Welcome Back.

To reading.

So much has happened.

I have already mentioned Fiji, but in 6 days I will be moving to San Diego!

Surprise!

I will be there until early November doing an internship at the Maritime Museum of San Diego and working with object conservation. I also have the opportunity to help reproduce a Spanish galleon ship, and learn how

to sail the tall ship that is currently there.

Everything has worked out so perfectly, it is amazing.

I have moved back to Nashville and unpacked everything just to repack my clothes once more and pile it into my car for a 5 day drive out west.

My apartment is 5 blocks from where I will be working. It is also 450 square feet. TINY!

It will be awesome.

Now to update you wonderful readers on events that have occurred since in the last month.

Old Crow Medicine Show

Carry me back.

Great show, just like always. They were there for the Savannah Music Festival.

Nashville

I came home for Dad’s birthday and we went the Pred’s game. I also got great news from my rheumatoid arthritis doctor, I am in remission! JUMPING! I am slowly coming off some of these crazy medications. Finally. So happy.

Baltimore

I went up to Baltimore to visit my mom who is getting treatments for her smell issues.

I did all the touristy things, like the aquarium and the maritime museum there!

Submarine

Oysters with Mom

Trash boat

Fish in the aquarium

San Diego

This trip was solely to find an apartment, which I did.

Here is the neighborhood in which I will be living.

Little Italy

I also took the ferry over to Coronado and rode the bike around the island. I ended up on the Naval Base… I do not recommend doing that.

The Move Home

The day before I left for home, I got in a car wreck.

Ouch

It was not my fault, and Lola got totaled. So I got a new car.

Pretty.

Other than that, not much has been going on besides packing and buying a camping table to serve as my kitchen table.

Oh yeah, I also went to South Beach, and saw Jimmy Buffett again. More on that later.

Welcome 2013!

I welcomed the new year by flying back home to Nashville from Key Largo, FL. I will post on that trip later on! This post is dedicated to my 101 in 1001! I have done a horrible job on updating it, and I have also updated some of the things as I realized I will never be able to do some of the things due to my arthritis. Dang you!

2. Do a volunteer project with Historic Savannah Foundation (10/13/12)
I did this with the student preservation club at SCAD. We worked on revolving fund properties with HSF.

 

3. Go on an adventure, big or small, every month (7/22)
Between roaming around Savannah, random travel, the adventures keep coming!

4. Complete a couch to 5k training program (11/1/12)
I did this between walking and riding a bike since I cannot run.

12. Make my bed everyday for a month  (completed in October 2012)

15. Go out west (8/20/12)
Sun Valley, Idaho!

16. Go wreck diving (12/29/12)
This occurred this past week! More to come…

17. Attend a spin class (9/21/12)
YMCA. Kicked my butt

18. Go line dancing (10/13/12)

19. Have a gluten, dairy, and egg free Thanksgiving (11/22/12)
I didn’t even eat a thanksgiving meal since we went to Sperry’s. I had pork chops.

23. Find a church (9/2012)

26. Go kayaking at least once a month, weather permitting (7/22)

28. Take a random road trip (12/21/21)
I went to Birmingham, Alabama to visit two of my friends.

29. Re-read Catcher in the Rye (11/27/12)

36. Try 10 new restaurants (10/10)
1. Molly McGuire
2. AJ Dockside Grill
3. Clary’s Cafe
4. Alligator Soul
5. Green Truck Pub
6. Sugar Wagon food truck
7. Just Like Nannie Fixed It food truck
8. Locos
9. Bar Food
10.  The Well

40. Read 50 new books (12/50)
1. Explorers of the Infinite
2. Love Does
3. Girl Meets God
4. Good Life Wasted
5. Dances with Trout
6. Another Lousy Day in Paradise
7. In the Name of Jesus
8. Sea Hunters II
9. A River Runs through It
10. Kisses from Katie
11. Girls in White Dresses
12. Perfectly Unique 

