Chinese mountain, photo by Shawna Williams

A fellow traveler to China’s Himalayan foothills explained his disinterest: “I’ve seen mountains.”

Chinese mountain scene, photo by Shawna Williams

That was ten years ago, and I’m still horrified. Why did the man, who’d surely seen most everything there is to see, bother to wake each morning? As a native Coloradan and avid camper/traveler/hiker, I’ve seen some mountains.

Jiuzhaigou waterfall, photo by Shawna Williams.

Many of them over and over, again and again. They still wow me with their wiles. The mere rumor of a waterfall sucks me in like a riptide. Before I toured China’s Jiuzhaigou National Park, I may have seen a thousand falls, but I’d never seen one that moved me to tears with its beauty until I beheld a particular Jiuzhaigou gem.

Jiuzhaigou waterfall, photo by Shawna Williams.

On the other hand, during a European river cruise, my husband Steve adopted another traveler’s lingo for the endless churches included in our tours.

ABC (another beautiful church)

ADC is short for “another danged church,” …or thereabouts. Steve got to the point that he refused to go inside, and though I didn’t admit it, I wearied of them myself. I guess I shouldn’t get judgy with the man who’d seen mountains.