Books, bears and more bears (oh my!)

While my packing list looks like this, my book list is much more extensive. I have gathered a few book suggestions from NPR's various lists and a few suggestions here and there. So far on my list are:

Garlic & Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shafer & Annie Barrows (read about 4,000 recommendations for this book. It doesn't sound like something that I would ordinarily choose, but so many recommendations got me thinking.)

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (Author of The Glass Castle)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flanning

**Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties by Rainer Maria Rilke

**The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

With the exception of the starred books, these books have been narrowed down by their availability at the West Palm Beach Public library.

Books already in my possession to be read are:

The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant by Janine Ferrari-Adler

Any reviews or recommendations for books to avoid on this list or others to add?

In other news, I'm preparing for a bear attack. I have planned to be attacked by Grizzly bears, Black bears, rogue Kodiak bears who've wandered down from Canada and Polar bears. In preparation I have been practicing my evasive tactics on Lil Wayne (the cat not human). Thus far, I've managed to escape him successfully, but not without a few wounds. I fear a bear mauling may be slightly more damaging than a Weezy scratch. Then again, maybe not.

All worn out from my evasive bear attack techniques

For those who have strong stomaches and can handle a little blood, google bear attacks in the images. You won't be disappointed. I just threw up. Twice.

We leave Monday. Get crunked up.

Pink Flags, Tents and Bears, Oh My!

Last night I came home to find this on our living room wall:

Kt found these maps that she had collected for her classroom and started marking out our trip in pink sticky flags. So exciting to see a large, paper version of our plans. Obviously, we've only gotten to San Francisco thus far. The return trip is still in the works.

This weekend my goal is to get hiking boots and a coat/jacket; Gander Mountain here we come! Too bad we don't have one of these nearby. Any suggestions for relatively inexpensive yet high quality gear?

Confession time: I don't have massive amounts of camping/wilderness experience. I've definitely had my fair share of roughing it and camping and rafting etc, but never at the Grand Canyon in the middle of the summer with myself as one of the "responsible adults". So many things keep running through my mind that we need to get or read about or research. I'm really looking forward to just sort of experiencig thing as they happen, but then I get the "second guesses"and the "unprepareds"and my mind begins its flurry of activity again.

I started googling weather conditions, hiking trails, tips etc. (google=wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, right Dana?) and found this pretty helpful website. I'm sure there are many more out there. So for those of you experienced wilderness adventurers, what kind of advice can you give us? If you have any suggestions for gear, places to visit, tips, checklists, books, websites, leave a comment for me.

Please pray this doesn't happen to us! The Worst!

Also, (FYI) if I ever figure out to set it up, you should see some ads on this blog. For every click/visit the ad gets I think I get like, $0.003, so help a girl out and click away (maybe I'll make $0.63 to go towards gas!).