46. Learn to stand up paddle board (7/30/12)

49. Play the banjo (11/22/12)

50. Go fly fishing (6/24/12)

56. Wear my glasses for one week (10/1-7/12)

58. Vote in 2012 (10/9/12)
Absentee ballot!

61. Learn how to use photoshop (7/24/12)

65. Get a professional massage (8/2012)

72. Watch the Wonder Years from start to finish on Netflix (7/25/12)

77. Go mountain biking (8/20/12)

78. Swim everyday for a week (8/2012)

79. Donate clothes to Goodwill (11/13/12)

82. Shuck oysters (11/17/12)

83. Bike to the bank for one month (7/2012)

84. Go to a concert without planning (11/24/12)
Saw some bluegrass at the Station Inn

85. Ride a horse (8/20/12)
Stanley, Idaho

91. Watch the summer ’12 Olympics (8/2012)

96. Swim in a tide pool (7/20/12)

98. Visit a National Park (8/2012)
Sawtooth National Park, Idaho

99. Go rafting (8/2012)

100. Stop chewing gum for one month (7/2012)

Mama Cow vs. Fly Fisher

 

 

 

 

Yes, there is a story behind this. I will get to that later on in this post.

Wednesday I attended the Fly Girls fly fishing class with Morgan Buckert, a local fly fishing pro in the area. We started off with with some fishing early in the morning on the Big Wood River. There was little action to be had. The one fish I got decided to jump out of the net as I was getting my camera ready. The smoke also started rolling in, so we called it a bad day of fishing around noon and headed to eat some lunch. After eating, the class portion started. I learned how to tie a few different knots. I also understand why dad wears those goofy looking glasses when he ties on a new fly.  It takes patience! We also learned all about the different flies around the area and their hatches. Thats cool and all, but I’ll stick to the fake flies.

Big Wood River

Thursday I took another drive up to Stanley. That also meant driving the crazy roads again. The second time around was not so bad. I left 30 minutes before I needed to so I could stop and be a history nerd and look at the historical markers along the way.

Alexander Ross

He came across this summit searching for beaver on September 18, 1824.

He traveled along this road, not paved of course.

Gold!

Levi Smiley found gold on Smiley Creek in 1878. Vienna was s thriving mining town with a $200,000 twenty stamp mill to crush gold. There were 14 saloons, 3 stores, 2 meat markets, a bank, hotel, sawmill and 6 places to eat. More than 200 buildings vanished when this city became a ghost town after 1900.

What it looks like today.

I am sure there were other professions in the town too….

Sawtooth City

Gold was discovered here in 1879. By 1882, there were 3 saloons, two places to eat, a meat market, store, a Chinese laundry, blacksmith shop, mills, and about 90 people building their town. Four more years went by before miners worked out a system to process their gold. 200 miners were employed in 1886. One disaster after another led to suspension of work in 1892.

Sawtooth City today

I arrived to my destination at Sawtooth Adventure Company. I found to be one of the few girls on this trip. Go figure. There was a boarding school there to go on a trip with about 30 boys. Fun… They made it their mission to try and ram my kayak and flip me over. Their mission failed. Ha! I made it through with only one little mishap. I got stuck on a rock, dead center. After paddling and moving back a forth something finally gave and I was off. I was paddled to catch up, a fly fisher nearby yelled, “Gnarly dude! Look yourself up on YouTube!” I haven’t. Hopefully there will be some pictures from the trip since I did not want to pay for a whole CD.

After we returned I headed off to the Sawtooth Museum. Very, very, very tiny. Here’s what the inside looked like.

Mini wagon

“They just couldn’t make a living up here.”

Indians

On the way back to Sun Valley, I stopped at Red Fish Lake. The picture will explain.

Mountain lake.

I stopped at the fish hatchery next. I had no idea what I was looking at, but it looked cool.

Oh boy!

Trout

Hatch away

On the drive down I noticed the smoke coming in. The wind changed. I also passed a dozen firetrucks headed up to the area affected. From what I have been told the fire is huge and still spreading. The news said it might keep going until the first snow occurs.

Smokey the Bear isn’t too happy.

