I
am going to switch gears this post from my usual topics, which lately have been
on the serious side to something more lighthearted! Whenever I talk to my friends and family
about living here in Eastern Kentucky, they always ask me what I do [in my free
time]. The question makes sense; I don’t
live in a big city or even a suburb with plenty of things to do all of the
time. It always stumps me too, because
even though I feel like I am always busy, I usually have a hard time thinking
of the concrete things I do to fill my time.
So
this post is going to be an attempt to talk about what it is I do when I am not
working. One thing is that I do A LOT of
hiking. Unfortunately there are not many
good hikes that are very close or convenient.
Most of the hikes I end up going on are an hour or more’s drive away
from Hazard. But once I get over the drive,
the hikes are usually great. Sometimes
an adventure too, on ones that aren't as well marked or maintained. Some hikes that I’ve done lately and really
enjoyed are… Every hike I’ve done at the Red River Gorge. Recently I hiked the Auxier Ridge Trail, with
a spur to Double Arch, Gray’s Arch Trail, and Rock Bridge Trail. I spent the weekend camping up there with
some friends, and not only is there good hiking and beautiful scenery, but also
some delicious places to eat. Miguel’s
Pizza and the Red River Rockhouse are both very tasty! I started following the Rockhouse on Facebook,
and sometimes when I see they pictures of food they post I am tempted to drive
all the way up there just for a taste.
I
have always loved food, but I think my obsession has grown since moving
here. Maybe it’s something to do with
being deprived of restaurants or take out where I can get delicious food made
for me. Now, I just make it myself. The majority of my roommates are vegetarian,
so I’ve been mostly cooking meals without meat.
And since I have a garden, lately my cooking has included lots of fresh,
homegrown veggies! Which brings us to another
thing I do with my time, gardening.
Watching and working with these plants since the beginning really has
been an incredible experience. And with
the almost non-stop rain we’ve been getting lately, our garden has really
exploded!
I
also have a great network of young people here in Hazard. There are 5 of us living in our house,
divided up into 2 apartments. And we are
all AmeriCorps members, from elsewhere, but living in Hazard for a year or two
for our terms of service. Who knows,
maybe some of us will wind up staying!
We try our best to network and befriend other young people in the
area. And even though I’ve only been
here for a little over 10 months now, I’ve already seen young people come and
go. (Which leads to another tangent that
I am going to get into another time- The STAY Project- Stay Together
Appalachian Youth… google it!) So we
hold family dinners at our house about once a week where we take turns cooking
and usually end up enjoying each other’s company as well as a few drinks.
And
finally, what takes up another large portion of my time these days is Porch
Sittin’. The weather has been beautiful,
and I like to take full advantage! Maybe
it’s a sign that I am becoming a true Appalachian. One of the perks of living in Appalachia in
the summer but not working for ASP is that I have my nights and weekends free
to truly enjoy the mountains in the summer and do all of the things that I
wanted to but didn’t have time for in my last 3 summers living here.
And
apparently I wasn’t really done, but this is more of a side note anyways. It has been different for me getting to see
Appalachia in the other 3 seasons. All
of which are beautiful! I have to
confess that the summers still do hold a special place in my heart, and I might
be dreading the time when the weather turns cold again. What really amazed me though, was that as I was
both watching everything turn green this spring and watching my calendar-
things didn’t really and truly turn all the way green until about a week or two
before ASP staff training started. Every
year when I would drive up to Jonesville and The Porch, I would just assume
that it had been green forever; not even imagining what it was like when the
kudzu was dead and the leaves had fallen off the trees.
