This episode of She Explorers is brought to you by Oru Kayak.

They design folding kayaks that can go virtually anywhere,

thanks to their lightweight and folding design.

Stay tuned for later in the episode.

We talk again to photographer Gretchen Powers

about how getting on the water inspires her to create.

Learn more at W.W.Oru Kayak.com. I'm Gail Straub and you're listening to she explorers. Before we get

started I want to let you know that after this episode, we're taking September off from making episodes of She Explores in order to creatively recharge and focus on a deadline for another project.

It makes me a little sad, but it also makes me excited to take a little time to think about what's next, and I know October will be here

before we know it. In the meantime, the conversation continues in our She Explorers

Podcast Facebook group, which has grown to almost 800 members. Okay, on to the show. I think something I struggled with before I

traveled and before I did a lot of camping and hiking was that I think I I

wanted someone to give me permission for that kind of stuff.

Like I felt like I needed to hear from lots of people that it's okay to do it and I think that

was probably what restricted me from doing it for a really long time. I wish that I would

have just done it without permission from anybody, you know, like to just trust that eventually by doing it I'm going to meet all these other people

who do it as well and will validate that it's not weird or crazy and doesn't make

you strange and that it's totally normal and wonderful to do these things anyways.

This is Amanda Machado.

I discovered her writing through a personal essay she wrote for Vox.com entitled,

The Strangeness of Being a Latina who Loves Hiking.

For Amanda, this strangeness lay in the lack of overlap she had experienced between her Latin X community in the

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