Monday, September 14, 2015

September 14: Writing Prompt #257-Bookworms

Grab the nearest book. Open it and go to the tenth word. Do a Google Image Search of the word. Write about what the image brings to mind.
The nearest book I grabbed is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest, and the tenth word was Oregon. When I google image searched “Oregon,” it came up with a series of image subcategories which included “Ducks, Football, Nature, University, Flag, and Ducks Uniforms.”  Upon looking at the images, it brings to mind some of the many, many reasons why I fell in love with the Northwest upon visiting my husband’s family in Oregon for the first time over 5+ years ago. These reasons and the images searched include, but are certainly not limited to, the Oregon Coast, its many lighthouses, Crater Lake, Mt. Hood and the Three Sisters, Multnomah Falls, Portland, and the Willamette Valley to name a few.  In fact, as I look at the images, there are so many more places I would love to visit in Oregon of whose existence I was not yet aware.

One of the first things I did when we moved to WA was purchase a travel book about the NW for my Kindle. Even more recently, I purchased a hard cover copy of the National Audubon Field Guide because there are such an abundance of things to see, places to visit, and nature to discover in the Pacific NW.  I believe I could spend a lifetime here and still not experience all there is to experience, and that’s a blessing.  Living in such a beautiful part of the country makes driving to work every day while looking across the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge in the shadow of Mt. Rainier to the right and the ebb and flow of the Puget Sound to my left worth the long week days.  Knowing the weekend is coming when we can take off on a road trip to hike in the Olympic National Forest, wade in the tide pools of the Strait of San Juan De Fuca, check out the snow at Hurricane Ridge, or just picnic at our local Tumwater Falls Park after floating down the Deschutes River is enough to keep me content for quite a while.  I don’t know how long we’ll be here or if we’ll decide to make this our final state of residence, but it may very well end of being one of my favorite residences due to its more than seven wonders of the natural world! J 

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