Another year, listwise

Last year around this time (well, let's face it, I'm sure I got to it earlier in the summer last year), I posted a collection of lists from the past Service Adventure year. Because I love making lists, and because I feel it makes for a good glimpse into life as a Service Adventure unit, here's another year's list recap.

Movies: Our friend from church owns Gold Hill Theatre in Woodland Park and always graciously invites the Service Adventure unit to come to a free movie each month. (Thanks Ed!!) It made for a fun group outing every month (except February, which we missed due to Rocky Mountain snow camps and general busyness).
September -- Snowden
October -- Doctor Strange
November -- Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
December -- Hidden Figures
January -- Hidden Figures (yes, again)
March -- Beauty and the Beast
April -- Gifted
May -- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

It should be mentioned that very rarely did all six of us go to the same movie. Having diverse tastes in most things, including movies, we usually split up. Of the ones I saw at Gold Hill, my favorites were Hidden Figures and Gifted.

Service Adventure includes a lot of traveling, which I love. I've had the good fortune to spend time in (more than just driving through) these states during the past year:
Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Mesa Verde, Ridgway, Alamosa, and more)
Alaska (Anchorage and Kodiak Island, for "work")
New Mexico (Albuquerque, for the annual balloon fiesta)
Virginia (to visit family last summer and over Christmas)
Texas (San Antonio, for leaders' retreat in January)
Utah (Arches and Canyonlands National Parks)
Nebraska (exploring Omaha for a half day while driving through, and yes, it is more interesting than it sounds)
Michigan (Amigo Centre for Daniel's family reunion, and also where I am at this moment)

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Our weekly learning components, a key component of Service Adventure household life: Daniel and I planned the first several in order to demonstrate, but for the rest of the year, we each took turns planning and leading a brief lesson on something or other. It's always fun to see the diverse interests and topics that are covered...

History of the Springs (Daniel)

Bread baking (Meg)
Barnes & Noble get-to-know-you game (Meg)

Watching the documentary Spellbound (Meg)

GUEST: Joe S. -- Hiking Pikes Peak

Making pilimini (David)

Presidential debate (Daniel)

Volleyball (Kate)

GUEST: Lawrence M. -- Team building activities

The 13th (Nora)

Apple cider making (Bruce & co at the MCC Relief Sale in Rocky Ford)

Carving pumpkins (Marle)

Nuclear fusion (David)

History of the Bible (Daniel)

Classical music (Meg)

Incarceration Nation exhibit at Colorado College (Nora)

German Language lesson (Marle)

Merry Christmas Jingo (Kate)

Basketball (Daniel)

Astrophysics (David)

TED Talk - Dan Pallotta (Nora)

French braiding hair (Marle)

Vacation Bible School (Kate)

Anti-racism (Meg)

Watching the movie Selma (Daniel)

Changeable stars (David)

Knitting (Meg)

Salsa dancing (Nora)

Softball (Kate)

German language lesson (Marle)

I Am From poems (Daniel)

Trip planning for the end-of-year trip (Meg)

Computer programming (David)

Softball (Kate)

GUEST: Bryan M. -- Bike maintenance

GUEST: Lawrence M. -- Changing the oil in a car

GUEST: Jenelle R. -- First aid

Computer programming, part 2 (David)​
​GUEST: Michelle M. -- Candle making
Finance 101 (Daniel)
​GUEST: Brandy -- Making overnight oats
GUEST: ​Mike & Fred M. -- RAWTools blacksmithing/making a garden tool from a gun

As you can tell -- I hope -- from the lists, it was an awesome year. Here's to the many adventures that lie behind us and ahead of us, whether they make it into lists or not!

Wanderlust: Ridgway & Great Sand Dunes National Park

So after journeying through Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, we made our way back to Colorado, taking a more southerly route back to the Springs. Our Thursday night destination was the home of the parents of a church friend. This house is nestled deep in the mountains of western Colorado; the nearest town is Ridgway, population 953.

