Road Trips and Why Everyone Should Travel(the short version)

So, you know all those movies in the 90's and 2000's about road trips? Or well, the two that I can think of off the top of my head? Basically any movie or book or TV series or comic that featured a road trip between friends. Well, those all made us want to go on an epic, life-changing road trip with our best buds, right?

 No? So...that was just me? *taps mic* Is this thing even on?


Ahem.


Yeah, so because of those (especially The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman), a road trip has been on my bucket list for years. When my two best friends decided they wanted to go on one I immediately began throwing out ideas and making tentative plans. Mid-May, right after school got out and right before I really began my new job(more on that later) and they had to go back to work, we went. Thoroughly packed and prepared of course(I over-planned and over-packed, because reasons).

That's really all the leg room we had.

 Off across the country for ten days, to Yellowstone National Park we went. It was AMAZING. I'm not going to go all cliche on you guys and say it changed my life forever and I'll never be the same blah blah blah, but it was definitely a fantastic, and at least a little bit of a life-changing experience. Garden of the Gods was really great, and all the rock formations were just so HUGE.

 I used to live in Yellowstone when I was a kid, so it was pretty awesome to be able to go back. I took a few photos reliving moments of my childhood(as soon as I can find the original photos, I'll put those up beside these).
This was *my* tree growing up, and it's been my happy place for years. It was pretty flipping sweet to be there again.

At the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This was before the hike down into the Canyon, on the day we called the "Defying Death Day" of the trip. It was a pretty strenuous hike. RIP, my lungs.






And the things we saw on the way up there and on the return trip were just as awesome. I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time ever.

 We stopped at Bryce Canyon on a whim, and I'm so glad we did. That place was beautiful!

So was Zion National Park, which I'd never heard of until recently. Phenomenal beauty, how did I never ever hear about this place?

Alright, enough pic-spam for now. But seriously. These places were amazing. All of these breath-taking landscapes did what I thought they would-they took my breath away. But there was something that I wasn't expecting. Everyone always says places like the Grand Canyon make you feel small. I mean, yeah, they're huge. Pike's Peak(which we couldn't see because of cloud cover) is 14,114 feet above sea level. And I'm barely 5'2". These places did make me feel tiny(not a hard thing to do, standing next to pretty much anyone reminds me of that), but they also made me feel....gigantic. Big enough to do anything. Big enough to face my uncertainty and anxiety head on. Big enough to let change into my life. Big enough to not be afraid of the future. Big enough to remember good times, rather than bad. Big enough to work towards more good memories, rather than sit and wait in the sad times. Travel does that, I know. It widens our perspective, etc. I wish it was more available to everyone. In other countries it's a normal thing for kids to take off a year between high school and college just to travel. It breaks my heart knowing how much travel costs and how so many people never can get any time off to go, or they won't take it, or whatever. A good friend of mine goes to concerts all the time with her dad and her husband. Her little girl, who is now almost 6 months old has technically "seen" a handful of classic rock bands when she was in the womb. My friend and her husband both work a whole lot, but they take the time to go do things. That's awesome to me. More people should take the time to do the things they want to do. I'm so glad my friends and I got to go on this trip. Because it definitely changed my perspective in one big way. I need to take the time, do whatever it really takes to go and do what I want to do *now*. It might be 6 months to a year in between things, but I'm going to travel again as soon as possible. And until then, I'm going to do the small things that broaden my horizons, like read or watch movies/TV shows I've been putting off, spending time with people I haven't seen in forever, blogging and writing more(cough cough). I want to live my life now, not later. There might not be a later. 

I hope you have a wonderful day, dear readers. Find a way to do something for yourself this week that you've been putting off. Even if it's reading a book or taking a weekend morning to drink a cup of coffee and talk on the phone with an old friend. Here's a quote to sum up my feelings for the moment(I've got to run some errands before work, and the morning got away from me), and I pray that can have the ability to do whatever you dream of doing. 

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand--and melting like a snowflake...”

― Francis Bacon

The Power of Words

Today we forget how powerful our words can be.

We "love" coffee, we "hate" traffic. 
What type of people are we, what does it say about our hearts that we can use the two most powerful sentiments on fluff and chaff? We give up the meat & potatoes of life for the fat and worthless scraps of empty echoes. Why? We are made for speech, for relational moments. We are made with souls to express ourselves. Why do we blather and squawk, sounding as if we are just taught to speak as a trick. Why do we let such power go to waste? Why can't we use it to define us? Why can't we use it for good? To build each other, ourselves up? We use words like pennies, not realizing we're throwing away priceless gems & gold. 

Language is what sets us apart from animals(though dolphins and velociraptors could have us beat),

 

Seriously. These guys probably have better vocab then tweens these days.

....ahem....but we bleat out the same words day after day, sentence after sentence, tweet after tweet. Next time you're talking to someone, keep a tally of how many times "like" is said. That's one of my greatest problems, and one of my personal vices I wish to overcome, so don't think I'm sitting on a hipster holier-than-thou throne of unheard of records and films. That's not me, by far. How I'd *like* to see myself is an intelligent, warm, accepting person, who loves & relies on conversation,  good conversation. With eye contact and no cell phones to distract us from getting to know one another. To respect each other's presence by being present. Actually listening and responding in kind. Not just waiting our turn to speak. 

In this day and age of such interconnected-ness we are the least connected age. Many people I know and see end up sitting next to each other in silence: texting others, smiling vaguely at funny videos about cats, or talking to others who aren't even there rather than enjoy each other's personal real-life interactions.

Seriously, this comic gets it. Hold on, let me respond to this text. Oh wait...

Whining about "kids these days" is not the object of this post however, so I'll let that dead horse lay there for now. 

I just want everyone to take a moment today and think about the words you say. Think about where they are coming from. For those of us who take stock in the bible, Matthew 15 speaks about this subject. Christ is challenged by some hypocrites *cough cough* I meant Pharisees, sorry, and they tell Him what goes into a man's mouth makes him unclean. Christ replies that that in fact is not true, but what comes out of a man's mouth defiles him. And what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. So, dear readers, search your hearts as you speak. You may not be Christian, you may not follow any religion at all, but you have to admit that we are all human beings. So we are all worthy of love and respect, yourselves included. So guard your heart, guard the words you use. I won't say use them sparingly. Anyone who knows me in the "real" world knows I can't ever shut up. But what I am trying so desperately to say is that you have so much power in you, in your words. Do not waste it. Because that would be, like, a tragedy, you know? 

As I always do, I give you quotes in closing. Because there are so many others that have come before to say what I'm trying to say in a much more beautiful, poignant way than I can. Have a wonderful day, and take care of yourself. You're worth getting to know, and those around you are worthy to hear what you actually have to say, as they are. Listen to them, listen to yourself. 

"Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts." 

— Patrick Rothfuss

"A word has power in and of itself. It comes from nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin to all things." 

— N. Scott Momaday 

"True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions."
— Joseph Addison