i stood at the top staring over the edge. straight down. i thought about a rogue gust of wind or even misplacing my foot as i carefully placed one infront of the other and my stomach dropped. being up there made me feel so small yet so accomplished. it’s amazing where your own two feet can take you, i thought. (more about this specific experience to come soon in an exciting announcement:))

ever since moving to kauai last November i have acquired a new appreciation for the world we live in. i have had an ever increasing desire to explore and hike and see everything that i can. at first i thought it was just because i was living in such a beautiful place where there are adventures in every direction, but i’m more so learning that i think it is just a change of attitude. it doesn’t matter if you live in kauai or alberta, there is so much beauty to be seen if you are willing to go out and look for it. i grew up 2 hours from the rocky mountains, i have driven the highway1 through them over 500 times in my life and it wasn’t until this year that i actually took the time to explore the back-roads, to make the 15 minute detours to emerald lake, moraine lake and explore the takakkaw falls in yoho national park. it wasn’t until this year that i had a desire to adventure in my own province, and after the last week of camping and adventuring banff to jasper down the icefield parkway all the way up to high prairie i have gained SO much appreciation for the place i am from. the place i was always so focused on leaving. this summer i have even got to spend some more time at the farm i grew up on in the prairie flat lands of alberta and found myself even looking at that differently. there is something so enchanting about the harvest moons, summer storms, golden fields and wide open alberta skies. my goal for this year is to see new and old places with wide eyes, find adventure wherever i go and live simply surrounded by good energy. i used to want to stay in fancy hotels and eat expensive meals, and i still love those things, but i have also learned that even more fulfilment can come from setting up camp, cooking on a propane burner and sleeping in a tent under the stars in good company. it’s the moments where you searched for the northern lights at 1am after a camp fire and cooked smokies on a picnic table overlooking the mountains in the sunshine that create lasting memories and give you stories to tell down the road. i would have NEVER thought that last year, but i am so grateful for the change of perspective!

i can’t wait to explore the east coast beaches of north carolina this week, walk the streets of italy in 2 weeks and then sail through the Adriatic sea in search for waterfalls in croatia, and what’s even more exciting is that i can’t wait to go back to kauai after it all. i feel like the luckiest person in the world to be able to do and see all that i have in the last year and i wish i would have been motivated to do so earlier, so this week if you can, go explore somewhere you have never been. take the johnston canyon trail to the waterfalls just outside of banff. walk out to the field and take some photographs of the incredible harvest sunsets. take a drive down a road you’ve never been on or find the time to do a hike you’ve always wanted to do in the mountains. try not to wish you lived somewhere else or that you could be somewhere else, go out and find what makes where you are at right now incredible, because i promise you it’s there, you just have to look for it.

(you might have seen some of these photographs on instagram, if you want to follow along this crazy journey i am on you can hit me up there at www.instagram.com/megcourtney1!)

my dad in his combine:) i just love this time of year at the farm. it may not be the best harvest ever this year, but we sure have had some amazing skys <3**if you liked this post be sure to click the like button below! thanks so much for being here and i hop you have the best day! xo ~meg