Nature

I had two very quiet, nature-ie, and sill experiences in July.
July we went upstate to visit my brother. For Ryan and Darin to meet. They are two of the most kind and gentle men I know (probably due to them both having tons of sisters). I loved hanging out, us three! It was super special.

Ryan and I stayed in an Airbnb for the weekend upstate NY to visit with Darin. Ryan said it was the most rustic thing he'd ever done. It was a cabin with a full bathroom and full kitchen. It really wouldn't be categorized as rustic. Seeing as we both have lived in cities for our entire adult lives, "rustic" or even rustic is not something we do often.
On Saturday we went canoeing...... hello nature! We canoed for like five hours I think. We were the only ones canoeing in a massive reservoir. Like HUGE! Like so big that when it started thundering (four hours in) I panicked and got down on my knees and started rowing like turbo speed. (My shoulders and arms have healed in time). It took us a good 45 minutes to canoe to get to a side and be closer to land. (So as to not get struck by lightening). For those forty-five minutes I probably thought about death about ten different times. The other thing about hearing thunder when your husband is half deaf (literally, I'm not being a jerk, he lost his hearing in his left ear when he was a teenager), is that it takes about 5-6 minutes to convince him that yes, it's thundering, before he actually starts focusing and rowing hard!
So, we made it, not only that but we got the top of the reservoir and had a little lunch picnic and relaxed and enjoyed the quiet and stillness. (well we relaxed until Ryan was convinced that the poop near our little island lunch spot was bear poop and we should, "just be aware of any bear that might be around.")
The thing about Ryan is he says really scary and intense things in a very calming voice and it can be confusing.

Nature adventure #2:

My solo drive from Phoenix to San Diego. I've never spent any time in the desert. I had a work meeting in Phoenix and that was my first time in the south west area of American. (side note: I'm desperate to see the Grand Canyon and I feel like I should have tried harder to fit the Grand Canyon into our Arizona/California trip, but I didn't).  So I rented a little car (well I rented a very small car without cruise control and since I was driving far I returned it for a car WITH cruise control).
I set off. My phone was on 20% battery and I had some gas. Within the first thirty minutes I was in the middle of nothing! Like tumble weeds and cactus.  Just like the movies.
It was 104 degrees out and I had two prayers: 1. Please don't let me run out of gas 2. Please don't let my AC break. Thanks.

There were mountains and signs that read "turn off AC or car may overheat" and then a few miles up the road huge buckets of water for overheated cars.
I had to turn my phone off so it didn't die (cause if it died, I seriously wondered if I would, out there in the desert).
So, I kept driving. Driving in the silence cause the only radio stations were in Spanish and trying to learn that language in college didn't go well and I had no idea what they were singing about.
I had to stop at two border control stations. I wasn't hiding anything so they let me through. I survived. I drove on.

Nature days!