In the Midwest we Call that 'Building Charater'

I am a hopeless addict to The Dirtbag Diaries. It is a podcast devoted to telling campfire stories of climbing, hiking, biking, fishing and the like.  I stumbled upon it looking for audio documentaries about working for a former employer, Disney. Much to my surprise writer and creator of the 'Diaries' Fitz Cahall, had a story about mountain climbing for the Mouse. A climber myself I was immediately hooked. My fondness for the mountains and traveling bonded me to the site even more. A while back the story 'A Successful Life' aired, about a young woman who leaves the North West for an opportunity of a lifetime to work for National Geographic in our nation's capitol. The problem at hand: Washington D.C. does not have mountains. This theme should sound familiar to anyone who accidentally gazed upon a post of mine. It is a subject I struggle with often. I was born and raised on a suburban prairie just south of Chicago but every summer my parents would pack up the kids into their DIY camper van and take us to the mountains. For two weeks out of the year I was from Colorado. It was a most adventurous life, looking for snakes prior to hand placement while scrambling on rocks, hiking to mountain waterfalls and walking in ice cold snow melt streams.  Colorado would later become my home if only a season at a time and I took in as much mountain life as I could. When post college life became all too frustrating I went back to the prairie I knew so well and found solace reconnecting with family and friends. When I was making the decision to drop roots in the flatlands I wondered if I had grown apart from the dream or if I was giving up on the life that I had wanted for so long. In 'A Successful Life' the woman realizes her love for home outweighs her career aspirations. I empathize with her plight in many ways. One could look at my own affinity for the Midwest just as her's for the Northwest. I'm with her all the way until she starts dissing the opportunities DC has to offer. Hey, what ever happened to "This Land is Your Land".  I was raised on the song by folk legend Woody Guthrie.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

The song is about so much more than the unity of people. Its about a relationship with the land too.  Be it East or West there is appreciation to be had, and wonder and excitement to be at awe with.  

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

She could have had an entirely different and just as rewarding experience in a new locale. Admittedly I get why she went back and it sounds like her heart was always back home. I just wish she could have gone back to Oregon with a soft spot for the East instead of being "stoked for 5 days" and comparing her remaining time in D.C. to the fun she wasn't having elsewhere.

The adventures had out west taught me how to love the land regardless of topography. When I started viewing my surroundings this way mountains became metaphors. My mountains are the headwinds pedaling into work in the morning, the winding single track along Thorn Creek, the sand dunes at the edge of Lake Michigan, the sandstone canyons of Shawnee National Forest and yes the zero elevation prairie in the back of my parents house.