ADVENTURES THROUGH THE REDWOODS AND DOWN THE WEST COAST
I was challenged the other week to 'find joy where you are'. I have the quote hanging up in my office now. You guys... I didn't realize how this phrase would totally convict me. Because sometimes, honestly.. I'm in kind of a perpetual state of wanderlust. :) I just want to pack up my bags and go most of the time. Sure, I miss home and love being back home after being away for a while, of course.. but sooner or later it hits me and I want to go again. I just love seeing new things, exploring the little fraction of the world that I can. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, and we've been super fortunate (and have always put a huge priority on) traveling... really every spare penny goes towards it... and I think we always will. But still, I feel the challenge to find joy where you are, whether that is somewhere new or somewhere you've seen many times before. I think it's fine to long for something in the future (travel or otherwise), but the challenge comes from not letting the joy of where you are now escape you. How often, even when we are somewhere we love, or doing something we love, do we still pine to be somewhere else, and allow the goodness of where we are right now escape us?These are some photos from our journey from Portland down the west coast to San Francisco. There are a lot of photos.. :) It is such a breathtaking part of the world, and the minute we were out on the road we looked at each other and said "I wish we had more time here". But..... find joy where you are. Those few short days were what we had and I wish we'd soaked it up even more than we did. Those few short days I remember as my feet up on the dashboard with the guy I love beside me, perpetually looking at the time and one of us finally saying quietly 'we really need to get going'. Please, if you ever get the chance to drive this stretch of road, don't turn it down. What follows is just a glimpse of why. xo, jenn
The coast of Oregon & northern California.. November, 2012