I’m not sure I’ve quite figured out a rhythm to visiting national parks, am I supposed to visit a number of times over multiple days or one long visit, I’m still unsure but perhaps the experience is whatever you want it to be. 

Anyway in Death Valley I made a mad of several “Sights” I wanted to see. Those Included: 

Devils Golf Course – An immense area of rock salt eroded by wind and rain into jagged spires.

The visit to Death Valley was short, I think in the future I’d stay for a couple of days inside the park and get more long hikes in. 

Next stop on my trip was Las Vegas!

The post Visiting Death Valley National Park in January appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

Of course, I love a good mountain overlook. A great waterfall is always incredible but there’s just something about the bones of an old resort or mansion that has been swallowed up by nature. Every abandoned thing has a story that’s fascinating, either it’s rich in history or evidence of a changed culture. I’ve explored the foundations of an estate destroyed by fire along a popular hike in the Hudson Valley in New York and found an old hotel up in the Catskills. I’ve found the bones of a old village swallowed up by nature.

Then I stumbled upon a little place along the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea was originally created by accident when water being diverted from the Colorado River for farming broke through a canal and water drained into a dry lake bed for two years before it was fixed. By this time a massive lake was formed which became known as the Salton Sea. The lake should have dried up but it was continuously fed with water from area farmers. During the 1950s and 1960s it was an oasis in the dry, barren desert and the shores of the Salton Sea became a popular tourist destination and resorts communities sprung up at its shore. It also was a popular bird-watching destination as it became a resting spot for migrating birds.

In the 1970s scientists first started ringing the alarm bells, warning that the lake continue to shrink. Then in the 1980s disaster struck, chemicals from farming drained into the lake and contaminated the water. Massive die-offs of birds and fish occurred. The water became so salinity that large fish kills would happen, leaving the beach lined with thousands of fish carcasses and the smell drove down the tourism at the Salton Sea.

The issues with the Salton sea continued into the 90s. The water run off from farms was reduced so the sea began to shrink, the exposed lake beds led to toxic dust that affected nearby communities and reaches as far as Los Angeles.

Bombay Beach, the area I visited on my way to Palm Springs was one of those Resort towns that ran along the Salton Sea. The once popular destination for beach goers now has a population of 231 as of 2020. It’s full of a number of abandoned structures and has since become a mecca for artists and nomads.

During my visit I explored a complex of abandoned buildings covered with graffiti, a drive-in art piece, and the numerous art installations down by the water. Checkout my photo gallery for some of the items I checked out while I was in the Bombay Beach.

The post On the Road, Visiting Bombay Beach & The Salton Sea appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

My stay was a 2 bedroom apartment with a modern kitchen and a shared backyard with the host, William and his 2-year-old Bernedoodle, Charlie. Charlie had about 20 pounds on Nova but they became fast friends and they played in the backyard often. One day, I found Charlie sitting outside my door holding his tug toy and patiently waiting for Nova to come out.

Most of the backyard was turf, which I’ve come to notice seemed to be the direction a lot of homeowners have taken in water challenged areas such as Phoenix. Nova wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom on the turf for sanitary reasons so, while I had a backyard we could hang out in I couldn’t just let her outside to use the bathroom so we still had to go on our regular walks.

December morning walks in Phoenix were very different from those back on the coast so I didn’t have much to complain about.

In New York City, there were a lot of large metropolitan areas within a hour or two drive but Phoenix felt like a giant blob of metropolitan areas all tuck together. One large area seemed to bleed into another and they all seemed to have their own personality. Next to Phoenix is Glendale, AZ were the Arizona Cardinals play it felt like an older piece of the city. I spent a lot of time in nearby, Scottsdale, AZ hiking trails, visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s west coast outpost and enjoying a cute little shopping district. I went to Mesa, AZ to visit the Holiday lights at a local farm and saw holiday lights on display at a Nature Preserve in Gilbert, AZ. I drove no more than 30 minutes to each of these areas and the transition from one city to the next was seamless.

1. Lights at the Farm at Vertuccio Farm – which was completely outdoors and dog friendly. They had gorgeous displays and photos ops that took full advantage of. There was also a petting zoo, synchronized light shows, ice skating rink, mazes, pony rides, outdoor games and sweet shops.
2. Riparian After Dark at Riparian Preserve – Another dog friendly activity for a very affordable price Nova and I enjoyed a walk around the preserve and enjoyed the light displays. It was relatively short but there were food trucks in the parking lot if I wanted to make a longer stay of it.
3. APS Electric Light Parade – This tradition happens after dark in Phoenix and has a parade of cars, float, buses and really anything with wheels you can imagine completely decked out in holiday lights and decorations. I didn’t realized how big of an event this was, I tried to find a spot to stand just as the parade was about to start and the entire sidewalk was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. People seem to make a whole day of it and have cook outs and coolers with lawn chairs.
4. Scotttsdazzle Holiday Extravaganza – Not a singular event but I’m adding it to the list because they had some gorgeous decorations to explore and I walked by a couple of outdoor paint classes that seemed pretty cool. It happens in Old Town were all the cute boutique shops were so I could get some shopping done and swing by and look at the directions. They have a calendar of events over a two month period and some looked genuinely fun.
5. ZooLights – This was one of my favorite events. This wasn’t dog friendly since it takes place at a zoo but the decorations were just incredible. The entire zoo was decorated and there was a massive synchronized light show over a lagoon.

Phoenix had been my first winter and first Christmas season outside of New York and it felt so bizarre to be walking around holiday shows at night in a light jacket or a hoodie. It felt a little challenging to get in the Holiday spirit in such warm weather and it felt comical when booths were selling hot chocolate on a warm Phoenix night.

Of course, hiking was on list in Phoenix, AZ though if I were being honest I was getting a bit sick of the desert terrain. Everything was just brown or that red clay. My hiking boots and sneakers were stained from hiking in the ashy, red clay. I admit that I saw my first saguaro cactus in real life I was giddy like a child. But they were so common around the area that got pretty accustomed to them. Like old trees with thick trunks and towering branches, large saguaros could have started growing long before I was born, and probably were and there’s just something incredible about plants that have been around for so much.

My favorite artist, Dale Chihuly had a couple of exhibits going on in Phoenix; one at the Desert Botantical Garden and another at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. I managed to visit both installations

I most recognize the name Frank Lloyd Wright from that famous house he built that is on top of a waterfall that circulates around social media often but there are a lot of people I know that are huge Frank Lloyd Wright fans. I’ve never really familiarized myself with his work and didn’t even know that he build himself two homes; Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Scottsdale. I bought tickets as a part of a short tour through the house and got to learn a bit about Wright, his family and his work. 

While I can understand that he was an incredible architect there were some qualities of his personality and seemed to toe the line between eccentric and asshole.  

