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withabackpackandcamera · 4 years ago

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September 16th, 2020

Day 3: A Full Day of Hikes and Lights

Today was our designated Denali National Park hiking day, especially after we weren’t able to squeeze one in before nightfall yesterday. To fuel ourselves for it, we got some extra sleep because we didn’t wake up super early to hike and we ate our leftover flatbread from last night. Both great decisions. By the time we actually checked out of the lodge, the weather did us a favor and cleared up and was looking pretty good, with little bits of blue sky actually visible in between the heavy layer of clouds.

On our way to the park, I made a couple of quick roadside stops to take some photos of the area. Not too long afterward, we were back in Denali National Park. We first made a stop at the Visitor Center to talk to the rangers about some different hiking route options before ultimately heading to the Mountain Vista Trailhead to hike the Savage Alpine Trail. This hike was essentially a 4+2 mile hike (meaning that we would hike through the alpine landscape for 4 miles before hiking 2 miles back along the main road to our car to close the hiking loop) that would take us up around 1,500ft in elevation gain. And the hike was gorgeous with superb weather. We couldn’t have lucked out any more than we did. The hike itself was a slow, winding hike through beautiful landscapes that were ever-changing as we ascended. Most of the hike was under the partly cloudy sky, providing great views all around. There were great colors and great views of the Alaskan Range. During some parts of the hike, especially along the ridge, we even got glimpses of Mount Denali (though it wasn’t entirely free of clouds)! What a treat! Because of all of our stops for photos, videos, rest, and views, it took us around 4 hours to hike through the beautiful landscape and get to Savage River. Once there, we pulled out our Lunchables (which we had brought as snacks and not a meal) to re-energize ourselves before leisurely hiking back up the main road to our car.

Because Cynthia had some business to take care of that required access to cellular data, we drove back to the Visitor Center briefly. Even though we had hiked for 4+ hours already, it was still relatively early in the afternoon and we wanted to make the most of our time in Denali with good weather. So, before closing out the day, we went on another short hike near the entrance of the park called Horseshoe Loop Trail. This 2-mile hike wasn’t strenuous at all. We essentially walked down to the observation area to view Horseshoe Lake below before descending further to lake level. At that point, we wandered along the trail and through the trees and managed to find views of the Nenana River and Beaver Dam. But little did we know that the first path that we took wasn’t actually the entire trail. On the way back, we found the real trail and took that trail and looped around Horseshoe Lake back to the Nenana River before turning back to the car as the sunlight was fading. Oh, and I must mention that there were TONS of mosquitoes along the trail as we hiked around Horseshoe Lake. I mean LOTS of mozzies.

We reached our car around sunset or so but given how heavy the clouds were in the area, I decided not to go all the way back into the park for sunset photos and instead decided to start our 2 hour trip up to Fairbanks. As we drove through the fall colors of interior Alaska, we had great views of the sunset as it went from nothing but clouds to full of color and warmth, with very colorful oranges and reds exploding across the sky until 9pm or so.

Once we arrived in Fairbanks, we grabbed some quick fast food dinner (Subway for Cynthia and McDonald’s and their new Spicy Chicken Nuggets with their new hot dipping sauce and a McDouble for me) to quickly fill our bellies before it got too late. By the time we made it to our AirBnB, our hosts had already called it a day so we didn’t see them and let ourselves in.

After eating our food and cleaning up, we started to look at tomorrow’s plans. And just as I was starting to look into things to do in Fairbanks, I got side tracked by the crazy idea of chasing the auroras tonight, even though we had spent an entire day hiking and it was getting late in the night. But I found myself looking up the night’s forecast and the aurora forecast with it. Based on what I had found, there seemed to be a slim chance of catching the Northern Lights tonight. But we went out to try seeing them anyways because the whole reason we drove up to Fairbanks at all was to give Cynthia every opportunity to see the auroras.

I looked at a couple locations just outside of town to find the best viewpoints for the auroras and decided that we would check out Cleary Summit Aurora Viewing Area, located about 30 minutes outside of Fairbanks. We didn’t want to go too far but we also didn’t want to be stuck in the city lights trying to view the northern lights. So I drove us out there and before long, we were sitting in our car in a dirt parking lot with other hopeful and eager Northern Lights spectators parked around us. It took awhile for the sky conditions to become optimal as dense clouds heavily blanketed the sky above us. But we waited and waited. Eventually, the clouds started to lift just a little, enough that I was able to somewhat discern possible shades of off-gray that could possibly be the auroras. And I only knew what I was looking for after my short time and experience in Iceland and Norway with the auroras back a few years ago. So I took my camera, changed the settings, and pointed it at the sky from the car. Click. The shutter opened and a couple seconds later, it closed. And tada! There was some green light in the sky! The auroras! The very elusive auroras were visible on our first try!

With evidence that the Northern Lights were indeed active tonight, I adjusted my eyes while also telling Cynthia about the trick to viewing weaker auroras in the sky. After we adjusted our eyes for some time and the clouds started to lift, we started to see more and more auroras in the sky. Eventually, the activity became high enough that we could see gray-ish, cloud-like lights slowly dance across the sky above us! At this point in the night, people were coming and leaving because they probably didn’t know what they were looking for. Some people actually came to me to figure out what they were supposed to be looking for and what they were expected to see. I kindly passed my knowledge and experience along to them as I stood there with camera and tripod in hand ready to capture some shots. We stayed out at the viewing site for a little more than 3 hours because I wanted to give the auroras a chance to get even better and more spectacular. And it did! Even though it never became super green to the naked eye, the activity level of the northern lights got to the point where we could see the lights flickering across the sky, something I didn’t at all expect during our trip given how difficult it is to time the auroras to good weather and good fortune. But wow, three hours that were well-worth the wait!

Eventually, the lights started to die down and become less dynamic. It was at this point that I called it a night with a sleeping Cynthia in the passenger seat. I drove us back into town while catching up with my dad on the phone before eventually arriving at our AirBnB sometime past 3:30am. Whew, what a night out!

