Adventure Groups San Francisco

Jordan and Petra Ultimate Adventure

Enjoy a women-only adventure by camping under the desert stars on our Ultimate Jordan and Petra Tour! Over the course of 8 days and 7 nights, you’ll hike portions of the Jordan Trail, ride camels in Wadi Rum, float in the Dead Sea, and glamp under desert stars. Yep! Your Jordan Adventure will channel every ounce of your inner Indiana Jane! Cue the theme song and sing it enthusiastically as you read on about your Jordan adventure. **KING’S HIGHWAY CANYON EXPLORING AND SWIMMING** Your adventure kicks off along the King’s Highway, which you’ll travel before exploring one of the most beautiful canyons on earth. Swim through milky blue waters beneath towering basalt canyon walls. Then cozy up with your new Explorer Chick besties at an eco-lodge within the boundaries of Dana Nature Reserve. **JORDAN TRAIL HIKING AND GLAMPING** The following morning, you’ll wake to trek 5 miles along one of the most scenic sections of the Jordan Trail to arrive at Little Petra. En route, you’ll be able to see into Israel and learn about the biblical significance of the trail by our local guide. That night, you’ll relax under the stars at an authentic Bedouin camp in a comfortable glamping site with a bed and mattress. **PETRA TOUR** The next day, you’ll journey to Petra on foot over the course of 9 miles. The hike might seem long, but you’ll be rewarded by entering Petra through a back entrance before exploring the narrow slot canyons and caves deep within the vast UNESCO World Heritage site. On your second day in Petra, our local guide will take us on a super-secret hike with stunning views known only by the locals (Shhhhh! Don’t tell the tourists!). **WADI RUM DESERT TOUR AND BEDOUIN CAMP** After our time in Petra, we’ll venture to Wadi Rum, the Arabic word for “dry river bed” aka where Matt Damon grew his doo-doo potatoes in The Martian. The Wadi Rum desert is unlike anything else on Earth! Protected by the National Park, this area is devoid of man-made architecture and influence. Instead, the nomadic Bedouin people thrive on what the Earth provides and call Wadi Rum their home. Lucky for us, the Bedouins will welcome us into their communities and share some of their favorite hiking trails. Spend two nights under more breathtaking stars in another authentic Bedouin camp. Your home will be a raised canvas tent complete with a bed and local decor. **JEEP SAFARI TOUR TO MOUNTAIN ROCK SCRAMBLE AND DESERT CAMEL RIDE** While in Wadi Rum, board a Jeep to safari to Burdah Mountain and take on a challenging 3-4 hour scramble to reach the famous Burdah Rock Bridge. If you’re feeling intrepid, inch out to the middle of an arch that stands 900 feet high. Catch your last sunset in Wadi Rum on the back of a camel as you enjoy a bucket-list desert experience. **DEAD SEA SWIM AND JORDANIAN COOKING CLASS** On your final full day, we’ll journey to the lowest place on the earth—The Dead Sea. Sit back, float, slather on some “magical” mineral mud, and wonder to yourself how you got to be so brave. In the evening, we’ll gather for one last meal. But here’s the kicker: You are going to help prepare it under the leadership of a Jordanian culinary school that is women-owned and operated! **See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/adventures/jordan-petra-tour/](https://explorerchick.com/adventures/jordan-petra-tour/) **Say Hello 👋** **💻** Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Las Vegas Climbing and Paddling Weekend Adventure

