Then there is Jim Valvano's famous quote, "Don't give up, don't ever give up!", which I hear on a regular basis because it is one of Bud's favorites.
I'm starting to think about our upcoming trip to Oregon to see Kari and Ken and their new home which makes me think of previous trips and sights we've visited along the way. Waterfalls come to mind. There were all the waterfalls along the Historic Columbia River Scenic Byway we saw as we left Portland after our first visit there a few years ago....
including, of course, the famous Multnomah Falls.
Then there was our 2006 trip to the West Coast beginning with seeing almost all the waterfalls in Nebraska.
Yes, there really are waterfalls in Nebraska most of them along the Niobrara in Northern Nebraska. Smith Falls is about 18 miles east of Valentine.
And the next time we head east, I still have experiencing Niagara Falls on my 'bucket' list.
But these are the falls I really want to visit that I'm afraid I have left too late - Ramona Falls in Mt. Hood National Forest. You see, even though the trail is classified as 'easy to moderate' the distance is 7 miles. I don't think there is any way I could do a seven mile loop hike. Even to see my falls.
Then I think about that 'don't ever give up quote' and remember that I made it all the way to the top of Seven Falls in order to see where Helen Hunt Jackson was inspired to write her novel Ramona. And that I made it all the way to the top of Temple Mound at Moundville Archaeological Park in Alabama last April after looking back and realizing I was already halfway to the top.
Maybe if I started training now I could work myself up to seven miles and seeing Ramona Falls could become a reality. As Confucius said: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
"It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them." George Eliot
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