Collections

Some of you have known me to be a collector.

I've collected lots of things over the years: baseball cards, magazines, playing cards, shot glasses, CDs and DVDs, interesting soda cans (no seriously), just to name a few. Trust me: there were more. So many more...and where are they now? Most of those things have been sold, thrown out or given away. Some things (actually, lots of things) still remain...

In recent years, I've become a bit of a nomad, and that's inadvertently forced me into taking stock of everything I own. It's made me sort of hate all of the stuff I've accumulated because of how much of a pain in the ass it is to move it (or sort through it) when it's time to move on, which has been frequent in recent years.

So when I decided to move to Philadelphia, I opted to attempt to build some semblance of a future here with only what I could fit in my car. Save for one return trip where I brought down just a few more articles of clothing, I've succeeded.

Wait a minute...didn't I try this in Oregon? Yea. It was great. Well, not all peaches and cream for sure, but I survived for nearly 6 months with what the average American might call "next to nothing." No TV, not even a radio in the truest sense of the word. I didn't really have cell phone service either, but I did have access to wireless internet. Then, there was that week we lost power. In hindsight, it was liberating. Think about this: how often do you go into a room and turn on...something? I (we) weren't worried in the least. In addition to having fewer distractions and fewer things in general, in the event of a zombie invasion (or more likely, a hostile government takeover), I had less stuff to pack and could easily flee in a (likely) futile attempt to save the world!

At any rate, the great majority of my things are still boxed up in my parents' basements and attics. In all honesty, I forget most of what's in them (which is why they're labeled). I'm due for a huge yard sale one of these days. I've decided to stop collecting things, especially things that I don't use and probably never will.

But, always a collector, I've switched to collecting experiences. It's been about a year since I decided I needed to "step outside" and do more than just stagnate in my own whirlpool of repetition in middle class America. In that year, I've experienced...well...a lot. It's surely been different. If I tried to form them into something tangible, the closest I could come would be to just start naming a bunch of places. Some top fives (not just from this past year):

Favorites/Places I'd love to see again (this is tough)

Crater Lake, Oregon (by far)

Redwoods National Park, California

The Badlands, South Dakota

The Pacific Coast, Oregon

Joshua Tree, California

Honorable Mentions

Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Portland, Oregon

The Outer Banks, North Carolina

Aprovecho, Cottage Grove, Oregon

I don't desire to go back to...

The Washington, DC metro area

The entire Midwest (at least in Summer)

York, PA

Missibama (Even though I got that free truck stop shower in Mississippi)

Atlanta, Georgia

I would still love to go to...

Glacier National Park, Montana

Yosemite National Park, California

Sequoia National Park, California

Ionia, Alaska

Vermont (believe it or not, I've never been...)

I hope this has inspired you to think about favorite places you've visited, experiences you've had, where you'd still like to go and hopefully will. Leave a comment if your heart moves you. Maybe you'll inspire me to expand this list. I'm definitely looking to collect some more... Next for me will be a return to one of my favorite places surprisingly not on this list...CANADA!