“Breathtaking” gets thrown around a lot, and for many experiences which do not, in fact, literally take one’s breath away. It’s the first word that comes to mind to describe my driving 4000 miles from Saratoga Springs, NY to Seattle Washington over a span of 12 days with my friend Rachel, but it’s not quite the right one... For one, with the exception of the several seconds immediately after hooking a cutthroat trout in Glacier National Park, my breath remained unmistakably with me. For another, it didn’t so much get “taken away” as it did altered. Smoothed, like freshly washed sheets spread out on a mattress.
Read More