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

1. Alaska is home to 16 of the U.S.’s national parks and accounts for nearly 2/3 of the acreage of all the national parks combined! Wowzers! That’s humongous!

2. There are very few trails in Denali National Park and Preserve. The reason is because the park service wants to keep the area there as pure as possible and give people the opportunity to try off-trail and backcountry hiking.

3. Mosquitoes are the real deal in Alaska. We had read about all the mosquito issues people have in the summer and expected to avoid them altogether in mid-September but boy were they swarming in the damp, moist areas around Horseshoe Lake. Luckily, no bites.

4. Alaska has some of the prettiest fall colors I’ve ever seen. It seems as if there are way more and way denser forests of aspens in Alaska compared to what I’ve seen in the many parts of Colorado I’ve visited during the fall. It’s amazing! And when you drive (for example, from Denali to Fairbanks), it feels as if you’re driving through a tunnel of gold!

5. The northern lights are definitely viewable in Alaska in September! But as always, the weather and solar flare radiation from the sun must both be optimal in order for the auroras to be visible to the naked eye. Always temper your expectations when trying to view the lights as you don’t want to be too disappointed if you don’t catch them. However, you should always give aurora searching a shot. Even if it’s a cloudy or rainy evening.. Even when the forecasts say nothing will be visible or that there’s a low chance… You just never know because the conditions change so quickly. Always, always give it a try. Go out into the darkness and look up (and/or shoot your camera upwards if you have one) and you may not be disappointed. But remember, patience is key! Also key are the following websites I found very useful for aurora viewing in Alaska, especially Fairbanks:

a. https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast (University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute’s Aurora Forecast Page (Note: You can access live camera view in (b) from here))

b. https://allsky.gi.alaska.edu/#page-tonight (Live Camera View of Night Skies at Poker Flat Research Range, AK)

c. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov (NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center)

d. https://www.explorefairbanks.com/explore-the-area/aurora-season/aurora-tracker/# (Explore Fairbanks’ Aurora Tracker)

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survivor-rotuma · 6 years ago

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Ep. 1: “She reeks of minions” - Apollo

Brianna

My dumbass almost put my real name into the confessional link so we are off to a great start!!! So beginning of the game we have to pick a leader. Thomas kinda automatically pushed it to be Apollo which was funny. But then Apollo asked me if I wanted it bcuz he didn’t want it and that’s a no-no. He was scared people would be intimidated that he got an idol clue so I told him to just share the clue with everyone and take the leadership position which he thought was a good idea....for some reason. Lol. Hopefully he doesn’t screw up the immunity challenge for us and I get an idol clue without having to be the leader :P peace out ✌️

Cassie

Getting to know some of my tribemates has been fun and I definitely feel like we've been clicking well so far. I don't have any bad first impressions.

Felix

So I am getting some good vibes off of Flint and Joey. I think they're pretty cool and match my vibes. Cassie is alright, but she doesn't seem to be the talkative type. Finally there's the two that haven't talked. All I'm saying is that if we HAVE to go to tribal then we know who it should be. Also I would never volunteer myself as leader. What do I look like? Responsible?

Zest

I just got to the island and am still a little apprehensive. This is all very new to me. So far, my tribe seems very nice and go with the flow. But, I think that will change as the game progresses. I am definitely trying to just get an idea of people, but, it is very early in the game. We got the clue that "Idols are forged in fire.” Not completely sure what that means yet. Once we know what the challenge is, that will help! I’ve been reading about the other tribes and am curious about how they are all doing. Are they getting closer than mine is? Is my tribe on the right track?

Marie

I’m getting along really well with Kathleen, she is definitely my number one right now and I’d love to work with her!

Flint

The first night has gone better than I had expected. As a somewhat introvert I was nervous about getting to know my tribe but the other players made it easy. Felix and I hit it off really quick, I would consider him my closest ally thus far. Joey and Cassie both talked about being pro-pineapple pizza so that may blossom into an alliance down the road as well. Suzy and Charlie have been quiet so I can see them being an early target if we lose immunity.

Apollo

"https://i.makeagif.com/media/3-26-2018/myXMdc.gif

I feel like signing up for this game was a bad idea for my mental health, but I love Jay more than I love myself so who cares?

First impressions? Thomas suggests me as leader, and I'm shook. I wish I didn't have the name of a Greek God, why couldn't I be ""Steven Smith"" lol. Anyways I got the idol clue and shared it with the whole tribe since I don't need a giant target on my back to start with. Hopefully I can use this leader position to start a team that can work cohesively for the beginning of this game. Ope! The challenge has been posted. I've gotta run! Hopefully I won't be first boot!"

Lysandre

So the tribe has been formed!! The leader is Marie and thats cool! I was then put into a potential alliance chat with me, Marie, and Kathleen! Lets see how this goes! I also chose to participate in the shells challenge and its going great so far, except for the fact that all the numbers are confusing me. Is there a thing for dyslexia but with numbers?? Also I love Jay wtf.

Apollo

I can't believe you put me on the same tribe as Karen again, and I don't know why the hell she thinks Boris is a funny name, but the cat icon, has me living. I didn't know it was her since she wasn't on at the beginning but when she started talking and dragging the midwest I couldn't help but confirm my suspicions. She reeks of minions. Also pretty sure the new zealand person is just Stephen, bless his Soul. As for the rest idk them but being put in the leader position really helped i suppose. Thomas and Zest seem to respect me and Brianna and I are working on the flash game so hopefully we can bond over that. I would love for us to win immunity the first round but at this rate, If Bradley doesn't come on at all tomorrow, we might not even need to go to tribal, it just might be med evac, which would come in handy if we lose, but be a shot in the foot if we win. A little part of me was hoping for some ungodly reason Camilla would come back, but if she is, its not on my tribe :'). I'm imagining that Sam is somewhere but not on my tribe. I can't wait to get on with this game and to see how well I can do with a fresh start.

Gigi

I'm pretty happy with my tribe! Everyone seems kind and levelheaded. I'm kind of worried that I missed out on bonding with them though, since I wasn't around for the first meeting!

