The Thrill of Movement and Location

It's Travel Tuesday! I am actually really excited about this because I haven't posted about traveling or places I want to go since the summer when I posted my images from my 2 road trips ( found here, here and here) and when I wrote about wanting to see Ireland (here).

Lately my life has been all about "the next step"; with applying to graduate schools and even just dreaming about where I would like to live, I have gotten a little too caught up in living in the future more than once in the past weeks.

I would like to show you why, though. I am listing for you schools to which I am applying, and what travel aspect I look forward to for each destination.

First up:

The University of Texas


Austin City Limits: the longest running live music television program. Austin is the Live Music Capitol of the world, and I would love every second of it. Not to mention that The University is known for having one of the most beautiful campuses in [at least] the country.


Washington State University


First of all, the city of Pullman is nestled in a thick of trees and mountains. Second of all, there are sites like these all around: this is the Palouse River Canyon.



Oregon University


Another city within a forest within the mountains. Eugene, Oregon is surrounded by sights! And some of the most celebrated National Parks are within driving distance, like Mt Rainier, and Olympic, as well as a longer drive to Yosemite. Not to mention that it's only 2 hours up to Portland.

Willamette National Forest, directly east of Eugene. Actually, you should just see all the beautiful pictures from this amazing forest: check out the Google image search here.

The University of Colorado


Are you seeing a trend yet? I really would love to live in the forest with instant mountain access. I would choose the mountains over the beach any day. Boulder is a beautiful city, in a beautiful state. Plus, Colorado is known for its arts community as an ENTIRE STATE. Wow. Plus, Boulder is located right on the boarder of one of my favorite spots I visited over the summer: Rocky Mountain National Park.

This is Odessa Lake, right in the middle of this mystical national park.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago


SAIC. Talk about a school known for its arts. Chicago is a booming city itself, but the School of the Art Institute of Chicago definitely has a top reputation in the country. Honestly, if I got in to this school . . . I would feel extremely overwhelmed.


East Tennessee State University


This is not the last university within a forest within the mountains, but it is in my absolute favorite mountains I have visited thus far. I love the Blue Ridge, the Smokies, the Appalachians ... whatever you want to call them. They are beautiful and magical.



Bald River Falls, found in the neighboring Cherokee National Forest.

Burren College of Art


Ireland. Need I say more? Burren is a land of rock on the western coast of Ireland. Ballyvaghan, Ireland is located across an inlet from Galway. I get goose bumps thinking about this place. No really. I have them right now.


Burren National Park.


Where would you vote to live? I sort of hope I only get in to one school so I don't have to decide between all these amazing programs and places.

Don't do it for anything but the love of movement and location, Or the battle is lost. - Movement and Location, The Punch Brothers

Goals vs. Opportunities

On my big roadtrip through the national parks we stopped at an overlook to take photographs of an amazing red canyon. I have a thing for wanting to capture local vegetation and for wanting to express the magnanimity of a place through showing the small details. So I took some photos and then got to thinking about my approach to photography and how it relates to my approach to life. So here is what I wrote:

Anyone can see the big picture, but it takes a trained / skilled eye to see the small beautiful things. Photography is a perfect example: pictures of big beautiful things can often seem cliché and don't seem to capture the essence of being in a space. However, if you can somehow manage to include a very detailed, small piece of information, you can bring to life the big picture. In life you have to appreciate the moments (this is literally an art term used to describe a small section of a work) in order to really love the big picture.

When I was writing this I was really thinking about a lot of different things. Quite often I see friends get so caught up in their long-term goals that they don't value a single day along the way. I have never seen anyone happy while doing this. Do I think goals are a bad thing? To a degree, yes. If instead of making goals for yourself you make opportunities, I believe the pressure of getting through the time it takes to reach a goal is relieved with the search to make every day an opportunity in itself.

I don't know if I am making a clear point or just hazy blobs, so I will use myself as an example. Last school year I was extremely focused on graduating, getting to a level in networking where I could have big-time shows in 10 years, creating the big work that would get me noticed . . . by summertime I was thinking about not going back to school, I was in a relationship that stressed me out more than helped me, I could not care less whether of not I got in any shows, and I had a minimal amount of work worthy to go in a portfolio.

Then, this summer, I traveled, became single and free, and sorted out some priorities. I'm actually looking forward to all of my classes, whereas normally I start the semester pissed off about my general education courses. I am more excited about what comes after graduation than just getting there, but most importantly every day I remember one important thing: there is no other moment than this; now is all I have.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. - James Dean

A Bit Late, But Worth the Wait

It is finally time to share my pictures from my recent travels. With these photos I really wanted to show what it is that makes these parks so special to me. When I hike, it isn't just walking around. Every step brings something new to light, even if I have walked the path a million times.

This trip took me through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. I visited Talladega National Forest, The Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and Craggy Garden on The Blue Ridge Parkway. There were a couple other places I saw, but these were the best and the ones I took pictures of. Enjoy.

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road