I'M GOING ON A 10 DAY SOLO ROADTRIP

After having some things fall through for my Iceland trip and having to change dates and then also not being able to go to Canada due to my car accident. I decided that once things settled down I was going to take some time off, for myself. To not worry about anything else other than where I'm headed next.

So starting on the 28th of this month (August) I'll be setting out for 10 days on my first solo trip!

I always go on day hikes by myself and have done a couple overnight trips alone but I've never actually done a whole road trip just with myself, so I'm really excited to get to spend some quality time alone. Not on anybody else's time schedule, not stopping at places I don't want to and most importantly finding that connection with myself again.

Since I've been to all of the surrounding states close to home I decided I'm just saying screw it and headed to Colorado, a place that has been on my bucket list for quite some time now.

Ever since I saw my first picture of the Aspen Bells I knew it would be one of my new favorite places, it was just a matter of time and doing.

I kept waiting on others to go on this trip with me, kept waiting for more money to be saved. But after last month and realizing how fast it can all be taken from you in the scheme of just waiting, I took 10 days off and started planning instantly.

Cierra kind of knew I was wanting to road trip somewhere but since she was leaving the same time I am, I decided I'll just take Tux (her dog) so this worked out perfectly!

We're going to be starting in WA, my home. And then head to Glacier National Park in Montana, last time I was here I only got to explore a little bit of it just because of the Going to the Sun Road was closed. So I can't even describe how happy I am to get back there and explore pieces I haven't yet!

After this i'm making my way down to Wyoming, with a stop at the Grand Tetons. Easily my favorite place I've been, so words couldn't even describe how stoked I am to get back there.

I'll probably be in Wyoming for about a day and half and then i'll be entering Colorado, starting with Rocky Mountain National Park. I have no idea what to expect really other than me grabbing a map and hitting each spot I can, I really have no plan going through Colorado besides stopping at Rocky Mountain N.P. and then heading through Aspen Bells area. I know that this is already going to be my new favorite state..

On my route home I'm going through some places I had never heard of on the Utah border and stopping in Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, always a must see when going through this way.

And then one of my friends Trey had recommended I stop in the Wallowa's mountains in Oregon, after looking at pictures of this area I decided I'm spending my last full day there!

For awhile, I was scared and fearful. Thinking of going to all of these places alone, what am I going to do when I'm so happy and want to share that feeling with someone? Thinking about how small I am and how defenseless I am. Thinking about camping in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere all alone..

I was scared. For a good week. And then I had a conversation with one of my clients at work.

We started to talking about how I hike all the time, I showed her photos of mine and gave her my website and Instagram to check out. Not really thinking much of the conversation until a week later. She came back and had 3 photo albums for me, full of film photos. "I didn't want to talk much about my travels without letting you first see them"

She showed me photos from Alaska, where she grew up from all the way down to New Mexico.

I asked how she got to see all of those places in what seems like a short time, I asked what made her plan for that day when she just left home in Alaska to live out of her 4 runner.

And she said something that still gives me goosebumps when I think about it again, "I never had a specific day, a specific plan or a certain destination at end. I just one day wanted to go, and so I did. I was on a journey that never ended. I didn't wait for anybody, I didn't plan anything, I didn't do a lot of things. But all that I did do, was live and experience. Far more than what you could ever plan for"

I was completely speechless yet full of emotions. She left me with that and for days I thought about it. Suddenly that fear in me ignited into a flame of excitement.

So that's exactly what I'm doing, just living and experiencing for these 10 days on the road.

All I do know is that I can't wait to document it all, through videos and photos to story telling through my journal entries.

I have a really special idea of what I want to do with all of these memories, not just from this trip but my whole summer. I've been thinking about it a lot and taking steps to create it, once it's finished I won't be able to handle all the excitement.

Thank you again for always following along on my adventures

You guys make my memories more special when I get to share them

With all my heart,

Niki

LifeNiki HerringDecember 22, 2018Comment

Life

LIKE WE WERE YOUNG AGAIN.

I’ve felt like more childlike wonder these past 2 months than I did all of my last year total. You see, I always have a young spirit and I love spontaneity, adventure, always being on the go, you name it. But with that, also comes an old soul in me; the worrying and figuring out of the future. I sometimes forget the slow down period. The period of looking around and taking in everything that this moment offers. I forget to scream to the world just how happy I am when I feel like it, to laugh out loud to the point someone could mistake it for a dying seal, to cry when I feel something. Sometimes I just forget to really live. Like how we did when we were young.

A YEAR OF LESSONS

Here we are again. End of December looking back at everything that happened throughout this whole year, that bittersweet reflection of everything you’ve done throughout the past 365 days. That sort of painful sit down of looking back knowing it’s about to be nothing but memories in the past. Knowing all those moments were literally once in a lifetime. It’s so bittersweet.

WINTERTIME BLUES.

Some days are better than others.. I’m sure if you suffer with depression or anxiety like I do, you know that sometimes you’re on top of the world and it feels like you could scream to it just how happy you are and how great life is.. Sometimes the world feels like it’s crushing down on you instead. To a point you just want it to suffocate you, to take away the uninvited thoughts and feelings. Right now it feels a lot like being suffocated.