I traveled to the Space Needle for the first time last year and totally felt like a tourist. The problem with distant tourism is that it can take a lot of time, money and the environmental cost is high. So why not go out the back door and get lost? Traveling close to home means keeping your money local, having more time to experience a place, and still seeing new attractions. You don't have to travel around the world to feel comfortable, in my life I have found peace at the top of a mountain hike on Lake Ann. No more than an hour or two's drive from my home and I can experience something I've never experienced before that still contains the three elements of travel. I moved between two places, for a period of time, and I had a purpose. My desire was to experience nature at its best; I felt a glacier older than me, I climbed peaks that seemed impossible and I felt like I was touching the sky. Even though it was outside my back door, how can you not feel small in an atmosphere like that