Meet Katie!

Standing at 6'2 (or 5'5, depending on who you ask) coming in at a weight undisclosed…. KATIE MCGUCKIN.

Nicknames: K-Tizzle, McGooks, Gukes

Best Known Quotes: "BTW's," "your guys'" (ex: What is your guys' favorite city in the Western United States? Equivalent to y'all's, and a useful phrase for us Midwesterners)

Porn Star Name (Name of your first pet, name of the street you grew up on): Fluffly De La Rosa. That's right.

Things you will most miss about Madison: The people, the view of the capital from John Nolen Dr., cooking dinner with farmer's market buys, walking through the farmer's market on a sunny summer Saturday morning, seeing people I know everywhere I go, walking up State Street and perusing all the random gifts at the shops, having Noodles & Co. within walking distance, concerts on the square, cheese curds, spotted cow beer, dancing to live music at the union terrace, ice skating on the lakes and the way that we relish the short and glorious summers.

Places you are most excited to visit on the trip: Banff!! Every person I've talked to that's been there has said that it is a place you MUST visit. The glacier exploring and kayaking on Lake Louise sounds like it will be quite the adventure. And to think that Emmie and Parm wanted to take this off of the itinerary...

Katie's Predicted Superlatives:

• First person to successfully change a bike/car tire (or first girl to flag down a man to help her with this task by showing skin or batting her eyes): Parm to actually fix the tire, me to call AAA (thanks for the membership, mom and dad)
• First person to burst into tears: No one! This is a no-tears trip.
• Person who wins the award for campfire chef du jour: Me! Although both Parm and Emmie are excellent at making good things out of random ingredients, so this will be a close one.
• First person to ask for directions when we get lost: Emmie. Parm and I have too much faith in out navigation skillz and iPhones.
• First person to find a "lovely gentleman suitor" (that's for you Mom and Dad): All three of us at the same time! I think we'll meet a group of three strapping young men while camping in Banff.
• First place where we consider turning around and going home: Mount Rushmore if there isn't a cave of gold underneath it (Parm really has her hopes up after watching National Treasure 2 about 100 times).
• Person most likely to suction herself like a barnacle to other campers when it gets cold at night: This is a toss-up. I would say me, but Emmie has been known to do this on occasion. However, given that I am a more habitual spooner, I'm going to go with me.
• Person most likely to get seriously Injured: No one. This is an injury-free trip. Also, there are no sea urchins where we are going, so I should be safe. (I stepped on sea urchins when we were all in Greece two years ago and went to the Greek ER, where they prescribed soaking my feet in olive oil)
• Person most likely to request a "gold star" anytime she wins a competition that she made up and neither Katie nor Emmie agreed to participate in in the first place: Parm. Nuff Said.
• First person to totally freak out: Probably all three of us together when we get attacked by a bear. Good thing we have that bear mace (thanks, dad).
• First person to touch the Pacific Ocean: Emmie... She has the longest legs so can probably out-sprint Parm and me.
• First person to inappropriately use their can of mace (thanks Mr. McGuckin!): Emmie. She didn't get to practice with the fake mace!
• First person to get pirate coded: My goal is for this to not be me :)
• Person most likely to meet a celebrity in L.A.: Emmie. She knows way more B-list celebrities than Parm and me, so has a bigger pool to draw from.
• Best blogger: Emmie for most humorous posts, Parm for most consistent blogging.