sabbatical, glaciers, and a whole lot of travel...

Yes, it has been over a month since my last post.  Yes, I am sorry.  No, it wasn't because nothing was happening!  So, bear with me while I quickly get you up to speed...this will only take a minute.

I found out after I came on staff with Dry Bones (over three years ago!) that every three years each staff member gets to take a month-long sabbatical.  Our board of directors goes above and beyond to take care of us staffers and this is one of the ways they insure we are "well-fed and happy".  Courtney and I began plans for my month off pretty much immediately after getting married.  We had grand schemes of big travels to far-away places.  We saved every dollar we could and thought of adventures on nearly every continent.  We have friends who have been all over the world - from the Himalayas, to the Alps, to Africa, to Australia, to Japan and everywhere else it seems.  Needless to say, we had plenty of good conversations and stories about beautiful places around the globe to consider.

After much talk and weeks of brainstorming, we decided to forget everything we had been told and go to a place of which we knew very little.

I had heard of Patagonia for years.  Besides being "that awesome clothing brand" that all of us wanna-be mountaineers dream about while we sit at our desks, I didn't know much about the place itself.  I have to admit that if I was asked to point to Patagonia on a map, I may have had trouble knowing where to guide my finger.  It was simply some mystical, magical place that inspired cool clothes and extreme adventures.  I wanted both.

Courtney and I did some research.  It turns out that Patagonia is located in southern South America and encompasses large portions of Argentina and Chile.  It is also beautiful, and is packed with possibilities for the kind of trip that we were craving: gorgeous scenery, glaciers at every turn, zero predators, and the exact right amount of difficulty that deters many, but welcomes anyone who wishes to pound out the miles on rough terrain in order to see some incredible stuff.  We set our gaze on Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the Southern Chilean Andes and started planning.

Multiple travel blogs and Lonely Planet trekking books later, November finally came.

Our packs - ready for 3 weeks away
from home

Everything was set.  Plane tickets: check.  Necessary gear: check.  Reservations at a small hostel in Puerto Natales, Chile, where we could get a good nights sleep and store a few items while we were on the trail: check.  I e-mailed the hostel weeks in advance in hopes of finding someone who might reply in English, and I got a response within an hour giving me the current conditions and confirmation that the daunting John Gardner Pass was indeed open for the season.  With that confirmation ringing in our ears like beautiful music, we flew out of Denver on November 8th.

Check the blog every few days for the continuation of the story.  I'll divide up the writing because one long post isn't as fun as multiple short ones!  So, stay tuned for lots of posts over the upcoming weeks.  My plan is to set them up like a travel blog with lots of details.  One thing we found during our preparation was that detailed and recent travel blogs were tough to come by, so I am going to provide as much info as I can for anyone thinking of doing this particular "best of South America" trek!

More to come...  

A note to those of you who are supporting me and Dry Bones.  I want to thank you for the sabbatical I just received.  Even though you may not have even known that I was off of the streets for a month, thank you.  I know what a gift time is, and there is no gift I value more.  Time to travel.  Time to think.  Time with God.  Time with Courtney.  Time by myself.  Time with friends.  Time...


Thank you for the way you love me, the street kids in Denver, and the rest of the staff here at Dry Bones.  My time off was amazing in the greatest sense of the word.  I gained new perspectives on the world, God, my dreams and goals, and life with Court'.  I hope you enjoy these simple musings from our trip to Patagonia.  Thank you friends!!