Ugh! Am totally not feeling a post today, so check back later.*Edit* This afternoon, on our way home from church (65 miles away), we decided to go check out a back road and signs that pointed towards a reservoir/dam/lake. We never found the reservoir, but we did discover some North Dakota landscape that we really hadn't got much of a chance to see yet. It was basically badlands and it was incredible! In the middle of all this prairie, we went off the beaten track and found a whole different set of scenic views- bluffs, ravines, draws, brush, ponderosa pines. It was pretty cool. And beings we drove about 15 miles off the main road on a windy, sometimes-almost-two-track, gravel road, it really felt like we were "out there". We crossed over 6 cattle grates (yes, we counted), drove through multiple cattle pastures, and saw 3 places of human inhabitance. It was great! And so beautiful!
And that, of course, is where I got this shot. In black and white it looks like it was taken 100 years ago. And, other than the fence line and the two-track going through the foreground, I doubt this land has changed too much since then.
This. This is what I love about the West. Or western midwest, depending on who you are. Wide open. Much unchanged. Lonely. Probably the same reasons a lot of people love the West. I'm just very thankful that not everyone who loves the West has moved out here. I mean, what point would there be? It wouldn't be the West anymore. Or, at least, it would lack a lot of what we love.
And without those things- without the wide openness, the raw naturalness, the loneliness- would it really be the West anymore?
I agree this picture looks old! I can just imagine Laura Ingalls walking along those tracks on her way home from school or a big covered wagon being pulled by oxen ! What a neat way to spend a sunday afternoon! I remember how my Dad loved to do that on our way home from church, we kids would be sooo hungry, but we had to drive this way or that to see someones new silo or tractor, etc. The scary part is I see myself developing these habits in different ways ( like turning arround to go back and take pictures!)
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