Creative, Colorful Adventures: Celebrating Nine Years of Accidental Wanderlust Travel Stories

Glancing back through a year’s worth of photos that were imported into WordPress for Accidental Wanderlust travel stories, I realize that I’ll never be able to capture and share all of the amazing moments I experience in a year’s time. The aim of this blog is to take you with me to these places, into the stories of the people and the history and the experiences that bring joy to a place.

I’m filled with gratitude for the experiences I’m able to have — the puppies I receive curious sniffs and enthusiastic kisses from, the camping adventures with friends, the international travel and the strolls through local gardens or my own backyard. I throw myself into community, whether that’s as a Friends of Metro Parks board member, a patron of a Lenten fish fry, or a member of a non-fiction book club that gathers curious minds together once a month, to explore new ideas.

I tend to capture photos wherever I go – it’s in my nature as a portrait and travel photographer, but the stories I tell are more than 5-minute ‘shout outs’ to social media. I indulge in those glimpses into my life plenty, but this blog is something more. It takes time to compose a blog post, select and arrange photos, and consider how to express in print what it felt like to be in that unique space, in that singular moment.

Whether you read the text or just skim the photos, I want visitors to Accidental Wanderlust to feel immersed in whatever corner of the world I found myself in. Perhaps they will want to visit a place themselves, because of the experience I have shared.

On my own adventures, I’m almost never alone, but I want you to experience a place as I experienced it. So, you get my perspective, my viewpoint, my impressions, and my images. There has been a guest blog here and there, either to give me a bit of relief or to invite another voice in, but these are rare. It’s rare for me to point the camera at myself, because I want you to see what I saw, hear what I heard, and breathe the air that I breathed in.

And on occasion I hand the camera off to another, because my relationships (to fellow adventurers or to the place and the space I’m visiting) are the story I’m inspired to tell. Readers don’t always get the story in real time — I may be off on the next adventure and so it takes weeks or months for me to get around to sharing about one of my trips. The photos I’ve taken are a reminder, as in a record of what happened, and they can be a muse for what I end up sharing.

Year after year, nature (and getting myself out into nature) is prominently featured in my writing! It’s a prominent part of my life, as far as the activities I choose to participate in, the organizations and causes I support, and the decisions I make about how to spend my time, energy, and money. It’s no surprise, then, that my love of nature factors in when I’m deciding what to write about in Accidental Wanderlust.

Nature is colorful, literally or figuratively, and I find creative inspiration in that. Even the blue, grey, and white of winter snow is as vibrant, complex, and interesting as the yellows, pinks, and purples of a rose garden. So, I write about it and I share my images, to draw you in.

Over the years I haven’t talked a lot about the equipment I use, camera settings, investing in lenses or trying out new Photoshop and Lightroom techniques. New, updated equipment is nice and it’s as costly as it is cumbersome. I have the requisite software, paying a monthly subscription fee, but there are new adventures to run off to, so I try to get things ‘right’ (creatively) in camera, requiring little or no time for post-production. I’m long held the belief that the best camera is the one that’s in your hands when a scene is there in front of you and you are inspired to capture it. I’ve seen beautiful, impactful, memorable images created on a dime and uninteresting, bland, and forgettable images produced on the most expensive, modern, and technical equipment. So, I keep it about the art. . . to capture the adventure and attitude of this work traveler.

So, I’ve had new experiences. . . .

. . . . in old places, like Washington, DC.

I have participated in long-standing rituals, like #30DaysofBiking or #BiketheCbus. . . .

. . . . with friends who are experiencing it for the first time.

Canada was a whole NEW adventure for our cycling group!

Once again, this year I participated in the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks Winter Hike Series, completing hikes at every park on the ‘punch card’. I will participate once again in the 2024 – 2025 season, this time as a Friends of Metro Parks board member.

With all the variety in the parks, I’ll enjoy the animals and the midwestern landscapes as much as the hiking, the accomplishment of getting ‘out there’ in the winter months, and the wonderful (human) company along the way. I hope you’ll come along once again, when I write about these adventures, or come on out to the parks and join in the fun for yourself!

For the record, I did not allow a hip replacement surgery to slow down my adventures or my blog writing. If anything, the experience actually spurred things along, creatively and experientially. I may have had my feet up, needing a walker and then a cane to get around the house, but I was able to see and think and create through the fog of pain medications. I was able to plan for how to bring you along on adventures I’d already had and how to create new adventures in the months and years ahead!

Need a join replaced? I highly recommend it!

What else can I say about a year’s worth of adventures…? Please, enjoy the remaining photos — some of which made it into my blog posts over the last year and some that I never got to. Maybe they will be featured soon! Even better, go on and visit the Accidental Wanderlust home page, to pick a story to become immersed in! (https://kathleenodowd.com/)