32/365-Papago Buttes

Papago Buttes landform as seen from The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona

"Too much good fortune can make you smug and unaware. Happiness should be like an oasis, the greener for the desert that surrounds it." - Rachel Field


"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking." - Khalil Gibran

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I couldn't decide on which quote to pair this creation with today, so I picked both. As I am sitting here at my Arizona Inn patio table typing this, my last full day here in Arizona, my heart is happy. I am so blessed to have had this vacation and these experiences this week. These are days I will never forget and will continue to live in my heart forever. Such beauty I've seen. It is so restorative to the soul.

I was sitting at breakfast this morning thinking about how writers will often travel to get themselves inspired to write. At least in the movies, they always seem to be holed up in a hotel room or a rented room somewhere charming, typing away at the typewriter. The older I get, the more I understand that concept. To remove yourself from your normal surroundings and get out to explore new cultures, new places, new ecosystems it just ignites the soul and one's creativity. There is so much I have wanted to write and create while I am here.  If only I could spend a week of each month traveling! My only regret this week was not taking my notebook with me as I traveled around to jot notes and ideas.

While I am not quite ready to return home, traveling also has the effect of making one appreciate going home. There is something to be said about being in your own environment, your own routines. And yet there is this burning fire of wanderlust that simmers just beneath the surface of my heart. It seems unquenchable. I come from a line of wanderers on my mother's side, so maybe it is genetic.  So, I will continue to collect my travel reward points so I can wander. I can't wait until the next trip, wherever and whenever that may be. This country, this world of ours, has so much to offer. I want to drink it all in and experience all of it.

For more information about the Papago Buttes or the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, please visit the hyperlinks above.

xo