Wanders in Wonderland Preface: Straycation

“All we have is a broken boat” Scott remarked one evening as we drove down the 101. Although our expedition has changed faces, it hasn’t changed our hearts....

    This is the preface to a month long story I will write about my wanderings with friends on an expedition not too far from home.

    Around this time of year I am usually itching to get away from my day to day routine, to dip my feet into foreign waters and saunter across settled sands. This summer, however, Scott and I, along with our friend Jason and my Dad, have opted for a more convenient travel itinerary. We will submerge ourselves in local waters, stray into native lands but delight in unrevealed emotions.  

    We had originally set our sights on a two week escape at sea on our 40 foot sailboat, but when our hopes of finding an engine in time collapsed we turned our smiles on new adventures. There are ways to make your dreams happen even if it’s not exactly how you imagined it. Although our expedition has changed faces, it hasn’t changed hearts. After all, proximity to home never stopped my adventures as a child, why should it stop me now?

Wanders in Wonderland Chapter 1: Beautiful Boredom

    Sometimes I sickly miss that feeling of searching for something to do with my time. Now that I have fallen into adulthood, whatever that truly means, I feel I am seeking an absence of routine and predictability so that my mind can wander to undiscovered places. 

    In my childhood I remember many opportunities to daydream. Time to let my thoughts wander and then use the inspiration I found from those wanderings to dictate my daily conduct.  I didn’t realize this until recently, but in my adulthood these moments are fleeting, like a wave washing onto the beach. 

    Really this fantasy of escape from reality is what surfing represents in my life now. For small periods of time during the day I sneak away to what seems like a place from my dreams. To fly, to swim, to enter a land of other beings. A place where I can create and imagine. To conquer things that seem grand, even though they are only small. Surfing makes me feel like a child again. 

    This Summer I have been fortunate enough to take three weeks away from my job as a preschool teacher. With this time my plan is strictly to daydream and then forge plans to chase and catch these dreams. Boredom now suddenly seems like a beautiful word. For in moments where you search for something to do with your time, you can take yourself to a place outside of ordinary existence. That is why the trip I am about to take is a wander in wonderland.