected it to remain fairly mundane. My only goal was to visit a country I've never been to before. As it turns out, leaving the country was one event that I ended up not experiencing this year, but I had a whole host of adventures all across the United States instead!

At the beginning of the year, I lived in Nebraska. But because I'm from Oregon and my family still lived there, I ended up starting off the year in the Pacific Time Zone. (Since I was still used to Central Time, I fell asleep before midnight! Shame on me; I love a good reason to celebrate!) Part of that trip involved taking a trip to the Oregon coast as well as the California Redwoods. I was also pretty appreciative that I could see mountains again!

 Within a few days of returning to my job in Nebraska, we had a reunion for the camp's summer staff to come together. We attempted every possible ridiculous way snow tube, played broom ball in the pool (I was a super-awesome goalie who knocked people down like a bully), and had a "gingerbread house" building contest (I was with the team of staff kids and we created the sugar-coated version of Camp Rivercrest, aptly named "Camp Candycrest).

Winter also involved a few trips up north. One was a quick overnight trip to Crown College in Minnesota just as I had the year before, but this also involved my first time driving for more than an hour at a time. This was one of two college job recruiting events I participated in; the other was at Grace College in Omaha later in the spring.

There were also some new experiences I never expected I would have, much less enjoy. Like the time I went to a Men's Wild Game Dinner. First off, I never expected to be in a room that overflowing with testosterone, but if for some reason I did run into a situation like that, I wouldn't expect to be pigging out on a bunch of meats I'd never eaten before. And yet there I was.

 I also went to the CCCA Super Sectional in Wisconsin. We were in a snowstorm, and the lake was so frozen that I went for a stroll on it. I'm glad they had an indoor climbing wall/leap of faith as a temporary reprieve from the cold. But of course, some of the outdoor activities were just too much fun to pass up, like shooting.

 Now I do have to point out that just about everything I've mentioned so far was a business-related event; otherwise I would have not been able to do any of it. I was really strapped for cash at that job, and my first year in Nebraska I didn't even have a car. So even though Omaha was only 30 miles away, I had only gone to a few places when other people took me. When my mom visited Nebraska for the first time, it was the perfect opportunity for both of us to be tourists together.

 We even went into Iowa... by a few feet!

 I touched the world's largest ball of stamps! Seriously, who comes up with these things?

 We toured the well-known Boys Town.

 Here's a picture with my mom so that you know she was actually there. (Why do I have hardly any pictures of her?) That puppy was trying to steal the antler we'd found when my mom walked through a cornfield for the first time.

 We also went to Central Nebraska to learn about our family's history.

And then came the hobby that would change my life. Okay, maybe not completely change my life, but I don't know where I'd be without it... anyway, the snow eventually cleared up, and I wanted to explore the outdoors again. I got a GPS the previous Christmas, and then it clicked... I could go geocaching! My first find was easy and innocent enough...

 But then there was that one that I had to walk through the woods and ended up with some pretty bad swelling and hives...

...and this one where I ended up trespassing onto another camp (oops!)...

 ...and that one cache in the park where the cops were called on me. I guess looking around for hidden objects seems mysterious.

My family was also generous enough to let me spend a few days with them at Walt Disney World in Florida. 

I suppose I should mention that I had several "close to home" adventures as well. I received a partial scholarship at the YMCA, so for a few months I was officially a member of the second-largest YMCA in the nation. I also had a few volunteer activities. I spent one night a week listening to third and fourth graders at Awana Truth in Training, and two days a week hanging out with foster kids at the Jefferson House. I also joined Toastmasters, and in May I had finally given enough speeches to earn my Competent Communicator award!

Then came summer camp. I actually wasn't really looking forward to summer camp. For one, I had to quit all my outside activities because I had to be on the camp grounds at all times six days a week. By this time I had also become very discontent with my work and was praying for an opportunity to move. But I tried to make the best of my situation at the time, and did end up having a few fun moments. There was airboating, river swimming, and the infamous bully shirt. 

 Speaking of shirts, I had been collecting all my Rivercrest shirts since the beginning of the year. I finally got enough to make a blanket. (It's now a 3 by 4 quilt; I added another row later on.)

