The desert is an awesome place.
The whole of the West stretches out in buttes, canyons, gorges — miles and miles of land that feel uninhabited, unrefined and undisturbed.
Over the last year, I’ve traveled to nearly every place I once dreamed of. Something has shifted
The novelty of traveling has worn off
The West has begun to feel like the East—
another tree, another mountain, another stream, another waterfall.
It is still breathtakingly beautiful. If you have the opportunity you must set to for yourself.
But now I find myself looking for something different—not just another place, but a reason to go.
There are hundreds of waterfalls.
Hundreds of canyons.
Valleys, caverns, buttes—more than one lifetime could hold.
The Grand Canyon may be the greatest,
but it is not the only one that inspires.
So this isn’t complaint.
It isn’t disappointment.
It’s a question.
Where do I go next?
What do I choose next?
Today, it’s hot.
A heat wave across the Southwest.
The instinct is to leave—
to outrun it.
But why?
I didn’t set out on this journey
to dodge the weather.
Not to drive six hours just to escape discomfort.
I set out looking for a place to call home.
So today, I set a new framework for travel.
Wherever I go, I stay
at least a week.
A week to experience what it like to live there.
The need to see everything has passed.
I can’t see everything.
But I can experience what I do see.
Whether I pause at Devil’s Tower
or Devil’s Golf Course—
there is something in each place
worth remembering,
worth writing,
worth photographing,
worth carrying forward.
But something simpler—
the experience of living.
Because I wouldn’t trade this.
Not for anyone else’s life.
I’ve seen things I never imagined seeing.
Experienced things I never expected.
And in that, I’ve changed—
in the ways I wanted to.
And now I understand something clearly:
There is more—
even within a single state—
than one lifetime can fully experience.
So wherever we begin—
north, south, east, or west—
the goal is not to see everything.
The goal is to live intentionally.
To Choose.
To Experience.
To Capture it.
And then share it.
Don’t leave it on a hard drive.
Don’t let it sit on your camera roll.
Put it somewhere — online, in a book
But where someone even if they just stumble across it
can enjoy them in the future.
As for me—
I’ll stay here a few more days.
Let the heat pass.
Then head north,
Maybe along the coast.
Revisiting places I rushed through before.
Adding a few new ones along the way.
As of now—
I move slower.
I take it in.
I treat each moment
as something worth remembering,
worth writing,
worth sharing.
Because life is for living.
And I don’t need to flee0.
I have AC.
