Inverted Turtle

100 and More Things has moved to, and become The Inverted Turtle! I have updated all my social media accounts, and the Facebook page to reflect this change.

I hope you enjoy the new site, this one will be left up, however  I won't be posting here anymore.

Thank you all!

A Change

Often times I don't post frequently because I think I have nothing interesting to post about.  Here are the issues I've found with this:

• The obvious - I don't post very often.
• I actually have a pretty neat job, so while it's my normal most people would fine it very different.
• Posts don't have to be super long! 

So, here's what I've decided to do - please bear with me while I get into the habit - a new post here every Monday.  It might be a post about an upcoming trip, or a cute picture of my dog, or a funny quote from my rock climbing students, but every Monday there will be a blog post either here or on the Appalachian Trials.

I'm also excited to announce that my Appalachian trail thru-hike will begin on July 3rd 2017! 

The Appalachian Trials

As you may know I really enjoy the Appalachian Trials website, I even have a link to it at the bottom of my blog! It's been incredibly helpful while planning for my thru-hike, and just a lot of fun to read other people's experiences on the trail.

Now, I get to blog for them!

I've already put up one post there because we didn't finish the 100 Mile Wilderness.  We did, however, learn a lot.

So, you can go to that link and subscribe to my posts there.  I highly recommend just subscribing and reading as many of the posts on the website as you can.

Today I did weigh what food I had left, and it was... 17.5lbs! Since I'm going ultralite I'm trying to get my whole pack under 15lbs.  I'll be posting my whole gear list on both blogs eventually, but it'll be up there first!

Gearin' up, snapshot style.

I received my Canon Rebel in the mail on Tuesday, and finally had a chance to play around with it this morning!

Lucky for me today was the first day I've seen our newest "neighbors".  Two new birds have moved into our birdhouse.  Last year I snapped some pretty cool pictures of the last couple to live there on my iPhone.

My cats and dogs were also featured heavily in my photography this morning.

My camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T5.  The kit I bought actually came with the camera, three normal lenses, four close up lenses, three professional filters, two memory cards, an external flash, a carrying case, a full length tripod, a USB cord, and a couple other neat things.  I'm super psyched to have so many new things to play around with.  I didn't have to spend as many hundreds of dollars as I expected either, so that was nice.  A good quality beginner camera with lots of accessories, it's the perfect place to start me on my photography journey.


I also have recently received a hand-me-down MacBook Pro that works a lot better than my old one.  Lots of photo editing and more blogging should be happening now that I have a working laptop.  Salt Pump is a beautiful place to blog from!

Thru-hike Update, October 2015

I have ordered my sleeping bag, and received my sleeping pad, and Cheyenne's dog bed!

Also, I am considering waiting a year.  I didn't get to do any camping, or difficult hikes over the summer.  My puppy is still young, I can't start backpack training her until she's a year old, and I don't know how big she is going to be, so I can't purchase the correct size backpack.

I'm going to set dates for camping, hiking, and backpacking trips to do next year.  Instead of starting the whole trail maybe I'll do the 100 Mile Wilderness on my departure date.

My biggest fear with putting it off a year is if I put it off one year what is stopping me from putting it off another year?  Then another?  This is my biggest concern with waiting.  My biggest concern with not waiting is that I won't finish it.

This decision is not 100% final, but it is most likely.  I will, of course, continue blogging and preparing for other adventures!

Thru-hike update, September 2015

I have been getting my gear ready for my AT thru-hike!

Yesterday I received my backpack in the mail.  A Deuter act lite 70 + 10 pack.  I may have gotten a slightly larger pack than necessary, but I'd rather it be too big than too small.  I jokingly said I'll just put Cheyenne in it, then she won't need her own pack! I'll be getting hers when she gets a little bigger so I'll be able to size it properly.


The other piece of gear I just got is my tent! I purchased the tarptent rainbow instead of the double rainbow, because I was afraid the double rainbow would be too big.  I set up my tent as soon as it came this morning, and I'm really glad I went with the smaller of the two.  There will be plenty of room for me, and Cheyenne, and all of our gear.


Now I have my dog, my backpack, and my tent.  Just a couple more big items to go and I'm all set with that part of getting ready!

Appalachian Thru-hike Update 8/21

I figured I'd update you all on my AT Thru-hike details.

First of all, I've chosen a tent, the Tarptent Double Rainbow.  I actually have had this tent in mind for a while.  It's lightweight, fast to pitch, and not too expensive, as far as good tents go.  Plus, there's plenty of room for me and my dog! Outdoorgearlab's price for the tent is off by a couple dollars according to the tarptent website, but it's still not a bad deal.