This isn’t your typical girls-only Vegas weekend trip. This is a Women’s Las Vegas Vacation Weekend Adventure, Explorer Chick style! (That means packing your sequins and sports bras!) After a few nights on the strip, enjoy rock climbing, kayaking and overnight camping in Black Canyon. Experience both the glamour and true grit of Las Vegas, Nevada in its surrounding desert landscape with other adventurous women. From a 4-star hotel to a billion-star sky, experience the full scope of glam and grit in WILD Las Vegas. Your vacation begins at a high-end Downtown Las Vegas Hotel and Casino where you’ll enjoy all the food, drink, chip-tossing, and people-watching Fremont Street has to offer. We’ll build in time to escape the crowds to spend a full day rock climbing and exploring the vertical sandstone walls of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. So long, Las Vegas! Kayak adventure, here we come! On day three, we’ll dry bag our belongings (peace out, heels ✌) as we prepare for a camping overnight along the Lower Colorado River. Your 12-mile paddling journey launches at the base of Hoover Dam through the Black Canyon on the Lower Colorado River. That’s right: We’ll gain special access to launch kayaks below the towering Hoover Damn. Talk about feeling small! The water will be moving and flat; a peaceful pace for anyone who might have overindulged the night prior and perfect for a relaxing trip. Along the way, we’ll make frequent stops to areas accessible only by boat—natural hot springs, slot canyons, a natural sauna, Emerald Cave with gorgeous green water, historical sites, even ruins! We’ll spend our final night resting up camped out on the shore, snort-laughing under the stars. This adventure is for women who love to experience multiple adventures, don’t mind trading their bed for a warm sleeping bag, and who can trade room service for rock climbing without a second thought. This Vegas Vacation is the best of both worlds: city life and outdoor adventure! See the website for full details and to book. [https://explorerchick.com/trip/las-vegas-climbing-and-paddling-weekend-adventure/](https://explorerchick.com/trip/las-vegas-climbing-and-paddling-weekend-adventure/) **Say Hello 👋** 💻 Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Moab Hiking, Rappelling, And Off Road Weekend

Your salt lamp is trying its best to inspire but sometimes, you need the real thing. Escape into the russet vistas and sublime arches of this 4-day women’s multisport adventure in stunning Moab, Utah. This is your golden ticket to lace up those hiking boots and leave real life behind as we explore both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Marvel at the colossal swoops of sandstone that frame the breathtaking landscapes like a picture. Summon your inner mountain goat as you scramble up slick rock and skip across sand dunes. Escape the crowds to discover an otherworldly quiet no meditation app can inspire. Slip into a realm that seems plucked from another dimension, brimming with rock dunes, fins, and hidden slot canyons. Suit up, tie in, and prepare to rappel over 100 feet to the secret canyon floor below. Then do it all over again (AND AGAIN) on a beginner-friendly canyoneering adventure. You’ll scramble, downclimb, and maybe even wade through gorgeous, remote slot canyons. End the day with a stunning sunset hike to the most iconic spot in all of Utah. Show off those sick carpool skills as you climb into the driver’s seat of an off-road vehicle. Let the sand slap your face and the wind tangle your hair as you become one with ancient desert lore. Unearth ancient relics and dinosaur bones while navigating tunnels, ravines, hills, and arches. We’ll explore the unique town of Moab and check out the funky shops, food truck park, and restaurants all tucked in between two National Parks. Every day is a new adventure followed by the promise of the best night’s sleep of your life. Your unforgettable Moab Multisport Weekend starts with a breezy rendezvous at an airport hotel in Salt Lake City followed by a 3 night stay in our private Explorer Chick House. Hop in the SHE-nanigan Shuttle and let your guides handle the rest. **See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/trip/womens-moab-national-parks-multisport-weekend/](https://explorerchick.com/trip/womens-moab-national-parks-multisport-weekend/) **Say Hello 👋** **💻** Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Choose Your Own Adventure in October

Hello adventurers and welcome to the Meetup that is limited by only your imagination! This event is where we get together, have some drinks/snacks, and read aloud a Choose Your Own Adventure books that we vote on. We take turns reading, collectively vote on the choices we'll make, and read through the consequences. Come by and check it out! We've been to space, cured plagues, committed heinous crimes, reached enlightenment, made so many friends, and even visited *the* Forbidden Castle. We're so thankful for your support the past few years and we hope you support us going forward as we continue our adventures. **NO preparation needed!** Feel free to bring friends and please make sure to add them to your RSVP! See you there!