Kathleen

"I seem to have formed bonds with a couple of tribe members pretty quickly, I might be wrong but it seems like most of my tribe hasn’t really started playing the game yet so it’s good to get a one up just in case. Our leader, Marie, was someone I suggested because we’d been talking and I thought it would be good to have someone that was starting to trust me as leader.

Also this puzzle is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and I have like 500 mental illnesses so that’s saying something."

Lysandre

OK SO LYSANDRE IS DOING EVERYTHING TIM COULDN'T. Their goal in the challenge is to get atleast 101 bundles but a bitch is getting tired. Also queen Jay posted her idol search which I thought was cute! I like how it works but my problem with it is that the idol can be found so fast. It can be found in say... under an hour on your first prompt submission... LIKE HOW I DID. I have an idol yall!!! My first ever Idol!!!! I am so proud of Lysandre, they are doing amazing.

Lysandre

Having the idol feels a little surreal. I am aware that I have it but it is sooooo early in the game that it feels like a joke. I am going to tell no one about the idol moving forward in the game and I'm going to try and save it for no one but me.

Felix

Look who found an idol on their first hunt! I now have a safety net to fall back on just in case any of these people want to be snakes in the grass! We love me being an icon!

Felix

Me not reading the rules? It's more likely than you think. So now I just got to hope that everyone else is able to pull through in this challenge. God this sucks. At least if I am the worst on my team then I can use my idol to protect me. But that would be a waste of an idol so early in the game.

Boris

"HELLO. so the game just started yesterday and honestly?? I'm having so much fun.

playing as a different identity lets me separate myself from the game and play in a way I typically wouldn't. I'm already playing much more socially than I would in a typical game. My tribe sees pretty good! Everyone showed up at least, we're not the MOST active but everyone seems so nice, it'll be pretty easy to get along with everyone

totally off subject but this IDOL HUNT? WHEW. literally iconic. It's so fun to explore the different paths and see what happens. it took me forever to reach an outcome (and it was a negative one, at that), but I just had fun doing it anyway.

I volunteered to do the endurance portion of immunity, and I'm lowkey kinda regretting it. Like, I don't have anything else to do, but I just barely have the motivation to sit and type for hours on end. Oh well, I feel safe enough that even if we don't win I should be safe! hopefully!!"

Joey

"it's been a hot second since i've played one of these things and whew i forgot how exhausting it is getting to know people! i think everyone's in a weird spot because we're trying to remain hidden so we can't release real information about ourselves, so all the conversations i've had have mostly been about food. i've told two people i'm a fan of pineapple on pizza, which is a total lie, but whatever it takes to make connections right?

i put my name out there for the leader role, but quickly gave it up to cassie. i think people are going to gravitate towards her, and i wanted to get in her good graces in case she is the key decision maker here. i feel like a lot of these people don't work as much as i do, which might put me at a disadvantage in the social portion, but what more can i really do?

i volunteered for the flash game because that seemed like the least annoying/time consuming section of the bunch, and on my fourth try i had a really lucky run and got a pretty decent score that i haven't gotten close to since. i think my strategy is going to be to pretend i'm struggling with the challenge, and at the last minute pretend i got my good score to show how hard i worked and how i ~persevered~ or whatever."

Felix

13 votes? Mama you gotta know more people than that

Felix

We're safe! I'm so shook that even though I submitted by accident XD

Marie

Gigi didn’t help with the challenge at all! Like wth pitch in? Tribal tonight should be an easy vote

Cassie

I feel pretty confident about how I did in the challenge for my tribe. We didn't come first, but I believed in my team that we'd still be safe and we were. We can only improve from here to overtake our competition and I still believe in my tribe. Go Tuai!

Thomas

Early days, everyone seems really nice so far, think I have gotten a good team!

Charlie

Honestly nothing particularly juicy atm, everyone is really nice and we are just getting to know each other. Theres a few people I'm vibing with more then others however...maybe a potential alliance in the future?

David Penn

Everyone seems way to chill and i'm waiting for the game to start getting heated. Also our tribe leader kinda dipped and everyones leader.

Brianna

Well. Sumi kind of...demolished that challenge. And I was starting to think we weren’t doing enough lol. It’s nice to see the first challenge results and put everything in perspective for the whole game. Not really any new updates. Bradley appeared for the first time today. Then shortly disappeared soon after. A missing person alert has gone out and he will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Zest

Wow! I am so emotional about our first win. I got really anxious about the puzzle and was worried I’d let my tribe down. Luckily, we all were really supportive of one another. Everyone has a really positive attitude and I am happy with Apollo's leadership. In terms of getting to know people, it is still really early. I have spoken to everyone on my team individually except Bradley.

Lysandre

OK so we lost the motherfucking challenge. I was the only person on my tribe to actually win their category. One of my "allies" Kathleen FLOPPED in the challenge. Luckily Gigi literally does not exist in this plane of existence. Maybe she got snapped by Thanos and she'll come back in 5 years... who knows?? What I do know is that I'm voting for her to go!! Also David approached me with the idea of voting Kathleen. I tried to play it off as if I'm stuck in between voting those two and I hope he bought it but Im obvi not gonna do Kathleen rn because she communicates with me. But we LOVE being the first tribe to go to TRIballlll.

Suzy witters

Im getting on with Felix a bit, and Charlie, I like charlie more though and can see myself working with him throughout the game

Marie

Lowkey can’t believe David actually called Kathleen out in the public chat, not a good move buddy. Let’s just say, he’s lucky that we want to get rid of Gigi or else Kathleen might have made the vote him!

Kathleen

I did HORRIBLY at the challenge and it seems that David was coming after me before some of my alliance members talked him down. We’re going for Gigi tonight so we only have people left that will actually try in challenges, but if we end up at tribal again I might just have to try and convince my alliance members to go for David to save myself.

Boris

"my tribe? Did that. We are a tribe of WINNERS. We dominated the first challenge!

But in less fortunate news, my dumbass needs to stop jumping into pits and volcanoes in the idol hunt. Search 1, I jumped in a lot and everyone was notified of my search. Search 2, I jumped across a volcano and now I can't participate in the next immunity. Which is an endurance! Which im really good at!! And the tribe knows I can do it because I did endurance last round!!!

