With Skates On

I've always loved skate and surf culture. Imagining that if I had only grown up in Southern California, the lanky blond girl on a skateboard riding off into the sunset could have been me - but I grew up in the rocky mountains. It's about hiking and the outdoors. White water rafting, rock-climbing, running, snowboarding. I never became the hippie this environment often spawns (healthy eating is a big concern, as is saving the environment in my hometown), but I certainly didn't turn into the Abercrombie&Fitch wearing preppy college student either (also well-known in my hometown - the local University looms over the city). I settled in the middle, I rode a snowboard. When I moved to California, my skate fantasy began again. If I was going to learn to ride, it had to be now and not when I'm 40. It's ridiculous now (maybe), even more so at an older age.

As a gift for my birthday, I received an Arbor longboard. Completely beautiful in its clear deck tape - to better show off the natural wood and stylized logo. Arbor boards are prized as an environmentally-friendly product; their company ideology advocates that "you can't just be "green" for the sake of being green. If it were that easy we'd all be wearing hemp." Their boards are made out of maple, wood and bamboo by-products created during construction. Their boards (skate, snow and surf) are breathtaking.

I learned. Slowly. One night on our way to a Brazilian dinner at a neighborhood restaurant - a perfect opportunity to ride my board down the street - I decided to take a chance down a hill. I was brought to my knees by my fast, uncontrolled ride and suffered a courageous scar. A knarly tear in my knee (see below), was the result. Damn. I am proud. I tried. My board nary suffered a scuff.