How the West Was Won And Where It Got Us.

My friend and I have a goal of seeing all 50 states and visiting 50 countries before we, ourselves, turn 50.

There aren't a lot of guidelines around this quest.  We don't have to see all states and countries together (which would be impossible).  There's no qualifier about spending the night in a certain place or eating so many meals in one location or similar caveats. Airport connections, car rides driven straight through a place without stopping? These don't work.  You have to walk away with a sense of the place.  Then it counts.  That, really, is our only rule.

Thus far, I have been to 34 states, 19 countries.  And counting.

"We need another trip." my friend and I had emailed, agreed.
"Let's keep it domestic this time, since we made it to Oz and Morocco last year." we'd decided.
"Which states do we both still need to see?" she'd asked.
"And which of those states do we both actually really want to see?" I'd countered.

Driven by an internal force calling us Westward, we settled on Wyoming.  Jackson.  The Tetons.  Yellowstone.  Idaho.  Ranches.  Horses.  Clean Air.  Blue Skies.  Montana.  Sunsets.  Mountains.  Quiet.  Peace.  Serenity.  Big Sky Country.  Cowboys.

Sometimes I think love at first sight happens more with a place, a location, than anything else.  I've traveled to countless places, many of which I would love to return to again someday.  Jackson Hole, Wyoming is one of the few places that I knew immediately, in some deep, core part of my heart that I would never want to leave, that I would revisit as often as my days and years might allow.  It is a magical place, that part of our country.  One I am glad to now know firsthand.

One afternoon while hiking through the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", my friend and I made our way to Artist's Point.  A big draw in the park, it is the spot where Thomas Moran was originally thought to have sketched some scenes that would become some of the earliest, most famous paintings to come out of Yellowstone.

Hannah and I joined the rest of the crowds, taking our own pictures, catching our collective breath as we surveyed the utterly stunning views.  After I felt satisfied I'd snapped enough shots, I stepped back, sat down on a bench warmed in the sun, took a deep breath.  Visiting a place as grand and awe-inspiring as Yellowstone or The Grand Tetons, you cannot help but be reminded of your own tiny place in this grand, wide world.  When you're visiting hot springs and geothermal areas that have been bubbling and boiling away for thousands of years or staring across at mountains that have stood strong and tall, evolving and changing subtly for hundreds of thousands of years, it puts a lot of things in perspective.  Namely that our lives - even if we are very lucky to live a long and healthy life of 100 years, is but an absolute blink of an eye, a mere flash to planet Earth.

I think sometimes, that's why we all take photographs when we go on vacation or find ourselves some place new.  It's our small way of saying, I paid attention.  I saw what I saw.  My footsteps walked this path.  My eyes laid sight on this very spot.  For a brief moment, in this vast expanse of time, I was here.  


Best Trip Ever from Kelli S on Vimeo.