For example, portions of his home were originally constructed without windows but once Wright and his wife decided to move to Phoenix full-time they needed to install windows and air-conditioning to put up with the desert heat. While the team was installing the windows, they informed Wright that a couple of large vases would have to be moved to install the windows. Wright refused to move the vases and the team instead had to CUT HOLES IN THE WINDOWS to work around the vases. 

Also forgetting to mention that he had an entire team of apprentices working on the house while living in tents in the rugged Arizona desert while he and his wife stayed at a nearby hotel and drove up to the sight everyday.

My last week in Phoenix felt more like winter than the first week. I took myself to a few of my old haunts my last week, as I usually do, I went to Cartel Coffee Roasting Lab in Old Town Scottsdale and forced myself to write a little bit after being couped up due to the dreary weather.

I made the mistake of saving some of my bucket list, touristy hikes for the end of trip which had proven to be a big mistake. Most of the hikes I’ve wanted to do were short but popular rock scrambles that have been inaccessible over the holidays either due to traffic or weather. The other day I got to the parking lot for Echo Trail, the popular trail that leads up Camelbak mountain but by 9:30am on a holiday Monday the parking lot was already closed. The weather for the rest of the week wasn’t as cooperative.

I’m sad to say that the Echo Canyon (Camelbak) hike didn’t happen this visit but I’ll be back another time to conquer it!

Tuesday, I drove out to Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. It’s another popular trail but it’s more of a strenuous uphill hike than a climb which meant I felt comfortable doing that in wet weather. However, the weather managed to hold off for the most part and Nova and I stayed dry for our entire hike.

On my last Monday the host who I’ve become very friendly with left for a trip to Mexico with his pup Charlie. I was sad for Nova since Charlie and her had become such good friends but I was also weirdly sad myself to see someone I had grown familiar with over the past month leave. I have been going through this weird cycle of being sad at the end of a trip by excited for my next adventure and as I was packing up in Phoenix and getting ready to say goodbye I was excited to move on to my next stop, Palm Springs, CA!

So my adventure continues

The post The best things to do in Phoenix during the holiday season appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

The center of downtown is about a 10-15 minute drive away from my airbnb though I spent most of my time in South Austin since There were plenty of Coffee joints and beer gardens to keep me occupied and there have been a lot of things to do. 

I had to fly home to NYC for about a week for work to start my visit in Austin and then a co-worker came to visit for another few days so I had a bit of a different experience in this Austin trip and got to visit more bars and coffee shops than I usually do.

Some of my favorite Austin places:

• Oasis Texas Brewing Company, with a large outdoor deck right on Lake Travis you can come here for the beer and stay for incredible sunsets

• The Far Out Lounge and Stage, a sprawling beer garden like atmosphere with two large stages and several food trucks in its backyard. From the street, the front of the bar may be a little misleading, it looks like a shitty local dive bar but it offers so much more. I’ve been there to (accidentally) catch a performance by the Vengabonds and to catch the beginning of a Burlesque Variety Show. 
• Radio Coffee & Beer, The theme to a lot of places here in Austin are places where you can stop by and work all day and then stay and play all night. Radio is another place with a backyard and a number of food trucks but their location and yard space is a bit more modest. The outdoor space wraps around it’s front which is positioned off a street so it was not nearly as relaxing but they host a number of events throughout the week. I stopped by to do some journaling and to catch their weekly talent show one evening.
• The Little Darlin’, Another beer garden with a lovely backyard with picnic tables, Adirondack chairs and fire pits. This was very close to my stay so I went there a couple of times.
• Mozart Coffee Roasters, Located right on the water on Lake Austin. Grab a coffee and a dessert and find a chair at a table on their sprawling deck and take in another wonderful sunset. I also went for their holiday light show after Thanksgiving
• Cosmic Coffee and Beer Garden, I was introduced to Cosmic by a local I met on my first visit to Austin and rediscovered it during this visit. I would have been here more often if the parking wasn’t such madness. Since my last trip to Austin a large climbing gym was built across the parking lot from Cosmic and they both share a rather modest parking lot between the both of them. It’s still a wonderful place with coffee, great signature cocktails and plenty of beer on tap. They have a few water features that really contribute to the relaxing ambience, especially when you’re looking to read or just chill in on of their Adirondack chairs. 
• The Salty Donut, Great Coffee and great doughnuts.
• Torchy’s Tacos, Hands down my favorite Taco place in Austin. Originally founded in Austin Torchy’s Tacos now has locations in several states. It’s gotten a touch coorperatey but it’s still delicious.
• Tacodeli If you’re looking for something a little smaller than Torchy’s, Tacodeli is also incredible.
• Terry Black’s Barbecue – Just a staple of Texas Barbecue, it’s one of my favorite places and a must visit for some Texas Barbecue. Protip: come during off peak hours otherwise expect to wait for a long while.

If you’re ever getting breakfast tacos in Austin get a Migas Taco. Corn Tortilla chips add a crunch to a soft breakfast taco and it’s delightful. 

Nova and I have been staying at our first Airbnb with a fenced in backyard and boy does it make a world of difference when living with a young, high-energy dog. I’ve been able to just wake up and let Nova roam the backyard to go to the bathroom before starting the day or before I hit the gym in the morning. It was great until a delighted Nova returned from an afternoon jaunt in the backyard covered in mud. I spent half an hour covering the holes she dug in the backyard.

There was also a cute little off-leash dog trail about three minutes from my airbnb. One of the circuits was almost exactly one mile and I had been using it to get back on track with running. My ankle has been slowly getting better since I hurt it sometime between Atlanta and Nashville. I bought some new running sneakers to give my ankle some more support and have been slowly working up my mileage. I only really ran 3 miles at a time so it shouldn’t take long to get there.

I haven’t travelled very far outside of Austin during my month there but I haven’t really had the need to. I am just a few minutes away from Mckinley Falls State Park which had a couple of great trails around an abandoned homestead and across some streams. There also seems to be a couple of great places to swim where two waterfalls pool which would have been delightful in the summer.

One thing I’ve noticed is that it seems that a lot of trails in Austin have creek crossings without much warning going into it. Some of them are pretty technical and its really unavoidable to leave without wet feet. It makes sense now why a lot of locals hike with rugged hiking sandals like Tevas or Chacos. It’s gotten a little annoying to have to take off my sneakers or boots to cross a stream. It’s especially challenging to hop slick and sometimes jagged rocks while dragging a resistant, water-hating pup.

Austin was my first major holiday on the trip. I’ve opted to not go home for any of the holidays and to focus the year on being “solo”. Whatever that comes means. 

I actually didn’t end up spending Thanksgiving alone and instead celebrated with a friend I made in my travels. I’m trying to limit my content about the people I’ve met during my travels, I’ve been wanting to work on a longer piece about the people I’ve met in all of my cities.

