When we were young, we read stories and saw movies about Native Americans going on vision quests. A journey into the wilderness with nothing but a bow and arrow where they were to survive in the harshest of conditions until they would have visions of their ancestors who appeared in the form of an animal. That animal would become their spirit guide and would reveal to them their true selves. Images of venturing into the wild as a child only to return as an adult, while obviously more metaphoric than actual events, do have parallels to real life. We had a friend once tell us that you are not truly an adult until you live out of the state or country where your family resides. In many ways, that is true. Without the support system that family and friends can offer, you don’t always know what you are truly capable of.
We have found that the more that we have travelled and lived away from our family, away from childhood friends, in places where there is a distinct language barrier, the more that we have felt fulfilled. We won’t claim adulthood, even after over five decades of existence, but with every adventure we feel a little closer to discovering our own personal spirit guides. This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is Quest. In many ways, our desire to travel, to see the world unfiltered, to meet people from various cultures with beliefs that are not the same as our own, is our own vision quest. Perhaps it is a lifelong journey, not a week in the wilderness, but a journey spent discovering ourselves over and over again.
Since this is a photo challenge, we decided to use some photos from one of our hikes in the mountains of Colorado to reinforce the image of a vision quest. One could easily imagine that young Native American boy wandering into the forest to meet his spirit guide as an eagle, or a stag, or perhaps a wolf. Walking below the wide open skies and the stars at night, truly one with his world, one with nature. We may never achieve the complete connection to the world as he would have, but we will strive to do so with each and every travel experience. We hope you enjoy these visions from our hike as much as we did at the time that we experienced it first hand.
