Dirty 30 – You’re My Valentine

The next morning our friends and us woke up and had a nice breakfast by campfire; beans, coffee, and a bacon competition (that ironically didn’t involve pork at all… a friend brought beef bacon, and I brought turkey). It was a nice lazy morning and everyone slowly rolled out. Very slowly for a couple who lost their keys in the river, haha! Safe to say it was an adventure for more than just Pete.

When it was just us two, we explored Valentine, Nebraska. All of the street signs have little hearts on them (and I didn’t make a single cheesy joke… land of missed opportunities).

I told Pete this was our one day that we didn’t really have any huge plans or itinerary, so we just kicked it really. We lazed around our campground, got him a Runza sandwich, and found a hiking trail to visit Smith Falls again.

 

Look close… we found bigfoot creepin in the distance…

 

We found a couple historic bridges. One had one some construction awards when it was built, which made his engineer brain light up. The other replaced a historic railroad that crosses the Niobrara River. It’s actually part of the Cowboy Trail, and crosses the whole state, and later on our trip we actually found ourselves driving next to it for miles! Apparently hardcore bikers (the bicycle kind) will ride across the state like no big deal.

Special thanks to Nebraska Jaycee’s State President & Vice President, Tiffany and Codie. We got lost (Yes. In Valentine.) looking for how to access that bridge, and they were just a text and a phone-call away to get us on track!

Day 2 was a simple one that ended back at our campground, just us two. Most of the entire grounds had cleared out since the weekend was over, so we were totally alone in the quiet darkness. He wouldn’t let me tell him ghost stories, haha. The moon and stars were so bright we didn’t need flashlights (but I’m glad I took one to the outhouse with me because there was a giant killer wolf spider that tried to rob me of more than just my dignity)…

Day 3 to be continued…

The Dirty 30

This was a once in a lifetime type of awesome, standard American road-trip that I’ve always dreamed about taking, but never felt I was able to. Too many responsibilities, not having my life put-together enough, never having the time or money or the right people to go with… …until I met Pete. Since he’s been a part of my life I’ve come to understand that there is really nothing holding you back from the things you want to do, except maybe yourself.
So this trip was a chance to honor that chance to live in the moment, and also a chance to appreciate the things a normal relationship might take for granted… Car rides. Planning meals. Who gets the shower first. Birthdays together. (Spoiler alert: Pete is 30 now).

I wanted to give a detailed account of everything we did right when we got back, but there is SO MUCH… and honestly I don’t think it can be condensed into one post. So I’m gonna have to break it up and hopefully I’ll get it all up soon (..finally……eventually).

I picked Pete up from the airport Friday, August 24th, and the next morning we started out bright an early. Car packed ready to go, and Pete knew nothing except the bare details. We’re going on a road trip, and hitting some campgrounds.

I went through months of planning this trip in secret, so Pete wouldn’t know our next destination until we got there. It was the most elaborate and exhausting birthday present I’ve ever put together, and it was so worth it, however I would like to never keep secrets from him again haha. Turns out I never realized how much I look to him for advice for just the little things.

To kick off the trip a handful of friends agreed to beat us to our first location near Valentine, NE to camp and go tubing down the river. I prepared some rubber snakes to be lurking in our tent (which I “forgot” to give Pete a double heart attack, when it was really sent ahead with friends), and a scavenger hunt challenge for the river (which included “something brown” to smash in your face… upon which I produced chocolate cupcakes I’d smuggled onto the river!)

And of course I also brought prizes with me for anyone who got a bingo…

To kill time so our friends could get to the location before us, I took him to Halsey National Forest (trivia: 100% hand planted and the largest forest in Nebraska), for a brunch picnic and instructions to change into his swimming trunks.

“Surprise!”

So we arrive, Pete is promptly assaulted with water balloons and buckets of water, and shenanigans ensued the rest of the day on the Niobrara River (which took us past Smith falls, the tallest waterfall in Nebraska!).

 

That concludes Day 1 friends! Stay tuned for Day 2, when we left for South Dakota…

Belief-O-Matic

I spend a lot of time soul searching. What it means to be human, to be a good person, to get the most out of life, and what our purpose is here. I feel like people are all the same, good and bad, for a million different reasons… and yet we have so much trouble connecting. Politics and religion and “us” verses “them.”

How cool is this though?! A friend of mine showed me this quiz that asks specific, intelligent, unbiased questions… despite the cliché name. I took it 3 times… best 2 out of 3 got me Liberal Quakerism… which I’d never even heard of I don’t think.  (The first time I took it got me Unitarian Universalist, which is actually something I have looked into).

Sorta humbling to read down this list and realize there are so many religions that I really don’t know much about… or have any idea why I would get such a high or low score for them. But think how similar we all must really be…

I totally challenge you to try it out! Google Belief-O-Matic or follow some of the links on this page… maybe you’ll learn something new about yourself.

By the way, if you’re curious… apparently Quakers are a type of Christian group that belief in the ability to find “the light within” or “that of God” in every human being… and Liberal emphasizes rationality, science, and philosophy.

I’m sorta stunned how well it actually does seem to fit how I feel…