Coffee House Introspection

There is just something about sitting in a coffee shop and typing on a laptop that makes me feel creative and yet despise myself at the same time.  By the simple fact of being here I am one of “them”.  I am sitting alone with my computer and coffee.  Despite my attempt to look at home here I feel a touch underdressed in my jeans and Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt.  I don’t have a beard, pensive glasses, or a granola/recycle attitude that I express in the form of multiple bumper stickers.  I suddenly have the urge to listen to Jewel.  That is horribly cliché and sure to offend someone and for that I apologize.  …I digress.

I have not posted much lately because; well… there just has not been a lot going on that is blogworthy.  Because I hate to waste java joint solitude I am going to type away!

Have you ever thought about your big “list”?  Your big “to do” list in life before you check out?  I have. 

**Fair Warning: this may get overly philosophical and unnecessarily deep – as deep as my juvenile mentality will allow, anyway.  Not sure yet, but it feels like I’m heading down that path.**

I recently realized that my bucket list mostly involves travel.  This, to those who know me, should really come as no surprise.  Upon further introspection it occurred to me that it is not the “been there” pins that I want to place in the map; it is the associated experiences.  I think that is why I have an aversion to cruise vacations.  Sure, I can check Grand Cayman off my list.  I’ve been there.  I walked on the streets.  I played in the sand.  I consumed their rum.  I swam with their stingrays - all of the typical tourist getaway stuff.  I have a full vacation worth of stories that was crammed into about eight hours on the island.

But did I experience it?

No.

Some of my favorite life experiences have come when I am out of my comfort zone in a strange land.  I say that with the understanding that, for the most part, I have encountered nice, friendly people who were willing to assist me or sit and talk and share their stories with me.  I have not really tested myself by venturing into dangerous places.  But, then again, there aren’t too many of those places that I have a real desire to see.  Unless Uncle Sam decides he wants a 36 (soon to be 37) year old man to pick up a gun and fight I can’t imagine an Afghanistan pin being in my “been there” map. 

 The sunset that I see over the dreary plains of the midwest is the same sun that sets over mountains and into oceans.  It is our choice where we choose to view it.  My happy place is an island in the Caribbean with white sand, clear water, and palm trees where I can watch the sun drop into the ocean every night.  That is nearly EVERY place from the coast of Florida to Venezuela.  Trace the islands from Key West down to Trinidad and Tobago.  On the surface they are alike: beautiful water, beautiful beaches, beautiful scenery, warm weather, tan skin, rum.  But they are all different and unique and THAT is the draw for me.

The real experience is not on a two hour snorkel boat or a bus tour of the capital city.  Those are interesting to me, but that’s about it – interesting only.  I want to talk to people who are not paid by the local resort or department of tourism.  I want to walk the paths that were not paved by a corporation so that you will buy a ticket and stop at their souvenir booth.  I want to climb the mountains that do not have handrails, swim in the waters without a lifeguard, venture the city streets without a paid guide who has studied a local history book for two weeks and is now an “expert”.

 I want to get lost and find my own way back. 

That about sums it up; I want to get lost and find my own way back.  Come to think of it, that is sort of my outlook on life.

And that should be a good stopping point.  Lure of the Horizon is my self gratifying place to vent my thoughts, experiences, pics, and videos about travel and adventure.  From time to time it tends to be the psychiatrist’s couch that I lay on.  In the words of the great Jimmy Buffett “Therapy is extremely expensive, popping bubble wrap is radically cheap”.  Thanks for tolerating my occasional bubble wrap popping. 

Next up:  European Vacation!(?)