Week 1: Unhappy professionally

Hello world, and hello no one.

This blog is for the world, and it is also for no one.

Welcome to my attempt at keeping myself accountable for the first time in my 23 years on this planet.

My name is Kiersten, I graduated in May 2021 with a bachelor's of science in Anthropology and I'm a bartender. Basically I'm unhappy professionally.

I made small goals for myself pre and post-graduation; finding a side hustle, a roommate, an apartment. And now I find myself at the end of that list, and I'm not sure how to move forward.

I know I spend too much money on stupid things, and that I have a lot of creative and powerful energy to exercise. And I've come up with a plan that my ADD brain can hold onto for more than five minutes...

a road trip.

A solo road trip to all the National Parks I want to see, and to visit my cousin Marie in Utah.

Ideally I would hit every National Park in America, but I have a 2013 Toyota Prius and I'm already pushing it. So I decided my goal would be brown, red and orange. The desert.

I've never seen that before.

I'm from Upstate New York, so I'm used to a lot of green, and a lot of flat ground.

Nothing against flat, green land. I've just seen a lot of it already.

Washington, Oregon and Montana are out.

I live on the East coast, I've only ever seen the East coast of this country. I want to see the West.

I'll start with the Badlands in South Dakota.

That's a heavy drive from New York, and Chicago is basically in between the two, so I think I'll take a pause there for a few days.

Then I'll hit Wind Cave in South Dakota, Yellowstone in Wyoming, Grand Teton in Wyoming.

That will probably take me 1-2 months into the journey, and I'll have to make another big leap over to Lassen Volcanic National Park in California.

Maybe that's when I can see Marie In Salt Lake City, hell yes that's the perfect time.

So a few day pause in Salt Lake City, Utah to hangout with Marie (and enjoy a little free accommodation).

From Marie's in Salt Lake I'll head to Lassen Volcanic National Park in California.

Fuck Nevada, self explanatory.

I want to make my way down California like Yosemite, Pinnacles, Death Valley, Joshua Tree.

This could take me up to a month.

Moving onto Petrified Forest in Arizona, then to the Grand Canyon (also in Arizona).

Trekking up to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Arches, all in Utah.

I'll move over to the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado before I make the trip down to New Mexico.

Probably take another month to get through Arizona and Colorado.

Then finally, I'll drive straight down to the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, and Big Bend in Texas, as well.

From there I'll drive home, hopefully have a few book ideas to bring to New York City.

So yeah, week one. Blog one.

I have declared it!

See you next week

xxoo Ten