Sunday, August 15, 2010

SIMPLE PLEASURES: My Adventure Bag


If you see me around town toting this monster, you can be sure that either I:

a) Have just gone on an adventure
b) About to go on an adventure, or
c) I'm dreaming about going on an adventure

When I was a little kid I was extremely sheltered [yeah, that was MY dad yelling "STOP, you'll kill yourself!!!" when I stepped off the sidewalk] so I escaped into my own world of distant lands and foreign cultures and wished I could grow up fast to be a personal witness to the world around me. Ancient Egypt, Asia, you name it, I planned to see it with my own eyes when I was all grown up.

Hip pack ready for the desert with a shoulder strap worthy of a day at the Louvre, this is the bag that holds my life on the road. Big enough for a camera and lens, long enough for maps and two outside pouches for water, I'm girl scout prepared for the road ahead. Along with the normal paraphenalia a woman always has, my magical bag has a pocket dedicated to whatever life throws at me, from pocket knife to rain poncho, compass to waterproof matches. There's some strange stuff in that front pocket and sometimes I laugh at myself wondering what kind of trouble I expect to get into as I head into the unknown with my sturdy red bag.