Sisterhood of the Traveling Sketchbooks - June 2011

Well.. June's not even halfway over yet, and I'm ready to reveal my contribution to Andrea's sketchbook.  For me, June is all about strength... all because one Saturday 6 years ago, I learned that I can climb mountains.

See, six years ago, I was a geology student at North Carolina State University.  The very last requirement for graduation was a 5 week field camp in New Mexico and New York.

My sketchbook spread contains the "Reader's Digest" version of my trip.

Of Proud Moments and Lessons Learned

See, I've never been one with much physical strength...

flat feet, bad knees and tendonitis-weakened shoulders saw to that...

However... in the summer of 2005, I proved to myself that I was stronger than I thought...

in more ways than one.

I took a trip that summer.. a field trip for school.

Myself and 14 others, along with our professor and his assistant, left Raleigh, NC, EARLY one May morning.

Two and a half days later, we were 5 states away and 7000' higher than home ina tiny town called

Abiquiu, New Mexico.

We hiked relentlessly for three weeks over varying terrain - 

hills, arroyos, rock faces, open land.

It was NOT easy.  It was hard WORK, and more than once I wanted to quit.

And then there was Pedernal.

Cerro Pedernal is a beautiful, distinctively shaped mountain that we could see from our campsite.

It seemed to be calling to us - to me.

So we climbed it.

All the way to the top at an elevation of 9862 feet.

The going was rough - STEEP hills with sharp switch-back turns.

Then a ten foot climb with the help of my classmates and

I WAS THERE!

I DID IT! I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN!

Looking down at the landscape nearly 3000' below, I realized that I'm much

STRONGER

than I had given myself credit for

- mentally and physically -

The mountain in my drawing is Cerro Pedernal

- my mountain -

My source of strength when things get tough.

If I can climb a mountain, I can do 

ANYTHING

You may notice that my drawing is creased.  What I have done, rather than try and reproduce it in Andrea's book, is to make it a fold-out by gluing it to the page.  This creates a pocket in which my sistahs will find photographs of Cerro Pedernal in real life.  All but one were taken by me. This one wasn't...

My and 2 of my classmates.. I'm the one in the middle : )