Vertical Ethiopia in the Midwest

I got up, got ready and headed down to Minneapolis' Midwest Mountaineering for its Outdoor Adventure Expo.

I was going to hear one of the event's featured speakers: Majka Burhardt.

She's this fascinating gal (a Minnesotan turned Colorado girl) who is a mountain climber, traveler and writer.

She's on staff at Climbing Magazine, she is a guide with the Colorado Mountain School, and she just put out her first book, Vertical Ethiopia, which is a coffee table photography book of her recent mountain climbing expedition in that land.

I thought I was just going to hear her speak, but when I arrived at Midwest Mountaineering - a mom and pop version of REI - I discovered a whole event going on that I wanted to attend.

I did catch the Vertical Ethiopia show -- which was brilliant.

But I also twirled through the vendor booths chit chatting with hostel owners and tour guides running operations as far away as Peru, Patagonia, Tanzania, Mongolia and more.

And all of them, all of them, had some sort of Minnesota connection. These avid adventurers, these ex-pats living in another land, had all been raised in Minnesota.

I ended up hanging out at the expo much longer than expected as it felt so good to be surrounded by fellow travel fanatics who all happened to be from my home town.

Photos © Gabe Rojel - from MajkaBurhardt.com.