Yesterday as we sat on a ridge enjoying the deceptively warm sun of what may or may not be an early spring (today it’s snowing, so I guess we were fooled), Elliott reflected out loud that “this summer is going to feel like an entire year.”
In just over twenty-four hours we had packed all of our gear into our little black car, said goodbye to Elliott’s mom and Kosmo the dog, driven almost 1000 kilometres, reunited with an old friend last seen 15 years ago, spent the night, and checked out the kitschy town of Kimberly, BC on our way to the Lussier Hot Springs. We had spent several hours soaking in the springs, surrounded by sulphur-scented steam and a few other friendly faces of fellow hot spring hunters. A short drive later we had crossed the Kootenay River where this south-flowing river just misses colliding with the source of the north-flowing Columbia River and found our perfect little spot to share the day’s final rays of sunshine with the nearly-melted Columbia Lake. It had already felt like we’d done and seen several days’ worth of life, but it had hardly even been a day. The simple fact is that when you’re traveling and striving to immerse yourself in new experiences, places, meet new people, and eat new food, you’re simply living life so much more intensely and every day can seem like a blissful eternity. At least, that’s how it is for us when we travel.
We’re not saying that everybody should just quit their jobs and live as wanderers for an entire summer as we are- that’s just not possible for the vast majority of people, and as much as you might be a little envious of our travels, there is also a part of us that wishes we had meaningful employment (trust us, we tried our hardest) and a maybe a little bit of stability and security. But if you’d like to make your days- and ultimately your life- seem just a little bit longer, why don’t you give a little extra thought to what’s holding you back from getting out there like we are. Hitting the road, even just for a long weekend, and living your life as intensely as you can will hardly cost you a thing, but in the end it will be more rewarding than an extra day of the old grind ever can be.