The Thanksgiving holiday also means that anniversary of my mother’s death came up in Austin. The anniversary can churn up a wide arrangement of feelings and sadness. Sometimes I have a week of uncontrollable sadness and sometimes I’m too busy to really feel anything at all and am just bombarded on a single day when everything catches up to me.

This anniversary was a hard one, it was the 16th anniversary of the day my mom died when I was 16 years old. That means that every day afterwards I have lived more days without a mom than I have without. It’s a tough and jagged pill to swallow but I was also oddly at piece this anniversary. I had a normal selfcare day, ate healthy, went to the gym to get in a workout, took Nova for a long walk but I felt okay, I felt more okay than I have in a long time. I felt more okay than I have in a long time. I wish I could pin down the cause, I wish I could bottle it for days I don’t feel okay. 

Maybe it’s the travels, maybe it’s being in a new place. Maybe it’s the constant access to the outdoors, and sunlight. Maybe it’s the dog that’s never NOT happy (except when you’re eating dinner and she can’t have it). 

My mom’s anniversary usually stirs up feelings of sadness and loneliness and while I’ve never been more alone thousands of miles from “home.” I can’t say that I feel lonely.

The adventures continue…

The post Best Places in South Austin, TX appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

I didn’t expect to Love Nashville and wish I had stayed longer. 

The weather had been absolutely incredible. While I knew I was traveling south into warmer weather, I hadn’t expected to be wearing shorts well into October. I’ve barely worn jeans or sweatpants this entire trip, minus the chilly September mornings in the mountains of Asheville. It was 70-80 degrees the entire trip, it was even so warm that I booked a kayak trip down Cumberland River on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It was a short trip, about 3 miles and took less than an hour (so kind of a rip off for the $45 I paid) but it was the only kayak company that allowed you to kayak in the middle of the city, which was pretty cool. 

During that kayak trip I learned a local parking life hack that I used the rest of my stay. 

I’ve been nursing a bit of a sprained ankle that’s kept me off the trails and away from running so I spent the past couple of days just walking around the city. Nova and I walked around Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park which was home to that State Supreme Court and Capitol building

We also swung by the farmers market where I picked up some local goodies. I had a dream of living off local farmers market finds since before this trip started, and now I’m about 5 months into this trip and I have been absolutely terrible about lining up grocery store visits with farmers market days and mix that with trying to reduce food waste and my dreams of farmers market meals has been crushed. This trip was on of the first times I had been able to pick up some things I’ve actually needed for the week. My favorite haul was these small packages of spices. Including this once spice called Mango Tango that was incredible sprinkled over chicken.  

Nova and I also got to check out some of the local dog parks. Our favorite was Centennial Dog Park, it was a large sweeping park with plenty of trees and grass for the dogs to run around in. It was a nice change from Piedmont Park in Atlanta which while sizable was really nothing but mulch and a couple of large boulders. 

Continuing with easy strolls, one weekday took Nova for a stroll around downtown. Broad Street, the most famous street in Nashville was packed full of Tourists and brimming with Live Music pouring out of the open windows. It was pretty crazy for even a Monday night so Nova bypassed it and went towards the Walk of Fame.

When then walked all the way to Tennessee Brew Workss where I had a couple of beers and grabbed a quick dinner. I’ve been trying to train Nova to be calm at bars so I can take her our more often and she had some pretty great success at this place with the exception of one waitress she befriended and then tried to corner for more pets any time she passed by our table.

I met some women who were seated a few spots down from me on this long table, we started discussing my trip, my visit to Nashville, New York City and our dogs. One woman owned a rescued Rottweiler while the other owned a Chihuahua/beagle mix. The pair asked me about my travels and gave me some recommendations that I didn’t have time to followup on.

After leaving Tennessee Brew Works I knew I had walked a bit too far on my busted ankle, by the time I made it back to the pedestrian bridge it was dark and the city was aglow. Even though my ankle was throbbing the view I got of the city was worth it.  

I happened to be staying extremely close to one of the few queer bars left in the country. I found out The Lipstick Lounge was hosting a group called RNBW (pronounced “rainbow”) that hosted a bunch of queer performers for a sort of open mic night. I entered the bar around 6:30 and was embarrassingly THE ONLY CUSTOMER IN THE BAR. In my defense it said the flyer for the started at 7:00 but I was apparently the only person (aka loser tourist) in Nashville who took that start time seriously. The bar didn’t start filling up until after 7:00 and performances came soon after. 

I found a little table in the corner near the bar but of the way of those looking to order their next round. Sometime during the performances, this man, also solo, squished himself into the corner to escape the growing crowd looking to order drinks. He tried to finesse his way behind my chair but didn’t have enough room and he violent thrashed against my chair as he struggled into the corner. While it was initially annoying he immediately apologized and we eventually started talking between performances and songs. We both were immediately enamored with Christine Havrilla’s performance. Her songs were fun and she was a hell of a performer.

When Christine ended she found a place next to us at the bar and we all started talking. She was just starting to tour again, she coincidently had some shows coming up in a bar in Asheville. We quickly discovered that we all had connections to the east coast, Christine was from Philadelphia, Greg, the man in the chair, had worked at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. We got to talking about my trip and my travels and what brought me to The Lipstick Lounge of all places. Christine bought me a beer but I probably should have bought her a whiskey after the performance and she Christine mentioned she was performing the next day at another bar in Nashville and that we should stop by. 

After the sets all ended without a single bad performance in the bunch I headed home to Nova, happy to get my fixed on queer community and my taste of live music in Nashville in an all-in-one package.

I also attended the opening night of the Nashville Predators NHL team. They played the Seattle Kraken, the newest expansion team for the NHL that was only playing in their second game. It was a hell of a game with the Kraken leading 3-2 well into the third period when the Predators pulled their goal and turned over the puck a couple of minutes later and the Kraken scored on the empty net with only a couple of minutes left. 

The Predators retaliated with one goal with just 45 seconds left but that didn’t change the outcome, they lost their home opener to the Seattle Kraken. 

This was another event I was a little anxious about attending alone but I found myself so enthralled by the game that it just whizzed right by, I didn’t feel lonely or bored, or even out of place.

As my week wrapped up and the pain in my ankle worsened my last day in Nashville was a little lackluster but as everyone always says when I leave a new city I loved, I can always come back. 

So for now see ya later Nashville, 

The post Nashville, TN | 1 Week in October appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

I didn’t have expectations going into Atlanta. When I first started solo traveling, I used to love visiting large cities. I’d chart walking paths to notable sites and just walk for hours and hours. So when I was heading through the South I added Atlanta to my list as a short stop, knowing that Atlanta might be a little too much city for me even after 4 months without NYC. So for the first week of October I found myself in an apartment that sold itself as an “Urban Farm” in Atlanta.

