When life gives you friends, make a pyramid.

Melanoma Awareness Month: Portland Events in May

Monday, May 5th

#letsbenaked on Melanoma Monday

Saturday, May 17th

"Burn on the Bike, Don't Burn in the Sun"

Friday, May 23rd

"Don't Fry Day"

Saturday, May 31st

AIM at Melanoma: 2014 Portland Walk 

**BONUS EVENT**

Road to Healthy Skin Tour. Free Skin Cancer Screenings

August dates in Portland, Eugene and Medford

#letsbenaked on Melanoma Monday

The first Monday of May has been designated as "Melanoma Monday" by the American Academy of Dermatology and who are we to try and stop them? Melanoma Research Fund came up with the idea to #getnaked in efforts of catching Melanoma in the early stages. But I want to take this one step further, so instead of sharing a stock image, make it personal. I say #letsbenaked.

Early detection is Melanoma's worst nightmare. Actually that's a lie. Knowledge is it's worst nightmare, prevention and early detection come in at a close second and third. Did you know, if caught in the early stages, Melanoma has a 98% cure rate?! That's pretty darn high.

So quit making excuses and drop those trousers, strip off that shirt and get a closer look. It's time to get to know your body a little bit better. Map your moles. Stand in front of the mirror and check yourself at all angles. Take pictures and keep them on file. Have your partner scan your body. Make an appointment with your local dermatologist and get a skin cancer screening. #letsbenaked and save some lives shall we?

On Monday, May 5th, show your friends and family you aren't afraid and share a photo of you getting naked for the sake of Melanoma awareness! Use the hashtags #letsbenaked, #bethswalk and #melanomaawareness to help scale these efforts. You never know who your message might reach and what life could be saved.

Thanks for being naked with me,
Courtney

An Escape to Wilsons Promontory.

Sunset, Tidal River Beach

The state of Victoria in Australia has so much to offer that I swear I'm discovering or hearing about a new breathtaking place every day. The more I see, the more I realize how much I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I had never even heard of Wilsons Prom until the morning my best friend (we shall call her Shayla) and I were going to rent a Jucy campervan and head out on a little road trip. The plan was to make the drive inland up towards Sydney and work our way back down along the coast stopping in beautiful beach towns as we went...because hot damn, there are plenty of them! But there were a few things stacked against us: time, lack of desire to sit in the car for hours on end and bushfire season. So we consulted the traveling bible (we shall call it Lonely Planet) for what "must see" places to hit up if you were to drive up the coast from Melbourne to Sydney and make some decisions based on that.

Campervan life.

They had us at Squeaky Beach. How cute of a name is that?! So with that picturesque beach image in our mind, we figured we'd start the adventure there, hang out for a bit and then continue up along the coast to keep the journey going. This was Monday afternoon and only about a three hour drive from Melbourne. As we dug a little more into our research, we realized Squeaky Beach was in Wilsons Promontory National Park which from the reviews sounded pretty nice, so maybe it'd be worth an overnight stay and THEN we'd keep going. The keep going part never happened. We arrived a little after 5:00pm and the one camp ground in the park was booked out plus the office was closed for the night, so the lovely lady at the park entrance said we could go on in, hang out for sunset, and then there was a free parking lot area outside the park we could park for the night to sleep. *Insider tip alert: turns out if you go into the camp ground after hours, you can drive around and if you find a free camp site you can set up for the night and just go into the office in the morning and let them know you've stayed and settle up your bill (they don't advertise this on their website). As soon as we started the drive into the park, we knew we'd probably want to stay a little longer than originally planned. Every corner we turned or hill we came up on we had to pick our jaws up from the floor! We'd smack each other in the arm and say "Oh my God, oh my God." Followed by "Holy shit, do you see that?" The landscape was like a photograph had jumped off the pages of a book and had been brought to life right in front of our eyes.

Squeaky Beach

Wilsons Promontory is an outdoor lover's paradise at it sits in the southernmost tip of mainland Australia. So many little beaches to be discovered, trails to be hiked and wildlife to be viewed. Do you have a soft place in your heart for wombats? Then run, don't walk, to this corner of the world! Our adventure allowed us only two and a half days of exploration and relaxation in Wilsons Prom. However, since this is nearly in my backyard at the moment, I will definitely be going back and allowing myself the luxury of getting lost in the gullies, forests and beaches of The Prom.

Wanna check it out? Here's some info you may find useful:

• Multi-task and combine your car rental and your camping equipment into one! Campervan hire is one of the easiest ways to explore Australia. 
• 31 Things To Do in Wilsons Promontory via VirtualTourist.
• You may choose to get lost along the way because that's awesome, but just in case you don't, here are some directions to get your ass to The Prom.
• Your overnight hiking guide (but if you use this, you must take me with you). 

And last, but definitely not least, here is a wombat (we shall call her Marsha)...