So now I'm in a position where I kinda have to sit out (luckily our tribe needs to sit someone out anyway) BUT I'm stuck between coming forward and telling the truth, that I fucked up while searching, or make up some excuse for them to let me sit out anyway.

I think the former is smarter. Surely everyone else is searching too, and and maybe they'll respect my honest??? But if not, it could be my downfall. If they know Im searching every day they might be more inclined to vote me off before i find anything, since now they know I have nothing. "

Boris

Wtf why am I stressed, i don't even have to go to tribal

Bryan

So. The next immunity comp is an endurance challenge. And we have boris saying he won’t be able to be here for it because of a family thing. Apollo works til 12. Bradley probably won’t be here because of his disappearing trick. And I work til 10. I’ll hopefully still be able to participate because it’s not constant...but. We are already down three people and the comp hasn’t even started yet oh lord please help us.

Flint

The first Immunity Challenge was tougher then I had expected! I was assigned the seashell necklace making portion which sounded fairly easy but once I got going it was easy to get tripped up in the numbering. Once the results were announced I was glad to see our tribe got second place because I was one of the weaker ones in the challenge performance. Time to step it up!

Bradley

I need to really step up my social game since we won immunity. So its going to be a mess but i want to try and make some connections.

Gigi

Not sure if I'm paranoid or not, but I am idol hunting right now! And got a disadvantage instead. Just my luck!

Raul

Things are weird especially with the whole alias thing but ya know we march on the tribe is kinda quiet so we'll see I haven't seen a target emerge but it'll probably me to be honest

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heister · 8 years ago

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Reykjavik, Rafting, & Golden Circle

well…I didn’t take an early night Sunday. I ended up making some friends at the hostel and we decided to go out; yes there is nightlife in Reykjavik on Sundays. We landed at Kiki, the only queer bar in Reykjavik (which I have affectionately started to call Reyk, even though probably no one says that), where we made some more friends and danced a little. It was pretty low key (there’s not THAT much nightlife on a Sunday!) and I made it back to the hostel in time to stream Game of Thrones. BUT – tragedy – the internet futzed up halfway through and when I tried to get back on, it told me there were too many people using my account. It’s finally happened, friends. I gave out my password too many times. It’s funny because I looked up HBOgo’s policies about number of uses of one login, and they are very vague. So I guess we hit the magic random number. If this happens again, I may have to change the password – I’ll let y’all know if that happens and apologize if that’s the way of it, but a girl’s gotta watch her GOT. I’ll probably just wait until Mondays to watch it anyway, because I’d rather stick it to capitalism and share my (mom’s) account with all my friends but…we’ll see. Oh! And no spoilers here, now or ever.

So I did not have a very good night’s sleep, maybe about 4ish hours, and then it was off to my big rafting adventure! Yes, I went rafting in an arctic river composed entirely of glacier melt. Whoo it was cold! They gave us all special wet suits and shoes which was really helpful. I rented a gopro for the journey and have a butt zillion photos and videos, but the memory chip they gave me doesn’t fit into my computer, so no pics from that for now. It was a lot of fun, but I am so sore now (the next day). It really is a good upper body workout! Oh! And I managed to fall in on the very first rapid. Oy. It was quite exciting…I don’t think I really had time to feel too scared, though I was definitely a little freaked out. But I did everything right and was pulled back into the boat after the rapids were done. I’m sure my butt is bruised but I held on to the boat and kept my feet up, so it could have been a lot scarier than it was. I guess I can say I swam a class 2 rapid! I am grateful to be okay – it was quite the surprise, I was in the boat then all of a sudden I wasn’t! After that it was pretty hard for the rest of the journey to compare, thrills-wise, but believe me, I was glad to have some tranquility. My arm hurt a bit after that, but it went away soon enough. We also stopped at a place where you could jump off a cliff at 5 or 8 m. I chickened out of the 8m and did the 5m one, and ooof, I did not jump right because my body was hurting after that. I think it was the impact of the life jacket moving on my upper torso, it hurt to breathe too deep for the rest of the journey. I was starting to get a little worried, but the pain went away as soon as I took my life jacket off, later. So everything’s okay! But I must say the jump was more scary and painful than fun…I think my phase of jumping off things (see: Central America 2015) may be over; it’s probable that bungee jumping (also CA 2015) actually increased my fear of heights haha.

After rafting, our group did a tour of the Golden Circle. I was so tired and wiped out I almost didn’t even care about everywhere we went. It was hard to pull myself out of the car, I was so tired. But I’m glad I did. We went to Geysir first, which is the geysir all other geysers are named after

It doesn’t gush anymore, just steams. Its neighbor, Strokkur, is much more active, but I didn’t get any good photos. It gushed 3 times in a row right after I walked away – poor timing! Whatever, though, I was there and I remember :)

Then we went to Gullfoss, which means golden waterfall, named for how it looks when the sun hits it a certain way.

It was really beautiful, and we saw a few rainbows! I didn’t have time to go close to the falls, but I was also a little worried about slipping and falling on the slippery rocks, so it’s probably for the better. After my excitement on the rafting trip I think I was a little hypochondriac. On the trail here I realized I didn’t have my drive with the rafting photos and assumed I’d lost it, that it had fallen out of my pocket in a bathroom somewhere. But then I found it back on the bus. Yay!

Our final stop was þingvellir national park, where I’d stopped with the GoT tour earlier. The rest of the group went to the waterfall I’d already seen, but I went to Alþingi (which sounds like how I try to pronounce most Icelandic: “Al-thingy”) which is where the first seat of Icelandic parliament in the 900s (yes, 900s, NOT 1900s) was.

It’s right where the tectonic plates of Europe and North America are coming apart, slowly (about an inch in Iceland every year). I realized that this is what that tunnel from the GoT tour was (the bloody gate one; also used when the wildlings meet the thenns) – it’s the “no man’s land” between continental plates. wild!

Then we went home and I went to sleep, whew!