 By the time summer camp was halfway over, I had chosen the next place I wanted to work at, applied, and even interviewed on July 4th. I should mention that that was not a typical 4th of July, especially since I slept through the fireworks. The night before, we stayed up late and watched Despicable Me 2 in theaters. Then I had to wake up early that morning for my interview. After the interview, I went to a nearby campground for some geocaching, which ended up with allergic reactions to the point where there wasn't enough Benedryl to handle it, hence I was sleeping for the rest of the day.

When summer camp ended, I had scheduled my second interview. And shortly after that, I was given the job! This job was even further away from Oregon, in Ohio. And now I had to gear up for a road trip even further than Minnesota, and this time I went solo.

Because I got this job and had to move, it replaced my previous plans to go to Niagara Falls. I'm thankful I chose the job instead. I can always visit Niagara Falls later; it's not like they're going to turn the water off! Besides, now I'm closer to the Falls, so it will be cheaper when I do finally make the trip. But since this replaced the vacation I saved up for, I decided to turn the move into a fun road trip. After all, I could fit all my belongings into my car, and this would be my first time to see two of the five states I drove through!

 I went to an art park in Des Moines, Iowa...

 ...and Captain Kirk's future birthplace in Riverside, Iowa, which was paired with a cool geocache adventure...

 ...and the R Place truck stop restaurant in Illinois, which is also where I spent the night...

 ...Michael Jackson's birthplace in Gary, Indiana...

...and Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

This new job itself brought many more new experiences besides just seeing a new state. It had a different dynamic than other camps I previously worked at, which ended up having me teach classes, lead hikes without flashlights, hold alligators... you know, normal work stuff. 

Upon arriving to Ohio, the apartment that my soon-to-be-roommate and I had planned to rent was not yet ready, so we spent almost two weeks with coworkers. Then, when that plan fell through, we spent a month in an RV at our new workplace. I think I might actually like RV living one day, but under certain conditions. For example, the RV should move every once in awhile to a new place and my bedroom should measure longer than my height. But I found ways to pass the time while discovering the state of Ohio. My first excursions were, of course, geocaching. There's only a few within several miles of my workplace, and several of those are at the campground down the street. (By the way, even though it's only down the street, it's a longer walk than it seems! Driving may be recommended!) The scary thing is, all the caches were made of lawn gnome

A few of the other caches I found were in cemeteries. 

 Although I had just begun to make more than I had in Nebraska, I realized that, because I was living rent-free that month, I could definitely afford to travel. I decided right then and there that my goal was to go on at least one weekend trip per month. I heard that a state park up north was having Ohio's largest outdoor craft fair one weekend, so I decided to venture up there. I drove through some areas that reminded me of home, toured the farm mansion, hiked up a hill that everyone else would only drive up, went geocaching, ate out, and danced in a barn for the first time.

 
Eventually, we did find a place to live, and even acquired another roommate. The best part of our apartment was that it is actually a refurbished barn. Of course, there are some downsides to that (such as a leaky roof we just discovered yesterday), but all three of us really like this place. For some reason, the only picture I have of the "abarnment" is this cat who thinks she lives here.

 The trees in this part of Ohio are both a positive and negative. The negative part about them is that there are not evergreens, so it doesn't look very pretty in the wintertime. The positive is that, before the leaves fall, autumn looks so beautiful. I took advantage of this time by driving through the countryside to Amish country. This included...

 ...cheese factories...

 ...eating Swiss food...

...getting stuck behind buggies...

 ...learning about Amish gardens (the jars are like this because the sun sanitizes them and it makes the garden veggies ready-to-can)...

 ...touring two Amish homes...

 ...learning about how they dress...

...learning about Amish toys (I bought my own doll, just not this one)...

 ...eating Amish cuisine...

 ...adoring barn animals...

 ...riding in a buggy...

 ...touring an Amish schoolhouse...

 ...visiting a pumpkin patch...

 ...going to a cheese factory...

...did I mention anything about cheese factories yet?

Because I didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving this side of the Mississippi, I went with a coworker to Cleveland. We did several touristy things, most notably seeing my first Great Lake.

So this is pretty long for the first post of my new blog, but I suppose that it did cover an entire year. Actually, it's not even over yet. Soon I'll have to report on Christmas, New Year's Eve (which I do NOT plan on sleeping through this year!) and whatever else comes my way.