Family and Foothills- A vagabond's journey home

For over ten years, eleven distinct homes and countless cities I have found myself experiencing, enjoying and flourishing in a new environment. Always on the move I have been for this decade  and with any luck I will remain telling the stories of treasures found in the sunrays of a new horizon. A tumbleweed like me refuses to grow roots for a reason; but, revisiting the place that sprouted me up into what I am today has certainly been a treat. Home: "the place where one lives permanently as a member of a family or household." Now, I have called "home" a number of places in the past 10 years, but none of these homes is as much a home as the one my mother and father brought my brothers and I up in. Granite Bay is a town nestled ever-conveniently between California's Capitol city of Sacramento and beautiful playgrounds of Tahoe. In between these areas lies countless lakes, trees, rivers, creeks, boulders, bike parks, cliff jumps, breweries, startup businesses and some extremely nice and genuine people.

I have not lived here for ten years, and never in my life have I avoided this place, in fact every opportunity I have had to come home in the past ten years I have done my very best to extend my stay to the maximum amount of time possible. But if I have learned anything from traveling and vagabonding it is that- you don't truly get to know a place just by visiting for a while. Its been nearly three months now that I have been calling "home" home and what more can I say but, what a blessing! Tahoe and it's surrounding lakes, hikes, bike trails and campgrounds have been my journey and destination nearly every week that I have been home, so my Vagabond Heart is more than happy about that. But, just as wonderful is my Family Heart has been being nourished in such brilliant ways that I forgot was even possible. From meeting up with my Dad after work to go on bike rides around the lake to grocery shopping and cooking meals with Mom. To meeting up with my new sister in law for coffees, website design help (she is responsible for nearly all the appealing features trickled through my site) and making excuses to jump in the car with my brother just to get back up into the mountain fresh air of Tahoe for another weekend of downhill biking, paddleboarding and exploring... Sign me up!

I guess what I am trying to say in all this, is that no matter where you go or what you do, no matter how similar or different you may feel you are from your family. No matter how much you enjoy or despise the place that you grew up- there truly is no place like home. So, if you miss your mom, dad, brother, sister; let 'em know! If you are feeling a call in your heart to escape on a journey, whether countries away or just around the corner; then go! And even if your roots keep you steadily planted in a place that you love and are happy to call "home" I implore you to never stop exploring. For new experiences grow wisdom, and the only,  only thing you are allowed to take with you when you leave this beautiful plane someday is that; wisdom. So keep growing, keep learning and keep creating new experiences, never discounting the ones that are unfolding in front of you in your every day's routine. Each and every moment is a gift to be grateful for. Breathe it in, soak it up, and never stop the adventure of life.