About the Outdoors

I think that it's funny how it took me living in a city like New York to realize how much I really do like being outside. Or maybe that's just what NYC does to a girl when she's stranded here (it feels like it sometimes) without a car or a way out or a back yard. Or grass to walk in, dirt to dig in or ponds to throw stones in.

I have never longed to be outside as much as I have in the past two years. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, sitting, walking, jogging, picnicing, reading or napping-- I just want to be out where I can breathe and sit and be and feel awfully small and safely surrounded on all sides by a God so much bigger than what I think Big is.

In Austin I was almost annoying with the amount of time I "really wanted to spend outside." We ate our meals on patios each night- watching sand volleyball and sharing amazing salsa. We ate lunches on picnic tables or under covered porches and drank iced coffees while people watching in lawn chairs at Jo's on South Congress.

As nice as it was just to sit in the warmth of the car and drive and look and see pastures and neighborhoods and the gorgeous views the Hill Country has to offer- I constantly asked if we could, "just get out and walk."

We spent an entire day walking around the University of Texas campus. We strolled downtown and walked through vintage store after vintage store. We walked Sixth Street night after night, we walked through parks and along the river and laid in the grass. It was nice to be outside without being bombarded on all sides, without suffocating or feeling like I need to race to keep up.

People were on bikes everywhere, as well as on foot. I appreciate a city with a bike lane & pedestrians! And as much as I'm sure this is in part to the huge student population, overall I think it's a nudge in the right direction. You can camp, climb, cave, kayak, and canoe all within the city limits. There are parks and rivers and lakes all within a short drive and the outdoors are readily accessible. Alive and waiting to be explored.

As we drove the winding roads between Austin and Lake Travis I said so many times, "I had no idea Texas could look like this." Seriously. If I would have seen photos of the scenery and landscapes we were driving through, I would have never thought it was Texas. Gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking views.

And, as we lay in the grass Friday afternoon in Zilker Park, hand in hand, sharing an iPod like the high school students I see each morning on the subway I felt really alive. I felt like this is what life is about. Being. Just being with someone and being.