Next things on the list are sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a backpack (I know, that maybe should have been first?), and doggy backpack.

For sleeping pads I'm thinking the Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest SOlite.  One regular sized one for me, and possibly a small one for my dog

Sleeping bags I've been looking at are the Enlightened Equipment Revelation Bags, the short(5'6")/Slim option for me, and The 2-in-1 NobleCamper for my dog. If I go with the NobleCamper I won't have to get a sleeping pad for my dog either, because it's a bed and sleeping bag in one!

The backpack I'm looking at for myself currently is the Deuter ACT Lite 70 + 10 pack

A great article about hiking with dogs, which is certainly a good thing to be reading up on.  I should be getting my dog very soon, so be watching for a post about that! It will be knocking something off my list, too!
80. Adopt a Dog from the Animal Shelter.

As soon as I get my dog I will start purchasing things for it, such as

• A dog pack
• Food/Water dishes
• A coat
• Booties
• Leash/Collar/Harness
• Flea/Tick collars or medication
• First aid supplies!

Doggy supplies is a whole other post!

What this blog is about

I want to make this clear, my blog isn't just about what I'm doing, or what I want to do. Yes, it's about me completing my list, but I'm trying to make it about much more. I want it to be about me enjoying life in every way possible, and not doing things just because people say I need to, or because I have to have money, or whatever.

I also want to be encouraging others to do the same.

I just read a fantastic blog post from a wonderful actress whom I know in real life.  The blog post is "Professional" theater vs. "Community" theater: a reflection.  She does a lot of shows at the community theater where I volunteer (keep an eye out for that spotlight if you're interested!), and because it is just a community theater none of the actors/actresses get paid.  They don't mind though, they're doing it because they just love being onstage singing, dancing, and acting!

One of the last lines in the post is "So, the next time you go to see a community theater show, please, remember that we’re all up there LOVING what we’re doing." I love that line.

People choose to follow their passions in different ways. The people at the theater choose to follow their passion without getting paid. Some follow their passion in other ways in order to get paid to do what they love. In my opinion, the only wrong way to follow your passion? Is not to follow it at all. Personally, I choose to write about it on this blog. Will I ever get paid for it? Maybe. But even if I don't I'll be following my dreams and sharing them with the world.

Adding to my List

I'm adding new things to my list today!

• Travel to a foreign country with a friend
• Travel to a foreign country by myself
• Travel to a foreign country with a family member

I have recently discovered that a friend of mine has actually done quite a bit of traveling, and she gave me and another friend some tips on traveling cheaply.  I haved asked her if I can interview her for this blog, so definitely keep an eye out for that!

Some things

I've been panicking about not completing my "Before I Turn 18" list in time, my 18th birthday is today, when I realized something, when I made the list it was only things I could do before I turned 18, not things that I had to do before then.  I didn't want to have to wait until I was an adult to begin my list, I was afraid that I'd lose my enthusiasm about it, so I broke them into smaller bits so I could start right away.

Working towards my goals, I am currently learning Italian (still), and I am working at a climbing park near where I  live! Getting over my fear of heights is an important step to a lot of my goals, including sky diving, climbing the Seven Summits, and BASE jumping, among other things.

Another exciting thing, I recently acquired a Canon Powershot G5 for free, all I had to buy was an extra battery, and a charger.  It's an older camera, but it takes decent pictures, and it's a good "training camera" so when/if I get a better one I'll be more familiar with how to use it.  I realized today that I don't actually have a way to get my pictures onto my laptop though... That, however, is a problem for another day! Like, when all my memory cards are full.

Blog update

I've just updated my blog a bit.  Mostly added links to my various social media.  I recently created a Tumblr to go with this blog, it has a sampling of my photography, and a few things I've reblogged.

For those interested I'll go a bit more in depth about what I post where.

Twitter -

• Favorite picture of the day, either mine, or someone else's I've used with permission.
• Summary of recent blog posts.
• Occasional retweets of things I think are worth sharing.

Today's favorite picture.

Facebook -

• Most liked pictures of the day from my Instagram.
• Summary of recent blog posts.
• Special "Facebook only" pictures and posts that I don't post anywhere else.

Instagram -

• My photography from traveling, hiking, visiting nearby places

Tumblr -

• Sample pictures from my Instagram
• Summary of recent blog posts.
• Occasional reblogs of things I think are worth sharing, that almost always have something to do with my list.

This Blog -

• In depth posts about things I am doing, almost entirely about my list, or other travel related things.
• My full list.
• Links to my other websites, and to other people's blogs that I enjoy.

That's currently all!