Alter Ego

View from the top of the Castle of the Moors, Sintra, Portugal

I am a traveler, an adventurer, a runner, a do-er; full of curiosity and an unquenchable need to see everything there is to see. Born with a restless spirit, I have been to Portugal and Paris, sailed the coast of Maine in a schooner, driven to Montana and Cape Cod, and even hiked the jungles of Grenada. I dream of faraway lands, thunderous mountain ranges, dark jungles, and expansive deserts. My list of places to go grows daily: Thailand, Milan, Costa Rica, Australia...

Unfortunately, my fantasy has also been burdened with an over-abundance of reality. Mostly in the form of bills. I live in the real world, I went to college, I have a lot of bills. Kind of like everyone else. So here's the question:

How do I live both the life of mild-mannered desk jockey and girl adventurer extraordinaire?

The usual responsibilities are never going to go away--rent, insurance, electricity, loans (well, those will go away eventually...thirty or forty years from now)--but I should be able to make this work. I mean, why not? Sure, I'd like to jet off to a new exotic location every week, but I'm not Fergie. Few people are. I figure it's all a matter of making the dream fit the reality.

So here's the plan: two big vacations a year, and plenty of small road trips and local adventures in between to keep the wanderlust at bay. That's doable. Heck, it's downright reasonable. There's so much to do here, too, if you just take a look around. I already have a few local ideas, and I can't wait to get started.

Just a Few Ideas

• Perot Museum

• Amon Carter Museum

• Dallas Arboretum

• Turtle Creek

• Winspear Opera House
  
  
• Ten Acre Observatory

• Fort Worth Water Gardens

• Car Shows

• Air Shows

• Fort Worth Zoo

• Dallas by Chocolate