Shenandoah Hiking, Winery, And Sunsets Weekend

**Summits And Sips** Imagine finally treating yourself to a girls’ weekend. Only instead of sitting on someone’s living room floor fielding texts from your partner (“WHERE IS MY PRESCRIPTION NASAL SPRAY”) you’re hiking the Appalachian Trail. Eating picnics you didn’t have to pack. And tossing back Virginia wine with women who make you laugh until a you pee a little. Trade the daily hustle for mountain magic with the ultimate long weekend hiking in Shenandoah National Park. This is a more laid-back hiking adventure––active without being hardcore. We’ll explore sections of the Appalachian Trail by day, including Mary’s Rock, Whiteoak Canyon, and Hawksbill Mountain. And we’ll savor golden sunset hikes to Bearfence and Stony Man before our evening PJ parties. Our SHE-nanigan Shuttle will be conveniently parked to save us from sweary uphill climbs, whisking us away to our trailheads, an afternoon wine tasting, and our picturesque lodges with local, chef-made meals. This much beauty and sisterhood in one long weekend will feel illegal. But we promise the park rangers won’t kick us out. **See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/trip/womens-shenandoah-hiking-winery-and-sunsets-weekend/](https://explorerchick.com/trip/womens-shenandoah-hiking-winery-and-sunsets-weekend/) **Say Hello 👋** **💻** Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Moab and Arches National Parks Hiking Weekend

\#\# Moab Booty Buster Bust your booty on the best trails in Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. We squeeze a week of activity into a long weekend on this 4 day women’s hiking trip to Moab, Utah. Your weekend has been carefully curated and “in the field” tested by your Explorer Chick team! We’ve spent YEARS playing in this outdoor mecca in the desert. You’ll squeeze in some serious ground over the course of a long weekend working on those hiker booty gains. Explore six arches in one hiking trail to discover the namesake of Arches National Park. Witness the power of wind as you trek among iconic red rock formations where over 2,000 arches have been documented. Descend down layers of red, pink, brown, and white sandstone to enjoy a well-earned lunch on the White Rim of the Colorado River. Wander through red rock slot canyons, among sandstone hoodoos, and across wind-eroded plains in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Feel like you’re on a desert planet as you admire the vast and desolately beautiful landscapes. Catch an unforgettable sunrise at Deadhorse Point State Park as you sip your coffee and munch on your breakfast. Next, gear up and hit the trail in Canyonlands to conquer the steepest trail in the park. (You’ve got this!) You better believe we wouldn’t let you miss this! Your reward after a brief hike? One of the most famous geological structures in the world. Gaze in awe at some of Mama Nature’s best work before taking your turn to pose in the photo op sweet spot. Every day, expect to be challenged by a new trail, and a new horizon, and new friends. Your thighs will sing every day as you walk a new hiking trail, admire a new desert horizon, and conquer a new national park! Your heart will swoon every night as you kick off your dusty hiking boots, share bad jokes, and enjoy fresh-made meals in the Explorer Chick lodging. We’ll enjoy the occasional meal out and even squeeze in some time for you to meander and shop in the funky town of Moab. Your weekend of epic Moab hikes begins with an easy rendezvous at a Salt Lake City airport hotel—we take care of all the transportation from there! (Phew, did we mention this is all going down in four days?!) **See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/trip/moab-and-arches-national-parks-hiking-weekend/](https://explorerchick.com/trip/moab-and-arches-national-parks-hiking-weekend/) **Say Hello 👋** **💻** Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Smoky Mountain Boots and Roots Hiking

