Outside With Coco

Yesterday I was on a snowy mountain, and today I was in a dusty forest. It’s rally race day! I woke up at 6 a.m. to head north to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington for the Olympus Rally. I’m not a car person. I like cars, but my knowledge is very minimal. However, I do love watching rally races. Something about being in the forest, watching cars race through the trees with gravel flying everywhere and dust clouds swarming around me brings me so much joy.

One of the things I love about rally races is that I get to hang out and watch them with my friends and neighbors Kate, Matt, and their son Logan. Kate is a rally racer herself and recently won 1st place in her class at the 2025 Women’s Rallycross race a week ago. Kate is fun, brilliant, beautiful, and already standing on podiums after just starting to race last year. Badass. I love standing in the dust with her.

Living in the Pacific Northwest is amazing. I love being able to drive 1-2 hours in different directions and be in the snow one day and in a dusty forest the next. This morning on the drive up, I was reflecting on the last 7 years of my life and how far and much simpler, happier my life has become. I like to remind and congratulate myself on how much I have accomplished and, more importantly, grown in my 40s. I’ve started to keep a list in my notebook of all the big accomplishments and milestones as a reminder on days when I have the blues.