It was quite a change from the months I’ve spent in the mountains of Asheville, NC or the small hamlet in Bethel, NY and I admit I found the hustle (and the traffic of Atlanta) really overwhelming. To start off, my last 2 hour leg into Atlanta turned into a 3 hour journey as I got stuck in traffic as soon as I hit the city limits.

The weather really didn’t help. It rained during most of my visit, not just rain, down-poured. Atlanta was forecast to get an entire months worth of rain over several days and it seemed to rain at the most inconvenient times such as in the mornings when I’d normally go for a long hike with Nova before starting the workday or in the evenings when I’d just be wrapping up work and would want to venue outside to explore.

I met up with a friend at Little 5 Points, an artistry outdoor area with some graffiti art and some cute shops and it started down-pouring almost immediately and we had to cut our visit short. I only managed to snag photos as we pulled away.

Then there was the situation with the apartment from my first stay. It was originally advertised as an apartment at an Urban Flower Farm and I was really excited about the thought of a lush and beautiful backyard with endless rows of flowers. They even mentioned chickens and the possibility of fresh eggs.

The place itself looked a little rustic but I had expected it to be and coming from New York City I’ve learned I’m not particularly picky about the “quality” of my stays. I’d look at our friends prewar apartment with pealing off-white paint and windows with bars on them and say it was “nice” (and mean it!). But this place was stretching the meaning of the term rustic, to the point of abusing it.  

The hosts really meant the property “not well maintained.” The inside was fine, however the backyard wasn’t full of flowers but instead was full of broken lawn decorations, overgrown plants and random piles of sticks in really inconvenient places that would scratch up your car if you parked in the wrong spot (ask me how I know this). It was the first place I had stayed in this entire trip that I really didn’t like. Fortunately, I only had to make it through the week.

But then when I looked at the back entrance there was the most problematic part of the airbnb. The back door had this heavy grated security door that locked, kind of like a heavy duty screen door. It seemed great in theory, I could leave the back door wide open to get some airflow but still keep it locked. However a couple of days into the stay I noticed that there was a large hole right cut into the door. It had been there a while and I had just never noticed it before because the host covered the hole with this thing wooden sticks that were tied together. It was pretty obvious to me that in the past someone had cut the security gate to unlock it.

My gut told me it was not a good idea to stay there. I cancelled the stay, explaining to the host why, weirdly, she seemed extremely understanding. I’d gather that I wasn’t the first person to feel a little bamboozled by the listing vs the reality of the apartment. I booked another stay at an apartment building a little ways across the city.

The only real plus side of my original stay was that it was steps away from an 1996 Olympic training track and field that is still maintained. I was able to run on a track used by Olympic Athletes! So in one of my couple days staying at the “Urban Farm” I ran a few miles and worked out on at the track. It was really cool to just picture all those world class athletes lapping me over and over again during that run.

My next stay in Atlanta was this mid-luxury apartment building with a tenant-only gym, pool and lounge area. It also had an attached parking garage and was conveniently located minutes from downtown. Not walkable but it was a quick drive. Parking in Downtown Atlanta isn’t quite New York City level but they have a complicated arrangement of parking garages and parking rules. According to a local friend they will not hesitate to boot your car if you ignore them.

Unfortunately my first night at the new place the fire alarm went off around midnight. Disoriented and dealing with a distraught dog, I threw on some clothes to join some very grumpy tenants in the courtyard. We were outside for maybe ten minutes before the firefighters gave us the okay and I went back in, settled my racing heart and eventually fell back asleep.

I was already awake and heading out when the Alarm went off again the next morning but I was better prepared this time, I walked Nova and the alarm was over before I came back, fortunately that was the last time the alarm went off during our stay.

Since I wasn’t able to get our on hikes due to the terrible weather I instead took advantage of the apartment gym and had it all to myself. It was the first time I got in a gym workout with real gym equipment since before the pandemic hit.

The weather finally cleared up by Friday, my last full day in Atlanta, and I managed to finally get a hike in at Sweetwater Creek State Park. It was quite a gorgeous place with Ruins of an old factory and a nice hike along a large river. 

Atlanta Pride is normally scheduled for early October however most of the events of Atlanta Pride were cancelled again due to COVID. The only Pride Event still on schedule was the Out Night at the Aquarium. For a regular ticket you got drink vouchers, full access to the aquarium, performances and a Pride Dolphin Show!

It was a pretty sweet event.

I also managed to catch a few touristy attractions. I visited a bunch of local coffee shops, I went to Martin Luther King Jr Historical National Park, I went the Pounce City Market, I grabbed some food from Dekalb Farmers Market.

The post Atlanta, GA | First Week of October appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

The family was extremely welcoming. One of the hosts, greeted me as soon as I pulled in and was quite talented at giving Nova these little head massages (he became her favorite person very quickly).  The host couple also had two young daughter who they regularly strapedp to the back of their bicycles on sunny days and a young black pup named Clover who was a spitting image to Nova and could have been Nova’s Yin to her Yang.

The full story of the Cabin was it belonged to a previous owner of the property, he had this cabin on land in Tennessee that was going to be swallowed up by a new river that was going to form in the release of an old Damn. Instead of losing the cabin, the property owner moved it, log-by-log, to the backyard of his house in Asheville. The host explained to me that when he and his wife came to see the house they originally had NO IDEA that the property just also happened to include a cabin, which seems like quite an oversight by the real estate agents. 

You could tell that the cabin was sort of randomly dropped there. The driveway led up to an enclosed deck area that connected to the bedroom, what I would personally consider the “back of the house.” The main doorway of the cabin looked up into the main house and there was another side door just off the bathroom that opened up onto this unused little plot of land where there was the gate and the neighbors property enclosed by brush and trees.

Ignoring the awkwardness of the layout, the cabin was incredible, mainly do to the incredible care the hosts put into the place. There was a gas fireplace, an outdoor hammock and, finally, a DESK. I have been setting up at kitchen tables in uncomfortable chairs for the past three months but this was the FIRST time I had a legitimate DESK to work from and I was extremely excited about it. 

A lot of Airbnb hosts have really underestimated the power of a quality-padded chair. I’ve gotten really sick in planting my big butt into all of these cheap, narrow and uncomfortable metal chairs. A good desk with a decent chair was so very welcomed. 

Behind the cabin there was a rope hammock places strategically next to the little creek the ran along the property. The creek separated the garden from the cabin, the garden’s sprawling tomato plant nestled itself along the rock walls that ran along the creek. One afternoon I woke from my dozing on the hammock to find Nova ankle deep (do dog’s have ankles?) in the creek happily chomping away at the tomato plant. Nova had long had a hatred for water but she also was always very food driven. I guess if I ever want to try to get her into a kayak I can try stringing tomatoes along the kayaks brim.

The city of Asheville was absolutely incredible. Every city stop I’ve had so far in the trip has been completely different, even if the people felt very much the same. Harpers Ferry, like Asheville, was an outdoor enthusiast’s haven but while Harpers Ferry was really quiet and low key with a local population in the hundreds, with small historical B&B’s and restaurants that closed at the beginning of the week, Asheville could not have been more different.

