I am pleased that Joshua Tree National Park and Jeff Sinon were both mentioned in this challenge. I happen to be fans of both! And of Wilderness, of course. (There’s a page dedicated to Wilderness above – please take a look!)
Landscape has been an inspiration for me from a very young age. My father used to take me for walks in the Morton Arboretum in the far western Chicago suburbs. I was overjoyed to be set free running across open expanses of rolling lawn dotted with dandelions and trees. Suburban landscapes are quite domestic, though. I longed for something wilder.
I would stare out my second floor bedroom window towards the west, imagining that the frontier started just beyond the GAR Memorial Forest Preserve and the Des Plaines river. I finally learned that there were just more suburbs on the other side. Then, when I was 10, we went to Colorado to visit my cousins, and I saw a mountain for the first time. It was like all the magic of a fairy tale come true, more majesty than I could take in with my arms spread wide and my feet clambering tirelessly upward!
When I was 14, we moved to California, and I discovered a diversity of landscapes to love – the shore, the deserts, the redwood forests, the foothills and the Sierras.
By my 30th birthday, I had moved back to the Midwest to raise my four children in a less dramatic but safer environment. I fell in love again with the prairie.
But Wilderness calls me to the North Woods and the West whenever I can travel, and these landscapes are the ones I want to photograph with more care and passion (and better equipment!) in the future.
Landscape
scillagrace 
I am deeply moved by this post. The photos are splendid! Thank you!
Literally an enormous theme, but one dear to my heart. Thank you for visiting!
Beautiful photos, Priscilla!! All of them.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Mary! They certainly span a lot of years and memories.
Great series and story –
Thanks, Leya! Thank you for stopping by!
Beautiful. So much to choose from here!
I’ve been fortunate to have lived in some remarkable landscapes!
As have I!
Love the woods and the North West shots … and, of course, your slant on this theme.
Thanks, Meg!
That reply came back so quick I thought you were sitting on the other side of my desk!
Tee-hee. You never know where the spirit might be… 😉
You’ve been blessed to live in some very beautiful places! … and you’ve captured them very nicely too ! Great shots 🙂
Thanks, Terry! I haven’t done extensive world travel, and I certainly have jealous thoughts of the bloggers I know who have, but I believe in counting your own blessings first!
You’re welcome ! … A good mindset to gave. Especially since everybody’s backyard is a world travel destination for someone from somewhere else 🙂
These are stunning shots. What an adventure in Nature your life is.
Thanks! I’m happy you liked your visit!
Excellent Wilderness images. Full of respect already.
Thanks! I do see improvement each year.