Traveler Profile: chrysser | Matador

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Screen name:

Age:

47

Gender:

Female

If you must know:

I'm single

Travel status:

Putting down roots

Hometown:

Asheville, N.C.

Currently in:

Blanchard, Idaho

Expert Intermountain West , United States

I found the Intermountain West before some of the members of the Matador Network were born! My schooling in wildland ecology at the University of Idaho, subsequent jobs with natural resource agencies, a Masters from the University of Nevada-Reno and a genuine lifelong passion for the outdoors has allowed to to explore the interior American West on foot,horseback, skis, snowshoes (and when my dating karma is airborne, the occasional Cessna 185). I'm a gregarious loner who still camps in a tent with the dogs. Being alone is fine but I guarantee a fun and unique experience if anyone wants to come play.

My current "day job" pays me to explore the northern tier of a very big landscape on behalf of guests from around the world. All the terrain fascinates ...the Basin and Range of Nevada, the lakes and woods of Idaho's Panhandle, skipping over Lolo Pass into western Montana. It took me 25 years to come back. When I asked my best friend, a member of the Couer d Alene tribe, if I could "come home" when I got back from Africa her reply was perfect: "We wondered when you'd figure it out!" I have....next on the seasonal agenda for this part of North America....where to find all those tasty morells once the snowpack recedes. I'll share...I promise!

Traveling Next:

Following in the tracks of Mudgy and Millie, our local moose and mouse literary stars here in northern Idaho.

Favorite places I've been:

Mkhaya Game Reserve, Swaziland. Parc National de Andigritria, Madagascar. Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho, USA. St. Peters Island, South Australia, Capetown, South Africa, Coffee Bay, South Africa. Sani Pass, Lesotho, The Football Hall of Fame, Canton, Ohio, USA, La Paz, Baja, Mexico.

Places I want to go to:

The Galapagos, Glacier National Park, Cape Breton Island, The Florida Keys.

About me:

I am a geographical mutt with insatiable curiousity. Doesn't matter whether I'm at home or halfway across the planet, I want to learn and explore the people, places and things that make a location unique. Typical tourism is not for me. I go deep when I'm out and about. I've wrangled rhinos in Africa, tagged kangaroos in Australia and rebuilt sailboats in Baja. At present I'm parked in Idaho hugging the Canadian border writing furiously before I forget anything important and cooking in between.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/chrysser

Read more about chrysser

I'm fired up on:

Writing as a way to entertain and educate about the environment. No reason the two can't work together. Currently tapping my personal archives to write stories, poetry, just finished a book (which I'm hawking to agents and publishers). In the meantime I'm trying to make a decent batch of injeria (Ethiopean flat bread) to go with all the bebere laced stews I've been making. It's harder than it looks!

Tunes I rock out to:

Anything by John Hiatt, The Subdudes, Bonnie Ratt, all things Cajun or Zydeco ( can't be in a blue mood listening to these genres),Koko Taylor and The Allman Brothers

Travel style:

Have the round trip plane ticket with a few loose plans. No set itinerary so I can stay longer if I like or move on if the spirit moves me. Guess I'm rather Taoist about the whole thing. Have done most of my vagabonding solo with intermitten overlaps with others of my tribe, male or female.

Quote:

"She had a smile you could feel in your hip pocket." Raymond Chandler, mystery writer.

Sports I do:

Telemark skiing, frisbee with my dog, swimming, hiking and the occasional mountain biking trek.

Favorite artist(s):

My friend, John Brogan, Georgia O'Keefe, Jackson Pollard, Ansel Adams, the Zimbabwe artist whose block prints are on my bedroom wall , but I can't make out his signature.

Favorite books:

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, Naturalist by Edward O. Wilson, The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

Anyone with a kind heart, a bright spirit and authenticity. No posers please!

I want to make a difference by:

Telling stories in print and outloud....the latter by a campfire near a mountain lake if at all possible

Languages spoken, other than English:

A modicum of Spanish

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

I can cook, dance and play with their kids.

Why I travel:

Because I am a geographical mutt with a healthy restlessness and the understanding that the world is bigger than my own country.

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

On the bluff above Coffee Bay, South Africa

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

On the deck after a serious day of earning my turns the telemark way ( Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, the Sierra Nevada, the Ruby Mountains in NE Nevada)

Before I die I'd like to:

Ski somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. I'm not picky....any continent with snow in June, July and August will do.

Let's collaborate:

I'm a freelance writer a little "challenged" in the photography department. I am a good writer and would love to hook up with the visually gifted and create some wonderful stories. a good story never goes out of style, and although people say they can see the places I write of, that old chestnut about what a picture is worth is a cliche for a reason.

My links:

www.wranglingrhinos.com, www.nchrystineolson.com

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March Madness Goes International

By chrysser | Location: United States | 03/21/09 | Pics: 0

A friend of mine from Vegas asked me if I could ever handle being out of the States in March. You see, I'm a college hoops junkie. This time of year I am one of those trying to watch every game, have more than a couple bracket sheets going, talk tourney to anyone with an interest. I'm...

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Settling In

By chrysser | Location: United States | 08/18/08 | Pics: 0

Well...my contributions to the Matador Community helped land me a dream job at a beautiful, tucked away resort ( one I failed to mention in my musings on the Idaho Panhandle). This summer I'm getting paid to take folks huckleberry picking, whitewater raftiing and mountain...

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I Was Gonna.....

By chrysser | Location: United States | 06/23/08 | Pics: 0

I have a new deal breaker when it comes to traveling companions...the frequent use of "I was gonna". This happened on a recent road trip on the first truely sunny days in the Intermountain West, wending south with a woman who wanted to see Idaho from my ex-forest ranger perspective. A lovely...

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