I described Asheville to a friend as seemingly like “The Catskills and Brooklyn had a baby.” Which is perhaps an analogy only a New Yorker could quite understand.

While in Asheville I was minutes away from countless hikes along cliff edges, up to the top of mountains and alongside flowing lakes and also I was steps away from ice cream shops, local breweries and local fare. Downtown Asheville had a line of shops where you could find such places as Asheville Bee Charmer, that sold an arrangement of honey products including a vast array of honeys infused with such flavors as Orange, Vanilla bean and Chocolate or The Gourmet Chip Company, a small place that specialized in gourmet potato chips and offered a full menu of potato chip based meals. You could also pick up loads of flavored chips.

I arrived in Asheville on Memorial Day Weekend and downtown was packed with typical holiday weekend traffic. Nothing on the level of New York City but finding parking did require a little bit of searching but there are so many pay-per-hour parking lots all over downtown Asheville and I’m still used to having to walk 5-10 blocks to get anywhere, so it really wasn’t much of a hassle for me. After spending so much time in the woods and away from people I was actually seeking out the busy areas and being around other humans, even if it was just navigating a somewhat busy street on a holiday.

I was actually really presently surprised to see how serious NC has been taking the pandemic. Masks were required indoors in every county I’ve visited and almost every shop or restaurant I entered had masks available at the entrance with a friendly reminder to mask up. Everyone was pretty on top of it, it was really the tourists who seemed to grumble when they were reminded pf the mask policies by friendly employees. 

I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to do in Asheville. The mountains were mere minutes away, the Blue Ridge Parkway , an over 400 mile parkway that stretches from Shenandoah National Park (which I hiked before entering NC) and ends at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (which I visited early in this trip, more on that later). There were so many quality breweries. AND there was a lot of tubing and kayaking available along the rivers that ran through Asheville.

Many of the hikes I found around Asheville looked a little different than what I was familiar with, they were either relatively short, running about 1-2 miles to an overlook or extremely long at about a dozen or so miles running along the Appalachian Trail or other less well-known lengthy hikes such as the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Personally speaking, I like a good 4-5 mile moderate hike that runs up a mountain or leads to a waterfall but it had been kind of tricky to find those, many of the more popular hikes were barely 2 miles and led up to narrow passage to an overlook, which were tricky to navigate on busy days with a leashed dog. 

My first weekend I took Nova on an early morning hike up to Lane Pinnacle, a little bit longer of a hike that went up a few steep ladders and along the edge of a cliff. I keep Nova tethered at all times since I’m just not comfortable letting her off-leash yet but on our way back we were on a particularly narrow part of the cliff when a pack of 5 unleashed dogs approached us on the trail. The dogs ranged in size from a very large German Shepherd and a very small Dalmatian puppy. Nova and I were stopped on the cliff edge as the dogs surrounded us and the owners still hadn’t caught up to the pack, though I could hear them in the distance.

Nova gets along really well with dogs and she wasn’t nearly as overwhelmed by the dogs as I was but then just the owner’s caught up to their dogs, Nova started trying to play and almost slipped on the cliff edge as she bounced around. I grabbed Nova, asked the owners to move their dogs along and we moved on with our hike. We were lucky and they were lucky since that could have ended really badly. It’s made me really nervous for what other types of dog owners we could come across on the trail during this adventure. But ultimately, everyone was okay and we all made it out of the hike.

One thing I’ve noticed about Asheville was the pure abundance of dogs everywhere. Asheville is known to be very dog friendly, it came up in a lot of my “Dog-friendly city” google searches. There are plenty of bars and shops in Asheville’s downtown area that not only allow dogs but gladly welcome them. 

On my way to a hike one morning I got very lost. For some reason, the directions to a trailhead just took me to a random road in the middle of nowhere. I tried to go to a second hike and that also led me no where. It was a weekday and I didn’t have much free time left before I had to get home to work and I was getting extremely frustrated, I was at my wits end but still attempted to drive to one last hike. Then I happened to drive by what looked like a sort of dog run that had a large rusted colored bone with the words “Wagbar” painted in large seafoam letters. I’ve heard of a few dog park beer garden places before but I’ve never been to one. I’ve been hoping to catch one along the way but I had NO IDEA there was one just minutes from my place. I gave up on the hike and immediately went home to look it up, I joined as a monthly member that afternoon for just $25 for UNLIMITED monthly visits with proof of vaccinations (for the dog), and went immediately after work. 

Minus the mulch ground that turns my white dog BROWN by the end of the visit, the place is an absolute dream. Rolling taps of about 8 draft beers, coolers full of more beer and a plethora of random local snacks. It was incredible. All dogs are vetted for their shots and I can just grab a beer, sit and watch my dog be an idiot. We also happened to stop by Wagbar for one last treat on our last night in Asheville and it happened to be an open mic night which was amazing.

Early in the trip I decided to take the almost two hour drive over to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. This is the first park I’ve been to that doesn’t allow dogs on most of the trails and this visit was a little tricky to navigate since it would mean leaving Nova at home for quite some time and it was nearly impossible to find a daycare with availability. I woke up at 4 am to complete darkness to take Nova for a long walk before leaving for the park. She was walked and fed long before sunrise and I hit the curving roads of the Blue Ridge Parkway in pitch black. About a half hour into my trip I checked my rearview mirror and found the most beautiful sunrise. The colors were intense orange and pinks across the horizon and I had to stop at the next overlook to take it all in. I pulled over and watched the mountains for a few minutes as sky began to lighten as the sun started to peak its head. It was breathtaking. I’m not sure photos really do it justice. 

As I pulled into Great Smoky Mountains National Park was welcomed with another incredible sight. I came across a herd of elk grazing in the early morning fog along the roadway. Some elk where just standing in the road and I had to weave around them, holding my breath as I pictured the points of an elk antler piercing my car.

In the park, I picked a rather short but moderate hike, I didn’t want to keep Nova waiting in her crate all day but I still wanted something that would get the blood flowing. The unfortunate thing about the hike I choose was that it normally led all the way up a narrow path to a gorgeous summit but part of the area was destroyed by a wildfire a couple of years ago and about 1/4 of the trail was closed for safety reasons. There still was a nice area to see the mountains and the original summit so all wasn’t lost and the hike was quite a workout so I didn’t regret it for a second.

Another morning I hiked Catawba falls, a very popular short hike that leads to a massive cascading waterfall, see me in the picture below for scale. I managed to hike this one early on a weekday to avoid all of the crowds it attracts. I think the tallest plunge waterfall I have seen was Taughannock Falls during my Ithaca/Lodi Stop and Buttermilk Falls, also during Ithaca/Lodi stop, was probably the largest cascading waterfall I’ve seen so far. Check out this great article on types of waterfalls. But Catawba Falls absolutely took my breath away.

