I was struggling to figure out what to write about this week, and seeing as how I never got around to it last week I knew I needed to come up with something. So far with this blog I've been writing about things that have to strictly do with writing for the most part, and I've decided to branch out a little this week. Instead, this week I'm going to share one of my other passions with you; travel.
Now, this is in part spurred from the fact that this fall I'm going to Scotland. It will be my first time overseas ever, and my first time out of the country alone. I've been on trips within the country by myself, but this is my first bit out of the norm solo trip. I'm looking forward to it, and it can't see to get here fast enough. My experience with travel isn't large by any means, but I still have some mileage under my belt. I've been over most of the US so far through road trips and things like that, a lot of them being trips with my family.
The first trips I can really remember were the times that my mom, sister and I would drive up to Washington to visit my aunt that lives up there. I remember one night when we were on our way back when a motorcycle that was driving behind us just seemed to disappear, the time we hit the raccoon who surprisingly got up and walked it off, the semi-truck that clearly saw us besides him but still started to move over (I say clearly saw because we were right next to his cab looking at him staring right at us when it happened). One of my funnier memories was when we drove through Yellowstone National Park and my mom told us to yell out if we saw an animal so she could stop to let us look at it. Immediately after this my sister yelled out animal and my mom slammed on her brakes in the middle of the road. The animal my sister had saw? A man walking his dog down along the side of the road.
I've always loved the road trips I use to take with my family. Whether we drove to the Oregon Coast for a week to see the tidal pools and oceans and get snapshots of my mom and sister changing the flat tire or the trip where my entire family (aunts, uncles and cousins included) all went out to Tennessee to see Dollywood and stay in an overly cramped cabin house together. These trips are where I learned that there really are flying fish and that they swim out in front of cruise ships, that Florida has leech like creatures that come out when it rains and may very well be leeches, and that Gator World doesn't always live up to the excitement it promises. They're where I've seen the rain forests up in Canada, where one wouldn't picture rain forests being, and where I've been out on a boat the first time whale watching.
The thing is; travel can have its ups or downs and this especially includes road trips where everything that can go wrong often will. However, they are also those experiences that shape you and give you memories that you'd never experience within the confines of your normal routine. Even on my last trip I took alone out to the Oregon Coast (a part of the country I adore and hope to move to someday) I've had these amazing experiences. Having the sweet old lady at the Tea house I went to tell me she's sure I could find a Forensics job out there once I have my degree, because didn't I hear how that man killed his family and left the under the bridge? Standing out on the beach combing for shells and finding a crab instead. Waking up to a coast guard helicopter outside your hotel, and watching as they search and rescue someone out in the ocean in the early morning. (Then there's always the drunk guy who's twice your age who spend ten minutes awkwardly hitting on you, and then pretending not to know how an ATM works to get you to talk to him longer).
I believe the travel is important for everyone, even if you never do make it out of the country, as it shows you a different way of life. You see the cultural changes and can meet amazing people while in a completely unfamiliar setting. There really is so much to see, and I find it sad that in someways the art of the road trip seems to be disappearing.
I'm looking forward to Scotland and the things I'll see there, not to mention the people I may meet. After that I'm hoping for Alaska to be my next big trip, and have a family trip out to Oregon next year in the works. It can be hard to get away sometimes, believe me since between school and work I'm surprised I ever manage it. I've saved up for Scotland for two years at this point, and now that it's finally close I'm getting more and more excited with each week. I'll never give up traveling even if I go through times where all I can afford is a short three day weekend up to the mountains or out to the coast. How can I when there's so much more to see in the world?
Until next week, my dears.
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