The Best Birthday Ever!

Hello again, readers. In case you haven't guessed by the title of this post, I had a birthday recently. I'm joining the ranks of twenty-somethings who are too old to be kids anymore but too young to grow up just yet. Tolkien accurately described them as the "tweens," or "the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three." (The Fellowship of the Ring). Honestly, I've been feeling a little nostalgic about my teenage years lately. After all, I'll never be a kid again. But thanks to my awesome friends, Ashley, Rachael, and Heidi, it's been a birthday to remember.

It all started about a month or two ago when Heidi invited us to visit her in SE Oregon. Of course my friends and I jumped on an opportunity to see her again, but we were also excited to visit the many attractions in that area. Personally, I've never seen Oregon east of Willamette Pass, so I felt a little like Bilbo going on his quest. Only I was actually looking forward to it, and there were no fire-breathing dragons involved, ha ha.

And like Bilbo, I was shocked and amazed at what I've been missing out on all this time...

 
Example 1: Crater Lake
I can't even remember what my favorite landscape was before I saw this lake. One second you're hiking through snow drifts and hoping the view is worth getting soaked because you were lazy and didn't bother to wear proper snow shoes — and the next...well...the picture is self-explanatory. This is not photo shopped in any way, shape or form. The water is some of the bluest I've ever seen, and the mountains surrounding the lake were simply breathtaking. Those who know me can tell you that I'm not ordinarily an emotional person, but I had to catch my breath when I first laid eyes on Crater Lake. It's simply amazing. There's no other way to describe it.

Afterwards, we went from snow covered mountains to a desert town called Klamath Falls. Yes, you heard me right...desert. Am I the only one who thinks it's kinda cool that snow and a desert  terrain can coexist so close to one another? (To understand why this is cool, know that I live in a rainforest.) This isn't the only place on earth where that occurs, and it's not like the dry dry desert, but I've never seen anything like it with my own eyes before. It filled me with a sense of awe at just how much I haven't seen in this world. There's definitely a lot of traveling in my future.

The next morning, Sunday, we attended Mass in a small hermitage. First of all, I didn't even know hermits still existed, so of course I've never met one. The very word hermit made me wonder what kind of person this priest would be, and I couldn't hardly sleep the night before because of anticipation. I was surprised to arrive at the hermitage to find a lovely wooden cabin nestled amongst the woods, far from the main road. It wasn't fancy, but it was peaceful. The chapel was barely large enough to fit the priest, altar servers, and the choir, and the rest of the twenty attendees had to sit in the kitchen; but the familiar Mass made me feel right at home. The hermit priest himself was an outgoing, amiable man who did everything he could to make his visitors feel a part of the group, and meeting him makes me think of the hermit saints in a new light. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I didn't think to take one until it was too late.

From there it was on to Bend, where my friends and I spent the whole afternoon and early evening strolling through small shops along the waterfront. I didn't have enough money for souvenirs; but after walking out of two candy shoppes empty handed, pure torture, I finally broke down at the third and bought a bag of my favorite fruit candy, cherry sours...and a Mad Libs game for later that night.

For the final night of our little Odyssey, the girls and I sat around till 1am partying like only best friends do: insane rounds of Mad Libs, eating way more chocolate ice-cream and cherry sours then is good for us, watching The Princess Bride, and laughing until it hurt. Out of all the amazing things I got to see and do that weekend, I think I will remember that last night the most. After all, adventures are so much more worthwhile when you have someone to share them with. In my case, God blessed me with three someones.

Thus ended the first twenty years of my life, and boy was it fitting. I hope and pray the next twenty years are just as fruitful and full of adventure, family, and good friends. 

*the picture at the beginning of this post was taken by Heidi Maly of Aspenglow Photography and Aspenglow Blog