Today is my last day in Reykjavik and I’m taking it pretty easy. I checked out of my hostel and am at one of my favorite Reyk cafes. Tonight I’m going to the Blue Lagoon – a total tourist trap hot springs but all I’ve heard is that it is a tourist trap AND still worth it. It will be nice to just relax with all my sore muscles from yesterday. After that I’m heading to an airport hostel to rest up before my flight to Berlin early tomorrow morning. I’ll be getting into Berlin around noon tomorrow, and while I’m sad to leave Iceland – I’m rather fond of it – I will NOT miss how freaking expensive it is here! Oy! My hostel in Berlin is 1/3 the price of my hostel here, and it’s so refreshing to return to semi-normal city prices. I’ll be saving a lot in Greece, I hope, but dang, this was an expensive trip. I wouldn’t take it back, but do wish I had planned more. I understand why I didn’t/couldn’t but my recommendation for others is to definitely plan, save, budget, etc. for Iceland. It’s not a great spur-of-the-moment trip, but it is a great trip! I think my favorite parts were the glacier lagoon and rafting. It’s a really beautiful country – even the “mundane” parts of it are gorgeous – and worth coming to see. Just be sure to budget and save in advance. My only regret is that I’ll be saving after the fact to cover some of the costs on this trip. But, yolo, you know?

Well, I think that’s all for now! Catch you in Berlin!

#iceland #reykjavik #gullfoss #geysir #golden circle #rafting #adventure #travel #þingvellir

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ts-hvv4 · 5 years ago

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EPISODE NINE: “NOW THINGS ARE GETTING MESSIER” - JAKE

So full disclosure, this is the first time i've ever really betrayed a close ally in TS and it feels bad ???? IDK i'm not used to being the bad guy. Honestly, say what you want but Chris' blood is all over my hands. I'm the one who went around telling people that Chris/Malik/Dennis were close and I am the one who was there for the villains as their extra number. I'm not relying on my physical game this season and it's a way different vibe..... should make for an interesting game moving forward

Well, at last nights tribal Chris went home 5-4-3. I was not shocked, I knew that would happen. I also knew that by taking part in that I was pretty much cutting my ties with Dennis and Malik. Malik seems really mad at me, which yeah I get but also I think it wouldn't have been smart to tell him. I needed to show my loyalty to the villains; most of whom do not trust him. I think I've gotten in close enough with the people that have sway in this game (minus Jake) to do some damage moving forward. I am taking this all one day at a time at this point.

WHEW SOOOOOOO the first merge vote happened...I feel like the devil but I look good in red so hehe. BASICALLY I was able to get everyone to target Chris instead of one of the Armonia heroes which was high key about to happen. Both Matt and Nicklas wanted Ned gone and Ned is a ride or die for me so they really thought. Unfortunately it meant the only way I could get the target on Chris was by exposing his idol, because I couldn’t without it. So I told Ned to tell Sarah knowing Sarah would tell The Huntresses. What I did not expect to happen was for her to tell me first and IMMEDIATELY after Ned told her. I think she really trusts me???? Am I starting to trust her???? Do girls really run the world???? So anyways Sarah and I devise a plan to split the vote between Chris and someone else, Matt and Sarah push for Malik and I really wanted to fight it. Not because I wanted to save Malik, fuck him to the fuckteenth degree. But I would have really loved to NOT split the vote against the two only black people on the tribe (now we said it.gif). But standing up for Malik puts a target on OG Armonia and at the end of the day Malik has proven he doesn’t want to work with me so forget you, go home, good bye. I just feel so bad for Chris because I’m the reason he was the target...but it was the best move for me and I don’t care how nice you are, I will always do what I need to, to win. That’s why I’m a villain, that’s why I’m a two time winner, and that’s unfortunately why Chris is the merge boot. Now looking at the merge and my relationships, Ned and I are better than ever. We had another heart to heart and he’s such a stand up guy, I’ve grown to care for him alot in the game. Because of that I can’t betray him at this point, but it’s nice because I don’t think I need to. His inactivity reminds me a lot of L’Shei. A smart loyal ally who only really talks to me...that’s not a bad deal when it comes time to who you vote for at the end. And I’m trying to get him to push his relationship with Sarah and get close to her, so that she will protect him and I won’t have to reveal how close I am to him. Plus with Sarah and I getting closer, I could see us goils going really far together. The only wrench in that is Nicklas knows I was a part of a plan to take her out, so Nicklas continues to be a threat to my game. I want him out faster than a queer in college. BUTTTT it’s hard because he’s tight af with Jake. If I look at the threats to me winning objectively, it’s Nicklas, Jake and Kurt…Nicklas and Jake because they are smart enough to know they need to take me out. Kurt because he’s so likable, he hasn’t pissed anyone off (because I’m doing that for us), and he’s enough of a gamer. Like if Kurt wins against me it’s earned, if I win against Kurt it’s earned, our games are pretty tight. I have no issue getting rid of Nicklas, I have no issue getting rid of Jake when I need to because I know he’ll do the same, I don’t know if I can take Kurt out...I really don’t....I would feel like the worst human on earth. Last time I played I knew there was no way I could win, but this time I want that third crown. The question towards the end of the game is going to be: how fucking much bitch...how fucking much.

