I am a speech therapist at a hospital in a small town in North Idaho surrounded by mountains and lakes. I play music on the side at local dive bars, pubs, wineries, and cafes. I have an amazing garden in my backyard filled with vegetables and flowers that remind me how lucky I am. I love being outside and exploring

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

My boyfriend and I have been invited on a sailing trip across the Atlantic. We will be setting sail from Madeira with 2 other people on a 40ft catamaran at the end of November. We are super stoked to be taking an extra 3 weeks before our departure to travel through Portugal :)

I will be traveling with Ben Olson. He also has a Couchsurfing account. We both just opened our accounts, and this will be our first couch surfing experience. He is a writer and the publisher of an alt-weekly newspaper here in Sandpoint, called the Reader (sandpointreader.com). He shoots film photography also and he has a dark room in his kitchen :) He is an avid reader and somewhat of a Renaissance man. We have been learning the language, spending 30 min/day using Pimsleur European Portuguese for the last several months.

Interests

I take full advantage of the beautiful town I live in. I enjoy hiking, mountain biking, sailing, cross country skiing, and snow boarding. I enjoy sewing, art, and music. I sew the majority of the clothes I wear- that doesn't mean I'm necessarily good at sewing :)
I do not have a big social media presence. I am holding out on getting a smart phone. I used to play around on Facebook, but seem to be slowly fading it out of my life. I shoot film and have it developed here in a local camera shop.

• photography
• yoga
• music
• hiking
• sailing
• mountain biking
• sewing
• roadtrips
• cross country skiing
• snow boarding

Music, Movies, and Books

love music. I have a record player and enjoy listening to all kinds of music. I guess I'd say my go-to selection would have to be old blues and jazz (Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Lightning Hopkins, Lead Belly, Dock Boggs, Billie Holiday). I also am into bossa nova and latin music. Currently, my favorite album in the collection is Momento Romantico by Paco Hurtado y Los Arieles. I found this amazing record in a thrift store for $1 and it is hands-down my favorite. French music from the 20s and 30s brings joy to my heart. American music from the 20s and 30s makes me smile. I have a solid connection with really, really old country music too.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hiked in-and-out of the Grand Canyon in 1 day...phew. ...also my band just recently opened for Sublime at a music festival and I'm still high on that.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm drawn to Couchsurfing on this adventure because I really want to explore Portugal on an intimate level. I want to follow home-made maps to adventure spots or hole-in-the-wall pubs that are off the beaten path.

I just got a 10 foot camper and it's parked outside my house; I'm excited to host a surfers here in my sweet little town sometime so that I can share how magical this place is. I'm really good at drawing home-made maps

What I Can Share with Hosts

Will be traveling with instruments! I plan to bring an ukulele, glockenspiel, shaker, and a melodica. My boyfriend is going to try and find a backpacking guitar as soon as we fly in. We love playing music with other people. We play a lot of different types of music, catering to the soft and easy cafe listening crowd to the whiskey-drinking late night crowd. Our band is called Harold's IGA (haroldsiga.com).

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Viet Nam