What you do in life matters. Our actions and words create ripples that travel outward and interact with world around us. Try to make a splash in the world but make it a positive splash. Eventually, those tiny waves will rebound back to you.
Tag: travel
The Fine Art of Cruising
Back in the day warm weather meant cruising. Now, there’s a fine art to this favored pastime of previous generations. First, you need a vehicle. It doesn’t have to be a classic vintage machine but that certainly helps. What’s important is the “CQ” or Coolness Quotient. If you don’t really have a classic ride then there’s several ways of compensating with what’s available.
For example, a compact car such as a Dodge Colt or a Chevy Sundance the preferred method was to fill the back seat with stereo equipment. Next, you needed a good mix tape. In the old days play lists were stored on high tech spools of magnetic film. It was important to make sure you had the right flow to the music because there’s no shuffle like we know today. You could fast forward or rewind. If you were really good at it you could count the seconds and stop the spooling at just the right time to get the song you wanted.
The next thing you need is a long stretch of quiet road and plenty of friends. The party starts in late afternoon. You simply spend hours and hours of driving slowly up and down that quite road with the volume on 10 and the windows down. Hopefully until the wee hours of the night. As you cruise the stretch you look for places to park and visit your friends.
On a good night every teenager in the county will be there. Some will push the envelope too far and the police might be called in to restore order but for the most part trouble is minor. For the guys it’s really about finding the girls. I suspect, that the girls would show up to be found by the right guy.
I’m sure the stories abound. Those kind of stories get better every time we tell them. 😉 What was really important was the memories and the friendships made.
Take That First Step
Sometimes I wonder where the tracks would take me if I could just follow them to the end. What sights would I see? Would we pass along the river? Would we travel beneath mountains deep inside the Earth? Somewhere beyond the farthest mountain is something different. Something we haven’t seen before. Something new and exciting. But we’ll never know what it is unless we take the journey.
We often desire to do something but we find reasons to avoid starting. I wonder if it’s because we are afraid of the journey or if losing the mystery? But what if there’s a more exciting mystery beyond the first one? Well, there’s only one way to find out. Go for it. I dare you.
Wading Trees at Kanawha Falls
The rainy season is upon the Appalachian Mountains. The small roadside park below the local hydroelectric dam floods often but today the water was only up to the parking lot so I decided to stop and see if any pictures presented themselves. I used to able to capture some decent shots of the falls here but the trees were allowed to grow along the shore. The sandbar willow trees that grow along the bank of the river are allowed to grow as a form of erosion control and I think allowing nature to take it’s course was a good option. By the time I got to the spot the fog had obscured the falls anyway. However, I was not disappointed with the effort. This clump of trees seemed to be shouting “PICK US MISTER! PICK US! as they proudly stood there in the water’s edge. Who am I to resist when mother nature volunteers to pose for portrait? Life is about opportunity. Take advantage of every moment and opportunity will present itself.
A little more about Beartown State Park.
The first time I stepped out onto the boardwalk in Beartown State Park I fell in love with all the wonderful angels and stairs. I’m comfortable navigating by landmarks such as Terrain but the boardwalk made me feel like I was in Middle Earth and about to meet the elves. The picture here was taken in the Fall and every time the breeze came along it showered us with brightly colored leaves. Tall ferns grow on the tops of the large rocks that line the edges of path. Beartown is a place where you can really recharge.
LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC 