Travel broadens the mind. The act of journeying to a place to see and experience its nature and essence ignites intellectual and spiritual growth that is some of the most significant in all our lives. Children’s first important venture outside the safe environs of their day to day lives changes them in manners that open pathways to the adult they are to become. The jaunts and getaways that adults often partake of provide a catalyst for mental and physical refreshment that can alter the course of choices and decisions leading to new directions in life’s journey. But far too often most travelers focus on what they hope to see and expect to find, not taking the time or the opportunity to be open to experiences that are unplanned, spontaneous or unexpected. And as such, they miss out on the small and easily overlooked beauties in life that are often the most rewarding. Far too commonly it is what we are NOT expecting to find that brings to us the most valuable treasures imaginable!
On a recent trip to Arizona, I knew I would see desert and mountain vistas that would be captivating and awe-inspiring. I had seen the pictures my father had sent to me via email for the past twenty years. I had viewed landscape imagery in magazines like Arizona and Sierra for even longer. All of these images had prepared me for what I knew I would experience and enjoy. I even knew that I would likely see acres populous of Spring Desert Wildflowers and a myriad of cacti carpeting the hillsides, washes and arroyos throughout my day-tripping. But what I didn’t fully realize until partway through my time out there and now have a full understanding of upon reflection is that my greatest joy and most profound discoveries while in the Desert Southwest would be of the barely-noticed single blossoms of flowers, tucked away from easy view that would be of both the flora and human type. It would be this unexpected glory that would mark my trip as one rich in beauty that I was able to document in images and express in words.
It takes effort to miss a towering mountain and not be able to bathe your senses in its grandeur. It is something that really can’t be missed, especially out in Arizona where distances are so much vaster than anything we are used to in the Northeast. But when turns one’s head upward to the heavens, craning for that penultimate view of the peaks and high glens of Arizona’s Superstition Mountains and their equally magnificent neighbors, one can miss majesties right at your feet, or in the case of my travels, just at outside the car door. As I traveled on the byways of Arizona, I took to look down and around just as often as I looked up and out so that I wouldn’t miss the bounties of nature being offered to me in such small but increasingly spectacular doses. I had to be quick for a minute splash of color might mean something unique and marvelous that I dared not miss.
You can read more of this article in our April 2015 issue of ModelsMania
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