Christmas 🚐…

Tonight marks the second night in the van. The photos show the Instagram version. Gorgeous right? A friend suggested we set up camp for sunset and the overnight up on a semi-close mountain, overlooking the valley from about a mile-up. Sounded ideal. We had the place virtually to ourselves, it being a holiday at all.

Seemed like an awesome plan in theory.

Reality was something else. ;)
LESSONS:

1) don’t pack and leave quick after a big bike ride without eating something first. Or I’ll be hungry when I get where I’m going. Like. Real hungry.

That’s important for this point: 2) don’t ONLY pack foods that require hot water to consume. After driving quite a ways -including over tough gravel roads replete with washboards and such- (this drive wasn’t for the faint of heart), I arrived, -unpacked, -and set up camp ONLY to realize I could not get the stove to work AND all foods that I packed require hot water to eat (oatmeal, dehydrated meals, coffee, hot chocolate). Add this to my aforementioned hungry stomach, and it does NOT = a happy Megan. 😠

We (and by we, I mean me) learned: Always pack extra snacks that don’t need hot water. AND-Always check things like the stove BEFORE unloading everything and setting up camp. And don’t start an adventure on an empty stomach.

Ok so I loaded back up. Mad myself, you can be sure. Battled that doggone bumpy road back into a nearby town. Found a grocery store still open at 7pm on Xmas eve and bought myself a set of California rolls & a bubbly water dinner. Then I drove to a trailhead that is far off the beaten path and settled in …. Anddddd realized user error was the problem with the stove before. 🤦‍♀️… that’s right. I got it to work. Geez Louise. 🔥

So— I rehung the Xmas lights inside the van. 🎄 Made myself some hot chocolate. Settled in for an amazingly quiet and different kind of Xmas eve.

Solitude…. It’s a way to reframe being alone. Loneliness inherently carries negative connotations… Solitude is empowering IMHO. I can honestly say I enjoyed my solitude out there and did not feel the least bit lonely. Ramsey and I had a wonderful time.
It was so quiet.

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self”

— May Sarton

And then- oh my gosh - Christmas morning …. what a view outside those 🚐bed windows …! We were gifted with an incredible sunrise. 🎁

I made coffee for the first time ever in the van … (could that be any more enjoyable ?! Life’s simplest pleasure and most divine!) … and then we got out on a nice early hike. A second coffee and some apple turnovers plus 9 miles of fresh air hiking & sunshine vibes made this one ideal Christmas morning. 🙏🏼 🌲 🌄 🌵 🐶 ☕️

Talk about a room with a view !

Thank you 🎅!

“I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”

— Henry David Thoreau

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Here are some photos from the very FIRST van overnight a few nights ago ….

I would love to say these beauties were taken at my campsite. But no. The truth is that the sunset that night was at 4:48pm and I wasn’t ready to stop driving. And so it came to be that I ended up parking in a Holiday Inn parking lot to sleep that night around 9pm. Not winning that’s for sure.

LESSON: That’s the night I learned to choose a spot that is NOT right off the main road.

yes—so many things to learn - that’s why I’m showing myself grace as I go. This is all a master class in life and I’m ready to soak it up.

Here’s the book I’m currently reading; it’s an ideal book to ponder while I’m out exploring and camping in the van. It’s a book I need to read slowly, not rush through, and really process. It’s been recommended to me so many times by so many people - and I’m really enjoying it so far.

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Simple Pleasures: Hosting Friends for Dinner

I tell you what. I am absolutely in love with cooking for friends and getting people together at my house. And for those reading this who’ve always enjoyed it, let’s just say this is a somewhat recent revelation of mine.

I used to stress out about having people over and it felt like work. The house had to be spotless. The dishes and napkins had to be perfect and the menu complex and “amazing,” and so on. I made it harder than it needed to be and in so doing made it exhausting and therefore rarely hosted.

In recent years- probably a combo of quitting alcohol and eating out less; embracing a vegan and then plant-forward lifestyle, I started getting into meal prep using plant based menus and a few new utensils for my kitchen like the Le Cruset pan and rad food processor among other things. A new and proper knife set, some cloth napkins, a newfound appreciation for produce (especially locally grown produce!) and a desire to up my game of nourishing my body as well as possible — led to more and more cooking and learning in my home kitchen.
…with that came some confidence that I could serve these foods to friends with good results.

The setting down of perfection as the goal and the embracing of authenticity instead allowed me to move away from caring about my house not being “perfect or spotless” and towards embracing the chance to connect with my fellow humans over a meal.

My house isn’t dirty or cluttered. It’s lived in.
It doesn’t look like it came from a magazine and not everything matches or is trendy and that’s ok. True friends - the people we want to invest our time into- don’t care.

And candidly if the house really is a mess or the meal is gross, these are the people who would love me enough to simply say that.
How refreshing.

…last night I invited a few of my neighbors and a new guy over for dinner, and got them all together for a meal; it filled me with so much joy. True joy. True connection. True laughter. True community. It was wonderful.

It ended up being a very jalepeno- forward meal… along with jalepeno flavored chips, I made one of my fave dishes- a vegan curry using butternut squash (including jalepenos because I love to add them to this recipe), served over rice and then I also made veggie fajitas (including jalapeños) (with optional ground beef) as well as homemade salsa.
With you guessed it- jalepeno in it. Recipes below.

My neighbor Nancy made the gorgeous raspberry pie. Erica prepared the pretty appetizer tray.

…we had fun. We laughed. We learned about each other. It was fantastic.

Ages ranged from 4-70s or so.
How beautiful is that ?!

Simple Pleasures: The Joy of the Night Ride(s)

Last night I rode my ebike to and from our local bike advocacy meeting (Bike Jeffco). The ride itself was pure joy for me. Everything looked and sounded differently in the dark- and I felt like I had the whole place to myself.

Life looks different viewed in the beam of a bike headlight. It narrows ones focus. The sensory perceptions of sounds and smells is also heightened. The wind was quiet and the sky was clear. I didn’t want it to end.

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Saturday night provided another opportunity for a blissful night ride. I rode from home in north Golden down to Morrison for dinner, which is about an hour each way. Yes it got cold, and my hands froze a few times digging the camera out. But the images, and learning how to shoot well at night, made it so worthwhile.