Today was my last day of fly fishing. I had the very good looking Argentinean guide today, Carlos. We headed to Lost River on the other side of the mountain to get away from the smoke. We drove through Sawtooth National Forest and Challis National Forest. The road = scary. Gravel and only one way down. Very high. Glad he was driving. We passed cattle, roaming cattle. Then I learned that there’s farms up there. People live up there, hardcore cowboys. We got to the river and hiked a mile or so through bushes and got to the spot. No fish.

We headed to go upstream, when two other fishermen said not to cross where we wanted to because there was a mama cow and calves behind the bush. We turned around, went back down and crossed at another point. No sign of cows. Good. Carlos was messing with something and told me to go on. I turned the corner and theres a baby cow and it starting mooing. I froze. Carlos froze, and then we hear it. Mama cow comes charging. Carlos yelled run, and I ran. Mind you, wearing wading boots and waders does not make it easy to run. I just had to make it across the crossing and over the fence. Splat. Wading boots stuck in the mud, feet aren’t moving. Mama cow is closing in. Carlos grabbed me, I hit the bank. Lost a boot, but somehow flipped over the fence without hurting my fly rod, or me.

Carlos then tells me that the same mama cow probably, chased him last week. What a day. Only 3 fish. No pictures since I landed on mine when I hit the ground.

The Lost River

Once the smoke started to roll in we called it a day. An exciting day for sure. Tomorrow is going to be relaxing since I can’t really move my body as of now.

 

 

From Bald Mountain to the Sawtooth’s

 

 

 

 

I have finally arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho. Okay, I have been here since Sunday afternoon. All is well here and we are not burning from the forest fire. I honesty did not know that there was one until I went to board the plane in Salt Lake and was told that the flight might be diverted to Twin Falls, ID if the smoke was too bad in the valley. SkyWest also would not be paying for the $20 bus ride. Thankfully we made it. I forgot how pretty it is here.

Flight into the Valley

Yesterday was spent on a little hike up Bald Mountain. It is right outside of Sun Valley in Ketchum. The hike was 5 miles with a nice lookout around 2.5. I am not much of a hiker so I was not looking forward to it. I forgot all about it and just took in the beauty of what I was looking at and also trying to survive the mountain bikers racing by me. The paths are onto very big at all.

Bald Mountain Trail Head

After about 3 hours I reached the top. I got sidetracked taking pictures of the paragliders. Once I reached it, I soon learned why I was seeing all of these people flying through the air; the World Cup qualifier was going on for paragliding. I had no idea that even existed. I sat behind the yellow line and took tons of pictures. It was just to cool to watch them take out and just be flying.

Top of Baldy.

Most of these guys were not very fit and did not look like athletes at all. They just let the wind take them wherever they needed to go! Words cannot describe it.

Setting up

Lift off

So cool

After some lunch I headed down the mountain and back to the Valley. I rented a bike to head out to the Ernest Hemingway Memorial.

Excise the car, guy pulled up as I snapped this. Rude.

I came here all the time as a kid when we used to vacation here during the summer. I don’t know what it is about it, but it is so relaxing. Also I good place to just come and reflect.

Best of all he loved the fall, the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods and leaves floating on the trout streams.

Monday was a great day. Today however was dedicated to fly fishing. I do not have pictures of the fish I got, I left my camera in the car. Opps. They were very small rainbow and cutthroat trout. I took some of the view off the take out point and the drive down from Stanley. They speak for themselves.

Salmon River

Sawtooth National Park

 

Lewis and Clark

Area of the Idaho Wildfires. 19 miles from this point

Tomorrow is another day full of fly fishing. Lets hope for bigger fish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There Is No Place Like Home

I have been home for a little over a week now, and it has been relaxing. Currently I am on a plane headed to Sun Valley, Idaho for a little vacation. Wireless on planes is still strange. Last weekend I went out to the boat and had some friends out for a spur of the moment thing. Here’s a recap in pictures.

