Travel and writing

In traveling having a romantic mind can be a dangerous thing. I think about the next journey I want to take and find myself thinking about the potential for the perfect story, the perfect romance. These things never come to fruition but it certainly gives me some material for my stories. I find as I see beautiful destinations or locations that hold a little enchantment that I can't help but wonder how I could work it into a story. 

I've been up the California coast and watched little white butterflies flutter among purple flowers while enjoying a meal on the patio of a small cafe. I wondered about the butterflies and what magic they might bring to that space. I've traveled along beaches and pictured meeting a handsome stranger with his great dog. I've stood on the cliffs of Ireland and journeyed in my mind on the daring tales of a faerie and her friends. I pictured the genteel nature of southern gentleman while walking the boardwalk in Texas or North Carolina. 

No, the imaginings of my mind don't come true to my own life but I still greatly appreciate every experience. While reality is different than what my imagination stirs up, I find that every experience leaves me with a desire to see more, and wish to visit new destinations. With each real life experience my imagination flows a bit more and before I know it, I have another story idea, another journey of the imagination that happily hops into the queue in my mind, impatiently hopping from one foot to the other while waiting its turn to change from imagined to reality on the pages of a book.