I’m Going on an Adventure!

So, yes, dear friends, family, and whoever else is snooping on this blog: I am taking off on a grand adventure. The first step? Quit my job! Honestly, I wasn’t very adept at stopping people on the street and asking them for money, even if it was for a good cause (climate change, anyone?). So I bit the bullet, emailed them to say it wasn’t the right job for me, and that I was going to find something that fit my skills better.

And that something, for now, is going to be driving around the western half of the United States with my boyfriend, feeding our nerdy photography hobby and taking some time to just BE. We are planning to see some of the wonders of our expansive country – Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Big Horn. But for now, we have made it from Portland, OR (my home of 5-ish years) to La Grande, OR (my home of the 15 years before that). I am sitting with my mom, eating hamburger stew and biscuits, musing over how silly it is that I took over 40 pictures on the way here.

I am not usually impressed with the Columbia River Gorge, having driven through it hundreds of times. She was, as usual, dressed in brown most of the way. However, she put on show-stopping number at the tree farm outside of Boardman. As we watched the sunlight flit through each slanted row, I mentioned how I always wanted to run through those trees like Legolas, noiselessly, with my nifty bow and arrows at the ready. We found a way to wind our way back from the freeway to the narrow road along the tree farm. I did have a device with which to shoot (a Fuji X-T1), but I was far from noiseless. Regardless, these trees did have a magical quality comparable to that of the ever falling golden leaves of Lothlorien.

On our way out of town, we stopped at Powell’s Books and got some reading material (Fahrenheit 451 and Stephen King’s “IT,” for me) as well as a little travel journal, and some postcards.

Oh yeah, if you want a postcard or two, email me your address! a.snook@outlook.com.

Cheers for the next few days.

Anna