**OVERVIEW** Are you into endless views? Old-growth forests? Mist bouncing off a 100-foot waterfall hitting your face? Then spend a long weekend with a small group of women hiking the best trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (including parts of the Appalachian Trail). Channel your inner goat girl as you stroll through iconic scenery and listen to stories of the women who helped shape the Smokies. Take a brief break from the trail living out your pottery fantasies throwing clay on the wheel and sculpting your very own mug. Then kick back like a queen with nightly glamping near Gatlinburg, TN. **BOOTS = HIKING** Get your blues and greens in on three stunning hikes that don’t even look real. The views from Charlies Bunion and Ramsay Cascades are complete madness. Wind your way through pine trees and over classic creek crossings that make you momentarily consider a coonskin hat. (But not really, because animals ♥️) **ROOTS = HER-STORY** Did you know a woman was the first settler to move to the Smoky Mountains? You didn’t? That’s because Martha Jane Huskey Ogle’s husband called dibs on the fame. Learn about the deliciously woman-heavy history of a wilderness that man tried real hard to claim as his own. Your Explorer Chick guide will drop all the juicy gossip, connecting you to the goosebumpy sisterhood who walked before you. Deep dive into Appalachian crafts straddling a wheel and molding a coffee mug with your very own hands. Local artists will guide you through the entire pottery process and only help when needed. After 10 weeks of drying, firing, and glazing, your mug will show up at your doorstep. Surprise! Relive the SHE-nanigans of your Smokies trip. **YOU FEELING MAX COMFY WHILE GLAMPING** Put your feet up in total Insta-worthy digs at our adorable glamping site minutes from Gatlinburg. You will sleep in a tent that has been tastefully decorated and luxuriously appointed with WiFi and temperature control – with meals freshly prepared at camp by your Explorer Chick guides. You only have one task after hiking: RELAX. **ADVENTURE HIGHLIGHTS:** * Hike the Appalachian Trail to the sweeping panaromic views from Charlies Bunion * Get up close and personal with the Smokies tallest waterfall, Ramsey Cascades * Learn how to work clay on a wheel as you create your one of a kind glazed coffee mug * Kick back at camp with breakfasts and dinners cooked by your Explorer Chick guides. * Sleep easy at our Glamping site with canvas tents outfitted with all the creature comforts. * Relax with a comprehensive itinerary that makes the logistics, transportation, navigation, meal planning, lodging, and everything between easy. * Geek out with supportive and encouraging Explorer Chicks on a private, women-only, small group adventure tour. **See the website for full details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/adventures/womens-smoky-mountain-boots-and-roots-hiking-trip/](https://explorerchick.com/adventures/womens-smoky-mountain-boots-and-roots-hiking-trip/) **Say Hello 👋** 💻 Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Zion and Bryce Hiking and Glamping

Unreal hoodoos? Check. Slot canyons? Majestic overlooks? Check. All this and more (like heated tents with electricity) await you during our Women’s Hiking and Glamping in Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon weekend adventure! **BRYCE CANYON HIKING AND BEGINNER-FRIENDLY CANYONEERING** Escape to prehistoric Utah where you’ll hike stupid-pretty trails in Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Wade through the Virgin River below 1,500′ canyon walls in the Narrows. Spend an entire day exploring Bryce Canyon National Park. Ghost the tourists as you wander deep into orange hoodoos. Explore areas of Zion so remote, they can only be reached by rappelling, scrambling, and down-climbing on a beginner-friendly canyoneering route. **ZION NATIONAL PARK’S SCOUT LOOKOUT** Beastmaster up the West Rim Trail to Scout Lookout and enjoy some of the best views in Zion National Park. You’ll hike through Refrigerator Canyon, and shimmy up all 21 of Walters Wiggles to Scout Lookout with panoramic views of Zion Canyon and Virgin River. Afterward, dry your pits as you descend the trail to an easier hike around the scenic streams of Upper and Lower Emerald Pools. **GLAMPING** Every night you’ll rest your head in Insta-worthy glamping tents bordering Zion National Park. Kick it by the campfire under a diamond sky with goddesses who aren’t afraid to get dirty. **See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.** [https://explorerchick.com/adventures/hiking-glamping-zion-bryce-canyon](https://explorerchick.com/adventures/hiking-glamping-zion-bryce-canyon) **Say Hello 👋** 💻 Website: [https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/) 📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](http://hello@explorerchick.com/) 📸 Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/) ❤️ Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/) 👯‍♀️ Facebook Group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick) 🎥 TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick](https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick)

