The Myth & The Majesty

I managed to accidentally fall into daily blogging (although the quality certainly varies) so today -- the end of three weeks -- seems to be a day to not skip. Even though it's getting a bit late. Today's been a day of games with the weather, a wedding, the first FULL day of camp for the season, and a late-night run to town to pick up pictures with a race back so as to avoid a hail storm. Poor Sophie. If the whole summer is going to be like this, I fear for her safety.

I once had a real job. That's usually the phrase I use when someone gets curious about my presence here. "Well, yes, I had a real job..." Or it comes up when commiserating about certain things, like desks and fluorescent lighting. In any case, I genuinely don't know why I feel the need to make that designation. Is it because I like this job better? It used to be that I'd drag myself out of bed by seven so that I could be at work by eight. Sit at a desk most days, spend some chunk of each day in at least one meeting, eat lunch in the company lunchroom, wear the business casual, deal with the bureaucracy. [I first mistyped that as "bureaucrazy." Ain't that the truth.] There were reports to be written, paper trails to follow, codes to be consulted. Timesheets were used to designate how much time I spent on specific projects and account for most of my week. Usually. Now, I drag myself out of bed sometime between 4:00 and 7:00, depending on the

Well! It's Day 2 of the summer of 2014 (well, not really, but from my perspective summer's started) and here's what you may get to hear about later on. - We have a wedding here this weekend. Weddings are regularly fodder for stories years later, depending on the couple and the conditions. In this case, the weather may make things interesting. - Our first camp is this weekend as well. This one gives me an excuse to pull out the Packers jersey. - Our summer staff is starting to come together. Honestly? ... It looks like a good year. - We're starting our "usual" summer stuff a week late because of a massive conference of pastors in Rapid next week (it changes locations each year and this year is RC's turn). Among other things, this means Shorty will be here for a few days. Good stuff. - I am not yet up to the summer pace. It's time for bed. Now.

I am ... marginally more ready for summer now. This helped. Marginally. But hey. It's a start.  

Can I make a confession? I'm not ready for summer. It's not just the fact that I can't seem to find all of my summer clothes, or the part where I wanted to have some stuff put together for the housekeepers by now. It's not even the fact that I had a couple days off this weekend and now all I want to do is crawl over the Hills and hike and kayak and not have any responsibilities. Although that last one in particular doesn't help at all. The big one is that this year, I have a much better grasp of what I'm getting myself into. Last year, I was the new kid -- although I'd worked out here as a summer team member, I'd never been A Boss. And I had no idea what I was getting myself into. July was half over before I got a grasp on anything and by then there was no changing things. This year, I'm looking at the summer with a much clearer view and the arrogance of a sophomore. Isn't it always the second year folks that seem to think they have it a

A couple months back, I was paging through (the great and powerful) M-Man's most recent copy of Backpacker and I came across an article that put forward a new idea. [Note: most recent then. For the life of me, now I can't find the piece I read.] Now, if there's one thing you should know about Backpacker as a magazine, it is that it is always packed full of trail maps and hike descriptions from basically anywhere. The Hills figure in there on a regular basis -- as does the Appalachian Trail, the Rockies (rather prominently), stuff all up and down the West Coast, and plenty of spots from other countries. Packed. Full. This article suggested something different from trying to see it all everywhere. The mantra was simple: one wilderness, all the trails. Pick a wilderness and make it yours. Hike every trail in it until you know each of them forward and backward -- and then take all the side trails. And some non-trails. Hike it all till you know every body of water, every

Strictly speaking, this wasn't on my list this weekend. But a few hours out here is a pretty good use of my time, I think.  

Oh yeah. One item off the list.   Unfortunately, it was the fun thing on the "hopefully this happens" part. Plenty of more important things to slack off on now...

Three months ago, I had a list of things I was trying to get done in my house. Then chaos took over, my dad moved into my spare bedroom, and now it's almost summer. But excuses are boring and now I have a few days ahead of me before the summer staff starts. (I also have a mother who told me that maybe I shouldn't make the drive to Sioux Falls and should take a break instead. Have I mentioned lately that my mom is awesome?) Here's What I'll Probably Accomplish Between Now And Wednesday Sleep in a couple times Watch some movies Do some laundry, because if I don't I'll start to smell funny Clean a room Here Are Some Other Things I'd Like To Get Done Get my bedroom cleaned and taped so that I can start painting it when I'm home in the evenings and need to work off some energy Reorganize the closet that houses all of my brewing supplies Hike Harney Peak I have roughly three and a half days. We'll see how this goes.  

I find the mass of personality quizzes on the internet absolutely fascinating. Clearly, I'm not alone in this. Scroll down your Facebook feed and you'll likely find anywhere from one to ten posts about what Harry Potter character your friend is or who their celebrity soulmate is or ... what kind of flower they are? Anything. Anything goes, as it turns out, and the tests tend to run to the downright silly. It's not exactly a stretch. We've been a species that tries to find its purpose for as long as ... well, at least as long as there have been written records. We're always trying to define ourselves, trying to find our place, trying to figure out how to categorize others as well. We like our boxes. And the internet has given us the chance to do that so many times over that it's just a little frightening . Seriously. If there's something you can be compared to, there's a quiz. And sometimes, you find answers you weren't lookin

It's a pretty normal problem. But it's definitely gotten worse in recent history. This is my coffee cup. It holds approximately 14 ounces of coffee. It was never empty today. That is because my day started at about 3:45 (when my alarm clock went off) ... because we have an early-breakfast crowd in this week. I've been lucky enough to not have anyone in for lunch so I can get a break after that -- except that luck ends tomorrow. The real problem here is that a cup that's never empty means I've basically been mainlining caffeine all day. And the fact that I'm still awake now means I'll probably do it again tomorrow. Oops. ... Gotta get this under control. Summer starts soon. No time for a caffeine crash ... or the big mood swings that come with missing a cup or two.