As my time in Asheville drew to a close I found myself scrambling to get the last of the touristy hikes out of the way. I hiked Craggy Gardens and Craggy Pinnacle in the same day since the hikes were nearby and relatively short and the following day I checked out Black Balsam. 

I ended Asheville with my hike total at over 57 hikes since June 2021, when I started my trip. That’s surpassed my total number of hikes (56) in all of 2020. That’s pretty impressive considering the fact that I didn’t get to hike at all in the Winter and Spring of 2021 since I was too busy preparing for this trip!

Unrelated to hikes, I happened to be in town at the very end of minor league baseball season and their happened to be a beloved hometown team, The Asheville Tourists. They had a bunch of themed nights coming up for their last home stand and I picked up tickets to their Craft Beer night where they offered $3 craft beers.

I decided to treat myself to the “expensive” seats, so for $36 I sat right alongside the home dugout and had access to unlimited drinks (water etc), hot dogs, nachos and other disgusting bull park food but the most important part was it was delivered right to my seat. I was a little anxious about the idea of attending a three hour baseball game by myself but forced myself to go, knowing I’d regret it if I didn’t.

So I went.

And I really enjoyed it. The ballpark had an amazing list of local breweries and, while the home team got crushed, it was so nice to see live sports again.

The September weather was still nice enough for some afternoon kayaking so I booked a long Kayak trip down the the French Broad River with Asheville Outdoor Center. The setup was similar to my experience in Harpers Ferry, you loaded up onto a shuttle and they launched you a ways up the river and you ended at the outfitters main location, where your car was parked. This trip had a few pockets of rapids, nothing major and all beginner friendly but the instructors did have some words of warning on how to hit them successfully. We were in sit atop kayaks and the weather was warm enough that the worst that could happen would be we’d get a little wet and maybe a little scratched up but I’d never kayaked anything beyond a few waves in a bay near Jones Beach, NY so I was a little hesitant going into my first bit of rapids.

I’ve kayaked countless calm lakes and rivers but I found it a little boring and tedious. I REALLY enjoyed the mix between calm water and pocked of small rapids that got my blood pumping and brought a new level to kayaking. It was kind of like hiking up a mountain, sometimes you had steep inclines and other times you had flat ground where you could catch your breath. I’m hoping to learn more about rapids and what each of the classes mean to hopefully tackle more minor rapid rivers like the French Broad during my trip.

Another dog friendly adventure Nova and I took was a visit to Biltmore Estate. While you can also purchase tickets to enter the estate, I brought Nova with me and she was only allowed on the grounds but that didn’t really matter since the grounds were so large we spent almost the entire day there just wandering around.

If the tickets weren’t so expensive, I’d probably have gone back to hike one of the mainly trails we didn’t get to explore in our hours there.

Coincidently part of my kayak trip (sans Nova) went along the grounds of Biltmore Estate

My September in Asheville, NC whizzed right by and it was bittersweet to say goodbye. I loved Asheville, NC and would happy spend another month or more there but I’m not entirely sure it was the place for me. While Asheville was welcoming and open to all people, I didn’t catch a sense of the vibrant queer community I had been looking for.

On to the next!

The post Asheville, NC & Smoky Mountains National Park | September appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

My life this past July in Smallwood, has been a very contrasting experience to mine in the Finger Lakes Region (Read about it here!). One day during my stay I walked out to my car after leaving it parked for over a week and found a cobweb on the tailgate. I had a lake mere steps away, a dog park within walking distance and a cute little Forest Reserve down the block. I could never find a reason to leave my little oasis. 

So, I don’t. 

At first, the weather really didn’t help support planning any outdoor adventures. In my first two weeks in Smallwood, I saw four days of complete sunshine, the rest were sporadic thunderstorms and bursts of pouring rain including a rather nasty bout of storms brought on by the Tropical Storm Elsa. It left the area completely saturated for days. For a while, fixed docks on Smallwood Lake were either completely submerged or had started to bow under the pressure of the rising water.

I booked this stay as a bit of a birthday treat to myself since it had many of the things I loved; kayaks, swimming, & hiking to name a few. This place seemed to be made for me, it was a “basement” two-bedroom apartment of a two family home, except it didn’t really feel like a basement, the kitchen and main entryway offered an large open-aired view of the backyard deck, where a small jacuzzi and barbecue area was situated around a faded green deck. There was a large table positioned underneath a gazebo, a fire-pit in the grass several feet away and another gas powered fire-pit on the deck.

There were four red 9-foot sit-inside kayaks, and, if I pull my passenger seat all the way down and positioned it diagonally across the back seat, one entire kayak would fit completely inside my car with the hatch closed. I know this because I did this exact thing several times. Once to transport a kayak to the private, residents-only boat launch and another to take a a kayak to Lake Superior State Park. (A different Lake Superior)

Nova and I had taken to our ritual morning walk around the lake, and, depending on my work schedule we had an afternoon walk and an evening walk as well. Sometimes, when the weather was warm enough I’d sneak over to the residents-only beach to get in a bit of swimming for thirty minutes or so. The beach required a pass to enter where a young teen was usually working a table and would check you in by writing down your pass name and number into a little sheet in a binder. There were two red life guard chairs at either side of the beach and a large roped off area for the deep end, with a diving area with a floating dock and a shallow section for younger kids the lead up to a sandy beach.

You were allowed to swim at your own risk in the rest of the lake so I did a few laps back and forth to the center of the lake so I didn’t have to navigate the games of Marco Polo and whatever other fascinating games the teen boys were playing centered around the floating dock. I never quite understood the games they were playing but even I could overhear their constant bickering about the rules from my spot on the beach.

The vibe I got from the community was that of a very, very large summer camp and the beach during the day was a great example of that. When I first walked onto the beach there was a group of older residents gathered under the shade of a large tree in a circle of a mix of collapsible camp chairs and beach chairs. There were groups of younger girls construction some large structure in the sand, while a group of the older teenagers lounged across the large floating dock they reminded me of a group of sea lions I’ve seen sleeping on the docks in the San Francisco bay. 

On my morning walks, drivers in passing cars waved at me through their windshields. A random runner would tell me to have a great day. A neighborhood walking group started to greet my dog by name. Some of my friends told me that it’s fairly normal for everyone not-in-NYC to greet their neighbors but after so long in NYC I really got a kick out of the “howdy neighbor” culture. Even the deer were extremely friendly and would practically walk up to you.

I found another lovely coffee spot less than 10 minutes away from my stay in White Lake, NY. Java Love Coffee Roasting Co is Women-owned which was just a bonus. I picked visited there a few times and lived the vibe of the play. It was this place that helped me decide to try to find queer, BIPOC or Women-owned businesses in all my stays.

