OOOO I am tired.
But I can tell you all about National Incident Management Response framework and how it relates to the Incident Command System!
I just wrapped up five days of classes at Arizona Wildfire and Incident Management Academy for the second year in a row.
I read two books during February. I’m a little behind schedule, but I guess I’m at least two books closer to my goal of 50 for the year!
I spoke too soon!
Ryan and I were driving back to Flagstaff yesterday after a weekend spent backpacking through the Tonto National Forest’s Superstition Wilderness Area, and he asked how I thought the weekend went.
Despite an unexpected hailstorm we got caught in mid-hike out, despite the Maricopa County search and rescue team that approached us first thing Sunday morning and despite the high-velocity winds and rains that soaked through the bottom of our tent and into our sleeping pads, I said the trip was great.
“Nobody called search and rescue for us, I didn’t twist an ankle, I didn’t vomit at any point and I didn’t get any blisters. I’d call that a success!”
Except… again. I spoke too soon. I have a MASSIVE blister on the bottom of the ball of my foot that I somehow didn’t notice until this morning.
Regardless, I still think that our past weekend backpacking the Superstitions was a success!
If you missed it, I recently spent a weekend out at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area camping overnight on the bank of the Colorado River by the Arizona Hot Springs!
I detailed it in the post, and — while the trip didn’t meet my snobby wildland fire expert Hotshot’s definition of “backpacking” — it was MY first time hiking all my gear several miles off a trailhead to stay overnight.
Happy Tuesday that feels like a Monday!
Ryan and I took advantage of yesterday’s federal holiday, and spent this past weekend exploring a little bit of southwest Colorado.
Some cool shit I’ve been liking lately, including a new restaurant in Flagstaff, some new fancy candles, Sedona hikes and fitness classes.
New year, new books!
My legs are SORE.
I spent this past weekend hiking out to the Arizona Hot Springs — a little gem located near the bank of the Colorado River where it straddles the Arizona/ Nevada state line in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area — with several of my Flagstaff friends for an overnight camping trip.
As a kid, I loved winter.
I grew up in Michigan, so winter was a FULL season. Snow fell in early December and stuck around through late April. Whenever my mom had a day off work, she would take me, my brother and my sister to our local sledding hill — the steep, sloping face of our high school football field — where we would glide downhill on our green plastic sleds, and then clamber back up to do it again.
As I got older, I fell out of love with spending winter days playing outside. Snow days turned to car problems, slushy commutes and inflated heating bills. The magic of winter started to wear off during high school when my varsity coat and Vans failed to keep me warm during walks across the student parking lot, and then evaporated completely in college, when my fake Uggs and college logo-branded Columbia fleeces completely soaked through during cross-campus strolls.
My apathy toward winter followed me around during my time in Chicago and Ukraine, where cold became just one more obstacle between me and life.
I just had to pick one of the three Peace Corps countries that even has a winter, didn’t I?
But then… something magical totally expected happened.
I moved to northern California — the Sierra Nevada foothills, to be exact — last winter for work, and fell back in love with playing outside.
I just wanted to take a quick second to share my second finished knitting project: Purl Soho’s no-purl ribbed scarf!
(Original pattern here.)
