Are Travel and Aging Incompatible?
‘Is It All Downhill from Here?’
Travel can be exciting, inspirational, inconvenient, and tiring. In this “From Our Readers” essay, Sherrill Pool Elizondo wonders if travel and aging are poor companions. Recent trips gave her a new perspective.
I enjoy experiencing new places but not travel preparations or living out of a suitcase. I have never made a personal or travel bucket list and, after some reading, I have come to the conclusion that there are as many negatives as positives in making one. I have accompanied my husband on photography trips to many beautiful places in the world but, for years, I yearned to climb Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg, Texas.
A few years ago we stayed in Boerne and visited areas of the hill country that I vaguely recalled from childhood. Having lived in San Antonio until adulthood, I considered the area conveniently located to travel to many places in the state. We have spent time visiting missions, made day trips to see Painted Churches, ventured into East Texas, traveled to see spring wildflowers, hiked Lost Maples, visited state parks, and made side trips in the coastal region near our vacation home. It was the trip to Enchanted Rock, though, that was very special.
I had wanted to climb the rock at a younger age, but I am proud to say I made it to the top even if I was giving my husband dirty looks and muttering that I had wanted to do this when we were younger … not in our 60s! The view was spectacular and, as an old country song goes, I saw “miles and miles of Texas.” I truly felt like a native Texan that day to have managed to climb to the summit of this huge pink granite boulder, and part of the reason was because of a reference J. Frank Dobie, a Texas folklorist, made about people who were “out of the rock.” I can truly say that now as my Texas roots run deep for many generations and I finally climbed Enchanted Rock.
I thought we would have a quiet Christmas in 2013. The hill country adventure that fall had been all that I had expected until husband announced that he was taking me to see the Rockettes in New York, which had been a lifelong dream. The Christmas show was spectacular and visiting the World Trade Center Memorial and the Statue of Liberty were meaningful excursions.
Though we had a wonderful trip, I was glad to return to Texas. There were last-minute Christmas details to take care of, and we needed to plan a family dinner! Then, husband announces that I was “welcome” to go with him to New Mexico and Arizona for “photography” after Christmas. Road trips can be tiring but a great way to see the country, especially traveling back roads. From the White Sands of New Mexico (which reminded me of snow) to the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona (where I found inner peace in tranquil surroundings) to Monument Valley and Flagstaff/Sedona area, to dragging into Van Horn, Texas at 2 a.m. New Years Day to driving all day to get to Houston, we experienced so much in a short period of time. A meaningful aspect of our trip was a Navajo guide in Monument Valley who shared the culture of his people and took us to special places for photography. A New Year’s Eve sunset in remote surroundings is as good as it gets.
As with most trips, I have taken home with me a particular visual memory, a scent, or a sound that lingers in my mind, or some special thought about someone whom I have met along the way. I have had so many wonderful life experiences that I don’t think I really need a bucket list. Maybe what I need to do is to stop contemplating advancing age and wondering if it is all downhill from here. Maybe it is and maybe it is not. I have wondered, though, if I could ever climb Enchanted Rock again or would even want to make the attempt. The descent that beautiful autumn day felt almost as difficult and challenging as climbing to the top. It was a splendid view of miles and miles of Texas, and each day I am beginning to believe Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words are more true than when I was younger: “Life is a journey, not a destination.”
Sherrill Elizondo graduated from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State) with a degree in English and education. She’s a sixth-generation Texan with an interest in genealogy. Sherrill is the proud parent of three sons and has six talented and remarkable grandchildren. She’s been an aspiring writer for more than 40 years. Her stories have been featured in Boomer Magazine, Bullock Texas History Museum, 70 Candles, Grand Magazine, Texas Escapes, Bridge of the Gods Magazine, and Adoption Knowledge Affiliates. This story first appeared in 2018 on a publication no longer in existence. A longer version is now archived at the Bullock Texas History Museum and originally was published for the story project January, 2023.
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