What Brings You Joy: The Travel Edition

What brings you joy?

I’ve been considering this question for a few months, as it is in a section of my HeidiTown Consulting presentation in Johnstown, Colorado, later this week.

The Living Farm, Paonia, Colorado
My happy place. The Living Farm in Paonia, Colorado.

Joy is a word we associate with Christmas; I hadn’t considered it something we can experience daily. However, we can, and I do, especially when it comes to our garden. We don’t have a massive garden, it’s not like the ones my mom grew when I was little. Ryan built two raised gardening beds seven years ago, and since then we’ve become quite good at growing chives, cilantro and lettuce. We get so much lettuce! We also have many potted pepper plants, most of them hot peppers like serranos and habaneros. And we plant random other things too.

Garden #1 Tomatoes 2024
Our amazing tomato plant.

This year, on a whim, Ryan planted a tiny tomato plant in one of our raised beds about a month ago. It’s now a monster, taking over the box and producing tomatoes. To say I am shocked is an understatement. Now we are, despite years of lettuce success amongst other things, real gardeners. Because real gardeners grow tomatoes, don’t they? The point is these tomatoes have brought me real joy! As does harvesting anything from our garden from radishes to string beans.

What brings you joy? At home and when you travel?

What immediately comes to mind is buying a bushel of roasted green chiles in Pueblo, Colorado. I take enormous pleasure in this activity, which includes touring all the farm markets on the mesa in Pueblo. There are a lot and it’s something I highly recommend.

A Road Trip in Southern Colorado: Pueblo, Eat All the Things (2020)

I will admit that most of the joy I glean from travel usually has something to do with food, especially spicy things. I love the food scene across Southern Colorado from Lucy’s Taco Shop #2 in Lamar to La Casita de Cortez in the far west corner of Colorado.

There are non-food-related joys when I travel. Flowers bring me massive amounts of joy. Just ask anyone who has visited the Denver Botanic Garden with me. I take a lot of photographs, ooh and awe over everything, and generally take five times as long as the normal people to get through this Denver destination. Ryan usually naps in the grass while he waits for me.

Shooting All the Flowers at Denver Botanic Gardens

I also enjoy wildflowers.

The Snowy Range in Living Color Wildflowers in Wyoming. HeidiTown (18)
In 2020, the wildflowers were off the hook in the Snowy Mountain Range of Wyoming. It was hard to hike because I was constantly stopping to take photos.

In addition to all the flowers, whether it be a planter box in downtown Johnstown, Colorado, or a hillside filled with wildflowers in Wyoming, happy dogs bring me joy. My dog is happiest when she is with us, and she brings enormous joy to our lives every day (whether or not she’s traveling with us).

Grand County Colorado. Photo by Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer
Fritzi posing in the lupines at Ryan’s aunt & uncles home at Pole Creek Golf Course.

I like Vail, Colorado, in part because of the sheer number of happy, tail-wagging dogs in the village. Below is a video of Fritzi enjoying the Vail Farmers Market, one of the prettiest farmers markets in Colorado.

Farm animals bring me joy, especially baby farm animals. Baby goats, baby sheep, baby donkeys, baby cows, baby horses… you name it and I want to cuddle it. Thankfully, there are many places in Colorado and beyond where you can meet baby farm animals. Just keep an eye on HeidiTown because I have a tendency to find and write about them.

the living farm, paonia, Colorado
The living Farm in Paonia, Colorado, a place that has brought me so much joy over the years. They actually named a baby sheep after me, many years ago. That is a cherished memory that brings me joy.

Playing Favorites The North Fork Valley of Colorado. HeidiTown (44)

I spent this weekend in my hometown of Loveland, Colorado. I attended Sculpture in the Park twice, Art in the Park, and discovered a new musician at a nearby brewery. Being around so much creativity this weekend brought me joy.

One of my favorite quotes is by Thoughts of Dog (@dogs_feelings) on Twitter. He doesn’t capitalize or use correct sentence structures or punctuation. After all, it’s a dog.

“it often seems. like the human is jealous of me. because of how happy I get. about the simplest things. i don’t know how to tell them. they can do that to”

So, I ask you again, what brings you joy?

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