Open Spaces
I stopped hard climbing a few years back due to an injury but also life in general. I’m more focused on work now, and in the next stage of my life. Still, I have the need for open spaces. Spaces I was used to seeing, experiencing, and living in a few years back.
I’m talking about those vast open fields, lakes, mountains, deserts, and oceans, where the mind can wander free, and where the horizon is far away. The sky is big, and the stars are just able to take your breath away at night.
Life in a city has its appeal, but it can get crammed very fast. Even now, living in a small but plentiful house in the suburbs, with a nice deck where I can sit at night and drink a good scotch, while reading a book, still feels constricting. The next house is a few yards away, and the sound of a nearby busy road during the day takes away the magic.
I make it a point to travel at least once a year to a remote place. One I can lose myself in for a week or ten days. It recenters me, and it allows my head to get quiet again. It gives me the ability to go back and endure. I have been to places like the northern part of Iceland, staying at Húsavík and using that village as a basecamp for a lot of goodness. Whitefish, Montana, hiking and experiencing the beauty of water and mountains. I spent two weeks in Interlaken, Switzerland, climbing some of the most amazing picks, and experiencing simple living. I mean, these are just a few of the places, but there are everywhere.
Although it is getting harder to do, travel has become a hindrance, and the expenses for these trips keep getting higher and higher. I still save my money and time and I push myself to do it, even when it takes considerable time to plan, and organize. It is the one time in the year I can be me.
COVID times aside, it’s time. Where would I go next? Yeah, I know where...