V-Love's Lonely Planet

Vegas Baby

vlovuola — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:06:38 +0000

Come November 8^th, my friend is getting hitched. And you better believe we went out in style for the Bachelorette party.

Yellowstone

vlovuola — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:52:27 +0000

I’ve been told that I’ve been slacking on the blog. So…I’ll update briefly. Labor Day Weekend was Yellowstone National park. Driving nearly 10 hours in a cramped car was not overly enjoyable but well worth it in the end. Saturday was gorgeous outside; sunny with a cool breeze. Sunday, it rained on us and was a bit chilly. And Monday, it was snowing. How fast weather can change when you are in the mountains. The most exciting part of the weekend was learning how to fly fish. I think I’m hooked. It’s much more thrilling and challenging than regular fishing. We hiked, we visited the hot springs and mud pits, we ate camp food, we drank wine from a box, and we explored the wildlife. Good times.

Hiking in the Clouds

vlovuola — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:36:58 +0000

This weekend I climbed Mt. Audubon & Paiute Peak with the hiking club. Beginning at the trailhead, there is an elevation gain of 2,730 feet summiting you to over 13,200 feet. Truly, I thought this would be a breeze as hiking in Colorado has gotten easier and easier for me, but I was dead wrong. Pretty much all up hill which I often dread; other than the fact that I have come to believe that hikes like these tighten that ass and those thighs more than running will ever do. So power to me!

I hate the fact that my photos really don’t do the scenery justice or myself justice by showing you how really difficult and steep these hikes are. But you can see from some of the photos below that we were summiting up into the clouds. The last 750 feet up was all rock climbing, no real trail, just step where you think there is a stable rock. And often times, those huge rocks which you assume are stable, wobble as soon as you step on them. A truly fabulous hike. I like knowing I can burn 3000 calories by doing something so fun and exhilarating. I also like knowing I am productive on the weekends. Photos to enjoy.

Perfectly said…from Vagablogging

vlovuola — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:02:07 +0000

Putting the wondering back in wandering

When I spend any length of time somewhere — whether it’s two months in Paris or an hour at the side of the road waiting on a bus — I can’t help but wonder, “what would it be like to live here forever?”

Giving that question a bit of thought almost always leads to the same conclusion: It would be great to live here, wherever here is, but what about that town just down the road? If there’s a downside to vagabonding it’s that there just isn’t enough time.

Everywhere I go I end up thinking, I should spend more time here, I should live here… I should know what it’s like to work in a cigar factory in Leon, fish in the Mekong, live in a floating house on Tonle Sap, sell hot dogs at Fenway Park, trade stocks in New York, wander the Thar Desert by camel, navigate the Danube, see the way Denali looks at sunset, the smell the Sonora Desert after a rain, taste the dust of a Juarez street, know how to make tortillas, what Mate tastes like, feel autumn in Paris, spend a winter in Moscow, a summer in Death Valley. I should be able to not just visit places, but inhabit them.

There is, so far as I know, only one short life. And in this life I will do very few of these things.

Sometimes I think that’s very sad, but then the bus comes and you’re on to the next town, free to start the dream over again.

On the Twin Sisters

vlovuola — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:02:59 +0000

Saturday was another amazing day in Fort Collins, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. I find it so cool to say I live right near Rocky Mountain National Park! Didn’t the Griswold’s have a family vacation there? Anyway, Saturday morning I joined the hiking club at 6:40am to hike Twin Sisters. It’s a well known hike here in the Rockies as you get great views of the entire park, including Longs Peak, the coveted 14er. A 7.4 mile round trip hike (surprisingly, this can take up to 6 hours depending on difficulty), hiking to 11,428 feet above sea level. Nothing but switchbacks on this hike, and you are blessed with increasingly better views with such a rapid elevation gain. Once you reach roughly 11,000 feet, you are above tree-line. I don’t even think I was above tree-line when hiking the Inca Trail, and that was over 14,000 feet. Being above tree-line was an awesome experience; you are surrounded by thousands of trees and then all of a sudden, nothing but rocks and boulders. Talk about being exposed to the entire sky. I wonder how all of those rocks and boulders get so high? Once we reached both summits, we enjoyed sitting atop the boulders, eating lunch, taking photos, and talking to other hikers. It gets very cold and windy up there; one wrong step and your off the cliff.

I’m not sure if the hiking is getting easier and I’m getting used to the elevation, but I found this hike to be much easier than Estes Cone, although Twin Sisters is supposed to be more strenuous. My confidence level in hiking is going up because all of a sudden I am determined to hike a 14er. And as much as I would love to complete a 14er before the snow starts (September), I just don’t think I will have time. The hiking club will be hiking Longs Peak in mid-August. Waking up at 3am to make it to summit by early morning so you can get down before the storms roll in sounds dreadful and thrilling at the same time. I would just hate to lose my stamina over a winter of no hiking; that may put me back at square one. So we shall see folks. Vicki might be hiking one of the popular Colorado 14ers very soon. I should really be more prepared for such a crazy thing.

