somewhere under the sky

exposure

'vast' is a word i only ever applied to the ocean or the sea, as opposed to land. when i looked out over the endless blue, i thought that this landscape was vast.
after 2 weeks of exploring the southwest United States, i have learned that vastness is also a quality that applies to land. of course i should have known this. many places in the world are even more isolated and unpopulated than the southwestern united states, and vast stretches of unhuman-ed land are what i consider vast, so i could have realized this if i thought about it. but apparently, seeing is realizing.
travel radically changes perception. i had comprised my image of the entire western half of the united states based on pictures, movies, and my imagination. when i traveled here, all my previous conceptions were immediately scrapped. what i imagined was not how it is.
the Grand Canyon, for instance, is hyped up among travelers. seeing it makes one understand why. this canyon is not overesteemed. if one has seen pictures of the grand canyon, one gets the sense that it is beautiful. this is not the case. the canyon is more than beautiful. 2-D pictures lack all depth, and even if you see a 3-D model of the canyon, you still cannot imagine the actual size of it. as i said, seeing is realizing. it is realizing how deep, how, long, wide, seeing is perceiving. to be honest, the grand canyon was too much to comprehend, and people easily give up on things they can't understand. i suggest either hiking inside the canyon or going somewhere smaller.
at any rate, the world's geography is fascinatingly diverse, and travel exposes its quirky characteristics, in order to humble you, its lowly yet lovely inhabitant.

posted by leah v @ 12:05 AM