Winston Churchill once described the Niagara Parkway as "the prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world."
After visiting Niagara Falls this past weekend with my family, and taking that infamous Sunday afternoon drive down the Parkway (literally), I came to realize that although the Falls can bring me nearly to tears by their magnitude and beauty, it is not my "prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world."
That got me thinking, do I know what is?
For some, the "prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world" could actually be one small place: a music room, an art gallery, a physical drive through a park, a mountain to hike, the list goes on and on. This is not about a physical "prettiest Sunday drive in the world," but a want (and sometimes need) for a happy place beyond our own homes. A getaway when the days get tough, and somewhere we call our own, where we just can not help but smile every time we are there.
This thought then stemmed into another, what if my happy place is not just one place? What if my happy place is every wild kingdom I have yet to explore?
This made me realize that the Niagara Parkway, and the Falls themselves, were probably a part of my happy place, due to their very nature of leaving me in awe and the fact that I could not stop smiling and watching them and the scenery every chance I got. Maybe that was my happy place because I was surrounded by those I loved, but maybe my happy place is somewhere else, too.
I began to finally realize how much of a desire to travel I held in my heart. (And no, not the Tumblr reblog of "OMG I just can't wait to get out in the world" with a bunch of "hip" pictures of mountains and girls backpacking in all Patagonia kind of travel.) It is a desire to travel that stems much deeper than that. I want to discover my "prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world."
I want to find my happy place, whether that be a mile down the road from my house or 3,600 miles away or maybe even both of those.
I understand just about every 19 to 22-year-old is saying probably just about the same thing as me, but when you grow up seeing how fascinating every world outside your own is all over the Internet and everywhere else, you begin to realize you have the ability to see the world far beyond your initial home.
This is a want to imagine the unimaginable, to view the wonders of the world (natural and man made), to see things so far outside my comfort zone I have chills, to get an adrenaline rush from the wild things I did off of a whim, I just want to explore.
The idea of exploring could be road tripping to California with some friends, or backpacking through Europe, or even hiking through a new state park here in Ohio, but it all centers around the idea of discovering some new piece of life and this world that I had not yet known.
Whether your "prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world" ends up being one place, five miles down the road, or 1,000 places 5,000 miles away from home, look for it. Search for it, and never stop searching until you honestly can not wipe a smile off your face.
Find your prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world. I am starting to look for mine.
