I found this note rolled up in the hollow of a tree. It reads, “If I never make it back to California, I want you to know I love you.” Secret wishes in trees are magical, and I carefully re-rolled it up and tucked it safely back, feeling slightly intrusive yet somehow included in the moment.

Upon returning home, I snuggled with my favorite cancer-kitty and day dreamed of California.

Also, you’re all invited on any of these adventures. I don’t want to do everything alone! If you have a must-see or do item on your list that you think should be on my list, leave a comment below.

In no particular order:

• Travel across the country for a year in an old RV, making photographs, sleeping in Walmart Parking lots, and reading Great American Novels by candlelight.
• Learn to speak Spanish fluently and with confidence.
• Learn to identify wild edible plants and mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest.
• Cook an amazing four course vegetarian meal for a group of lovely friends.
• Participate in a national protest in the streets of Washington, D.C.
• Hike the Inca trail and spend a day at Machu Picchu contemplating mortality.
• Stare at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and try to feel God.
• Find a Guru.
• Attend Wrestlemania at least once.
• Swim in the sea surrounding Bora Bora while wearing a bikini (and look good in it).
• Swim in the salty Dead Sea and be healed.
• Watch Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone.
• Have a soirée at Stonehenge…
• and a picnic on Easter Island.
• Stand in the Sedona vortexes and feel the good vibrations.
• Wander the streets of ancient Pompeii.
• Ride a camel in the Sahara Desert.
• Spend Christmas in the Hoh Rainforest.
• Take a solo camping trip to Crater Lake National Park and swim off the shores of Wizard Island.
• Read the Bible.
• Read Moby Dick.
• Read all the books I haven’t read that are sitting on my library shelves.
• Write a book other people will want to read.
• Create a renowned self-published serial photo zine.
• See Bruce Springsteen live in concert.
• See Morrissey live in concert.
• Have a Bill Murray “no one will ever believe you” moment.
• See wolves in the wild.
• See Grizzly Bears in the wild.
• Get a tattoo (and look good with it).
• Take an Eco tour of Chernobyl.
• Feel an earthquake.
• Chase a tornado.
• While in Russia, explore the Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
• Tour Gemini G.E.L. studios and Crown Point Press.
• Visit the temples and monasteries at Luang Prabang.
• Be humbled by Petra in Jordan…
• and be forgiven by Christ Redeemer in Brazil.
• Travel Alaska’s Inside Passage by Ferry.
• See glaciers in Alaska and feel small.
  
• Watch the Northern Lights from Denali National Park.
• See the bats fly out of the Carlsbad Caverns at dusk.
• Sled down the dunes at White Sands National Monument.
• Visit Shi Shi Beach and Point of Arches on  the westernmost tip of the continental United States.
• Visit the famous temple of Angkor Wat and read the Bhagavad Gita in the shade.
• Stand in front of the Taj Mahal and have my picture taken.
• While in India, visit Varanasi, boat on the Ganges, and see the Himalayas.
• Be awed by the Great Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
• Walk inside a crop circle formed in fields along the English country side.
• Go to the annual Pendleton Roundup.
• Hike a portion of the Great Wall of China and pretend I can be seen from space.
• Explore the Everglade National Park.
• Spend a day at the Tate Modern, from open to close.
• Spend a night in Badlands National Park and go stargazing.
• Travel the Oregon Trail.
• Go camping in the Redwood National Park.
• Take a ferry down the Mississppi.
• Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
• See the sun come up over Paris.
• Learn how to make salt prints.
• Lock eyes with the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
• See and sketch the petroglyphs in Chaco Canyon.
• Raft down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
• Explore Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta, Canada and contemplate history and time.
• Visit, explore and hike in these National Parks: Yosemite, Banff, Mesa Verde, Glacier, Joshua Tree, Hawaii Volcanoes, and Yellowstone (again).
• Visit Antarctica before it melts away.
• Explore the Baja Penninsula.
• Travel the United States Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi, Texas to Mobile, Alabama.
• Kiss the Blarney Stone.

We then made our way to the beach. The surf was rough, the wind was frigid but the sun was shining and that is reason enough to stroll happily along any Washington Beach in the springtime.

Sarah and I found dozens and dozens of sand dollars along the high tide line. If you’d like your own personal piece of the Pacific, send me your address and I’ll send you your very own, hand-picked sand dollar!

Condos on the beach. Ewww… but, also eerily beautiful against the subdued landscape.

On our way home, we stopped at one more second hand store and found this little guy wandering around the neighboring (no pun intended) lot. It was an odd, lonely spot to keep a pony, and my girlhood heart ached for him as I imagined trying to fit him inside my Hyundai to bring home.

As we continued climbing in altitude, we were caught up in a terrible storm outside of Salt Lake City. The wind was absolutely unreal, “canyon breezes” as we learned they’re called, and the rain was relentless. Apparently, that’s normal this time of year in that area?

Once into Oregon, we were in the home stretch. Even though it would be late when we arrived in Portland, our final destination.

The Bonneville Dam at sunset on the Columbia. Our journey ended approximately an hour later in St. Johns in Portland. We traveled over three thousand miles in the span of four days. Yowza. Although there are other places I would gladly live in the US, my heart decidedly belongs to the Pacific Northwest.

Can you believe I’m 33 and this was the first time I’ve stepped foot in a Waffle House? The waffles aren’t bad, actually. I felt greasy for the rest of the day though.

Yes, we listened to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska while traveling through the state.

The Abraham Lincoln head in Laramie, WY! I’m glad I got a good shot. Seriously, I just want to buy an old RV and travel to roadside attractions for a year. Following my Bliss in 2013?

More Wyoming. We had some car trouble in Wyoming and ended up spending over four hours at a Sears in some mall getting some temperature gauges fixed in the truck.

I love the colors out west; they are the colors of freedom and vast, open spaces.