Just for fun: 100 things

vlovuola — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:45:06 +0000

100 things about me

1. I love chocolate and can always eat dessert after a meal no matter how full I am. I don’t understand how some people cannot love chocolate, and those that are allergic, I’m sorry.

2. I also love sour candy. I love candy in general but I love sour things. And tart things. And vinegar and lots of lemon. But I don’t like gummy candies.

3. I enjoy wine, a lot. Especially with friends. But often drink a glass at home alone when I am cooking.

4. I love to dance. I took ballet, tap, and jazz for 15 years. I’ve started taking ballet again in Fort Collins.

5. I love to cook. I try to use recipes from cookbooks but only end up using my Mother’s. I cook roughly 5 nights a week. It’s soothing and makes you feel good.

6. I have a motherly instinct. I just know how to do things. I just feel like I magically learned how to cook bc my mother always cooked. I can wash clothes. I can clean. I can install and fix things (but if there is a guy around or my Dad I let them do it). I think I would be good at raising kids and taking care of people.

7. I like getting my hands dirty.

8. I like anything outdoors. Camping, hiking, rafting, fishing, skiing, and soon-biking and kayaking.

9. I prefer not to wear make-up. I wear very little.

10. It takes me very little time to get ready in the morning. I’m speedy and don’t always care what I look like. (more…)

On Traveling Alone

vlovuola — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:51:35 +0000

This is a recent article in Budget Travel on traveling alone. It is all very true. Many posts back I think I uploaded a trailer on this guys documentary: A Map for Saturday

Traveling the World to Reach a New State of Mind: If you’re fresh out of college, globetrotting for a year sounds great. But it’s a lot scarier–and more fulfilling–when you already have a career.

by Brook Silva-Braga | April 2007 issue

I liked my life. I had a good job as a TV producer, a big Manhattan apartment, and a girlfriend I loved. But in 2004 HBO sent me to Asia for a story, and I bumped into Bill and Paul, two guys from Northern Ireland who were three months into a yearlong trip around the world. I soon realized that traveling around the world would be a fine thing. I was 25 and single, with savings but without a mortgage; if I were ever to do it, now was the time.

Some people back home thought I was crazy, knowing how hard I’d worked to get where I was. My boss said colleagues whispered about me as I walked down the hall: “There’s the idiot. There’s the guy. He’s the one who had it all. He’s the one who’s giving it up.” But I found a professional excuse to go–I decided to make a documentary about the trip. (more…)

Paddle, Paddle, Paddle

vlovuola — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:39:17 +0000

Friday was the 4^th of July and I did something many local Fort Fun people told me NOT to do….tube the Poudre river. The river has been extremely high this summer due to all the snow fall, and high water means bigger rapids and faster flowing water. Every year people die tubing the Poudre River. Yet Lance, myself, and several other friends decided to tube the river. It was a hot day and who would not want to lay on a tube, float down the river, and drink a cold beer? ME…after seeing how fast that water was moving. As we got out of our cars and saw the few other crazy people, they all had life jackets on! Did my crew have life jackets on? Nope. All my crew had was bags of beer (not me though, I had water, a candy bar, and a box of nerds). Many of my Texas friends have tubed the Guadalupe near Austin. That river is packed with people and flows turtle slow compared to the Poudre. Against my own free will, I jumped into the frigid cold water, hopped on my tube, tried to grab onto one of my friends tubes so I was not stranded off by myself for dear life, and practically flew down the river. At first I was freaked out and not having fun. This was no relaxing adventure for me….it was stressful and I was so tense from rafting with my damn arms to avoid rocks and rapids that I was all tensed up and could barely move my shoulders. But eventually, my screams turned into laughter and fun. One mistake the driver made, he parked the other car way too far down the river. Most people tube the river for roughly 2 hours-my crew, we tubed the river for a solid 5 hours! And scold me now friends, but I had not one lick of sunscreen on. You can imagine what my legs looked like and the spots around the top of my bikini. Certain areas (I won’t mention) are itchy and blistering. I’ve learned my lesson. But now my skin is tan and pretty…for the most part.

(more…)

Humiliation on the Poudre

vlovuola — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:10:42 +0000

I have fortunately been graced with the presence of a wonderful friend from home, Lance. He flew in Friday and is staying for 11 days! That is a long time to have a roommate when I am used to being alone. But so far, I love having a friend at home with me for that long. Let’s get one thing straight, Lance and I have never dated nor will we ever date. We are nothing but extremely close friends who share a great bond and have a blast together. It seems when I hang out wit h a guy here in Fort Collins everyone automatically assumes we are dating. We are NOT dating. Lance is a riot who always cracks me up and teaches me new terms; terms I don’t care to share because they are dirty. Come to find out, mostly only guys use these terms. Girls are straight up and say I’ve got to “crap” instead of the dirty guy lingo “turtlehead.” Lovely, right? (more…)

Dancing Around the World

vlovuola — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:27:42 +0000

Of course any time I read anything on travel, people who travel, coming home from travel, telling everyone your leaving to travel etc. etc. I get the chills. This posted on several travel blogs I’ve encountered this week. Did you get the chills?

Visit Where in the hell is Matt.