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Adventuring West: My Trip to Wyoming

For those of you who know me personally, you’ll know that I’m not super spontaneous. Especially when it comes to traveling. Personally, I like to plan things out. I want to make sure that I’m always prepared. So, this next part is definitely going to surprise you! About a week and a half ago, I decided to take a trip with a close friend to Cheyenne, Wyoming. My friend is moving there! Adventuring to the West was the BEST spontaneous decision I’ve ever made.

I’ve never really left New England except a few family trips to Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach a few years ago. So, you can imagine how nervous I was to be going to the West. Oh, and get this, we drove there. It took almost 30 hours but it was so worth it. We drove through 9 different states, 7 of which I’ve never been to so you can imagine my my excitement.

We drove through Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and finally, Wyoming to get to our destination. Of those states, I had never been to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and for obvious reasons, Wyoming. As an added bonus, I got to visit Colorado while I was there but I’ll tell you more later! Sadly, I don’t remember much, I was sleeping a majority of the ride. Oops!

It was a long 28, almost 29, hours but we made it safely. We spent a good chunk of that first day just sleeping our lives away but it’s only because we were so tired. It wasn’t very exciting. We didn’t go anywhere but we did start to unpack some of their things and start to settle in. We spent most of that weekend just hanging out. By Monday morning, we were definitely ready to start adventuring.

On Monday, we decided to do some small errands. Nothing crazy. We were still trying to get used to all of it. The next day, we ended up taking a trip to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. It was absolutely breathtaking and by far, my favorite part of the trip. There are so many beautiful plants there and I absolutely fell in love. I don’t think I could name all of the plants in there if I even wanted to! I’m so glad that I was able to visit because you all know how much I love my plants. I felt like I was right at home with all of that greenery!

After the gardens, we walked around Lions Park, which is where the gardens are located. It’s a pretty big park and there’s not much there but it’s absolutely beautiful. I even got to catch some Pokémon (Yes, I still play Pokémon Go. Don’t judge me). We ended up going back to the house for a little while and then got Sonic. The next day, we took a trip to Colorado!

We decided to drive into Fort Collins, Colorado. It was pretty rainy but we figured, why not? We did not have a plan. We were just driving until we found something cool. On our way into Fort Collins, we came across a canyon. We knew that’s where we had to go. Driving into that canyon was so peaceful, I was so glad that we got to go.

I can go on and on about everything I got to do but I won’t. Because there was something I got to experience on this trip that was unlike anything I felt before. I felt peace. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had no worries. I know there’s always going to be something to worry about but in that moment, there wasn’t.

Adventuring West really put my life into perspective for me. I have always put everyone else first and have never really made what I wanted a priority. This time, I did something I wanted and it was one of the best choices that I could have made. It gave me the chance to really think about what I want out of life and I want so much more out of it. I want to do more of what makes me happy and so should you!

Check out Cheyenne’s website for more Things to Do if you plan on adventuring there!

Read Kailey’s post My Trip To Oregon here on TurningPointCT.org to hear about her adventure in the West!