Looking back at some of my outdoor adventures

I did a Rail Ride through Rail Explorers, the experience took me along old train rails in the Catskills. I met up another New York City transplant I met off of Lex, A Queer community building app where you can post ads, think like old school New York classifieds but for queers.

My stranger friend, Betty, was new to the area and looking for a friend to do touristy shit with. We pedaled this very heavy red cart that ran along old abandoned train lines for a few miles. It was hard to make conversation over the sounds of the card against the rails but we made do, Betty told me she came to the Catskills region by way of Brooklyn but was originally from California. Betty and her wife had purchased property in the area. Her wife was still back in Brooklyn working in the IT world while Betty was up here getting the house ready and preparing to go to school for her masters.

As a part of this trip I wanted to make a habit of trying to meet queer locals and learn more about what it’s like to be queer in the places I’m visiting. I have spent all of my gay dating adult life in New York City and I’m am eager to learn what it’s like for someone in this area. While it was fun getting to know Betty and I enjoyed the time with here. I was getting a little frustrated with how many New Yorker I was coming across during my stay but what had I expected when I was staying just 2 hours outside of the city.

A couple of days after my Rail Ride, I saw that there was a stable near my stay so I decided to continue my tour of “trails by a different way” and decided that a trail ride by horseback was a good idea. I warned the stable that I had practically zero experience on a horse but they told me to come on down.

Riding a horse was hands down one of the most terrifying things. Horses are giant and they are powerful and I had a very, very short lesson on horseback riding and felt that I had zero control of this very massive and very powerful animal. I last rode a horse when I was maybe 8 years old and I don’t remember being NEARLY as terrified as adult me was but fortunately for me Jagger the VERY beautiful horse in the picture was also a VERY patient horse and I survived, which was the most important thing.

Though I rarely wanted to leave my little lake, I still managed to drag myself away for a few of hikes. 

My first hike of the month was, Slide Mountain which I hiked before but I wanted to do it again since the view in incredible and you have to work for it. Unfortunately, it was a foggy day and the fog obstructed the gorgeous payoff view at the end so when Nova and I finally made it up to the top there wasn’t much to see besides clouds but the hiked had changed so much with all the rain that it felt entirely different from when I hiked it just last year. There was a very large but shallow stream crossing at the very beginning of the hike, which isn’t challenging unless you have a dog who hates water. Then most of the way it felt like I was hiking up a creek.

Another hike I did that I had done before was a waterfall circuit in the Neversink Unique Area. This is a simple circuit around the area but then there are little off-shoots that lead to a variety of water features. One is a large waterfall, others are small waterfalls that you can wade out into. It’s also a bit demanding of a hike, especially leading out to Denton Falls which is featured in the picture. The hike down to the falls is very steep and requires climbing down some rocks to get there but you are rewarded with this relaxing view and water calm enough to wade out into.

. 

For my birthday I hiked a couple of waterfalls in the Delaware Water Gap. 

After hiking a couple of miles to the boardwalk for the highly trafficked Dingmans Falls, a very nice National Park Services Park Ranger, Erin, told me that my dog wouldn’t be allowed on the boardwalk. I wouldn’t be able to see the waterfall. It was early in the morning and not a single person had entered the boardwalk or even entered the parking lot but rules are rules. There could be a danger to dogs on the trail or the dog could threaten the ecosystem or scare animals. I asked them if there was any alternative trail I could take to see the waterfall. That’s when they offered to watch my dog for me. 

So I handed over my dog’s leash, calmly walked down the trail until I was out of the eye sight of the rangers and took off in a run

The boardwalk was much longer than I thought it would be but huffing and puffing I made it to the end of the trail and the waterfall. I was very surprised to see a couple already taking pictures at the end of the overlooking boardwalk. They were in very tight-fitting clothing that I had assumed were bathing suits but it turned out they were social media influencing acrobats who took pictures while performing. They asked me to take their photo with the waterfall in the background and took my picture in return

After I returned back to Nova the I saw one of the Park Rangers walking Nova who now had a officially looking badge on her harness. The Rangers proudly informed me that Nova was an official “Bark Ranger.”

My next waterfall on that same day was Hornbecks Creek Waterfall which was just down the road from Dingmans Falls. It was another fairly easy trail but this trail was dog friendly and you could even swim in the falls if you wanted to. Unfortunately, Nova hates water so there was no swimming happening on our side of things.

To cap off my birthday a few friends came to visit and it was fun to share a little view into my new temporary life in Smallwood. It also felt like the final goodbye since after this stop the training wheels are coming off and I’m heading further away from New York City into all new territory and visiting places I have never been. Originally, I had planned this trip for a ‘summer thing’ but it quickly grew as I started to realize the possibilities. It’s been useful to get my trail legs back into shape after neglecting them this past winter and getting myself used to a new way of living.

Some friends and even some strangers have asked me what my game plan is once this trip is over. They ask me where I think I’ll end up and if I plan to move back to New York City or if I plan on moving somewhere new but I don’t really have a plan. I honestly don’t even know if and when this trip will end and I couldn’t tell you where I’ll end up after all this is said and done. You can start a journey, without knowing the destination.

The post Bethel, NY in the Delaware Water Gap Region | July appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

Lodi (pronounced Low-die) is located about 30 minutes north of Ithaca, NY. Sandwiched between Seneca and Cayuga Lake and surrounded mostly by farmland, it’s more a town you drive through on your way somewhere else than a place you look to vacation.

And this is where I booked my first rental.

I couldn’t tell you what was going through my head, I sure as hell didn’t research the town of Lodi, NY or knew where the heck that even was. Maybe I just needed to book my first place and get that checked off of my todo list on my never-ending list of shit I had to get done while preparing for this trip and juggling a newly adopted rescue dog, or just maybe a part of me wanted to start off somewhere that was so utterly and completely not New York City that it didn’t really matter what the town (or village in this case) looked like as long as it looked nothing like New York City.

I didn’t tell anyone but I had my doubts going into this stay but looking back I don’t regret it for one second.

First of, let’s start off with my accommodations.

My stay was at an old library that had been purchased and updated to be a very large studio apartment after a new library was build around the corner. The library’s original name is still present on the facade of the building in worn black lettering, Lodi Whittier Library but the owner now refers to it as the “Old Whittier Library” or the OWL for short.

There isn’t a fenced in backyard at the OWL but there was this large deck that offered a patio table and chairs and just a tiny patch of grass which, coming from New York City, was plenty for me. There was also this wooden bench that made me feel like I’d get up with several splinters in the backs of my thighs, so I steered clear of it.

Nova took to lying in the patch of grass outside our rental, only adjusting her position when the large sycamore tree behind our plot of land casted a shadow and forced her to relocate to another sunny patch. I thought not having a backyard to run around in would be an issue but Nova seemed content to just sunbathe for hours while I worked.

