Defining Adventure
What is adventure and what does it mean to be adventurous? What is tradition? While you can find the definitions in a dictionary (see below), the execution of adventure+tradition is up to the individual. Here at NatureBridge (where I met my partner in love and adventure in 1992) I continue to find people who are interested in joining me for some wacky and not always fun - but always eventful - excursions.
Since 1999 I have made a tradition of sleeping outdoors for New Year’s Eve. Most years I try for a bit of adventure, although to me it’s not the adventure of death-defying, squirrel wingsuit-wearing style. There are years when I have gotten many takers, and others when it’s just been me and my sometimes reluctant partner, Hugh. “It’s cold! It’s dark!” and yet he still keeps me company.
This year, joining us skiing out to Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park were my colleagues Nessa Schear, Sam Webster and Nessa’s sister visiting from an Ivy League college back east. It was one of the hardest skis I have ever done out to Sentinel and it marked the first time I did not ski up the dome. It was just too icy! And yes, it was cold! I am not sure how cold, but cold enough for the water bottles to freeze inside the tent if you did not sleep with them in your sleeping bag, which apparently, I was the only one doing.
So here’s to a great 2019 with many more years of traditions and adventure, whatever those might be for each individual.
Adventure: an exciting or remarkable experience (Merriam-Webster.com, 2019)
Tradition: an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action or behavior (ibid.)
Stories
Fall Reflections from NatureBridge Yosemite
As an environmental science educator, I spend a lot of time teaching about nature, but this season I’ve been finding that as it turns out, nature has a lot to teach us, too. Sometimes I can let the trees, the meadow, and the lichen teach for me. They show us how to respect each other’s boundaries, how to celebrate differences, how to work together, and how to lean on each other’s strengths in order to exist in a new place. These lessons felt incredibly relevant to me heading into the first week of November, a notoriously busy time at NatureBridge Yosemite. I wanted to focus on messages of kindness and inclusivity with my students, I wanted them to feel a sense of belonging in this new space, and I also hoped that they would share those messages with others.
An Incredible 10th Anniversary of Evening on the Lake
On October 25, the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle buzzed with celebratory energy as over 300 NatureBridge guests and supporters gathered for the 10th anniversary of "Evening on the Lake," our signature Pacific Northwest fundraising event for our Olympic campus.
"Science became fun" at NatureBridge for Alum Laura Lomeli Russert
Laura Lomeli Russert is a NatureBridge alum who grew up in Groveland, CA and now calls Washington, D.C. home. Laura’s journey with NatureBridge began when she attended the Golden Gate campus as a young student with her class from Tenaya Elementary. Laura credits NatureBridge with shaping not only her love for nature but also her passion for education and science. "Science became fun,” she recalls. “You weren’t learning from a textbook anymore, and it became so much more real." Her hands-on, scientific experiences at NatureBridge laid the foundation for her eventual pursuit of a Ph.D. in psychology. “I feel like I owe a lot to NatureBridge."