Booked Adventure: Ode to a Bookbag (part one)

Honestly, this post might just be an excuse to show off some travel pics while talking about my backpack/bookbag.

I bought this Eddie Bauer backpack in 2005 to take with me to Tokyo. It's 2022 and I still use this bag on a near-daily basis. It was shiny then. Today its color has faded and the netting on the sides that are supposed to hold water bottles can't handle the weight anymore. But the bag is still solid.

After taking it to Japan and back, I used it for school and travel. It rode with me on SEPTA trains and buses around Philadelphia. It's hiked the trails of multiple National Parks, a bit of the Appalachian Trail, and plenty of local parks across the country. It's my go-to carry-on when I fly.

And, it has carried more books than I can remember around the world.

So, here goes some pics of my bag in action, as well as the places its traveled through. I have so many pictures put aside for this post I am going to split it into two. And even then, its only a fraction of the places I've taken this bag to.

An Ode to a Bookbag (part one):

The Everglades:

The Anhinga Trail boardwalk

Shark Valley Observatory

There's a baby alligator in there somewhere

Quebec, Quebec:

Negative fifteen Fahrenheit night walk in Quebec

Chateau Frontenac

There are at least five layers of clothes on me here. It was February and it was cold.

In the distance: Les Citadelle de'Quebec

Plaines d'Abraham

Olympic National Park:

The husband sporting the bag while hiking

We honeymooned at Olympic National Park. I was carrying a heavy Nikon DSLR in the park, and so my husband frequently carried my bookbag when it became too much to carry for me while hiking. He's a peach. Here goes a few of the pics I snagged with that camera throughout the park:

Hurricane Ridge on a rainy/snowy day

Hoh Rainforest

Sol Duc

The Pacific Ocean

New York City:

Me, the hubs, and Grand Central Station

This one is a bit of a cheat. I have spent a lot of time in New York (it's only 90 miles from Philadelphia). But the bag has been with me on most of those trips, usually carrying the books I read on the NJ Transit trains I use to go back and forth.

And so, there's the bag with me in this picture from Grand Central Station, circa '08 or '09. And here go a few more random pictures of NYC from the past:

Brooklyn Bridge

The Gates - Central Park, 2005

I have so many more places to share with you, so please check back soon for the second half of this post.