Backpacks and Barbells

When I last posted on Backpacks and Barbells nearly three years ago, I was coming off a backpacking trip around Europe that inspired the original creation of this blog. I was on a high of independence and perspective that only an experience like that can provide. I was fulfilled. I was also completely unprepared for how much would change and how fast the next years would pass. I was always told that life goes faster as you get older, but yesterday was my 31st birthday. I mean what?! I recently took the longest trip since the Europe extravaganza and decided while climbing 9 miles out of the Grand Canyon that it was worthy of a Backpacks and Barbells revival.   The 2018 road trip took us through Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Antelope Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. I admittedly saw more National Parks on this trip than I have in my previous thirty years, and there is a peacefulness and vastness that only ...

Holy Adventure! Holy Change! Holy Living! When I look back over the past ten months now, those are first three things that come to mind. It's been a ride. As I logged on to write this post, I realized that the last time I wrote was in September. September! It's been nearly five months, and it seriously feels like yesterday. Although, when I think about all of the places I've been since then, all of life changes, all of the new in just five months...wow. 2014 was definitely a year well lived. As told by my lull in writing, at some point along the way, living became more important than reflecting. At least for the immediate moment. There's not enough space on this page to share all of those moments now; however, I am proud to say that I kept a daily journal for the entire trip. Everything I saw. Every person I met. Every time I got lost. Every emotion. It's all in there, and my hope is to continue to share those posts as I have time to reflect and write. For now tho...

I've spent a lot of blog time talking about the backpack side of my journey and have left a lot of the barbell side unsaid, but there has been a journey there as well. There has been reflection, changes in perspective, good times, and some awesome friends along the way. My Europe box count is somewhere around 15 at this point. Most for just a day or two, but a few for a bit longer. I've experienced a ton of different gym cultures, training styles, coaching styles, and programming focuses. Some gyms are gymnastics based with majority of the wods based around body weight movements. In other words, for me, #win. Some gyms are endurance based with at least a mile of running incorporated into every workout. Lord help me. I've found a few that have a programming structure similar to what I'm accustomed: a variety of strength, skill work, and sprint metcons. With every box I visit, I follow the workout laid out for that day. I know that a lot of time, planning, and effort go i...

I hate London! This was honestly my first impression of a city that I actually grew to love over the three weeks I spent there, and the very reason I chose to do extended stays in a few places. There is so much more to every place than what the breadth of tourism offers. I hate being referred to to as a tourist actually. I'm a traveler. There is a difference. The difference is in the richness taken from each experience. It's in understanding what lives beneath the surface of a place, the culture and the people, as opposed to simply paying to see iconic buildings and buying cheap souvenirs. I do love London, but I would never buy a shirt that says it.  My first few days in London though were spent doing just that: being a tourist. Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace. I'm in no way saying that these places aren't fascinating. They are and shouldn't be missed, but oh my goodness the people. It was worse than Times Square in New York or Disney World on the Fourth...

Alright. Back to the grind. I'm just rounding out a little over a month in Ireland and the UK. Let me start off by saying that these places were more like the US than anywhere else I have been thus far. English is the spoken language. Subways, McDonalds, and Starbucks strategically line public streets and are open later than 8 pm.  Grocery stores have more than a single brand option, and there is always peanut butter on the shelves. I never came across a toilet that couldn't handle toilet paper. Even the people: the mannerisms, concept of personal space, respect; all of it fell in line with what I'm starting to miss from home. They do drive on the other side of the road though which is pretty imperative to remember. Frogger goes really wrong when you're looking for traffic in the incorrect direction. Most crosswalks, however, have these handy little reminders that say "Look Left" or "Look Right". I guess I'm not the only traveller who has struggl...

I'm really behind in my travel blog. A lot has happened, and I can't wait to share it all with everyone. I actually have another post that I was planning on posting today, but something has touched my heart in a different way today.  I woke up this morning to the social media posts and news stories on the death of Robin Williams. Let me preface all of this by saying that I'm not a celebrity person. I couldn't pick out most celebrities in a crowd. I don't know the names of the actresses and actors in most of the movies I watch. I don't ogle over People Magazine's sexiest list. Robin Williams the celebrity was honestly not someone I knew a whole lot about. He was in essence a complete stranger as he was to most others reading of his death this morning, but as I was reading all of the news clips, it was a flood of memories and smiles that this stranger had put in my life. I'm pretty sure my family has pictures of my brother and I riding magic carpets as tod...

Wait what? How does that make any logistical, financial, travel sense? How does that make any sense at all? It doesn't. Ha. It truly doesn't, but sense and rationality are irrelevant in matters of the heart. Okay, so who is this, and where is Amanda? Where is the Amanda that plans her days weeks in advance, that hates to pay more than $30 for any article of clothing or anything for that matter, that is rational living defined? There is no way she would change all of her plans, book last minute tickets, and travel half way around the world at the drop of hat...I've changed a lot in the two months I've been over here. Not changed in the way that I'm a different person; I still stand with the same values, same sense of self, same future aspirations, but I've learned to view life as an experience as opposed to a checklist. I've realized things about the life I was living that were keeping me from truly experiencing. I lived a schedule. An impenetrable continuous...