The Grand Adventure

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
- T.S. Elliot

Human beings as a species have a desire to explore and discover that is wired into us from birth. Some will call it an evolutionary response while others will say "that's the way God made us". Either way the search for adventure lies deep within us all and is begging to burst out of us with the vigor and veracity of a star being born. We simply cannot settle for the mundane and the ordinary. We look outside our office windows and see an entire world right at our feet, though most of will see less than 1% of it in our lifetime. There are cities and monuments and great feats of human innovation that are calling to us day and night as our minds wonder if the television does them justice.

The greatest of these adventures though lie off the beaten path. The greatest adventures begin when you see a trail and steer as far clear of that trail as you can go until you are no longer in the footsteps of other people. The greatest adventures climax when you fight your way through the thick underbrush to have the bushes and trees open up into a beautiful, untouched landscape with rivers and mountains and stars that are not dimmed from the light of humanity. The greatest adventures end when you arrive back home only to find that you are tired, beaten, bruised, and battered and counting the minutes until you can do it all over again.

The thrill of being on your own in the elements and void of human luxuries is frightening for some and a calling to others. So what is it that can make that kind of exploration and wonder better? Nothing? No. The only thing that can be better than waking up to a sunrise coming through the tress while listening to a mountain stream babble beside you, is waking up to that with the people you love most right next you. It's watching your little girl run to a group of butterflies only to turn and run away screaming when they begin to play with her. It's a husband and wife sitting together on a mountain ledge, watching the sunset and talking about all the things they want their unborn baby to see and experience. It's sitting around a campfire with good friends laughing and telling stories of the glory days and what life was like "back in their day".

Is the greatest adventure in life scaling the peak of Everest? Is is hiking the Appalachian Trail with a backpack and survival kit? Or is it SCUBA Diving in Cozumel touching the solid gold Mayan statues in Chankanaab State Park? Well honestly, as great as these things are they pale in comparison to doing them with the ones you love.

What's your next Grand Adventure?