Let Them be Wild!

I’ll never forget our first big road trip adventure as a family! We talked about going to see The Oregon Coast habitually, just like everyone talks about things they never really intent to do. Years went by, and our “somedays” started to stack up. One day we decided to let go of the notion of someday and find a way to make our dreams a reality now. We fixed up an old tent trailer, and pulled it the almost 1200 miles to Tilamook, Oregon and from there we spend the next 9 days working our way down the coast all the way to Paso Robles.

When we opened the door, and our girls caught their first glimps of the ocean, it was magic! They ran to the water and ran away from it as it crashed in. Their hair flew and their eyes sparkled, and we felt a deep sense of home. At first we thought we should move there the longing was so strong, but we quickly realized it wasn’t Oregon specifically that was home but adventure itself.

You run different and play different when everything around you is new. You look around in hungry anticipation, never wanting to go inside. Our kids played on that beach for hours, and they were mesmerising to watch! We absolutely didn’t want it to end! I cried when we left the beach after a 10 day adventure. But we realized we didn’t have to lose the wild.

We came home and ran through the sprinklers, and we started exploring the trails close to our home. We found the snow in the mountains, and we splashed by the lake that next Summer. We will always remember that trip as the time we found the wild, and we go back often to remind ourselves of when we really taught our kids what sunshine and water and joy feels like. We hope it never leaves them!

By Ashley & Justin Harmon (Illustrators and Photographers)