The only consumer facing business in Lodi was Village Ice Cream Shop which wasn’t even listed on Google Maps. Ironic, given my employer specializes in fixing this sorta thing. This Ice Cream shop was no joke, the selection was vast and delicious coming from local and well-known vendors in the region including Purity Ice Cream, an Ithaca staple for over twenty years. They carried some of my favorite Purity Ice Cream flavors such as Cookie Dough After Dark that included chocolate ice cream, fudge swirl and pieces of cookie dough (why has no one done this before?) and Sleepers Awake, coffee ice cream with caramel swirl and chocolate pieces. 

When I took Nova on walks that didn’t end up at the ice cream shop, I found it difficult to navigate the small village streets. I constantly had to backtrack as the sidewalk just ended or was overtaken by grass, or even weirder, it just turned up into someone’s backyard. There was a grid of about 4 side streets around the OWL with streets so small and private I felt as though I was trespassing on private property when I walked them.

There was such a vast mix of types of homes in the small square. There were obviously abandoned houses situated right next door to newly refinished homes. On my walk was this gorgeous little house, it’s was recently painted a stark white with a pale pink door that was decorated with brown wreath. The mat at the foot of the front door was as welcoming as the ornate home itself.

And just few houses down was this blue house. Back in it’s day, when the paint was fresh I’m sure this house was as gorgeous as it was grand. It had a huge wrap around deck and was two stories tall with large windows. But now the deck was deteriorating into the tall, unkept grass in the front yard.The blue paint had chipped away to reveal pieces of gray and white coats of paint that this house wore in previous lives. Some of the windows were broken or just completely missing and I’m unsure if I ever saw evidence that the front door even existed or had the ability to be closed.

I asked myself which parts of this town are the new normal and which are the old. Obviously homes didn’t become this decrepit in just the long year of COVID but there are a few homes that did just look like they suffered a year’s neglect; overgrown lawns, fences missing sections, broken decks. I found myself wondering if these homes are signals of an area that continue to deal with the lingering economic effects of pandemic and if this will be a theme of this trip.

A local told me to check out Ithaca Commons one day. It’s a small stretch of streets that is completely cut off from cars. Either side of the commons are businesses, sometimes restaurants, other times toy stores or gift shops. I’m never one entirely impressed by the usual tourist traps. I rather find the hidden gems, the Mom & Pop Shop the locals love, the places you won’t find in any guidebook, but I also noticed the plethora of empty store fronts. Ithaca is a college town, Cornell’s Campus is located in the center of the city. I asked the local if Ithaca Commons had been particular hurt by the lack of students in town, she didn’t know.

I joined a local softball league for the month.

I found Ithaca Women’s Softball through some google searches. They play on weeknights, Tuesdays and Thursdays but weirdly, the league only consisted of three teams who were in constant need of pickup players so really, the same handful of people seemed to play every night but I’m never one to complain about free softball. It was an interesting change compared to Big Apple Softball League in New York City. There was no umpire, they called their own balls and strikes using this large wooden plank behind the plate, if you hear the thunk of the wood. It’s a strike. Simple as that. For the most part, people were pretty easy going. I was probably one of the more intense people on the field. The lax nature was actually really nice for me and it was great to get back on the field, even if I just played softball the weekend before I left. I’m still hoping to find more leagues along the way.

I’ve been trying to limit my time on social media.

I’ve installed a few apps on my phone to physically block instagram and facebook. I still like to post updates for everyone but I found myself clicking open the app and mindlessly scrolling through my feed during any down time and wasting hours just browsing the cookie cutter versions of the lives of people. People I did and didn’t know. I’ve been trying to break that habit and tspend my time doing literally anything else.

Another part of me didn’t want to see all the pictures and videos of my friends in NYC hanging out and feel the sucker punches of loneliness I expected every time I saw them. I didn’t want to find myself wanting to be THERE when the whole point was to be present, to be HERE doing new things, in a new place. While I do miss all my NYC friends & family dearly, I haven’t felt nearly as lonely as I expected. Maybe those feelings will come later. Maybe they won’t.

The other day I ran to my notebook to jot down this thought:

Alone is a state of being, Loneliness is a state of mind.

Stay Tunes for a follow-up post about all FIFTEEN of the hikes I did in my 30 day stay!

The post Lodi,NY in Finger Lakes Region | June appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

There’s also the nagging perfectionist in me that knows I have so much time to work on these posts that they should be amazing. They should have a theme, or a constant brand or the best SEO (that’s the technical marketer in me and fuck me if I let work me ruin this adventure). 

Eventually I told myself to just write down some shit and here I am, writing some shit. 

I think this is what English Teachers call an “introduction”.

Fuck it, here we go…

On my way out of town, I stopped by my brother’s family’s lake house for our Memorial Day weekend family tradition that unfortunately got skipped last year. It usually involves swimming, beer and lounging in the sun lake side. 

While visiting my brother’s family’s lake house was my first stop after leaving my NYC apartment. It was kind of my first stop but also not really. It was really more of goodbye to my family as part of the “Paige’s Farewell Tour” that I barely invited anyone to. (oops) 

But I’m going to recap this shit anyway. 

Let’s start with the final days of the big move the week before I headed up to my brother’s family’s lake house. 

I thought this would all be a breeze. I’ve been putting all of my things in storage since I decided to make this trip over the winter. All of the piles of “storage” I had crammed into my tiny NYC apartment had been slowly peeled away over the past couple of months. I thought all that was left was the stuff I use on a regular basis.

I hadn’t moved apartments in eight years and now I remember why I stayed put because moving fucking sucks. 

I had taken off work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to make the big move and silly little me had told my co-workers that I’d probably be available if they needed anything because I didn’t really need all that time. That was a lie because I was a shell of a human by Thursday afternoon and had barely stopped moving during daily light hours.

Moving is exhausting, it’s non-stop. And it feels as productive as it would emptying a sandbox with a tweezer. 

By Friday I just wanted wanted to lay on my bed and take a nap BUT I COULD NOT because my god damn bed was now in storage.

First thing Saturday morning I joined my immediate family up at the lake house. We were unfortunately due for some abysmal weather. It was cold and rainy and all we could do was pound our refreshingly light beers as we stared longingly at the swimming gear we packed hopelessly in our overnight bags. 

But it wasn’t a miserable time. 

My six-year-old niece, who probably has a strong future as a lawyer, argued a very strong case in support of me leaving Nova behind so she could have her. She didn’t want “a dog” she wanted my dog. Unfortunately for her, I objected to that proposal. Even if it was her birthday weekend.

The family slowly trickled out of the house throughout the weekend. My middle brother left with his family on Saturday night, my father and his wife left early Monday morning and my brother, his wife and his two kids waved goodbye to Nova and I as we drove off to my first OFFICAL stop on my solo road trip. 

And then I hit a deer… 

TO BE CONTINUED.

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