Untaken Trip: Prompt 11

I didn't really connect with this blog, but I always wanted to take a spontaneous trip alone, and have yet to do it.


I was ready to go and I didn’t care where I was going. It didn’t matter what it would take to get there, but I knew I was going.
There wasn’t a minute to wait.

He dropped me off at the airport and said he wished he could go, but the truth is, I didn’t want him there. I told him I’d call him when I figured out where I was going and I’d see him when I got back. So I walked up to the counter and asked the flight attendant “What’s the cheapest flight available and how soon do I leave.”

Colorado Springs is where I find myself now. A state covered in snow that most people travel to with the intent of participating in winter sports, but I wasn’t skiing or snowboarding or doing anything of the kind. In fact, I had no intention other than to escape my life for a brief moment in time and sooth the never ending thoughts that flood my mind. I took a spontaneous trip to submerse myself in a new environment in the hopes of getting a grasp on my reality.

I find myself hiking Waldo Canyon, a place I never knew existed until about 20 minutes ago. I chose the hike about as randomly as I chose the location to fly into. The chill of the winter takes my breathe away but the powdery snow puts a smile on my face. This weather is in complete contrast to the sunny winters of Phoenix, and that's exactly what I needed. I want my mind to match the calm, falling snow that surrounds me, but it is still filled with thoughts I left behind. I continue to walk down this pathway and I am starting to doubt why I came here. I mean sure the beauty is unheard of and the scenery is refreshing, but still I am walking through a forest by myself. I take a moment, sit down, and breathe.

It is in this moment I realize why I am here. To sit, on this rock, in the middle of this forest, and breathe. I look up only to see trees that stretch to the skies gently covered in snow. The mountains never end and they are covered in trees, snow, and beauty. The simple reality is this: to calm my mind, I needed a moment to escape into the forest and watch the snow gently fall.