Thanksgiving Road Trip

This year for Thanksgiving my family and I traveled to Branson, Missouri to visit my grandparents. They are the only people in my family that live outside of Texas. They moved there to retire, because they love the weather and scenic views. I hadn’t seen them for over a year and a half so I was looking forward to visiting. Sometimes we fly, but this year we decided to drive- it’s about a seven to eight-hour trip from Fort Worth. We left on Tuesday after class. My parents picked my sister and I up from school and the five us- including my dog Wrigley- started down the road. Due to holiday traffic, it took a while to get out of Texas. Once we reached Oklahoma the landscape began to change. However, the noticeable shift in scenery happened in Arkansas as hills began to arise and more trees emerged in remote areas of our drive. The time of year made the land dry and dissolute; however, I still appreciated comparing the nature on our road trip to the land in Fort Worth. The fields were covered with dry grass and trees that barely had any leaves left. The leaves that remained were different shades of green and contained hues of orange and yellow. We passed fields of cattle feeding on grass and drinking from small ponds. The land became more remote as the drive continued and we reached areas with no homes or anywhere to stop. The road kept winding back and forth as we traveled in between the hills of trees. We passed over several lakes and ponds, that reflected the different colors of the trees. The road eventually straightened and it created the illusion that our drive would never end. I grew tired of the trip after several hours in, but the length of our trip kept extending, because we had to stop for meals and to let Wrigley out to walk around. While I was enjoying the time I had to closely observe landscapes on our drive, I grew tired of sitting down in a crammed car. I wished I was able to get out and walk around the ponds and hike the hills. Observing nature from a distance made me realize that I take for granted the opportunities I get to interact on a personal level with nature. I loved the road trip, because I could see an extensive broad view of nature. However, it encouraged me to pick small touch points in nature and observe them closely.