Trip Leaders

Andy Varns, the Varnmeister, Mister Varns, the barn that varns and rides his gosh Darn bike everywhere. This man may look innocent, but he has ridden from middle earth to the shire to Hogwarts, whatever that means. He also fancies climbing large walls, shredding the pow pow, trekking long paths, and "Varn"ishing furniture, well that last one may just be a pun. He once tackled a bear, used it as bait to catch a shark, and then rode that while riding his bike back to his settlement in Bloomington, Indiana. His dog Rubert is also a good boy, but is a girl, still a good boy.

Britt. Britt. Britt. Britt. Britt. Ohhhhhhhhhh Britt. Yummy yummy yummy. What to say. So much. Oh wow, what a fun bio. Yummy yummy yummy. Oh Britt. Born in a tree. Sitting with me. Oh Britt. Yummy yummy yummy. Eating a tree, with a free can of spam. Oh Britt. Yummy yummy yummy. A true adventure, from the land of Spanaway. Born on a lake, perhaps a mistake? She once ran a mile, with lots of mad style. I'm sure she's encounter a bear and was not afraid. Yummy yummy yummy. It's time to go now, prepare yourself well. Britt is a great leader, a great leader indeed. Yummy yummy yummy. Gucci flipflops.

Once upon a time in a land far away called Boise there was an outdoorswoman called McKall, it has been told that she was in a ski patrol in Morocco while living with the Mauritian toads where she sang with them in the dusk til the moon rose. It has also been said that while she enjoys Kraft mac and cheese her main food source is knowledge in which indulges herself at the local PLU library. And while she can direct outdoor rec’s finances almost like an Econ major she will be able to make a little time to watch the greatest movie to ever grace the big screen Kung Fu Panda.

Durant! Naw we ain’t talking the 6’9” Jamie Foxx look-a-like. We talkin the P. L. U. Durant. The Durant with a beard that all of us inspire to one day grow. The Durant that is able to hit the high note in the chorus of “Take on Me”- a-Ha… Yeah! Play the song and he WILL chime in….Durant is derived from the Latin name Durandus, which means “enduring.” Endurance is a key quality of many professional athletes. Running is a sport. One may run outside, where nature, or the “great outdoors”(please pronounce with physical air quotes) exists. Here at Outdoor Rec, we pride ourselves in associating with nature. Durant, or more commonly known as, “Durnt” is one trip leader who has a relationship with nature. Like a reaaaaaaal close relationship. Go on a trip with Durant-asourus Rex(still roamin), and you will soon share this infatuation.

Elizabeth hails from the bottom of one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. However, because she is human, she is never able to discern just which one it is. Luckily for us, she followed her gnome friends to the lovely land of Washington, where she joined Outdoor Rec to spread smiles and sunshine. Elizabeth is majoring in Hammock-swinging and Shenanigans with a concentration in adddvennnntureeeeeeeeee!!!! Her plans for the future include echo-locating the place of her birth as well as conquering six of the seven seas. Just which one she'll pass on remains a mystery.. even to her…

OH WOW OH WOW! We have gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Emily and her Gnome fiance Jerry. JK….this is a bio. Emily was born on a farm in Poland in the middle of nowhere. She was fed up with not having the chance to row due to the lack of water in Poland so she decided to move to one f the most rainy/wet places, the Pacific North-West. Yeah I’m still lying to you, Emily is a homie from St. Louis who enjoys her time hanging with gnomes and doing hikes and stuff.

Now this is the story, all about how, Hannah H’s life got flipped, turned upside down. And I’d like to take a minute, it’ll only take a sec, I’ll tell you how Hannah became the Princess of PLU's Outdoor Rec. In West Seattle, born n’ raised, on the playground is where she spent most of her days. Chillin’ out, maxin’ relaxin’ and all cool and all shootin’ some b-ball outside of the school. When a couple of guys that were up to no good, started makin’ trouble in her neighborhood. She got in one little fight and her mom got scared, and said, “you’re movin’ to Parkland because PLU is there. She begged and pleaded with her to have the day but she packed her suitcase and sent her on her way. She gave her a kiss and then she gave her her ticket, she put her walkman on and said, “I might as well kick it.” First class, yo this is bad, drinking’ orange juice outta a champagne glass. "Is this what the people of PLU living’ like? Hmm, this might be alright.” But wait she hear the prissy, bourgeois and all that. Is this the type of place they should send this cool-cat? She doesn't think so, she’ll in a sec, she hopes they’re prepared for the Princess of Outdoor Rec. Well, the plane landed and when she came out, there was a dude who looked like a cop standin’ there with my name out, she ain’t tryin’ to get arrested yet, she just got here. She sprang with the quickness like lightning disappeared. She whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said fresh and had a dice in the mirror. If anything she could say this cat was rare, but yo she thought “man forget yet, yo home's PLU. She pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and yelled to the cabbie “yo homes smell ya later.” Looked at her kingdom around just to check, then to sit on her throne as the Princess of Outdoor Rec.

