I expected to like Durango, and I did.March 3rd, 2009 View Comments |
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Opportunity | Durango, Colorado | Feb 2009
Knocking | Durango, Colorado | Feb 2009
Compared to Reno, which I thought I would hate (but didn’t), I expected to like Durango, Colorado (and I did).
It’s hard to explain how we create images in our minds of places we’ve never visited. Maps; maps of streets we haven’t meandered, topographies we haven’t surveyed, neighborhoods we haven’t visited. Pictures; pictures of people we haven’t met, restaurants we haven’t ordered in, bars we haven’t curled up to, views we haven’t captured in our minds. Stories; tales of days we haven’t seen and nights we don’t remember (and still might not even after experiencing them). Memories; deja-vus that we have yet to experience, memories that exist only in the future.
We eagerly wait to put our feet where our mind has already tread, finding out if our ideas of alternate lives we could lead in unvisited places could be realities or are merely misplaced illusions.
How often do your “castles in the sky” turn out as you envision?
Rarely.
But sometimes they do.
Why was Durango one of the few? Constant reminders of abundant opportunities for escapes and adventures small and large. Good reasons to stay home. A refuge. The hope of a real, varied, manageable life of my own creation.
Opportunity knocking.
March 3rd, 2009 at 19:46
The images we initially create are impressionist mosaics feeding off what we've heard or seen second hand about that place. Socially exchanged images are far more accurate than those created by marketing machines. If you're a tourist that's fallen in love with a tourist location because you've seen it in a tourist mag, chances are you only know an idealistic, heightened version of the spectrum of realities that are actually experience-able in that place. A friend's description may be more truthful, since it's unbiased, but is again an impression created through someone else's lens, at a particular point in time.
That's why I'm all about lowering expectations. (My wife and I did that for our trip to Antigua, and had an amazing time, despite less-than-ideal circumstances..!)
March 6th, 2009 at 12:45
[...] posted as a comment by Mike: The images we initially create are impressionist mosaics feeding off what we’ve [...]
March 6th, 2009 at 18:19
When discerning folks who I respect find this here place, my hometown, to be comfortable/lovely or likeable… I feel like they've complimented my mother's cooking. When I look at your pictures of the town below, I see an overlay of the people (their names, histories, interconnections) who carry on their lives down there, the businesses they work at, the particular places where I've had shining (and less than shining) moments through the years. These are the things that are written on the map of my heart. I've always been fascinated with how a particular place, the geography, the climate, the history, the culture can infuse the lives of those who spend their days and years there…
And now I have a hospitality/tourism-ish kind of job that hinges on people coming to this place and liking it enough to stay for a spell, and it seems strange to me to be in a position to promote my hometown, “sell” it to those unseen. What do I know about how this, or any place will resonate with a particular person (all the glossy brochures of activities/ways-to-spend-money-here aside? Because, at the end of the day, under a sky that skipped the sunset and faded to grey… it's personal. Glad you felt it, Taylor.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:11
Even a friend's description is merely their viewpoint, an inherently biased image that may not fit your experiences.
I've said it before, but travel is more about the traveler than the place.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:17
You see reality framed by your past experiences in Durango; but what I see is my projection of a potential future, framed by my guesses, dreams and past experiences in places similar and dissimilar.
There are many stories to tell of the lives, opportunities and experiences behind the glossy brochures, cutting to the core of the town and its people. Those are the stories I would like to hear.
March 7th, 2009 at 19:11
Even a friend’s description is merely their viewpoint, an inherently biased image that may not fit your experiences.rnrnI’ve said it before, but travel is more about the traveler than the place.
March 7th, 2009 at 19:17
You see reality framed by your past experiences in Durango; but what I see is my projection of a potential future, framed by my guesses, dreams and past experiences in places similar and dissimilar.rnrnThere are many stories to tell of the lives, opportunities and experiences behind the glossy brochures, cutting to the core of the town and its people. Those are the stories I would like to hear.
November 14th, 2009 at 14:17
Nice one. I have stumbled and twittered this for my friends. My friends will enjoy reading it also.