This is the view from their living room.

This is the view from their deck.

Van for proof.

They had four hummingbird feeders on the deck, which were always a flurry of activity.

Anyway, during our one night at this house, we ate delicious food, spent time getting to know Marilyn & Doug, played ping pong and Zebra, watched a basketball game, and had our weekly worship night.

The next morning, we hit the road to Mesa Verde National Park before heading on to Alamosa. I have to take a quick sidebar here to talk about road trip music. Right before the start of this trip, I downloaded the Steel Wheels' latest album, called Wild As We Came Here. I recommend it for anytime, but I wholeheartedly endorse it as a wanderlust album. It is utterly perfect for listening while staring out the window at the staggering, unparalleled glory of the Rockies.

Here, try this opening track while you gaze at these pretty-but-nowhere-near-as-incredible-as-being-there car photos.

We pulled off briefly at Lizard Head Pass, a mountain pass at over 10,000 feet of elevation in the San Juan Mountains.

We made a brief foray into Mesa Verde, but didn't have time for anything more than a hike and a picnic. All the ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings (for which Mesa Verde is known) are located in the southern part of the park and were therefore incompatible with our time constraints.

I didn't take any pictures on our hike to Point Lookout, but it was very green. (As you might have gathered from the park name.) My housemates were relatively unimpressed after the staggering views of Canyonlands, but I actually loved it.

Anyway, after that we drove a few more hours to Alamosa, Colorado. We had dinner at an Italian place called Bistro Rialto before spending the night at the Mennonite Voluntary Service house.

Quick round of Apples to Apples Bible Edition before bed.

In the morning, we struck out for the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park, our last stop on the trip.

Oh look, another Steel Wheels song from their newest album. 

My frame of reference for sand dunes consists of my childhood experiences taking family vacations in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where we would sometimes frequent the dunes at Jockey's Ridge.

While my time at the Colorado sand dunes certainly called up memories of days spent at Jockey's Ridge, this is a whole different world. This is thirty square miles of the tallest sand dunes in North America, nestled in the San Luis Valley and surrounded by 13,000-ft mountains.

There were several aspects of our day at the dunes that felt exceedingly perfect, timing-wise. For one thing, our visit fell during the few weeks out of the year when Medano Creek runs along the base of the dunes. The rest of the year, it's dry.

We crossed the creek and began our trek up High Dune.

I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this hike.

I hiked the whole thing barefoot, which I absolutely loved. It was a pretty intense workout, but at the same time, it kinda felt like we were just frolicking on the beach.

Except it wasn't like any beach I knew, because we had views like this the entire time.

The weather could not have been more perfect. The sun was out, but with enough cloud cover to keep us cool.

I've heard it can get extremely windy in the dunes, too, with sand blowing so hard it's painful. All we had was a light, pleasant breeze.

We climbed this final ridge to get to the top of High Dune -- 700 feet tall.

And soaked in the panoramic views at the top.

The day continued to be perfect in every possible way and I continued to overflow with gratitude.

Gratitude at this place, this world, these people.

Eventually we headed back the way we'd came, and predictably, the way down was a very different experience than the way up. (If we see each other in person, feel free to ask to see the video of Kate, Nora, and Daniel racing down a super steep section.)

At one point Nora and Kate decided to swim down, a la sand-breaststroke.

When we reached Medano Creek, the crowds had arrived in full Saturday morning enthusiasm.

Beach life, Colorado style.

Great Sand Dunes, as the fourth and final National Park on our end-of-year trip, turned out to be my favorite of the lot. I'm sure this was due in part to the perfect conditions that day, but another big part was the majestic landscape, the unprecedented intersection of two of my favorite places: beaches and mountains. If you ever get the chance to visit, you really must.

I'll leave you with one more song.

Open roads, open hands.

May your roads and your hands be open this summer.