“The more I traveled, the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” Shirley MacLaine
My friend sits in the car at the end of this rainbow in Wyoming two summers ago. Travel, learn, grow and stop being afraid. The good outnumbers the bad.
You won’t regret it.
Late last year, I did a little bargain shopping. After Christmas clearance sales were picked over by the time I made it to the store the week after the holiday but TJ Maxx had a great clearance on general household and decor items.
This picture frame caught my eye and, while I didn’t need it, the $4 price tag was too good to resist. The wood matches well in my very eclectic home. In case you don’t know, eclectic is marketing spin for mismatched and often random.
It didn’t take long to root around in a stack of prints and locate about fifty pictures that I wouldn’t mind framing. However, this one is special.
This picture was made in 2019 at a lake near my friend’s home in Wyoming.
THAT was a fun trip. I had flown into Casper that very day. When she retrieved me from the airport, we hit up a great diner for some kind of food that I have long since forgotten. That’s because the decor was fabulous and the milkshake I ordered was so amazing I didn’t even need the rest of my meal.
We did some other things that day – she showed me around her town where we looked at trains and I had my picture taken with their jackalope statues before we headed out on this hike.
It wasn’t a long one but it provided a much needed breath of fresh air after a long morning of travel.
The setting couldn’t have been more perfect.
We did many fun things that trip and made some wonderful memories but that day, that first glimpse of Wyoming small towns and landscape are among my happiest.
Each time I walk by this picture, I catch a glimpse and smile at the memory of this moment and many others from that trip.
Note to self: frame more pictures.
An impossible request from a door in Douglas, Wyoming. The same town gave us this other gem.
I giggle every time I read it.
Weeding phone pictures is a task that I am unapologetically bad at until warnings start popping up about full storage.
I don’t carry a camera most days and instead rely on my iPhone for walking around pictures. That means there are fun pictures of cool things collected here. There are also funny memes, images of recipes and pictures of things to remember. Products in the store and their barcodes save time later but they also accumulate until cleaning house is forced.
At this moment, photo weeding is supposed to be a priority. Instead I’m reliving adventures and converting some western vacation pictures from last summer to black and white.
Who needs productivity when you can have art?
Here’s a scene from Lusk, Wyoming. Classic and western, right?
And this is Devil’s Tower.
It’s sacred ground and it is monolithic. To call it impressive would be an understatement.
Here’s the view from the trail.
It was here that I saw my first Prairie Dogs and, I know how ridiculous this sounds, but that was a trip highlight. Cute little guys, those prairie dogs, but they’re prone to carrying disease so don’t try to pet them!
So that’s enough stalling. Time to resume photo weeding and back up. Tell me I’m not the only person who postpones organizing phone pictures until it’s an absolute requirement!
Off the beaten path is the real world. Go find it.
Yeah, I’m ready to go back.
What vacation have you taken that you hated to leave? Is there somewhere you’ve traveled to and wished you lived?
I would love to hear your stories!
Make the Journey Fun 