Travelers in our own backyard

Leaving Seattle

So I am finally on the road. I still have some work to do for school, but it can be done from afar and I will back in the NW later this summer before I leave for Africa. But for now, moose, the Lounge flag, and I am on the road.

I have never had a lot of money and rarely have taken a true vacation to travel except for work or to visit family. I could bemoan that fact and be envious of my friends that travel a lot, but I am not. What it has taught me is a lesson far richer…to be a traveler in my own backyard.

When I lived in a small town in the south, I took my kids to places that were free or had little cost but that had lots of educational value. Our local parks, museums, library and historical attractions became treasured outings. My son takes my granddaughters to those same places today. When I moved to the northwest, I tried to do the same thing, to find lots of low or no cost things to do that were fun and quirky and that many people don’t take time to find out about. I know most of the Puget Sound’s hidden treasures by practicing being a tourist in my own town.

Mt. Hood

I have been accused of looking at the world with a sense of awe and childlike wonder. I will take that accusation and own it. That is the way I believe life should be lived.

Mt. Hood

One of the thing that amazes me about the US is how many natural resources we have, national treasures of scenic byways that so many people pass up to take the quick freeway bypass. Sometimes I think we just need to slow down and enjoy the beauty all around us. What is our hurry? We go to visit family and we take the freeway and hurry to get there and then complain about the family we came to visit only to get back on the freeway and hurry to jobs that we hate and lives that are unsatisfying. Slow down, stop and look around you at the beauty of the world. We have a short time on this planet. Soak up all the beauty that it can give us, and that beauty doesn’t have to be found in exotic locations, it can be found right in your own backyard.