Living near a landscape that people travel across the world to see has made me think differently about attention. Familiarity can make any place fade into the background, so I am learning to look slowly and notice how the valley changes from one day to the next.
The same trail feels different in morning shade, after rain, or when the season begins to turn. Those shifts are reminders that a place is never only a view. It is a living set of relationships, histories, and small events unfolding at their own pace.
A place is never only a view. It is a living set of relationships, histories, and small events.
My background in Environmental Communication makes me curious about how we share those details. Facts matter, but stories can help us understand why a place matters and what our responsibility to it might be.
Yosemite is teaching me that observation is a practice. The more carefully I pay attention, the more questions I find, and the more connected I feel to the landscape around me.