Tuesday, July 8th, 2024
Lamar, CO → Lamar, CO
0 mi, 0 ft elevation
Today, I woke up feeling more rested than I have this entire week. Maybe it was the bussin grilled cheese sandwiches from last night or our entry into a new state, but the entire team felt rejuvenated. So rejuvenated that we trekked over to a coffee shop at 7:30am for a little cafe study sesh before our learning festival.
The learning festival was a blast. As this was our fifth time putting these workshops on, we had ironed out a lot of the kinks we discovered in previous iterations. My workshop, extracting DNA from strawberries, was on the library patio, which I loved. The students and I sat in a circle on the pavement, the afternoon sun warming us, and we walked through the steps of how to extract DNA from strawberries. Growing up, I loved when class was held outside. The fresh air and blue sky make the perfect backdrop for any lesson, especially one concerning plant genetics.
This iteration of the strawberry DNA extraction experiment also sparked interesting conversations about genetic cloning and ended with the kids planning out which fruits they would try to extract DNA from next.
The success of the learning festival and energy from the kids kept our team excited for the rest of the day. Jess even started doing the worm as we were cleaning up.
Immediately after the festival, we headed back to our home for the night, a set of dorm rooms that transported me back to sophomore year. A few of us got ice cream at BJ’s, which is a local favorite, before going on a “run”.
I hesitate to call it a run because we stopped almost every 0.1 miles since we kept getting distracted. Our inspiration for this run was (1) some of us missed running, (2) a subset of the team plans to do an unofficial triathlon in Lake Tahoe and we need to train, and (3) we were told that there was a tower in Lamar with a direct view of Pikes Peak, which is a summit in the Rockies. With these goals in mind, we ambled down Main Street and soon came upon our first destination: Pike’s Tower.
Unfortunately, the trees blocked our view of the Rockies, so we sat on the tower and chatted for a bit before descending to continue our run. However, we were immediately distracted by the park.
And then the water spigot.
Jess even got a photo with the disc golf basket.
Exhausted but satisfied with our unofficial scavenger hunt, we trekked back to our dorms for the night. Sophia and Cleo, who waited for two hours to get us Indian food for dinner (thank you!!), soon returned. Reunited as a team, we sat in a circle in the parking lot and devoured our dinner (the chai + lassi + paneer combo went so hard).
Over dinner, we shared stories of how our parents met and what we wanted in our futures. I learned that a lot of us have similar fears and I discovered new things to be excited for. The evening sun descended as I sat with this group of people who went from strangers to family so quickly. We ended the night with a promise to be at each others’ weddings.
I fell asleep thinking about the beauty of age. The wide-eyed wonder of the kids in our learning festivals when they hold DNA for the first time. A bunch of college students biking hundreds of miles, but stopping to play in the park on a one mile run. Families and friends who welcome us into their homes and cook us delicious meals. Retired couples telling us about their backpacking adventures and how they raised their children. One day, we’ll be all of these people, or maybe none of them. But, there is something incredible about imagining another life and being welcomed into a different home, even if it's just for a little while.
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