*a little bit lateR*

I know that now that i'm not winning immunity FLAKJDS that I need to protect myself. As much as I DESPISE Malik, I know it’s smart to get him on my side right now because he has no one and is desperate...and y'all know how I love desperation hehe, it's a delicious meal with a side of unyielding loyalty. He wants to get an alliance going but I'm telling him that's impossible because of everyone's intertwining connections and the best thing to do is to keep our allegiance to each other a secret so we can keep each other safe from our opposing sides. This is necessary because if people want to make a move against me, they are going to think Malik is an easy number to do that with, so they are going to go to him to make the move, and then he's going to come to me. Covering my bases and this thicc ass. I’m also not going to tell Jake about this, point blank and the period I don’t trust him right now and I need to play him like I did Sid in Tonga, wait for him to start the foundation of a move against me not realizing I got bear traps all along his route. I’m not sure what this next vote is, all I know is I need to keep Malik protected without people thinking Armonia is getting the band back together. Right now my three biggest targets are Nicklas/Dennis/Andreas because I have no relationship with them and I have a relationship with everyone else. I don’t know how to get the vote on one of them because they all have deep connections in the game, but I need to think of something and soon because if not, an Armonia person is leaving and that hurts my game drastically. If I could get the vote on Chris when it was supposed to be Malik or Ned...I can do it again. Also catch my fake ass talking about destroying tribe lines at tribal council KFLJASD

Wow so tribal went very smooth, like butter. Chris is gone, his idol is gone, his kindness is gone, we have no room for any of that here. This is a villains season. And this is great because I’m like “villains strong omg guys” but in the back of my mind I know these shady motherfuckers are gonna start plotting, it’s inevitable. I’d be naive to think otherwise. The only problem with this vote was that it involved lying to Malik which is literally what I’ve been doing this entire game, but this time it’s more direct. It will be exposed and for the first time I risked burning that bridge with him entirely. Luckily he is very easy to manipulate and I feel like after literally two paragraphs and some guilt trips later (because he didn’t include me in on how he was voting, oh boohoo poor me), he was back in my pocket. God I love being evil and beautiful.

I sucked at immunity, which is great! I do not want to come off as a comp threat and give anyone any reason to come at me. I know that sounds like bullshit and it’s like “come on, one immunity won’t kill”. See, I entirely agree, but I want people to underestimate me and consider me weak, at least until f8. The other issue is that I actually already won an immunity this season, pre merge, but it was still individual immunity. I don’t want to rack up wins quite yet. If people think I’m easy to beat, at least comp wise, I have no issue with them keeping me around for that sole reason.

Last night was not good for me!! Once again no one was chatting, while Sarah was keeping me up to date on whats happening in the villains and huntresses groups. THEN Nicklas comes at me from left field and tells me that people know me and Sarah are close friends which was inevitable but I think puts a huge target on me. I took a big risk last round turning on the heroes and if the villains aren't willing to work with me right now I might be in a tangly spot.

Also okay so Andreas did some sleuthing and found some stuff.... SO I was on the wiki and saw this random account edited the Santorini page? So I was curious and clicked on the profile, and it turns out to be Sharifa. Cool enough. SO THEN i see she's active on this 'Survivor: Side Seasons' wiki ???? So once again im curious, I click on it. She made her first edit on this wiki in 4 years on Feb 19th, 4 days after the game began. She removed herself as listed as a host from a season, and turns out that kurt and matt both played in this season. Interesting and also questionable.

Sry I haven’t confused in a hot minute. Okay so we merged and right off the bat it was a little messy between sharifa and nicklas because I’m trying hard to get them to trust each other but sharifa thinks that Nicklas is too smart and will clock us. Tbh at this point I think it’s a lost cause. At the beginning of merge, Kurt tells me that lukas told him that ned told his last tribe that I wanted him to be Ammonia strong, and then Nicklas confirmed that to me and that everyone on his old tribe knows. So I blew up on Ned, who tells me that he told Malik who told Chris and Dennis because they’re close and that he’s really sorry about it. So was kinda annoyed that he was barely on but had time to accidentally almost ruin my game! So the votes happening and all of a sudden the villains chat is working together? Like oh? Someone found out that Chris has an idol and I am fully onboard to target his trio. We decide to split the votes between Chris and Malik and Chris goes. Now things are getting MESSIER. Someone told Sarah that sharifa has been saying her and andreas are friends which is a yikes. I only ever told Nicklas that but never mentioned sharifa saying it. I was hoping for an Andreas blindside because he has connections and is close to Sarah who has an idol, but clearly we got RATS on this island. (Eyes Lukas) Soooo things are probably going to be messy af tonight but I would like to work with Dennis to make a move since he tried building a bridge w me yesterday, but I also know he did it to multiple people so it might not be truly beneficial to me... whatever we’ll see!

Honestly sharifa thinking ned is loyal to her is so funny He told me about chris’s idol and he told sharifa and she be like omg ned pls tell sarah this so we can both know Bitch i already knew bc andreas/ned/I are close af Anyways, nick is starting to say that were close and we just merged so i really dont need that shit so im trying to convince sharifa and the others that he needs to GO matt is awol again so we really need to sort thay shit out. Im in a villains alliance but i want to be the first person to switch on it bc ned/andreas are heroes and i cant have the villains just completely demolishing them bc thats ugly Anyways its so fucking hard protecting them when im in an alliance with CRAZIES

So villains have agreed unanimously again that we’re going to pick off another hero, and because Ned and Andreas proved last tribal that they were willing to work with us, we decided to spare those two. That means once again the vote came down to Malik and Dennis. Sarah and Nicklas were both very outspoken to multiple people that they didn’t want to vote Dennis, which definitely raised some red flags. Why lobby to keep Dennis if you’re not aligned with him and Malik is the perfect goat? It was just very suspicious. ANYWAYS, we convinced Sarah to vote Dennis due to Lukas and I using the logic that Dennis is a much smarter player and it’s dangerous to keep him in, and of course if sarah did have something going with Dennis or any reason to keep him, she sure as shit wasn’t going to fight logic in the villains alliance chat. That would expose her. And she only does well at blowing her shit up behind the scenes, not in the open. So basically where I’m getting at with this is that the vote is going to Dennis by the looks of it.

I realized I won’t give these people the satisfaction of seeing me upset if I leave. It’s not even with the energy or to see them smile and laugh like they accomplished something in their life. Imma just do what I usually do these days is laugh it off and wish everyone the best of luck. Because that’s what a true player does.

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bike42 · 5 years ago

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San Juan Islands / Victoria BC - Day Eight - Wednesday August 21, 2019

We were blessed with 7 days of amazing weather, but all good things must end. Without rain, we wouldn’t enjoy the sunny days as much, right? Plus it was great to be around 100+ like-minded souls who don’t mind cycling in the rain.

