I’m writing on my blog to share something a little different then normal, but it was an eye-opening experience that I think would help people’s day and outlook on the world. I recently went to California with my family over break and it was absolutely stunning. My family and I are big vacation people. By that I mean, we love to travel the world and have always been fortunate enough to be able to. We always find that time to escape, which is especially important to us. However, we typically go on beach vacations (due to my mom’s heart and soul belonging to the beach). When my little sister and I were small, we were brought to the beach no matter how much we complained, so we were raised to appreciate it and eventually love it (even if the sand gets all in our house).
This vacation was a little different for us though because we actually only spent 15 minutes of our vacation on the beach. This would be disappointing to us normally, but we got to see so much of the other beauty of California, so I didn’t really notice. The first part of my vacation was in Palm Springs. One of the most spectacular experiences here was swinging through the mountains by tram as we made our way to the top of the mountains. Down thousands of feet below, the weather was low 60s, but 8,000+ feet up, it was another world that had a snowstorm and was 12 degrees. It was crazy to me that it could be snowing in a place that has palm trees and that I had swam in a pool earlier in the day. Another amazing experience was visiting Joshua Tree National Park. We got to explore the beauty of this park, watch the sunset, and enjoy the breathtaking views. My favorite part of the park was the silence. It was away from the city sounds and crowds of people. If you were completely still and no one was around you, you could hear absolutely nothing.
I also had the privilege of visiting two different zoos including the world-renown San Diego zoo. I saw animals that I had never seen or even heard of before at these two zoos. I even got to feed a giraffe which was one of the coolest experiences ever. It was always so nice to hear about how the workers cared for the animals and the love they had towards them.
I know I just totally went on a rant about my vacation, but I do have a point. Even though all of these experiences were very different, they all made me realize one thing, how big the world is. Sometimes I can get caught up in the drama in my life, my small town, with my community. One little problem can feel like the biggest thing in the world, except it’s not. The world is so big and has so many problems, but also so much beauty. I feel that exploring some of its beauty gave me this clarity. I understand that everyone has problems and you are allowed to be upset about them and let them take a toll on you, however, I feel that it helps sometimes to know that there is a whole world out there. You are not alone and there may even be others out there going through the same thing. As well as even in the hardest moments of your life when all you can see is the ugliness of the world such as war and scandal’s, there is still good out there. Remembering that there is beauty in the world, even though there is so much darkness, is comforting and so important.
To learn more about the San Diego Zoo: click here
To learn more about Joshua Tree National Park: click here
To learn more about the tram I took: click here
Sweet Good News. 