Back to Where I Started

Here we are, back to where I started. 

A little more than a year ago, I started my full time solo adventure in Lolita with my three furkitties spending time in this gorgeous exact campspot at Lake Spokane Campground...

The excitement of a brand new chapter in my life was indescribable.  I had no idea what the coming months would bring yet I yearned for adventure and travel.  I worked incredibly hard to downsize most of my worldly possessions, sold my house and prepare Lolita for a journey to unknown destinations and adventures.  And in this place it began....

Returning to where we began - 2014

The view here is still drop dead gorgeous.

 

 

 

 The birds are still singing their lovely morning wake up song.

Wildflowers are blooming and this year there are even new ones that weren't blooming last year.

The sunrises and sunsets are still stunning and I seem to never tire to share in their splendor.

 

An yet much has changed.

After six weeks on the road full time I received a call that I was needed at home.  Family concerns and needs is one variable that is difficult to plan for.   So home I went.  Over the course of weeks and months  it became clear that my Granddaughter needed me and so my solo journey became a duo.  While many families combine home schooling and travel my social butterfly is well grounded with friends and longs for a normal high school experience.

So acknowledging the fluidity of life, and my reluctance to abandon my plans, we charted a altered course incorporating all the things we love with as much time as we can muster.

We have put down temporary roots during the school terms and embraced travel for the rest of the year combining the best of what we both need and want.  We spent a glorious trip in Utah in April and are getting ready for a circle tour of the Washington State in all its diversity.  We will visit  of Mt Rainer and Mt St Helen's and Olympic National Park and travel across the North Cascade Highway.  We will visit ocean shores and visit the San Juan Islands and experience the  carved desert scab-lands.   (Here is where I break into song about Mountain Majesty.) 



So as I sit here in this place I am reminded that  so often people wait for the perfect opportunity, the perfect time, the perfect rolling home saving for the money needed.  

But life is always full of unanticipated twists and turns.

Even in a repeated place, new adventures await.

Training missions took place with us as an audience next to our campsite.  Only in America can a helicopter land next to you without somehow fearing for your life and wondering where you could hide. 

 

And this rare treasure for me..... My best bird picture to date!

An osprey guarding the babies near sunset

I ask of myself... and I share with you. Do not constantly look back for what you dreamed or constantly grieve for what you once had and now is lost.... look forward to what is possible and make it the best you can live.  Life is to short to spend it looking over your shoulder at lost opportunities.

  Dream new dreams, and live them with vengeance.

Just me..... looking forward to new adventures!

 

~ Happy Trails ~