Wanderlust

wan·der·lust

ˈwändərˌləst/

noun

1. a strong desire to travel.

Just the other day Hubby and I were talking about this article from She Explores. The photos in the article made me homesick for Wyoming, the state where I spent the first 29 years of my life. I miss the varied landscape, from the mountains to the prairie to the plains to the desert. I miss the clear lakes, streams, and rivers.  I miss the openness of it all.  As I was explaining what I missed about Wyoming, Hubby just smiled. Not because I was mildly homesick, but because he knew exactly what was really causing these feelings. He took the opportunity to point out that I have wanderlust, something I didn't know I had until I met him and we started moving around the country. Well played Hubby...Well played.

Lake Marie - Snowy Range, Wyoming

Aspen Alley - Battle Mountain, Wyoming

He is of course spot on the money. I do have wanderlust, and over the last two years, it's only gotten more intense. For the first time in our married lives we're financially able to enjoy traveling and yet, we live in the middle of nowhere in a state that's isolated from the rest of the US. For those of you not familiar with the Interior of Alaska, it's a long drive to anywhere. We live in a state that has very few roads, it's two hours to the next closest town in either direction and five to seven hours to the coast.

Alaska Pipeline Crossing the Tanana River - Big Delta, Alaska

They tell you Alaska is beautiful and vast, will glaciers and wildlife and rocky shores. What they don't tell you is most of those beautiful photos in the ads are from somewhere along the coast between Valdez and Anchorage. The interior is trees, farmland and more trees.   Did I mention trees?  Most of the rivers and streams are murky, running with glacier silt, think muddy water running in a creek after a hard rain.  There are beautiful areas of the Interior, but so much of it is roads lined with trees.  The interior of Alaska is an outdoorsman's paradise. Plenty of places for hiking, backpacking, hunting, fishing and the like. If you have an ATV you can easily navigate the world of trails and two-tracks into the brush and trees.  If you have a boat, you'll enjoy miles of rivers into the wilderness.  Alaska is beautiful and many, many people love it here, but for me, I'm ready for a change of scenery.  

Clearwater River - Delta Junction, Alaska

Richardson Highway - Interior Alaska

So back to this wanderlust business.  Hubby is one hundred percent correct.  Over the past six months, I've also been reading about travel and listening to travel podcasts.  I've resubscribed to Sunset Magazine.  I've been looking deep into our budget, seeking out ways to increase our ability to travel more than once a year.  Wanderlust.  Yes.  Please.

We spent a bit of time checking out some campgrounds this past weekend, taking picnics and hanging out for the day.  Enjoyable?  Yes.  The cure for the desire to travel?  No.  On our drive back home from one of these day trips Hubby and I talked about living here.  He brought up the way the wind had a stifling effect on pioneers when they moved to Wyoming.  He added that he'd read that the trees in the Ohio Indiana area had a similar stifling effect on new settlers.  This was my turn to grin.  I told him that this is exactly how I feel about where we live.  Trees everywhere, all the time and we won't talk about the Alaskan wind.  And yes, it's stifling.  Or is it just wanderlust?