The view from the mountains

The road to your dreams isn't always a straightforward one. It winds and curves up a mountain. When you start out on the journey, the hike seems easy enough and the destination seems just within reach. You know exactly what you want and you know just how to get it. And yet the closer you get to the top, the closer you get to attaining your dreams, to getting just what it is that you asked out of life, the hike suddenly gets so much more strenous and it takes every bit of effort to make it to the top, to get to that perfect moment of contentment of having just what you wanted. In those moments of utter despair, when the going gets extremely tough, the best thing you can do is to rest, take a breather and stop and admire the views from the climb on top of the mountain. See how far along you've come and look up ahead at where you want to be. And the sceneries will carry you along further.

For me, the year 2008 has been a little like that journey up the mountain...it's been a tough hike with long winding roads seemingly leading nowhere. But even so, I look back at how far along I've come at the end of the year and I feel a strange joy for having made it this far.

Here's to the year past, and new journeys ahead. Every so often, stop to take a breather and click photos of the memorable sceneries along the way. :)

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

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These photos were taken from Pinnacle Overlook, located at an elevation of 2440 feet on the Cumberland Mountains region of the chain of Appalachian Mountains. The overlook is located within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and overlooks the tri-state area of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The white lake nestled in the valley surrounded by the mountains is Fern Lake.

To read more on my three day travel through the tri-state area, click here.

~vagabond~ © 2008