Wild West

Beloved mythology of the US, the Wild West period is more fiction than truth. It's a story of conquest and survival, promise and disappointment, creation and destruction, and always clashes between differing cultures and species. As David Murdoch said, "No other nation has taken a time and place from its past and produced a construct of the imagination equal to America’s creation of the West."1

All of that is controversial and complex, continually researched, updated and disputed. But there is one perspective that all agree on: the west in its pristine and wild state was bountiful and beautiful. And happily there are parts of it that remain unchanged to this day.

As AtoZ Challenge draws to a close I'd like to share with you some pictures of that still "wild west". I have visited these sites but without a camera, so I rely on Getty Images and the professionals to capture them for you. They bring wonderful memories to life for me and probably for some of you. If you have not stood in these places perhaps you will be inspired to take "the trip of a lifetime".

Bryce Canyon

Monument Valley

Colorado in Spring Bloom

Great Sand Dunes of Colorado

Rocky Mountains and River in Montana

1 From Wikipedia:  Murdoch, David (2001). The American West: The Invention of a Myth. University of Nevada Press. p. vii.ISBN 978-0874173697.