Three and a half years ago, I sat down to start this blog about my solo adventures to fun and far off places. I’d just returned from life changing trip to Australia and New Zealand. I wanted to impart my love of travel, new experiences, and the new and different people I meet along the way with others. I hoped to maybe to inspire someone else to step outside of their comfort zone. But at a minimum, I wanted to share a few photos and words about the beautiful places I have been so very fortunate to visit.

Through nothing but my own endless fount of procrastination, I did nothing to begin a blog. Several unfounded, but self-justified excuses were: WordPress is too hard, I can’t figure this out. No one really would want to hear this stuff from me. I just don’t have the time. And yet, I did find plenty of time to endlessly scroll on social media, like I was getting paid for it. Nevermind that in 2020, and much of 2021, I was provided the perfect excuse to focus and figure this out. Also nevermind that I have renewed this site for three years and not penned one word.

Six months ago today, I left on a trip to see a place that has always felt sacred to me – Glacier National Park. The park is located on land that has been inhabited by the Blackfeet Native American tribe for thousands of years. They call this most spiritual place to them “the backbone of the world”. After spending several days immersed in its beauty, I understood why. Sadly, people (meaning collectively all modern civilizations) have found ways to carve and drill and dig and extract from Mother Earth until she’s begun to say “enough”. And yet it continues. And we fight over the resources, and believe them to be endless. And we empirically know they are not. Corporations look to add to the billions in profits at the expense of the future of the planet. And most stand by idly, watching it happen.

Fast forward to now, March 2022. Just when the world was turning the corner on the pandemic, war broke out in a land far enough away that it seemed as though it couldn’t touch us. Instantly, I was going down the rabbit hole of social media surrounding the events in Ukraine, and being immersed in the stories of heartbreak, loss and courage got to be too much. So I signed off, and decided to give this outlet for my random thoughts a chance. For better or for worse, they’ll be out here for time immemorial.

In addition to my travels, I look forward to sharing a little about other things that feed my soul and stoke the fire inside. These include, but are not limited to a love of our planet, animals, and the outdoors.

But for today, and to acknowledge the seriousness of what is happening half way around the world, I thought I would share a couple of ways to donate to help those displaced and hurting in Ukraine:

World Central Kitchen: www.wck.org. This organization is in many key areas in Ukraine and its borders, serving meals in this humanitarian crisis.

Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.org/help-ukraine?locale=en&_ga=2.81601047.1800130348.1646781721-1409431007.1646781721. A fund set up to help offer temporary stays for free, and connecting people with short term housing and other resources.

Ukranian American Crisis Response Committee of Michigan: https://www.uacrisisresponse.org/. Information on ways to locally donate needed supplies, time, or financial resources.