Wanderlust

 wan·der·lust

ˈwändərˌləst/

noun

1. a strong desire to travel.

Lake Marie - Snowy Range, Wyoming

This article from She Explores 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 began moving around the country. Well played Hubby...Well played.

Aspen Alley - Battle Mountain, Wyoming

He is of course spot on the money. I do have wanderlust, and during our time in Alaska, 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 of muddy water running in a creek after a hard rain.  There are beautiful areas of the Interior, but most of it is a single highway lined with trees.  

Richardson Highway - Interior Alaska

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

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 are everywhere, all the time and we won't talk about the Alaskan wind.  And yes, it's stifling.  Or is it just wanderlust?