Matt and Eddie 

The sunset was gorgeous that night. Mom made some rib-eyes and other food for everyone to chow down on. Some interesting events occurred, but the day was fun. They were also the only ones to go tubing. Matt is a champion tuber in my opinion.

Images from the day

As you can see the sunset was very pretty. Without even realizing it, I had some members of my family tree from AOII out. As one would say, “party with pandas.”

The week kept me very busy. Tuesday night Amber and I went to see Eric Church at the Opry. I think I am going to make it a point to try and see him every time I come home. He’s my husband. His set was all acoustic. Just him and his guitar. It was really personal too and he also told the story behind two of his songs. More pictures.

He’s just so handsome

Wednesday was spent at Bluewater Scuba Center in Franklin. I had my first pool class for my open water certification to become a PADI open water diver. The instructor kept things interesting. I knew at some point when we went under the water my air supply would be turned off, I just did not know when. One of the most important things from that session, do not panic. I didn’t, and hope to not panic if that were to ever happen in a real life situation. After the pool session was complete, we went over the written work. I took my quizzes and passed my final exam! One step closer.

Thursday was the lsat day pool work. I had to hover for 30 seconds without moving my legs or arms, and without touching the bottom, surface or side of the pool. Difficult. I eventually got it.

The next day was the open water dive at Pennyroyal Scuba Center in Hopkinsville, KY. It is a old rock quarry, and it is beautiful.

After taking a giant stride into the water, we started our work. We did three dives and went over a ton of stuff. The only thing that gave me issues was finding my neutral buoyancy. We say two huge largemouth bass taking a snooze around 35 feet. Scuba diving feels like you are flying. I love it.

pink tanks!

Saturday was my final dive. I was not looing forward to the hover at all, but it was much easier when you can’t tell you are upside down. I did navigation drills and passed those! Once I ascended to the surface I didn’t see the instructor, so I started looking around. All of a sudden I see this little board come up from the water and it says “Congrats Diver Leslin!” I let out a yippie! We did our final dive I was presented with this nifty card

Pass to the quarry!

 

Well I have to go! Almost in Salt Lake!

Technology Hates Me

It has been about 3 weeks since I got my new computer. I can finally say  that I am now done transferring everything over. Technology hates me. I tried to transfer everything over wirelessly, but that didn’t work. So I manually transferred everything over. Good grief I have a lot of pictures. That is what this post is dedicated to, my life though some of my favorite pictures. Here we go.

My brother and I. I have no idea how old I am here.

Here’s another one!

18th birthday. Still short and so much skinnier.

First semester in AOII. Fall Fest at Cumberland

Saying goodbye to the Land Yacht

Little Jimmy D.

Eric Church… there will be a reoccurring theme here…

Jimmy Buffett Concert, or the night the rain poured down

Spring break with some of the best guys ever!

Mexico…

BVI’s

Heli Pad. Nootka, Island, BC

Sunset in Green Hills

Hot air balloon ride in Tuscany, Italy

Fishing in the Keys

Climbing at Bandalier National Monument, New Mexico

Graduation with Professor Bell

Precious Abbie

This concludes the enormous amount of pictures post. That is all.

Love Me Some…

Relaxation time! I worked for two hours today, but I still made some money. Woo! I went to the pool for most of the afternoon and soaked up the sun. I finished a book, which I will talk about in another post, checked some more off of my list of 101, which I will also talk about later, and got to talk to a good friend this evening! This is really sad, but I have completely lost my train of thought for this post. I blame the commercials showing me food that I cannot eat. Dad gets in town on Saturday and we are going fly fishing Sunday morning at the crack of dawn. Fun? I sure hope so.

Highlights of the Weekend.

I have been slacking on taking pictures. I apologize. I completed two things from my 101 in 1001 list. Number 9, buy a Suunto GPS watch. First off, these things are expensive, but I found the exact color and style on one of the discount outdoors sites I belong to and just bough that little sucker up. 

Number 13 on the list, go to a meet up.com meeting. I attend one Thursday night at Savannah Climbing CoOp. It is a new place that will have only bouldering in the gym. Great way to get in shape. The only downside is the membership is going to be expensive. Boo. I was also the only girl at the meeting. Something I am getting used to with doing adventurous things. Oh well.

