P E O P L E

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P E O P L E
tj|tl|in|ca|st

I first meet Lindsay on a buffalo-filled road near the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. She's riding her mountain bike and I'm in the van on my way to Shadow Mountain Trailhead for some mountain biking adventure. As she approaches the buffalo herd that is crossing the road, she thinks it wise to stick with all the cars that have pulled over to the side of the road to snap photos. I pass her and the throng of cars to get a front row seat of the buffalo crossing performance.

After snapping many photos of the buffalo spectacle, Lindsay pulls up alongside my van. We exchange hellos and after some chatting determine we're both headed not only in the same direction but also to the same trailhead. I then offer her a ride past the unpredictable buffalo and to the trailhead. After determining I'm not some nut, she agrees and after loading her bike in the van, we proceed to push on to the trailhead.

That is the start of spending a good chunk of quality time with Lindsay. After cresting Shadow Mountain on our bikes we hang out atop an observation tower for hours, enjoying the great weather, sights, and conversation. We end up having dinner together that evening at an estate she's staying at, it is quite the experience. After crashing in the van in her driveway for the night, the next morning I give her a nickel tour of my website, we exchange contact information, then I push off to my next biking adventure.

Over that short period of time I learned a lot about Lindsay, she is quite an amazing person. From Washington D.C., she's on a 1 1/2 month cross-country trip to "recharge her batteries." For a long time, she's been working hard, adding things to her "throphy shelf" but was finding her "happiness shelf" was somewhat bare. Needing to fill her happiness shelf, that's what her trip is all about.

Lindsay has certainly had many tribulations in her life. Her mother died in a car accident when she was 12 (Linsday was also in the car), her father passed away 3 1/2 years ago from cancer, and for the past 2 years she's been the sole guardian to a troubled, younger sister. Her sister is now on her own (she's 18 now) and the only major emotional hurdle for her now is to sort through her fathers possessions that are currently in storage. She will do that when she concludes her trip.

Lindsay is a very intelligent, outgoing and energetic woman. A Harvard grad with a degree in Social Anthropology, she has worked for a number of years as a research analyst. She has an amazing grasp of the english language, her vocabulary is really quite impressive. So, it's no surprise she has a passion for writing and has even written a manuscript.

In addition to writing, Lindsay has a passion for being active. She was very active in high school sports, playing 5 separate sports a year. More recently, for 4 years she played rugby for the USA National Team and traveled to such places as HongKong, Figi, New Zealand, and Ottawa Canada to play. She also loves lacross, cycling, and basketball.

Lindsay's future plans are to work on a Joint Masters in Clinical Social Work and Public Health (or Medical Anthropology) and she's thinking maybe San Francisco (Stanford) is the best place to go for that. Optimally, she would like to apply, get accepted, then defer her studies for a year so she can do more traveling in an effort to load up her dusty "happiness shelf."

In addition to her travels relating to her rugby playing, Lindsay has traveled extensively through most US states, and has spent some time in Italy, France, England, and Switzerland. As for future travel, she would like to spend 4 months in Australia (with special focus on the Great Barrier Reef), Wales in Scotland, Southeast Asia, and both Cuba and Eastern Europe before they become too westernized.

When I pass through D.C. in my travels, Lindsay and I have tentative plans to tour the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. She's toured the museum before and having a Social Anthropology Degree from Harvard, she'll certainly proved to be an excellent tour guide I'm sure.