outdoors – Working Mom – Travel Dreams

This is the last item remaining from my original bucket list that I made back in high school of all the things I wanted to do after I graduated. Everest base camp. Given that I’m about to turn 50 let’s just say given the physical demands of the trek that I probably shouldn’t put it off much longer. So I planned. I trained. I went. I made it. I lived to tell the story.

I’m a big believer in bucket lists and setting goals in life. I’m always working toward something. I always hear how lucky I am to do things. Luck doesn’t have anything to do with it. I set a goal, came up with a plan and made it happen. I don’t have a genie in my house granting me wishes. I made it happen.

Everything takes work and a sacrifice of some kind to achieve. It does not matter what it is. You sacrifice your time for money. Your money for things. You get up an hour earlier to work out, you just sacrificed sleep for fitness. Little fairies didn’t poof you a fit body. You put in the work and made it happen.

I flat out refuse to be one of the masses just existing and going through the motions of living. Why? We only get so much time on this planet. Why not make it amazing? Why not accomplish your dreams? Why not see the world, run the marathon or climb the mountain?

So I went. It was hard, but I made it. I accomplished my last goal from my high school list. It took me a while to get there, but I made it.

Don’t be afraid to do hard things. Prepare yourself and make it happen. You CAN do it.

There was 13 of us in the group but only 5 made it to base camp. Here we are with our guide.

The biggest challenge for me has been food, not the cold on this trip. I know it sounds odd, but I am here in the off season so roughly half the places are closed. The places that are open have odd hours. So every time I want something to eat I need to walk 15-30 min each way in the snow in search of somewhere that is open to get food. This has made me not very picky. I don’t really care what it is as long as it is hot… Ok, so maybe the cold is a factor.

Speaking of cold, It is warm inside and cold outside so I find myself stripping off layers like a horny teenager because I am sweating so bad as soon as I get inside and bundling up the Ralphie’s brother in A Christmas Story when I go outside. IT has taken me a bit to get a system down. At home the last thing I put on is my shoes. But my first day here I thought I might get heat stroke before I got my boots tied. Also, I learned that you can’t leave garments out side for any length of time. I took off my gloves to eat a bison sausage that was cooked over a campfire and they froze solid by the time I finished eating and I could not get my hands back in them. I also learned that temperature is all relative to what you are use to. Now I usually acclimate to the climate in a few days. I never acclimated to Whitehorse. I also thing the people who live there may be crazy since it NEVER got above freezing or even close to it while I was there but they were all talking about how they are enjoying the great weather and the early spring. One guy went camping with his girlfriend over the weekend. Camping. In the snow. Now I went camping once on the California coast in November and decided it is too miserable to go camping when it was that cold out. It was still above freezing…even overnight.

One of the things I love about travel is experiencing other places and cultures. This was just Canada so I was not expecting culture shock. But the people living in the Yukon are sure a different breed of human. I fully believe that these rugged, outdoorsy people will absolutely survive the zombie apocalypse should it ever come around.

There was a lot of beauty there with fresh snow covering the ground and I enjoyed seeing the wildlife. I can see how it would be a summer destination for hiking, camping, white water rafting and well, for pretty much any outdoor sports. This place was made for hunting and fishing. In California terms I am pretty outdoorsy, but in Whitehorse terms…I am a city girl. I am ok with that. The difference in perspectives is part of what I love about travel.