Today was a transition day, ending the PAWs adventure and off on our own again. We had breakfast and set out for the 20 mile ride back to Sidney to catch the noon ferry back to Anacortes. It had rained off and on for a few hours, and we left Victoria in “heavy mist,” not exactly rain. Back out onto the Lochside Trail, which we now knew backwards and forwards quite well. I was worried about some spots being slippery (metal bridge deck and others made of wooden planks), but it was ok. About five miles out, the mist turned to actual rain, but was warm enough to keep the misery factor low.

We got to the ferry dock, showed our passports and bought tickets - plenty of time (an hour before sailing). I’d packed my larger backpack with layers of warm clothes wrapped in plastic bags so I shed a wet layer for a snuggly warm layer and that was great. We huddled inside the gift store and bought more hot drinks, then the clerk kicked all of us “bikers” outside! It had stopped raining so we willingly moved outside and chatted with a neat couple from North Carolina.

We’ve enjoyed being with this group so much. As I’ve said, we’re like-minded, and it’s been so much fun to connect with so many different people. Here are the stats of the attendees:

107 riders from 22 states (IL, WI, OH and MN being highest numbers)

Age range: one person under 40, and one over 80; biggest numbers in the range 60-69 years old ... lots of senior discounts on the ferry!

59 ladies, 48 men (mainly couples but several groups of lady friends).

The ferry boarded and left just after noon. We were last to board, which means the good bench seats were taken. We found a good spot with enough empty chairs to hang our wet jackets. I changed into dry yoga pants - temporary luxury. We played cribbage, ate soup, napped, and soon we were arriving in Anacortes (about 2:30pm).

We were the last to leave the ferry, which meant long line at US customs. It was raining again, but still about 60 degrees so not too cold. It took us 30 minutes to clear customs, then a 5 mile ride back to the Marina motel. I was a bit anxious about getting to our connection, and the rain was heavier, as was the traffic - misery factor of 8. As Jeff likes to say, you get to a point where you don’t get any wetter. I was there.

Arrived at the Marina with many others that were also in a hurry and anxious about connections. Many were scheduled to catch the Airporter Shuttle and fly out yet tonight! Jeff had brought his pedal wrench so he extracted our pedals, lights and mirrors from the loaner bikes while I collected our bags. We summoned a Uber driver to bring us back to the ferry dock, and tried to not leave a puddle in his car! Back to the ferry 10 minutes before they called for pedestrians to board - whew! Time to change into another stash of warm dry clothes - felt like heaven. Relaxed and snacked on our hour cruise back to Friday Harbor.

I’d booked a hotel close to the harbor, Friday Harbor House so we wouldn’t have to schlep our bags far and we’ll also be close to the meeting point for our upcoming paddle adventure. It felt so different leaving the ferry this time, knowing the layout of the town and exactly where we were going. This was the smallest room so far of this adventure, by the time we washed out our wet and dirty gear and unpacked our 4 bags, we had the place looking like our usual adventure travel hillbilly style!

Got settled, then remembered this is a town that closes down early (and much activity around the ferry schedule as many just are here for the day I think). We walked a few blocks to the San Juan Brewery, where we were delighted to find it was open mike night, so we enjoyed various levels of entertainment while we devoured a pizza and beet salad, washed down with some Black Boar Porters.

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survivorelara · 6 years ago

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Episode #6: “"NOT ANYMOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE" - Big Z

Even though I misplayed my idol, I cannot believe that my incessant need for wanting Toby gone actually fucking worked. Like. I will be taking the credit for this one because I just fed it to my peoples and had Loris know about it and just controlled his emotional vulnerability. I would have been good without having the idol either... so wig- I fucked up on that end but WOWZA it feels good to actually lead a vote, see the vote go the way you want, and have my target argue with someone who HE thinks started this revolution. Hehehehhehee

bruh im getting major Byzantium teas right now... where my og tribe gets decimated and only two of us actually make it to the merge. right now theres only 3 of us left and just like then if only 2 of us make merge we're gonna start off as swing votes, then everyone will target us. please don't let that happen Byzantium wasn't my greatest org experience

LMAO SO DANI THINKS WE ARE DEAD TO HER BECAUSE WE BLINDSIDED HER AT THE LOUISE VOTE? poor girl. you're playing a vivor org, get over yourself. you better pray to GOD we don't lose or that you have an idol... because your ass is done otherwise. one way or another, like I said before, only 2 zosma's max are making merge lmao…

In the middle of the challenge, so this confessional will have to be brief. I can definitely WIN this challenge, but I do question if that's the best for my game. The other tribe had a unanimous 6-1 vote, so now it's an even 3-3 split over there.

If we win, it's possible that either they'll go to rocks, or one of the Revati's will flip to save themselves? (Because it's unlikely the Auva are dumb enough to flip on one-another since that'd give us majority in the merge.)

However our tribe is currently a 3-2-2 split, and while I don't THINK the two sets of two are working together, I can't eliminate the possibility that they'd gang up on us to eliminate one of us and evening the numbers for the merge.

It's difficult to say where this whole tribe will end up shaking down, but I'm hoping to avoid Tribal if I can help it. The less Tribal Councils I go to, the more options I have going into merge because I won't have necessarily hurt any feelings by voting a particular way.

Well, I crushed the challenge, scoring all 5 points on my tribe, everyone was talking about how I carried them... which already has me worried given my history of being labelled a challenge beast after only having one good challenge.

But at the very least no tribal, I'm curious if we'll be merging at 12 or if it'll be some other number. Guess I'll know soon enough, but it's nice to have a break for a bit, and I think I'm doing pretty well on bonding with others so as to better my position.

Dylan still never talks to me. So ideally he'll be gone soonish, either by us losing the next challenge or him serving as an early merge boot. But even if he sticks around I doubt it'll be a major problem.

MY HOPE, for the other tribe is to send home Drew or Roxy (preferably Drew since I know Roxy and can work with that I think), to split up that Power-Pair as Drew was a fool for spoiling that. I don't really care who goes so long as the Revati's stay, and if we DO lose

Now if I could just find a damn idol... or SOMETHING.

