Head Over Feet and the Time of my Life all On the Wings of Love

 

 

Destination: Denver and Southpark, CO (9800 ft elevation)   June 9-14, 2009

 

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The title of this blog is dedicated and inspired by my awesome friend Karie Falder, aka K.Fald. Karie and I worked together at Vanderbilt and over the past year have grown to be best friends due to our wonderfully similar  ridiculousness. When I started talking about and planning my Couchsurfing Campout trip a few months ago, K.Fald was brave enough to jump on board with my random and crazy idea. Words cannot even express how happy I am that she did, this experience would not have been nearly as magical or memorable without her amazing presence. I wish I could clearly explain this title to its fullest meaning so that you, too, could understand the importance and hilarity of it, but I’m afraid I would just sound weird (or weirder). Just know that outrageous ESP, happenstance, TJ Maxx, a car named Cassandra, and kismet were involved in its making.

K.Fald and I celebrating her 25th Bday in Denver

 Our rental car was none other than a neon blue PT Cruiser. Initially we were a bit disappointed in our less than hardcore ride, but quickly warmed up to our little beauty and even gave her a name: Cassandra. After a not-so-friendly welcome, we felt that it was necessary to show our newfound appreciation and love for good Ol’ Cass. The manner in which to do this was obvious….we photographed ourselves in our most provocative of poses on Cassandra’s hood. As you can see below, K.Fald, myself, and Cass are all looking pretty fierce and, dare I say, intimidating in our saucy poses.  

 

 

 

 

Moving along……

Our first night in Denver was pretty much spent celebrating the fact that K.Fald had reached her 25th fabulous year of life. We bounced around town, trying new things and meeting new people. It was just what you think a birthday celebration would be, nothing too unique or interesting really, so I won’t spend much time elaborating on it. The next day was when the actual exploring began. In my true traveling style, we hit the road with no real agenda or plan. Confusingly, we made our way around downtown, seeing some cool spots like the Art Museum and other miscellaneous oddities. It was definitely a good time and brought us some fairly ridiculous pictures, but I think Karie and I both had our wild hearts set on venturing into the great outdoors.

 

 

We heard quite a few people give props to this nature made giant amphitheater in Red Rocks, Co so that was obviously our next stop.  If you haven’t been to or heard of this place, please go. It’s absolutely bewildering. In addition to exploring the amphitheater, we also did a little hiking around the area. Every aspect was absolutely beautiful. As we drove trying to find our way to the campout, we came across incredible scenary and some adorable little towns. Morrison, CO was by far our favorite. It’s the kind of quaint and lazy place I could imagine myself growing old in with the man of my dreams. We met some interesting characters in Morrison including an old John Wayne-esque ranch owner we called Hank.

 

 

 

The Drive there was filled with a million moments of awe. We probably pulled over at least 10 times to just take in the beauty of everything around us. None of the pictures I took did this area any justice.

 

This is just a teensy weensy taste of the majestic Colorado world that we experienced along our drive….OK! On the the campout!!!!

 So for those of you who don’t know, Couchsurfing is a worldwide organization that networks travelers from near and far with members of local communities. These “locals”  provide both helpful information for the visiting traveler and most of the time, even host them in their home during their stay.  This amazing idea allows you, the traveler, to go virtually anywhere in the world without paying for accomodations while simultaneously providing you with a built in tour guide, friend, and information station. I’ve been involved with it for about 7 months now and it has seriously changed my life. I have met, hosted, and been a “tour guide” in Nashville for people from places like San Francisco, Newfoundland, France, Philadelphia, Chicago, Germany, the list goes on and on. I also experienced the unexpected bonus of meeting some awesome people in my own Nashville CSer community whom I now consider my dear and wonderful friends. If you’re the strict, private, (stuffy), organized type of traveler, this randomness may not be your cup of tea. But even if the idea of staying on some stranger’s couch or spare bedroom doesn’t appeal to you, it still has some incredible benefits such as always having a friendly contact in whatever strange and foreign land you’re venturing off to. Anyway, enough free promotion for Couchsurfing. The “Tentsurf” campout was basically a huge Couchsurfing event for the North American branch celebrating 10 glorious years of good business. People from all over the country were there to share stories, experiences, and make more incredible memories. I was one of those lucky patrons.

 

 

 The campout was filled with everything you could hope and wish for in any normal camp experience. Mountain air, cowboys, bonfires, drum circles, roasted marshmallows, flame throwers (?), a DJ, a partial marching band, and a stranger filled spontaneous wedding….yep totally normal.

 

 

 

Karie and I got a cabin since we couldn’t bring a tent on the plane. We shared it with some incredible people from all different places. Kiah was making her way across the country on her motorcyle. She was so much fun and is such a genuine person. Seth is an organic farmer from Montana and is traveling for the summer. He is seriously one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and to add to his kindness he brought some great perspectives to our conversations and shared his amazing Montana honey with me. 

 

 

Overall, the trip was fantastic. We did too many incredible things to even list including white water rafting in Class 4 and 5 rapids in the Royal Gorge, exploring the kind of beautiful mountainous terrain that I have never experienced, and meeting people and seeing perspectives from all over the country. If anyone wants to join me next year, the Campout will be in Mexico!!