Homoto's Queer Biker Invasion of Death Valley! (On road route - 3 days)

San Francisco Singles Speed Dating Game Night Ages 20s/30s

For tickets and information: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1998560629643](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1998560629643) **IMPORTANT NOTE: CLICKING THE RSVP AND PAY ORGANIZER BUTTON ON MEETUP DOES NOT GET YOU A TICKET/ SPOT. YOU HAVE TO CLICK THE LINK TO THE EVENTBRITE PAGE AND PURCHASE A TICKET THERE. PRICE GOES UP AS EVENT TIME APPROACHES AND MAY SELL OUT SO GET YOUR TICKET ON EVENTBRITE ASAP.** **\*This is a multigroup event so event responses are only a portion of the total number of attendees** San Francisco Dating Games Singles Game Night: Play Fun Icebreaker Games And Match With People (Check dates below for your age range) A Dating Games Singles Game Night is a revolutionary new event that is changing the way singles meet. It's a fun new twist on speed dating! Let's face it, we're all tired of the endless online swiping on dating apps and this event is the perfect way to meet other singles in real life. **HOW THE EVENT WORKS...** \- At each Dating Games Singles Event event we book a reserved area with some tables at a cool bar with a great vibe \- After you get your ticket we give you the event reservation name\.\.\. When you arrive you just tell the venue host the reservation name and you'll be directed to the event area where you'll get to meet the other fun singles who are also looking to meet new people\. \- You'll be playing fun and easy icebreaker games to get to know everyone\. \- After the event you'll be a able to login to our app where you'll be able to select the people you'd like to stay in touch with \(scroll down for more details about how that works\)\. \- We usually have between 12 and 20 people at each event\. The amount of people varies from event to event but you'll definitely get to meet a good amount of people without being overwhelmed by a huge crowd\. We keep the events fairly small and intimate so you really get to know everyone and make real connections\. \- Our host will walk you through the event via video on your phone \(so there's no awkward check in process or silly name tags\) \- The coolest part about the event is that no one else at the venue will even know you're at a singles event\. It will just look like a group of friends having fun around a table\! \- During the fun icebreaker games you can order cocktails \(or non\-alcoholic mocktails\) to get everyone talking and then move into the games \(feel free to order food/appetizers if you'd like to as well\. Everyone pays for their own tab at the venue\) *\*\* QUICK NOTE: WE WILL BE RAISING THE TICKET PRICE EVERY FEW DAYS AND BECAUSE WE LIMIT THE SPOTS AVAILABLE, THE EVENT WILL VERY LIKELY SELL OUT BEFORE THE EVENT TIME GRAB YOUR TICKET ASAP TO MAKE SURE YOU GET A SPOT. \*\** **WHAT ARE THE ICEBREAKER GAMES ALL ABOUT?** You'll be playing fun games like "Friendly Feud" which is similar to the popular prime time TV show we all know. In this game you and the other singles at the table will be asked fun questions like, "Name a gift that women love men to give them". You will try to come up with the most popular answer and then you'll find out if you got the top answer. Another popular game we sometimes play is Blank Slate where you have to try to guess the most popular fill in the blank answer to questions like, _________ TIME . You'd have to try to come up with the most popular answer... is it PARTY TIME? Is it NIGHT TIME? Or maybe it's SHOWTIME. **HERE'S THE REALLY COOL PART!** This event has led to countless relationships and new friendships formed because after the event you'll be able to stay in touch with the people you met at the event by reaching out and contacting them on our app. After the event is over we allow you to login to the app and **swipe on the people you'd like to stay in touch with!** It's similar to a dating app but you'll have actually met and mingled with the people in person before deciding if you want to match and stay in touch with them! After you get your ticket you'll be able to upload a photo of yourself on our webpage (only viewable by the other event attendees). After you sign up you will get an email from us with instructions on how to upload your photo to our app/webpage. It's the perfect way to meet someone, merging new technology and good old fashioned meeting in real life! \*\*\* IMPORTANT! IF YOU DON'T SEE AN EMAIL FROM US AFTER YOU SIGN UP MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. THAT EMAIL CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND DETAILS ABOUT THE EVENT AND GETTING ONTO THE APP \*\*\* *A message we received about one of our recent events: "I had a great time at the event. The people were really friendly and the games were a lot of fun. It was a refreshing change of pace from the dating apps" - Leah* \*\* QUICK NOTE: Because the venue is giving us their valuable table space we ask that you order a 1 drink minimum or if you don't drink alcohol at least a soda or juice. For tickets and information: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1998560629643](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1998560629643)