HELLO LITTLE MIX AND NICKI ARE COLLABING I REPREARJT HHHHHH THEYRE COLLABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack Lawrence is so nice and so pretty. I would die for Jack. I would cry for Jsck. I will climb a mountain- and I hate walking. oh thats climbing I hate that too. Jack is nice Jack is kind. I shit on the Jack haters. He is just perfect. He could do nothing and still be thebest non-lead host. (Ya AJ shuttup) Anna Jane is PERFECTION. Erik is cutie she is cutie and I love AJ n Erik. She is hot and if I was gay i'd fuck. She is good listener and perfect and beautiful andeveryone get u a friend like AJ bc she is a BIG ASS MOOD in my life like stop being so perfect thanks

Sometimes I get confused about which day we’re on, so hopefully it’s day 14 lmao. The other tribe snatched Toby & I’m not surprised. Auva didn’t just make a mistake that will hinder themselves, but it will also affect what’s left of og Zosma. The Auvacados could’ve worked with Toby to start taking down Revati, but it would seem that they’re still out for vengeance. Toby was setup to be in a swing position, of course he’s gonna feel out both sides before choosing one. Now Auva is split with 3 on each side & I don’t see any of them flipping, unless og Auva is gullible again. Drew T. didn’t trust Revati either because he wasted an idol on himself even though Toby voted in favor of him. Flops.

Kori is legitimately a godsend. He c a r r i e d Revati in the challenge by scoring all 5 points that we needed to win. He says that he focused hard & waited for the messages to pop up which mind you were separated by intervals of several minutes in the span of 4 hours. Kori is a very humble dude & tries to downplay his capabilities, but he’s the GOAT. Maybe even the shield I needed. :O

I’m not too worried about Dani at this point in time. If Revati happens to lose then she would probably be the easiest to turn people against. Everyone participated in the music video challenge while she was the only one that did not, and she has a habit of sitting out. Sam told me that she hasn’t talked to him since the day we blindsided Louise & I’ve gotten the same treatment. Since I’m “dead to her”, I think that making a move against Dani pre-merge would benefit me in the long run. This would also change everyone’s perception of Sam and I to being non-threatening come merge as we don’t have the number

tea time sisters! toby was a king but was a threat and I have to see the benefits in him going. this tribal is going to be eventful I think... because I think I’m getting votes because roxy seems to really want me gone??? but i have a plan that I think will work :))))) I tell John to vote out drew t or roxy and I say that I know he doesn’t really want to vote out drew h so I’ll settle and sacrifice for drew t. if he’s fine with voting roxy then I tell him that I think I can get drew t to vote her too, and then we can vote him out next, when in reality we’ll vote out drew h next. if he wants to vote drew t now then I tell him me and z will do it too when hopefully z will vote out roxy with me and drew t instead because roxy is trying to get one of us out. ezpz . In fact we could even vote drew h. it’s all tea. I really hope z and John are loyal to me, I think z will be, and I think I can just play with me saying I trust you to John over and over. cute!!!! I stay winning... I can’t believe that I .. actually have a plan... that’s t it’s so easy idk why I couldn’t do this before my mind is just so powerful now? also auva idol is GONE and that’s fantastic and also I got legacy bitches!!!! only 7 more bitches need to go then I can use it :)

Soooooo half of this tribe is just completely inactive during the most important hours of this game prior to tribal. It’s SO FRUSTRATING because even if I want to make some sort of strategy with them it’ll take them at least 2-3 hours to reply to me. I cannot do this for too long. The other issue is that people are sooooo hesitant to throw names out, and when you do throw a name out literally EVERYONE hears that you started it and it gets turned on you. That happened to me when I said John’s name once to Roxy last tribal. I worry it’s about to happen to Loris suggesting Roxy too. We’ll see how it plays out, if I end up dying I’ll at least go on an active note rather than an inactive one.

THERE ARE TWO HOURS UNTIL TRIBAL AND LORIS IS THE ONLY ONE HERE

Whew another tribal and everyone is like absent again!? Wow we love productivity! Trademarked by the Celestial ORG! Please, come buy some productivity!

I hope we merge soon. My goal is to make it to merge without going to tribal. Idk how my tribe would pan out, we got a few inactive asf people. I dont have an idol but I really want one . tbh I'm so glad I took my break bc I'm not focused on winning im just focused on enjoying myself and my game while it lasts and I feel like its significantly improved my game.

Okay so Loris isn't talking to me but he's talking to other people so I'm being TOLD they're going for Roxy but I don't really believe it, I think if an idol is played, I'm dying courtesy of him and Z. Just gotta keep the faith in my people tbh

We doin big z vut doing loris kihhtve been better cause of her connections vut my nothing much I can do. I dint Rlly like the mrtge we r hesding into we r hella in minority

sometimes i forget im playing a org because all we do is win oh i got an idol btw hihihi

Honestly I am happy Toby went. HE WAS A BITCH! He wanted me out the the first round. Now to get Sam and Ciere out next. Expect Tea motherfuckers. Anyways, literally I have not talked a lot. I have gotten to know Kori. He is a shady fuck, I know that from past experience but I need him. I talked to Emma or Emmy or whatever the fuck her name is too. She seems really sweet.

ok so I think me and Ci'ere are bonding, which wow I never imagined that I would have a social game. I still haven't messaged Dani or Kori which is something I should do. The fact that they haven't messaged me, coupled with the fact that I'm alone on this tribe cements the fact that I am the obvious vote. Brb let me try to make connections.

SO we lost again, and my broken phone prevented me from participating in the challenge. Looking at this based on the challenge I should be leaving, buuuut I am going to be voting big Z out tonight, and because the auvas don't want rocks, they are going to do what I want. I have wanted this guy out from a game standpoint from the very beginning, but once you throw my name out there it's very hard to get back on my good side. Loris is going to be annoyed with me I am sure, he was trying to manipulate the situation between us but I could see right through the whole thing. I had a call with Roxy and she made an alliance with us and the two drews. She seemed to be worried that I would want to stick with loris and Z but I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I am really hoping that a merge will happen next, and that this move will not deeply affect me right away.

Big Z is voted out 4-2.

#episode #flyinghigh

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