COLUMN: True beauty can be found at home and abroad
Well, we did it. We made it to Spring Break. After all the planning and anticipation it finally came. Unfortunately now it’s over, but not without some good stories and experiences. This break I got to go with some of my family to Ireland.
While Ireland isn’t your typical Spring Break hot spot, I got to see some of the prettiest things: countless acres of extraordinarily green fields lined with miles of stone walls, ancient cathedrals and fascinating historical sites. On my favorite day, we got an up-close-and-personal experience with the landscape on a bike ride along the Atlantic coastal roads.
Thanks to modern technology, while I was abroad I was constantly being updated on the whereabouts of my friends and their activities. I had friends all over the globe. A roommate of mine was in Hawaii, another in California, some other friends were in Mexico, southern Utah and a few stayed back in Logan.
Despite the differences in location, one thing we all had in common were amazing photos of our adventures and the beautiful scenery the world has to offer – beautiful sunsets, warm sandy beaches, city skylines, the Grand Canyon, waterfalls, oceanside cliffs and the list goes on. For many of us, Spring Break was an opportunity to venture to different parts of the world to take advantage of all the Earth had to offer, including swimming, surfing, hiking, biking, playing in waterfalls and sleeping outside.
I had an interesting thought as I was driving on a highway north of Logan and looking toward the fields passing me by. No, they weren’t nearly as green as the Irish fields enclosed by the pretty stone walls and they didn’t have the picturesque sheep that dotted the landscape. They weren’t sandy and you can’t surf there, but they did have their own beauty. They stretched toward me from a backdrop of still slightly snow-covered mountains, the same gorgeous mountains that we practically live in.
I realized that to a local, this may not seem so pretty or captivating because this scene is constantly around us. But someone who comes from a different environment might be able to see the loveliness here that we may often overlook and take for granted, even if the grass is literally greener in Ireland.
One of my friends who stayed here over the break told me that she had fallen in love with Logan during the great weather here last week. I have had similar feelings about our cool little college town. Logan and the surrounding area have so much to offer if we just know how and where to look. I have already noticed people playing frisbee on the quad or slacklining between trees in a number of different areas.
Logan also seems to be littered with parks that can be put to use for activities like volleyball, soccer, croquet or anything to get us to appreciate the view. I just heard someone today talking about things to do at First Dam and the small hiking trails that are up there. And, as we know, the ORP has plenty of resources just waiting to be used.
As long as we can maintain the mindset that the world is our own giant playground and realize the area in which we live is part of that playground, there should be no reason for us to ever get bored. The best part is we don’t have to wait around for another break or buy any plane tickets to do it.
– dhsteiner26@gmail.com