If you ever go on a vacation with me, you’ll find that I tend to gravitate to doing things that involve nature rather than being in human constructed and populated centers. I love fresh air, the smell of nature, watching wild animals, seeing waterfalls and mountains and forests and deserts. I want to experience the sunrises, sunsets, rain, wind, and see the stars at night. I want to get a feel for the place, which is why you rarely find me flying somewhere for a vacation. Road trips are for me.
Thus, if I was to go to, say, Yosemite, you’d more likely find me either outdoors, or possibly navigating an indoor natural history museum, or in a bookstore looking for animal related books to bring home with me. Or I'm walking around to take pictures of the wildflowers, looking in the stream for fish, observing the birds in the air, picking up a pinecone, looking on the ground for animal footprints, or listening to the small sounds to see if there are wild animals hidden around me.
Even in a city, I notice whether it is a pet friendly place, what types of people have the dogs (such as seniors), and what types of dogs they have in that city.
I just got back from a vacation, and sitting on my desk is a clear plastic sack with 5 new books. Four of the books are on wolf behavior and one is about mountain lion behavior. I purposely seek out local book stores, including those in the visitor centers and ranger stations.
So, even on vacation, I’m still thinking about extending my knowledge of animal behavior. I can’t get enough of this stuff! I find it endlessly fascinating and practically useful.
No comments:
Post a Comment