Finally went out on my bike this week. Since gentle persuasion would not work with me, I decided to give myself an ultimatum. I told myself that I am getting on Stevens Creek Trail at the end of this week and I am biking to work by the end of next week … whether I am ready or not. Haha … I started cycling around the neighborhood and I had a lot of fun (even though sometimes I feel like I'm making a big idiot out of myself). I'm actually a bit ahead of schedule and I'm getting on the trail tomorrow morning. Wish me luck! The trail itself is not bad (from what I've read). It's the fact that I have to cross downtown that scares me to death. Well, I am heading out right at sunrise so hopefully it won't be so busy yet. Besides, the speed limit here is 35mph. Thank heavens I don't have a car here. I would go crazy with that kind of slow driving!
I've been adjusting well to the cold weather here. I mean, I still get cold, but not in my usual aarrgghh-I'm-gonna-die kind of way whenever the temperature dips below 70F. I've actually been enjoying it lately – sometimes I get out of the hospital and the day is so beautiful that I decide to walk home – it's just 2 miles. I was at the library today (I was sick of the mess at the house because the last of my boxes arrived) and on my way home I had to pass through a park – I just had to slow down and enjoy the scenery – it was all so peaceful. It's one of those times when nature's beauty just grabs me by the collar and I can't help but think – how can anybody deny the existence of God?
Mountain View is a simple little city, not as upscale as its neighbors Palo Alto (where Stanford University is), or as big as San Jose, but it suits me just fine. I've had enough of chaos in Central Florida.
I've been meeting some interesting folks here lately. Last week I met a fellow travel nurse who is an avid solo hiker and backpacker. I've been thinking about doing that for years now, and all this time I've always heard the same negative responses - "don't do it by yourself" "you never know what's out there" "it's too dangerous." For the first time I heard someone reply "well, what's stopping you?"
She has a personal website with all the pictures she's taken during hikes in different national parks in Arizona, Nevada and South Carolina (just to name a few). They are all so beautiful! Of course, the photographs never do justice to the real thing. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to stand in front of such vast majestic views of nature!
The first night we met, I just kept on bugging her and asking her questions. Turns out, she'd been hiking for more than 5 yrs. I asked her if she went through some special training to be out on the woods on her own, but she said she didn't. One day after her divorce and all the kids moved out of the house she just sort of "stumbled into it" at the age of 48, and she's been hooked ever since – it was all mostly trial and error for her during the beginning. She said she would be in the woods for months if she could. And, she tailors her travel nurse assignments to the locations of mountains and trails that she would like to hike in.
We'd been talking a good while when she started to laugh. I asked her why she was laughing and she said, "I love that big grin you've got. You look like a light bulb just turned on in your head and there's all this energy waiting to come out. I'm really excited for you – I think you'll love it out there." And, well, she was right. I couldn't forget her words because that totally summed up what I'm feeling about life right now. Call me crazy, but I feel like travel nursing really gave me a new lease on life. I'd always been the "good asian daughter" who never did anything and never went anywhere. Since I've started travelling this year, I've really taken responsibility for my own happiness and my own search for a purpose in life. I read this awesome line that said "Treat each situation in the day as though you were head-over-heels in love." I guess that's how I am right now – all my senses are on overdrive.
Sorry, enough corny talk – am I boring you?
I'm really interested to eventually go on solo hikes, especially in California. Sooo many national parks to explore. I asked that lady if she was ever scared to be by herself and she answered "of course." Just take the necessary precautions and be prepared, she said. I've made a decision that the thought of ending up as a sad old lady on her deathbed (who never did anything because she was too afraid of the unknown) is worse than ending up being murdered and buried in some psycho's backyard in the mountains. Well, maybe that's taking it to the extreme. But, you know what I mean, right? I have no insane daydreams of reaching the peak of Mount Everest or swimming the Atlantic Ocean. I just have a small list of attainable goals that I would like to cross out one by one. I know I can do them, because I've just crossed out another item last Feb 17 – when I moved by myself to California!
Anyway, I told my her that if she wouldn't mind a newbie tag-along, I would definitely love to go with her on one of her trips. We actually had a few days off that were the same, so she said it might be great to start in Yosemite National Park. We looked at the weather forecast for the area and – rats! – there was going to be snow on those days. I really wanted to go, so I asked her – "do you think if we just brought the right gear, that I'd be okay?" "Girl," she says in her southern accent, "you're gonna have a screamin' fit." I asked her what in the world a "screamin' fit" was, and I guess it was one of those all-encompassing expressions that could pretty much mean anything. In this case it meant "freeze your ass off." So, Yosemite will have to wait for now. We are hoping to go before the bears wake up in the spring.
She initially wanted to take me to Sedona, Arizona (a 12-hour drive from California), because it was (according to her) the most beautiful place on this earth. She told me that she was so frustrated when she was there because she'd been trying to get young people there to see what a wonderful backyard they had, but mostly they all wanted to go to the city (in Phoenix) for the nightlife. I guess she was just excited to get me under her wing. She told me that she was so pleased with my enthusiasm, and that she hopes I never lose it.
"Don't worry," I tell her. "I'm just getting started."
