earth is awesome

take me to the top. the bottom. every corner of the earth

lone peak

It's Earth Day!
What a truly incredible place we have to call home.
There are beautiful things waiting right outside our own back doors.....are we taking advantage of them?  Exploring them? Appreciating them? Breathing their air and dipping our toes in their waters?
What better way to celebrate The Earth than to get out IN it.
Be a part of it.....in whatever way you like.
I have mentioned this quote before.....but can't resist posting again.
I love it. I try to live it.
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul"
-John Muir

Whether you know it or not, you NEED to get out there.
Inhale and exhale the air from the top of a mountain. Or a forest. Or the desert.
You might think you are doing just fine without it.....but once you're out there, it will change you.
You will crave it. Need it. It will become a part of you, and will dance in and out of your thoughts every day. Begging you to come back.
And you'll go, and your body will heal and strengthen.

If I can convince just ONE person to spend more time outside, then I will be so happy--mission accomplished! If I can convince a few of you.....I just might burst.
If you're not out there, you're missing out--I promise. 
I believe it's so important to interact with nature.
And it doesn't matter how.

Take a mountain for example.
Maybe you want to climb it and stand on it's top (I do).
Maybe you want to drive out to it, and admire it from the bottom.
Photograph it.
Walk around it.
Quickly run it's trails while the sun rises over the top.
Spend a day slowly exploring, waiting for the sun to set behind it.
Sleep under it's stars.
A simple picnic.
Splashing in it's rivers.
Climbing it's rock walls.
Flying down it's single track on a bike.
Sitting in the quiet shade of one of it's thousands of trees.
Soaking up the sun from the warmth of a rock.
Alone with your thoughts.
Or laughing by a fire with the best of friends.
ONE mountain offers something for everyone......so what are you waiting for?

I have never traveled far from home. 
But I have found so many places to fall in love with dotting the western half of this country. 
There is a giant fantastic amazing earth out there, waiting to be explored by all of us....it doesn't matter WHERE we live, there are special places we can find and call our own.
Here are some of my favorite places.
 
crown butte montana, moab utah,  silver lake, bryce canyon, uintas, lake blanche, banff national park, johnston canyon alberta , lake louise, trial lake, arches national park, silver lake , delicate arch, big basin, palisades reservoir, humbolt redwood state park, somewhere on the california coast
click on the link for more photos of each adventure

See how awesome Earth is? 
What are you waiting for?

Happy Earth Day.....get out there!