{"id":1628,"date":"2015-07-15T14:13:18","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T14:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rawtravelblog.com\/?p=1628"},"modified":"2015-10-13T13:41:31","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T13:41:31","slug":"a-surprising-adventure-in-the-western-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rawtravelblog.com\/a-surprising-adventure-in-the-western-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"A Surprising Adventure in the Western U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMG_4646\"<\/a>
Garden of the Gods – Colorado Springs, Colorado<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The life changing possibility of travel is by far my favorite thing about my favorite activity. The way travel flips things on their head or side, or more accurately I suppose, how it flips me, the traveler and changes my perspective… forever. My brain expands to proportions from which I’m sure it will never return. Travel, I firmly believe, prevents brain (and heart) shrinkage.<\/p>\n

Until this most recent trip to the Western Frontier of the United States (New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming & South Dakota), I was convinced that in order to create that atmosphere where mind and body are stimulated to a point of dramatic change, a potent dose of culture shock was in order, the kind I most often get from entering another sovereign territory’s borders.<\/p>\n

I figured one had to dust off (or obtain) that little blue book (for Americans), the passport, and immerse one’s self into a totally foreign environment for maximum shock value. This gets the brain waves to flow in different directions than the day to day routine conditions which often dictate our lives.<\/p>\n

While I still believe that international travel is by far the best, quickest and most rewarding way to get quick use of that other 90% of our brain that is just sitting there waiting to be tapped – \u00a0you know \u00a0that part that helps us realize we’re all connected – \u00a0I must now, ever so slightly, amend my thinking.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4627\"<\/a>
Taos, New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yes, a trip within the U.S. has changed my thinking on the very subject of travel and change. Not the last bit of irony this trip would uncover.<\/p>\n

I’ll be the first to say that I had mixed feelings about taking this particular trip within the borders of my own country, to areas some of which, I’d even briefly visited before (albeit for extremely short visits and all solely dedicated to “business”).<\/p>\n

But almost immediately upon arrival to New Mexico, I felt a familiar and welcoming feeling creep upon me. Upon the drive to visit the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary<\/strong> <\/a>in a very rural, remote and beautiful part of New Mexico the realization\u00a0hit me\u00a0that this particular trip was going to trigger some of those very reactions in my brain, heart and soul that I regularly receive when abroad. There were amazing things to see right here in this country, beginning with rescued wild life. Wolves are amazing creatures it turns out and you put 70 or so together, howling in unison… it’s an amazing experience.<\/p>\n