“Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”― Ibn Battuta
From time to time, I’ll be sharing stories from my travels. They will be a collection of “postcards” from the road. Unlike my other work, these posts will not be essays. Rather, they will be un-edited on-the-go reflections made while staring out car windows, waiting in airport terminals, or enjoying a meal of new and exciting flavors. I hope you enjoy this slight detour in our journey together!
Before leaving the Pacific Northwest, I was familiar with the sensation of being thirsty, the flavor of water becoming sweet after a long hot hike. But nothing could have prepared me for the type of thirst one experiences when deprived of color.
I’d trekked through the Himalayas for more than 20 days when I boarded a small plane with my classmates and headed toward Kathmandu. Below us were jungles and lush fields full of rice stalks. My eyes felt like brittle sponges, greedily absorbing every last hue and shade of green, blue, and all the colors in-between.
More than a decade later, I moved to the Middle East for the first time. Six months later, we touched down in Sri Lanka for vacation. As the jungle rose to meet the tires of the plane, I, once again, felt my parched eyes soaking up the vast expanse of the lush green jungle below. My prune-like retinas were plumped and restored.
Now, back in the desert for over four years now, I continue to experience the feast and famine of color. Summers are vibrant, saturated, and intoxicating. Then we return to our home away from home, where monochromatic landscapes offer their own unique beauty. But I must admit, as much beauty there is in the desert, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve traveled the world and experienced natural beauty across four continents, but the place that quenches my thirst for color most thoroughly is still the Pacific Northwest.
And so, for this last postcard from my summer travels, I raise a glass to the Pacific Northwest and the abundance of color that runneth over. May it quench my thirst for color till next year.
