Wanderlust

I think I’ve been bitten by the travel bug.

On my phone I keep a growing list of places we would like to take Ryley before she graduates from high school in seven years…you know, places like Yellowstone, New York City, Washington D.C., Europe, DisneyWorld….I know it’s not realistic to hit all of the destinations on the list, but we can certainly dream. And then of course there’s Ryan’s and my long-term travel list…Ireland, Israel, Alaska, Tahiti, New England, Prince Edward Island.

Actually, now that I think about it, his list might be a little different from mine.

Unfortunately, travel takes lots of money, and we have actually become quite thankful for the experiences we have had. But the dream is still there. Maybe someday, after we write our best-seller…

In the meantime, I have developed a growing affinity for Google Maps and Google Earth, which allow you to zoom in on almost any place in the world and see a satellite image of it. And thus, live vicariously.

So when I recently read a fascinating news story about the 900-person town of King Cove, Alaska, and their battle to build a road across a wildlife preserve, I just had to picture it for myself! I couldn’t zoom in as close as I wanted to, but it was crazy to see this little fishing village from above and wonder about the lives of its citizens.

What kind of person makes their home in King Cove, Alaska? So then I looked up their Chamber of Commerce web site, and I was pleased to find lovely photographs of breathtaking scenery that seriously looks untouched by human hands.

I felt like hugging the soft green mountainside and then rolling down it. I became obsessed with this tiny town and probably spent 20 minutes trying to picture life there. It’s the stuff books are written about.

During the Olympics in Russia a couple weeks ago, I saw a feature on Siberia and became insanely curious about the thousands of square miles of land stretching across the expanse of a continent, so many times forgotten by us, but never forgotten by God. He is aware of each wildflower that blooms in spring, each fragile snowflake that no human eye will ever lay eyes on in the middle of a Siberian winter. It’s a land so forsaken that even Google recognizes how pointless it is to waste money on satellite imagery. And yet, God still knows about each blade of grass. How interesting would it be to travel there and meet the people who make it their home?

I faithfully read a blog written by a woman named Bethany, from Oregon. She is a friend of my second cousin, and she is about my age. In September, she, her husband, and their two middle-school-aged daughters took off in their 32’ boat and have been traveling down the Pacific coastline on their way to Latin America. They’re currently somewhere near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and every single stop is filled with adventure and thought-provoking observations. She posts intermittently because of a lack of Internet access, so I actually get excited when I see that she has posted again! I settle down in a comfy chair and just drink in her words about her family’s discoveries in Mexico…their tales about building a new dinghy when they were in Cabo (I think)…the hiking and exploring they do on islands…the people they’ve met along their way…the unique way they approach the world, so full of wonder and curiosity. Their intent seems to be to experience each place like the locals do, and not as the tourists do. I love that! Bethany is an excellent writer, and she paints detailed pictures with her words, so it is easy to feel like I’m right there with them. And of course, I supplement my reading by zooming in on Google Maps to see if I can see each stop for myself! I get sucked into the world of satellite imagery; I could spend hours exploring cities from above.  I don’t know what I will look forward to reading when Bethany and her family have concluded their year-long voyage next fall.

The movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was inspiring, too. The scene of him riding a bike in Iceland (I think?), miles from civilization…finding himself on a fishing boat…narrowly escaping a volcano…. The world is so, so big, and I want to drink it all in. I want to experience every single bit of it.

When my dad was in India for three weeks, I loved zooming in on the towns where he stayed, seeing the photos he texted me, hearing him talk about a motorcycle accident he witnessed and how he prayed everyone was okay. If he weren’t there, we never would have known about that accident, but instead, because he was, I was able to pray for those injured strangers too. As he told his stories, my mind was alive with my own memories of the crazy traffic in China when I was 15…memories of trying to wash my clothes by hand in the bathtub, attempting to arrange the mosquito net around the bamboo mat in my hotel room…waking in the train’s sleeping car to see a pair of beady eyes watching me from across the aisle…promising myself I would never go anywhere ever again without strapping a plenteous supply of fresh water to my back.

When I let my mind wander to the next level, I wonder what the Chinese man with the beady eyes is doing right at this moment. I wonder if someone is sleeping in that same train bed or that same hotel room tonight. I gave a Bible to a Chinese woman I met on that train; her dream was to go to America someday. Did she make it? And did that Bible help her to discover the love of Jesus? Only God knows.

Those places and people are existing, living their lives, while I am existing in my life a world away. And maybe someday, God willing, our worlds will have the pleasure of merging, if even for a brief moment in time.