I'm excited to say I have been contacted by two bloggers who have expressed interest in doing Guest Wanderer spots in the upcoming weeks and hopefully into the future. I'm excited to get some new voices for the page, since I'm sure everyone is ready for a break from my ramblings. With that, here is a reminder about the Guest Wanderer program. Hit me up if you're interested!
Rogue Wanderer is welcoming Guest Wanderers!
If you're interested in writing a piece for the website let me know. You can comment at the bottom of this article, message me at the Facebook page, or contact me by any method of communication if you know me personally. There is no compensation at this time, but guest blogging is a great way to get exposure for your writing to a new audience. I'm also open to writing guest blogs for your site in return.
If selected guests are welcome (and encouraged) to share links to their articles and republish articles and pictures to personal sites. Once accepted and published Guest Wanderers relinquish the right to request to have their work removed from the site (but I'm open to removal if the situation warrants). I reserve the right to remove the work at a later date. Posts may also be included in featured posts sections of the site or on a separate page for guest posts and may be republished by Rogue Wanderer at a later date. Any submitted work may be edited for style, grammar, or length. If edits are made, you will be allowed final approval of the work. Basically, don't worry I won't be a jerk :)
Far be it for me to every criticize a monument, but the latter of these two was a little bit of let down. The pile of rocks known as the Geographical Center Monument in my hometown, puts the Lost Dutchman Monument to shame. On the other hand, the first of our two day trip stops for the weekend was actually pretty cool and impressive. Late Saturday afternoon, after watching 3 boys basketball games and going to the mall, we still had plenty of time to head to Coolidge, AZ to check out the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Oddly enough, this monument is not located in Casa Grande, AZ, so if you go to Casa Grande looking for Casa Grande someone will probably just point you to a big house and you will be quite unimpressed.
Casa Grande Ruins is the closest national monument to the Phoenix area. A quick 45 minute drive on AZ 87 will have you there in no time. The ruins are quite amazing to look at especially the Great House compound. To think it was possible to construct such a large structure before the invention of modern tools is amazing. If you have the time be sure to watch the video in the visitor's center. It does a great job describing the culture and life the of the ancient Sonoran people. I'm always impressed when I'm reminded of the engineering ability they used in designing their canal systems.
In probably the best decision of the day, I finally forked over the $80 for a National Parks and Monuments annual pass. Casa Grande would have been $10 for the two of us, so only $70 until it's paid for itself. I have a feeling it will be paid for many times over in the next year. Great investment for anyone who wants to do some serious wandering in our nation's beautiful parks and monument areas.
The second "monument" (and believe me the quotes are appropriate) we visited was the Lost Dutchman Monument in Apache Junction. Honestly, this was just something I saw on a sign on our way out to the Superstition Mountains area on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, we hadn't gone to AJ with the sole intent of visiting the "monument". On a side note, if I die and someone wants to build a monument for me, great! But if it looks like the one above, please don't put a big sign directing traffic toward it like it's a big deal. Thank you in advance.
The real reason we were there was to take advantage of a Groupon Jenn had gotten for Superstition Zipline in Goldfield. I think she summed it up best in her comments about it on Facebook, it was good, cheesy fun. It wasn't a long ride and it was all done in about 45 seconds. I will say it does get a little freaky when you come into the end, only because it seems for a second like you might crash, but at no point is the zipline going all that fast and it doesn't get very high. Despite this we were suckered into a second go-round because we wanted to capture it on the GoPro, so here it is:
After, we finished ziplining we walked around the Goldfield Ghost Town for a bit. It really wasn't the type of ghost town I enjoy. Everything there was just a cash grab, so it was all about trying to make it seem like an old west town. Given the choice, I'll take an actual ghost town over a tourist trap any day. But all in all it was a fun day.
I always like to try to work in a little bit of a personal lesson and this weekend was definitely not an exception to my own learning and growth. As much as I try to revolt against the concept of planning, there are times when I need to realize that I'm not the only one involved in my plans anymore. I have someone who I care about deeply and yes (even though I've said it thousands of times to her personally, I'll say it here for the first time) someone I love who is impacted by these plans.
On Sunday, we had our plans in place for the day: Breakfast, finish watching a movie, then head out somewhere for the day. I followed through on the first two parts, but let a little laziness set in momentarily and gave off the signal that final part of the plan was out. I did this without really asking her or explaining that I hadn't scrapped things but just didn't think we had to leave right away. I didn't really understand how much it bothered her until she indicated that she was ready to take off to do other things for the day. I feel terrible she had to go to that extreme to send the message but it was received loud and clear. I guess my point of this is that even if you want to wander, if you're going to make a relationship work you better be able to stick to the plans you make with the one you love. This is true even when the person is a bit of a wanderer themselves.
I completely understand why anyone would say that. I'm the type of person who hasn't spent more than $20 on a shirt in probably 15 years.
Although, I personally love the quality after getting my first one, these aren't designer tees. I'll be completely transparent (I know, it's a rarity in business) until I can take on inventory, the tees will come direct from the manufacturer, which means I'm paying a pretty high price. Don't be shocked when it comes with their logo on the packaging. I could have gone with a cheaper quality base brand but I checked my closet and all the tees I love are Gildan. They are good heavy quality tees that will last. They are longer than other brands, so for those of us who are a little on the bigger side (myself included) you don't have to worry about your belly showing.
Aside from the quality and single order direct shipping, the reason these tees are worth $30 is because you will be buying into the early stages of what I hope will become a movement. I started this "company" without a direction but with a clear mission:
Mission of Rogue Wanderer: To inspire people to get out and do whatever they are passionate about.
I hope that I can turn this mission into a prosperous company. If it turns out just to be something that I pour my personal money and I never recover a dime, that's fine too. As long as whatever comes of this idea inspires people to stop just going through the motions of life and explore the world around them, I'll be happy.
To share a personal story, there was a time when I would have considered a 23 episode Netflix binge, interrupted only by a few trips to my local sports bar, to be a successful weekend in my life. That all changed with one tough work meeting and one random weekend road trip. Less than 2 months since that day, I have published over 20 articles, designed half a dozen new designs (some still to come!), and planned a promotional road trip that has been picked up by two newspapers already.
I know the Shop page has been up for a while, but with this post I formally invite everyone to tell the world you're "Not Lost, Just Wandering".
