Today, I went downtown with my family while I’m home on Thanksgiving break from college. Nashville is the capital of country music, as I’m sure you know. It’s a cool city that has a guy playing a guitar on every corner, boots and buckles, and honestly a lot of good food. My family has lived here for two years, now, and I still love going downtown.

“I’m going back to Nashville
Thinking ’bout the whole thing
Guess you gotta run sometimes
Maybe I’m a fast train
Blowing through a mountain
Watching all my life go by”

– Taylor Swift

For as long as I call you home, Nashville, I will be glad.

Ever heard of the TV show, “Little House on the Prairie”? If you haven’t, it’s okay. It’s an oldie. And literally my favorite tv show ever. I’ve seen every episode at least three times. Yeah. Seriously. Ok, moving on.

Walnut Grove was the town the author (of the book series the show was based off of) grew up in and all that good stuff. So, it was pretty cool to go through that town.

Yep. Pretty much just a nerdy post, here.

I am unashamed.

“I am proud to be me,
as everyone should be.

Don’t feel shame,
that’s not your name.

You are the best you,
if to it, you are true.

Hold your head high,
you don’t have to deny,

that you’re proud to be yourself.
and I’m proud to be myself.”

– unkown

But really, I’m totally okay with appearing weird here – I was freaking excited to visit this place lol

Today, we’re deep in the  badlands. We were just driving along with the windows down and the music blaring, when we decided to take a dirt road into the unknownness. Ten minutes down, we encountered an endless field of sunflowers – growing wild and free in the prairie.

“I’m going to my own hearth-stone
Bosomed in yon green hills, alone,
A secret nook in a pleasant land,
Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;
Where arches green the livelong day
Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,
And vulgar feet have never trod
A spot that is sacred to thought and God.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

South Dakota continuously calls my name and I shall again answer soon, indeed, because this place has my heart.

Mount Rushmore is a must to visit. Being here made me realize how much bigger life is than me and how much of a legacy we can leave for humanity. I mean look at these guys – they will have their heads etched into a cliff until eternity comes or water and wind erode.

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Today, I was in the land of mountains. Never is my heart as free as in the prairies and the mountains. Seeing the sunrise, watching the mist form, hearing the storm come over the peaks – what glories God has formed. Honestly, I could hike and camp up here for days upon days. Oh for the day when I can travel free and continue to do all the things I dream. Soon…very soon.

“But the Colorado rocky mountain high
I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky
The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullabye
Rocky mountain high”

– John Denver

Colorado, you are inspiring.

Today, we are in the Smokey Mountains. I can actually here myself think out here, away from distractions. Even the sight of mountains clears my head.

“All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.”

– Li Po

Only the mountains and I.

Ever stayed in a yurt? Well, I have and it’s a thrilling experience (that is not sarcastic).

Here’s Google’s definition of a yurt – “a circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsable framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey.”

Good times. Gooooood times.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference”

– Robert Frost

Again I say, good times.