No Monastery, No Village | Voices from the Roof of the World : Free Film

The Geography Within Us: A Poetry Gathering on Place, Memory, and Belonging

Perhaps home is not simply the place we come from. Perhaps it is a language in which our name sounds different. A kitchen where someone knows what we like to eat. A city whose streets our feet remember. A landscape whose seasons still live somewhere in the body. A person beside whom we do not have to explain ourselves. A song that returns us somewhere. Or a place where we arrived as strangers and, slowly, unexpectedly, learned to belong. We carry many geographies within us. The place where we were born. The neighborhood where we grew up. The cities we chose and the ones circumstance chose for us. The landscapes we left behind. The languages through which we learned to understand the world. The people who made unfamiliar places feel like home. Over time, these places become more than locations on a map. They enter our memories, our gestures, our food, our music, our language, even the ways we understand distance and belonging. Sometimes we leave a place and discover that it never entirely leaves us. And sometimes a place we never imagined belonging to becomes part of who we are. **The Geography Within Us** is **a gathering devoted to place, memory, and belonging, and to the many landscapes, languages, people, and journeys that quietly become part of our inner lives**. Together, we will explore not simply where we come from, but the more mysterious question of **what places have become part of who we are.** Across traditions, poets have carried entire worlds within their poems. Mahmoud Darwish carried Palestine through memory and language. Agha Shahid Ali recreated Kashmir across distance and longing. Derek Walcott explored the ways landscape, history, and identity become inseparable. Naomi Shihab Nye finds belonging in family, language, ordinary encounters, and the crossings between cultures. Joy Harjo writes of land, ancestry, memory, and our deep relationship with place. Their poems remind us that geography is not only something outside us. It can also become something we carry within. This gathering asks: **What places have become part of who we are?** **How do landscapes, languages, cities, and communities continue to live within us long after we leave them?** **And how do the places we discover unexpectedly change our understanding of where we belong?** We will read poems about childhood streets and adopted cities, familiar landscapes and distant homelands, kitchens and train stations, migration and arrival, language and memory, journeys and returns, and the unexpected places where belonging finds us. You are welcome to bring: * A poem about a place that has shaped you. * A piece connected to a city, landscape, language, neighborhood, or community you carry within you. * A poem about leaving somewhere, arriving somewhere, or unexpectedly finding a sense of belonging. * A song, photograph, recipe, memory, or passage that transports you to another place. * An original work about a geography, real or imagined, that has become part of who you are. We invite poetry from all languages and traditions. Together, we will read, translate, reflect, and listen, allowing the different geographies we carry to meet in the same room. As always with Kaavya Connections, the gathering may wander beyond the theme. We follow where the poems, memories, and conversations lead. Join us for an afternoon exploring the places that made us, the places that changed us, the places that surprised us, and the places that continue to live quietly within us. Bring a friend, a poem, a place, or simply come to listen. **Above all, bring the worlds you carry within you.** Please find more about us here — Kaavya Connections Website: [https://www.kaavyaconnections.com/](https://www.kaavyaconnections.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Please also join the mailing list for upcoming gatherings and events: [https://www.kaavyaconnections.com/mailing-list/](https://www.kaavyaconnections.com/mailing-list/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) If you would like to volunteer to help organize future gatherings and performances, please email: [contact@kaavyaconnections.com](mailto:contact@kaavyaconnections.com) **Kaavya Connections**