Cool Spots In Your State

I live in Dallas, Texas, and I constantly hear people saying “Man I just need to move, there’s nothing to do here in Texas”. For me Dallas isn’t so bad. I love the city and the people here, but the lack of mountainous area is a bit frustrating. Luckily I stumbled across this awesome website called “OnlyInYourState.com” which lists areas within your state that you may or may not know of. The website is full of incredible things about all the states but I’ll list a few of my favorites from the site that I had no clue existed.

• Westcave Preserve (Round Mountain) 

“Just 45 minutes outside of Austin, you'll find this gorgeous secluded grotto, situated among acres of thriving grasslands and enchanting canyons. It's definitely worth the drive!” 

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• Guadalupe Peak 

    “Part of the Guadalupe Mountains, this is the highest point in Texas at 8,750 feet.”

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• El Capitan

    “Another high point in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, this peak soars into the sky above standing at 8,064 feet.”

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• Emory Peak

    “Way out west in the Big Bend, you'll find the 7,825 foot tall Emory Peak, which is part of the Chisos Mountains.”

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The website is full of amazing sites all over any state. The lists aren’t limited to just cool areas to visit either, it also has cool statistics, good places to eat, unique towns, and cool cultural places. Hopefully this helps with some new adventure ideas because I know I have several new places I want to go now. 

Article where I found these places: 

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/texas/mountains-tx/

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/texas/enchanting-spots-tx/

Knowing & Growing

I was sitting next to my friend and mentor Mario Stanley the other night and thought to myself, I didn’t know this person even existed last year, and now he’s one of the most influential people in my life. And that led to further thought of how much I’ve changed and how much my life has changed in a year. For one thing I wasn’t as fit as I am now. My hands would shake when I would hold my phone for too long. I was super self conscious about how unfit I was, and it’s embarrassing being a guy and not being strong enough to do certain things. I think I had maybe 3 friends that I kept in touch with out of all the ones I had in high school, and even then I would barely hang out with them. I was infatuated with the idea of being rich enough to do whatever I wanted. Wealth seemed like the only thing that mattered in life. And perhaps the worst of all of that, I had no idea what I wanted. 

    Knowing what you want seems so simple, but I’d wager that most college kids have no idea. I don’t even know what I would want as an end goal, but I do know what I want right now. I have a few puzzle pieces to puzzle that takes a lifetime to finish. I don’t think you can accurately know what you will want 10 years in the future. We all change, especially in youth. All I can hope for right now is that I can set a solid base for what my 30 year old self might want. 

    I’ve never thought of myself as an impressive person. I get asked now by new friends that I climb with about how I’ve progressed so quickly with my climbing. I tell them it’s “Mario Magic”, meaning I owe it all to my coach Mario to put it simply. Inside my head i’m thinking how in the world am I impressive to someone? Even friends I haven’t seen since high school have commented on how much stronger I’ve gotten. I’ve never been in a situation before where I’ve been impressive to someone else, and it’s really weird.

    It’s also really strange finding out what I want. Even though I don’t have an exact vision of what I want 10 years from now, I know I want it to involve climbing and the outdoors, and that’s 100% more than I knew last year. The funny thing is that, what I think I know now will be 100% less than I’ll know next year. I suppose it’s just part of growing to be constantly changing who you are. I just hope 10 years from now I can be good enough to inspire others to be great.