America the Beautiful

Hi, all! I'm happy to say that I'm back from an incredible trip with stories and even more photos to share. I'm also sad that I'm back in city because as beautiful as our skyline is, even the view of the Empire State as we drove into Manhattan at 1 in the morning couldn't compare to some of the sights we saw on the road.

During our trip, I loved seeing the different landscapes that comprise the U.S. and that through this trip I caught glimpses of our country in many of its dresses. I happily stared out the window watching the view change state after state. From the flat plains of South Dakota and its miles (and miles!) of cornfields to the lush pine and fir forests of Wyoming, then climbing 8,000 ft through Utah's mountains and exploring the bottoms of its crimson canyons and finally bearing a seemingly endless stretch of Arizona's desert heat. You don't even know how many photos of the sky and road we've taken.

Even with all the traveling I do I always look forward to being surprised, to turning the corner and having my breath taken away by some new discovery. I have to admit that I now find myself addicted to that search. I want to explore, I want to be exposed to something entirely different than what I've grown used to in my 30 years of living in New York City. In the last 17 days I've rolled in the yellow wildflowers of Minnesota, strolled within a supervolcano, nearly busted my ass in a freezing river gorge, skipped on the cracking Earth under the Arizona sun, screamed my stress away at the top of Bryce Canyon, and watched the same sun tuck behind a different landscape every evening.

So can you blame me that I'm sad to return to the busy city scene I've always known when I've just made most of America my own playground? It was exhilarating! Exhausting, yes, and Lord knows some of camp spots we stayed at left plenty to be desired (like showers), but it was worth it if only to see just how vast, how different, and how gorgeous this planet can be. This kind of beauty never gets old. We traveled more than 6,000 miles to see a piece of what this country is made of and for that I consider myself one of the lucky ones - not only for being able to get out and see it firsthand, but for also having the curiosity to explore it in the first place.