Thursday, May 10, 2012

Maps and Road Trip{s}

I love maps.
I love road trips.
I love to read maps, and imagine road trips.
Maps are beautiful story telling puzzles, with endless beginnings, middles, and ends. I pick them up, read them like a novel, sigh when I imagine the protagonist pitted against the elements, and the scenery I envision catches my breath. Marvelous, portentous maps.
Maps make me cry out, "I want to go to there!" My finger, and imagination, trace the lines, follow the roads, and I sigh.
Some roads are so familiar, so intrinsic to my cells, that I can feel the turns, see the trees, know the stops where I will feel welcome and home...almost like being there. Almost.
Some road trips are waiting for me. They are only imagined, highly anticipated, waiting for me. I want to go to there. Other roads I could take again, and again, and again. It doesn't matter if it's familiar, because no two visits are alike. The story is always new.
Seeing the game I was playing, Maria lit up and said, "The Eiffel Tower! The Eiffel Tower! Say you want to go to Paris, and the Eiffel Tower, because this time I want to climb to the top with daddy!"

Are you tracing maps, imagining roads and stories? Where do you want to go to?

Dear Google Maps, I love you. Thank you for showing the way.

Sincerely,

Natalie, the Chickenblogger

22 comments:

Jenny said...

I'm with Maria - the Eiffel Tower would be lovely. Although what I really wish is that I had many lifetimes, so I could LIVE in about thirty different places just to see what it's like to be immersed in life there.

Happy Thurday :)

Dianna said...

I love maps too. I've been gazing at the map for our big trip this summer.

Alison said...

Lol, I just got done mapping the distance between our planned destination of Seattle and Miriam*'s recent discovery at Tofino--to see if it would be feasible to include in our Pacific Northwest trip next year. So, yes, to your question!

Did your driving directions tell you to swim or take a boat across the Atlantic?

(*of Mucky Boots)

aka Jules said...

I too love to dream about where a road can take me. I miss those days of a solo road trip... stopping at a flea market on the side of the road without any objections from the passenger's seat. But these days, I'm trying to figure out where we can go on a family trip with just the three of us... as this summer is packed with extended family vacations, 70th birthday celebrations, high school reunions, and more extended family trips. I want to go someplace I WANT to go! :)

Kim said...

I have been to the Eiffel Tower and it was lovely. I would like to go to Italy someday...and about a hundred other places too! So little time (and funds) but it is fun to dream about it, as you point out.

judy in ky said...

I want to go back to the Kohala coast. Is that it in the third map? I love it there!

Janece said...

I'm not exactly sure how or why - but this beautiful post made me cry.

This and you are Magic!

Miriam said...

I love imagining trips, especially road trips, but my favourite journey is the one that brings me home. SOunds corny but it's true!

Tracy said...

Google Maps and Google Earth...I spend a lot of time on those. ;o) I've always loved maps, and dreaming of places to go. We're just back from a trip to Vienna, which was a dream come true. I'm dreaming of India now. :o) Happy Weekend to you all ((HUGS))

ArtyZen said...

I too am a mapophile, if that's a suitable word for map lover! And if it doesn't freak you out, I've zoomed in on your part of the world and imagined you and your family on the streets I've seen there. I often travel back to my old home in England and to those of my family. So maps are nostalgic for me too, as well as for forward planning and imagining trips.
My children share my interest in maps and my eldest creates his own worlds and cities and takes me on detailed tours of them - which is an amazing feat of creativity and memory - and the places are very real to him. I could go there with him every day!

Axxx

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Immersion... yes. It's a real treat to get absorbed into another culture, to feel a part of something truly different from what we know. Happy Saturday!!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Maps and plans... happy gazing!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Oh, yeah! I'm about to do the same. Miriam made me ache for PNW road trippin'! So, is it feasible?
I was kind of bummed that Google Maps didn't show a little dot.dot.dot. line across the ocean!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

My favorite road trips have been with my children, and there have been many! Geoff and I travel well together, too. As many times as we have traveled, only one trip did not revolve around, or include, extended family: Chicken Abroad '09, when we went to Europe... it was amazing.
So. Where do you WANT to go?

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

You have to dream and plan, so that when the opportunity hints at itself, you can be prepared! One *road trip* I daydream on: a world tour, stopping at the homes of all the wonderful bloggers I've met!!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

You know it, Judy. I love that you and I both know the beauty and wonder of this special road. Aloha!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

You know it, Judy!
I love that we share
the same love and affection
for this special stretch of the
highway. Makes me feel closer to
you, dear friend.
Aloha~

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Of course you did... happy tears, anticipating the life changing road trip just ahead of you!! In less than a month, Janece and I will be neighbors! ((hugs))

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Yes, yes! I have to say, there is a point in every drive, every adventure, when imagining my own bed, my pets, my own kitchen space overcomes my wanderlust, and then getting home is the best part of the journey! Nothing corny about it. Hey, did you see? Alison and I are tracing maps into your corners of the world!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Welcome home.
I gotta go see your pictures, read your impressions of Vienna.
Next up, India? I can see this dream coming true for you. (((HUGS))) and Namaste.

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Oh, what... you think I haven't Google mapped your adventures, too!? Every time you find a new town in Spain, I click over to get my bearings. Mapophiles unite! Could it be genetic? My children have mapped their worlds, too. Love it.

Jennifer said...

Hurray *especially* for that FIRST map, and here's hoping you get to use it, soon! xxoo