About seven miles out of Rapid City down highway 16 (for the uninitiated, that's "a third of the way to Mount Rushmore from Rapid City") just inside the national forest boundary, there is a minor pulloff that, on a nice day, usually has a bunch of cars sitting there. If it weren't for the cars, you'd never know there was anything there. As it happens, this pulloff was at one point the entrance to a Forest Service road that took you to the Strato Bowl. Now, it's the parking spot for those who want to take a stroll down said road to check out the view from the edge of the Bowl. And when I say stroll, I mean it. This is around one and a half miles out and back (juuuust over three quarters of a mile one way) with a net change in elevation of about 20 feet. It does dip in the middle, so there's a very little bit of uphill both directions. If you keep moving, it takes maybe fifteen minutes to walk in. If you don't hurry. There is at the

Did you know a person could sound downright jaded about ... deer? We had a group of kids here this past weekend from the St. Cloud area. Middle school boys, very firmly "city kids." I don't know as I could use one single descriptor for the entire group besides that. Great kids, well-behaved and excited to be out and about ... but very definitely city kids. At no point was this more clear than on Friday night, when no fewer than four of them ran up to me at supper to tell me the same story. The first kid put it best. "Guess what?!" "What!" "We saw real wild animals today!" "Oh? What did you see?" We'd been telling them stories about bighorn sheep and mountain lions. I wondered if they'd managed to at least think they'd seen one of those, although the odds were really low. "Deer! White-tailed deer. A whole bunch of them." "Oh!" Huh. "Where'd you see those?" "Right o

... I'm considering my next road trip. I know, I know. "But Ashley! Aren't you headed into your busy season? Isn't that just about the only thing you've been able to talk about for awhile now?" Well, yes. Which is why I'm considering my next road trip. My brain needs something else to think about and I'm hoping for an interesting vacation. This fall, I hope. I think I want to go east this time. Maybe make it here. There are roughly 1,500 miles between here and there, along with multiple friends (it's high time I visited the Admiral) and some interesting sights (like Cedar Point, a certain green and gold team, and five rather large lakes). It all comes down to time, budget, and if anyone has any particular recommendations that may sway me. Thoughts? Anyone?

I am not jazzed If it's the weekend I do not care, My Facebook friends While you make plans And post with glee I'm cleaning rooms For thirty-three In a few hours That group will show And then I'm busy For days, I know I do not care If it's Saturday It does not matter In my day-to-day But come mid-week I'll have my time And while you're working I'm in my prime The shortest lines At offices and stores Absolutely no waiting With mechanics and doctors I do not care If it's the weekend But I look forward to Tuesday ... and I don't understand for one moment how Dr. Seuss did this for entire books. The man was a true genius.

As we head full-force into the camping season, I'd like us to sit down and have a chat about some guidelines for visiting such a place as an adult. Not accurate. Not a chat. A soliloquy. Please, settle in with your coffee and listen.  If it helps, I'll join you. Now, as a general rule I am almost annoyingly upbeat here. [You: What's this "almost" crap?] Today, that's not entirely the case. I've talked before about my fascination with the people that come through; the flip side to seeing all of these people at their most unguarded moments is that we also sometimes catch them at their meanest, neediest, and most pretentious. Generally speaking, this is accidental bad behavior, but it's the kind of thing that makes my life more difficult -- and it's definitely worth addressing. With that in mind, let's talk about some of the things that make coming to one of these places different than anywhere else you might visit. Most of this is

Rutherford B. Hayes was actually pretty good-looking when he was young. (As long as you believe the internet and are willing to do a little digging on Google, that is.) So before Mia Sorella left this afternoon, we had to go find him.     [Sidenote: Actually, Grover Cleveland was across the street and he was technically our last pose for this trip. Those pictures just aren't as much fun. He looked annoyed that we were reading his book.]

When my parents first moved to Sioux Falls, they didn't intend to be there more than five or six years. After all, they were -- by all intents and purposes -- West River folks, and in South Dakota that means something. Mom's family was entirely near Rapid; Dad's was more scattered, but his preference was toward the Hills and the ranch where his grandfather still lived. They were married in the Hills, went to college here, spent their first few years together here, and had their first two kids here. Sioux Falls was an opportunity but not an endpoint. That was 1986. We moved to Sioux Falls, moved around Sioux Falls, aged and expanded. Shorty was born there; Mia Sorella and I started school there. We fell into the usual full life of Midwest families, and before long we were firmly entrenched and the thought of returning to the Hills faded. Now, 28 years later, my parents are moving back to Rapid City. This should probably feel strange. They've lived in the s

Among the random things to do in the Rapid City area is the Presidents' Walk downtown. Now, I could write a few different pieces about downtown Rapid City -- the food, Main Street Square, the summer events -- and some day I may even get around to doing just that. [Spoiler: I pretty much love it all.] For today, though, I'd like to highlight what my sister and I checked out this past weekend when we had a little time to kill. Rapid City is best known for its proximity to Mount Rushmore, the carving completed in 1941 with four US presidents cut into the side of a mountain. [Quick: name the four presidents, from left to right, without looking it up. Bonus points if you can also name at least one reason each president was chosen.] Not surprisingly, there are quite a few other presidentially related attractions in the area that have come from Rushmore's popularity -- including the City of Presidents Walking Tour . The corners of downtown Rapid host life-size bronze statue