Friday night I worked. Some guy left me his number. We chatted. Came to pick me up last night for date, and lets just say he didn’t get any farther than the entry way. Some guys are just jerks. Okay, most guys. Saturday I worked all day, as usual, but I did make a decent amount of money which is going towards my August vacation. Yay! I have to decide if I want to keep working during the school year, and that will all come down to me finding out Monday if I get the GA spot that I applied for. We will see what happens! On the agenda for today is go to the lake with Emily and relax and swim. I’ve got to get my mind out of the state its in, which is not a happy place. I was told you can see it in my eyes that I am not happy here. Cool.

Going West.

“I’m headed out west with my headphones on
Boarded a flight with a song in the back of my soul
That no one knows”
John Mayer

As many of you know, I love to go on adventures. After my mom came and visited last week, I got a phone call from her with her worry voice. We know how moms are. She’s worried that I’m not happy here in Savannah. I guess she is right to a degree. I don’t see the charm that everyone talks about or the draw. This could have something to do with living in the hood for a moment. So if anyone else that reads this and is dying to know, I am NOT moving. I have been presented with this great opportunity at a great program. The program is awesome, the city not so much.

Anyways to fix the state of mind I am in, I am taking a trip to Sun Valley, Idaho. I really wanted to go to Kodiak, Alaska, but the flights were costly and mom basically said no to going by myself. Being that I have been to Sun Valley a few times she said I could go alone as long as I did not mountain bike. What can I say, I tend to injure myself.

There is so much to do there. Bike paths that lead you to mountains and great little places to eat. Take a little drive up to Stanley, Idaho to do some whitewater rafting and kayaking on the Salmon River. In the same area why not do a little rock climbing?

They have fly fishing, horseback riding, and tons of other activities. One that I am looking very forward to is a bike ride to Ernest Hemingway’s memorial. I remember doing this as a kid every year and always reflecting on this at the beautiful site.

I have two months to get every planned out, and I seriously cannot wait! Time to hop on that bike…..

A Trip to Hilton Head

Yesterday, I drove to Hilton Head to visit a friend who was staying on the island for spring break. It’s about an hour away. Not a bad drive at all and it is a gorgeous one. I drove through a little town in South Carolina called Bluffton. I am going to have to make a trip back there for some oysters. Another thing I noticed about driving up there…. roundabouts. There are a ton!

I also brought Abbie with me since the beach I was meeting them at allowed dogs. Needless to say she was excited the whole drive. She loves car rides. Along the way, I passed the outlet mall, good to know the location of that since Savannah is lacking in the shopping area. The ocean is just beautiful. I cannot even explain how I feel just being around it. The color, the never ending view, and the thought that it can take you anyplace just makes me think. After going over some bridges and paying a toll ($1.25), I finally arrived. Bikes are all over the place. It reminded me of when my family and I used to go to Sun Valley, Idaho minus the ocean of course. I met KV and her friend at a little sandwich shop. Huge! Once we ate we headed to Colingy Beach. 

We found a little spot away from the mass crowds of people. After trying to get Abbie into the water, which was not successful we put our beach towels out and soaked up the sun. I have never seen a dog who loved to play in the sand as much as Abbie did. She also did not like the birds or people zooming past her on bikes.

While we were just sitting there minding our on business a group of college kids approached us. I am allowed to say that now since I am out, and I realize this makes me sound like an old lady. Anyways, this guy approached us, who had been drinking. This was his opening line, “Are you a Christian? I have been reading numbers all day and I don’t have yours.” Then he proceeded to tell us how he met some Baptists down the beach, and they informed him that they do not like to drink. He also asked if he could take my dog for a walk and my friend replied, “Even though you are a Christian, no.” The whole day was very relaxing. Just what I needed before classes start next week, as I will be reading 8 chapters. I will be making a trip back to that very beach very soon. Just to sum up the day in a collage of pictures… Now off to price out my books and supplies. Fun.