The stuff of dreams
The Western United States is vast. For some of us, our sense of scale is recalibrated with the shifting landscapes; the meaning of time changes.
The spiritual quiet of the Southwest – Arizona and New Mexico – deserts envelop us. The landscape is a testament to time’s slow chisel, especially the unfathomable depths of the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The region is rich with Native American history and Spanish influences.
California unfurls like a technicolor dream. From the sun-drenched Pacific beaches of the south to the forests in the north, where ancient sequoias reach skyward in their eternal quest for the sun, to the winding coastline of central California.
The Mountain States offer solace in their ruggedness. Peaks and buttes serrate the horizon. Surrounded by rushing rivers, alpine meadows, and aspens cloaking the slopes of Colorado, the reverence for Nature is palpable. The same is true for the Mighty Five National Parks of Utah.
From the infinite promises of California to the paradisal islands of Hawai‘i, where frangipani fills the air and volcanoes slumber, the West unfolds like a novel. Each state is a different chapter, every city a unique verse, and every individual a word in the grand story of America.
This is the West: expansive and intimate, wild and cultivated, ancient and hyper-modern, the tangible reality and the metaphorical dreamscape, all at once.
Stay tuned as we continue to travel throughout the Western U.S. We will be adding itinerary ideas for Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and more Mountain States. — Kim Grant