On the topic of Hannah Peterson….Far back in the history of woman, a horse people rode along the plains of Rohan, fighting and horse riding and being merry. One of these horse people was the great great great great great great great great great grandmother of the best friend of the man that married the mother of the woman who begat the most esteemed Horse Master: Hannah Peterson. No, not that other Hannah Peterson. The real Hannah Peterson. The shorter Hannah Peterson. The one who always lands on her feet like a very small dog, you know, the one who invented Spanish (all of it) and has traveled far and wide on a quest to graduate. I hear she once wrestled a bear with her bear hands. My friend told me she likes fruit on her pizza, which is disgusting. I dare you to go up to her and ask to print something using her LuteCard because then she can say, “I may be called HP, but I am no printer

Isaiah was born into a tribe of balk meek lowland dwellers who’s tradition was to live constantly looking down at the ground. But isaiah was DIFFERENT! He set his eyes to the SKY! He vowed that one-day he would touch the heavens and that he wouldn’t return until he did. So after much trial and tribulations, and training with monkeys, and eagles, Isaiah submitted the highest peak in THE WHOLE VALLEY! In doing so, the gods granted him beautiful orangey-red flowing locks to compliment his majestic ambitions. Upon returning to his tribe, he boldly overthrew the chief and thus founded the first ever tribe of CLIMBERS! (They still have no technology though...IDK) but Chief Isaiah is THE COOLEST!

Fabulous free flowing hair all around. Watch out, you might see him hiking in the puget sound! Izac hails from sunny Pasadena, California, but got tired of getting sunburns and surfing at the beach, so he came to Tacoma for a change of pace. Once he arrived in the PNW, Izac became enthralled with the rain, so much so that he can be seen puddle jumping in his frog rain boots even on the darkest of days. Izac loves oatmeal, and his favorite way to prepare it is in the microwave on an early saturday morning. A fun fact about Izac is that he has been to Nepal AND has taken a picture with the Dalai Lama! Get on Izac’s level.

Miranda…..The creature from the East side of the state. She’s already been to University…she claims it was high school but, we all know she’s just a super senior who loves PLU. She’s a strange one that’s for sure….she even wears a helmet to class every day just in case she needs to repel off of Tstad. Oh Miranda, she’s quite the iceBERG. She sure knows how to break the ice on trips so ask her to sing for you and she just might. Well, that’s Miranda in a nutshell. She’s pretty HILLarious!

YEEHAW GIT ALONG LIL DOGGIE!! Nick here is a world class cowboy all the way down from good ol Texas where everything is bigger and better! Nick is a good ol boy who will be sure to lead you through PWN adventures with his big ol heart and southern charm. When Nick ain’t ropin’ horsies and feedin’ the chickens, you can find him enjoyin’ a big ol mason jar of sweet southern tea on his meemaws back porch! Nick is so good at ropin’ that if you tripped he would lasso you right up before you even hit the ground!! You sure will be in good hands with this southern charmer as your trip leader!

Rika Boorsma. WAIT, RIKA BOORSMA??? That’s right folks all the news is true, Rika’s backkkkkkk!!! She hails from the Uff Dah state of Minnesota, in the United States of Ame-RIKA! Her favorite spice that she puts on every meal is papRIKA (seriously every meal even ice cream)! Her favorite holiday is Halloween because that means she can go tRIKA treating!! Her favorite pastimes are swimming in cold cRIKAs with her pals, and traveling all over the world to places like AfRIKA and Costa RIKA! She's even learning to speak GRIKA!! Rika makes a heckin’ great trip leader, making every trip she leads a fRIKAn’ adventure!!!!

Sierra was once a majestic mer-woman who roamed the greatest oceans of the world. Sierra was such a dope mer-woman she was nominated to take over the very honorable position of mer-Goddess and rule all the mer-people, and the oceans, and basically the whole world. With this lofty position she had to take on her human form so she could learn Goddess things and refine her dope mer-woman-ness at university. That’s how she ended up in the PNW, at PLU, in Outdoor Rec. as a trip leader, because it was the most obvious thing for her to do in order to accomplish her pre-Goddess training. Unfortunately, she will be returning to the sea soon but we will certainly do everything we can to learn from PLU’s only know resident Goddess to-be. ALL HAIL SIERRA!!!!

Torrin- he ain’t boring. Sometimes he’s torn between equally amazing outdoor activities like rock climbing and bouldering…. But he rocks at both!!! (didya get it?:) but often after a long trip, he might be sore-in, from so much outdoor activity. But now he's soarin flying because there's not a star in heaven that he can't reaxh if he's tryin. Just breaking free. Also he's from minnesota because minnesota is superior ands has lake superior (ha did you get that? Yet another pun. The master strikes again). Yowza… what a dude…. Even in the pouring rain while pouring from a chalice, in the wilderness, Torrin ain't borin while he's in the great outdoors -in.

Fran is the woman with the plan, she can lead the clan up a mountain. She's a raisin bran fan. she's the man. Fran can drive a van to Lake Chelan. Oh man she's better than any Washingtonian. She's got a pet toucan named Anne that holds her favorite cyan crayon. Fran loves to cook flan in a pan. She goes to the ocean to get a killer tan. She's pretty cool.

There was once a man who tramped along looking at rocks in the vast wilderness of Seattle. He was called Sam Altenberger, and brought his rock-affinity to the land of Pacific Lutheran University as a guide of the outdoor recreations. There you can find him keeping the people of Parklandia safe as part of the elusive people-in-the-white-cars-mostly-priuses-but-now-some-others group. So, if you are in a rocky patch, call your pal Sam. He may just save the day.