A Dream Within a Dream

I decided to write something happier this time for my next post, since it's been a few months since I last wrote something. I just wanted to talk about how excited I am for this summer! This school year has not been the greatest, and I think I speak for many when I say that it's time for a break! Ohio is a dream. It is pretty much the best state in the world (Minnesota is of course an exception because my dear future husband Adam Randal Young lives there). For the past couple years, I have travelled there to visit my family whom I get to see about two times a year. We start out the adventure in Columbus and do everything imagineable there; going to eat at restaurants and shopping galore, along with making videos with my cousins. Columbus is actually really different from the town I live in and I'd actually like to share with you more about it and the other town that I visit because they truly are wonderful and beautiful places. Columbus sounds like a normal, busy city with crowds of people walking to work and traffic jams that back up the road for miles. That is pretty much right some of the times, but when you are on vacation, of course everything is a fun adventure! My grandparents live in the suburbs just outside of Columbus, so pretty much either way you turn, there are restaurants lined down the streets. Here at home, I'm used to going out to eat maybe once or twice a month if I'm lucky, but when I'm with my grandparents and cousins, we go out to eat pretty much everyday. You are probably thinking that it gets old after a while, but honestly, I can't say I've ever laughed more in my life. You can't forget the shopping trips to the Easton Mall or Half-Price Bookstore though. When I'm not out shopping or eating, I'm at my grandparents' house with my cousins making stupid videos that leave us crying with laughter. I think my most favorite part about their house though, is the backyard. Their yard is definitely a lot bigger than ours (living in a random neighborhood in Florida is not the best location in the world...) and there are countless, thin trees lined up. Just behind the trees is a small creek, which flows all the way down different neighborhoods. When we were younger, it was a great place to wade in and try to catch little minnows with our hands, but now that we're older, I like to spend the evenings sitting on the swing and listening to the water as it flows over the rocks and the cicadas buzzing in the small patch of woods behind the creek (Who am I kidding? Of course we still spend afternoons trying to catch the minnows). Even in the middle of a city, there is still a place for nature and with my dream as a wildlife photographer, it is absolutely beautiful. After spending about a week there, I travel to my other grandparents' house in a small town in eastern Ohio that hardly anyone knows about and they have neighbors who live miles away from them (Which is one extreme to the other). Their house and the land that they own with it is still and always will be one of the most beautiful sights I have ever laid my eyes on. It's one of those places in an Owl City song that you wish you could zap yourself to and imagine Adam being there to greet you. It's really that gorgeous. Everyday, I walk out and take pictures of the same things over and over again; each time producing a new outcome. There house is a quaint, little house that sits on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere and every now and then, you hear a car driving up the road from down below. When you drive up the road, you are greeted by acres and acres of farmland and woods that stretch on and on. One of my most favorite things to do up there is sit on the back porch and listen to the wind blow on the windchimes while the wrens tweet little songs and the hummingbirds zoom past each other, fighting for the sugar water. The flowers blow in the breeze and if you look off to the left, you see the tops of trees from the hills surrounding the house. To your right, there is even more land with more woods that we enjoy riding the fourwheeler in. Looking straight across, you can see an abandoned log cabin with even more trees. If someone left me stranded there with my camera, I would be the most content person in the entire world. If you walk around to the front of the house, you see (you guessed it) more land. During the day, we like to drive down to the creeks there and skip rocks and catch fish, hike in the woods to encounter new species of trees and bugs, stand on top of the old oil well and take in all of the surrounding beauty, and even take a trip down to the local gas station and eat home-made ice cream. Even though at night it can be pretty terrifying without any city lights, it is one of the most beautiful times to be there. Where I live, lightning bugs do not exist, which is extremely sad because I find them absolutely breath-taking (Yes, I have always thought this before "Fireflies" came out) and when you drive around at night, the fields are literally glowing with them. I've always wanted to just take off my shoes and run through the fields of gold with the wind blowing my hair and have the lightning bugs twirl around me. Instead, we just catch them in my grandparents' yard, which is still really fun. Then, I like to lay out in the grass at night and stargaze. I have never seen so many stars in my life than when I am up on that hill in the middle of nowhere. The shooting stars are endless and I hope that one day, I could be so lucky as to get a picture of one. Afterwards, it's back inside for us to start the day all over again. *So, that's pretty much it. I could keep going into detail, but I realized that this is already way too long for someone to read and actually enjoy. Ohio truly is a phenomenal place and I hope that someday, others can see that. I will definitely take more pictures when I go up this summer and hopefilly others can really see the beauty that I see.