travel writing and photography – everyday adventure – female travel
“The lobby fairly reeked of high-grade Formica and plastic palm trees—it was clearly a high-class refuge for Big Spenders.”
- Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Vegas bachelorette weekend has come and gone. A few hours after I returned to San Francisco, I was desperately trying to rehydrate my body while still struggling to understand the appeal of the Vegas experience.
All I will say right now is, wow, what a trip. There is definitely more trip reviewing on the way…
I spent the final afternoon of last year’s Pacific Northwest trip in a cafe called El Diablo. One of my Seattle friends always tries to convince me that the weather there is not that bad, but outside, the frenetic rain proved otherwise. The bright Latin America-inspired cafe felt like the perfect warm refuge. I skimmed through some local papers to kill time before I had to leave. In one of them, my horoscope read:
You’re in luck, Virgo. Not so much in the sense of winning the lottery or scoring a major award, but more in a spiritual sense. Do you know “Auguries of Innocence,” the poem by William Blake? I think you’ll experience what it describes: “To see a world in a grain of sand/ And heaven in a wild flower/ Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/ And eternity in an hour.”
It summed up my trip completely. There was not much to “see” or “do”, it was more about enjoying and appreciating the simple things– the company of old friends, the freedom of a mini roadtrip, flower farms and snow-capped mountains, meeting interesting travelers and friendly locals, and a rainy afternoon spent in a colorful cafe.
I recently had the challenge of finding a decent, affordable new place to live in San Francisco. After weeks of searching, I found a spot and have been settling in. Admittedly, it is a strange space, but what matters to me most is that it feels like home. After assembling Ikea furniture until my hands and fingers were sore and decorating with items picked up on my travels, it’s beginning to become one. One of my favorite Gandhi quotes came to mind for this week’s Wanderful Words:
“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
This relates to many aspects of what home means to me. Like I said, I fill my living space home with tidbits of my travels– artwork and knick knacks that remind me of both the ups and downs of the road and the lessons I’ve learned on it. Beyond my blood family, I like to surround myself with others from a variety of cultures and upbringings. In my previous post, I wrote about the ability to feel at home amongst different types of people and in less familiar places. And the post before that was about experiencing other cultures in my home base city.
But while I want to open my mind, my house, and my life to the ideas and influences of other cultures, I want the core of who I am to remain intact. And who I am is by nature the product of many cultures.
“Dear friends, you are nothing less than a miracle. There may be times when you feel that you are worthless. But you are nothing less than a miracle. The fact that you are here — alive and capable of breathing in and out — is ample proof that you are a miracle. One string bean contains the whole cosmos in it: sunshine, rain, the whole Earth, time, space and consciousness. You also contain the whole cosmos.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
I know it’s not necessarily travel or adventure related, but this excerpt from Be Free Where You Are made me smile. Aside from the feel-good aspect of it, I appreciate this quote because I find that seeing the miracle in seemingly common things is valuable for an artistic perspective. Much of the writing I enjoy the most does not focus on the spectacular; the author finds a unique angle or the beauty or humor in an everyday event and is able to convey it in an intriguing way. In my constant efforts to improve my writing and photography skills, I think it’s important to be aware of and open to seeing anything around me as a miracle worth capturing.
While I have yet to publish a second article, twice in the past two weeks, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself featured on the Matador Network. First, Matador Goods editor, Lola Akinmade notified me that I was on My Favorite Books: Member’s Pick for week 1/18/10. The post included one of my all time favorite quotations:
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
- William Blake
And this past week, I was very flattered when I found a Matador member to watch article written by Matador Network managing editor, Julie Schwietert.
As you’ve probably guessed from my blog name and the quote, rejecting limitations is a major theme with me. Some limitations are best eradicated with the help of others, so I’m extremely grateful that I’ve found a door unlocking community at Matador that is incredibly supportive of writers. Thank you!
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