The summer of 2009 was one that changed me and my outlook on things as a person. Not only did I have different emotions about starting my freshmen year in high school, but I learned that summer that sometimes we take the beauties around us for granted. No, I'm not talking about the guy or girl that lives down the street, so don't go confess your love to them just yet. I am however, talking about the thing things that lie just outside of our windows: nature. It all started when my family and I took a trip to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. At first I wasn't excited because, like every other teenager out there, I wanted to go to the beach for my vacation and not just a couple of miles from home, but as the vacation continued, I later learned that it would become one of my favorites.
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As a lot of people already know, Callaway Gardens is known for it's butterfly house. When I heard that we were going to this place, a few sarcastic thoughts like "whoopty doo this is going to be SO much fun" crossed my mind. However, when I entered that room, my eyes were filled with so much beauty and I was in awe. Gorgeous flowers were everywhere, flowers that I hadn't even seen before. Butterflies that you only see in nature magazines were fluttering about landing every now and then to receive sweet nectar. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I spent at least an hour walking around, snapping photos, smelling flowers, and trying to get close enough to a butterfly to see the detail on its wings.
During these moments and after we left, all that was going through my mind was how much I took for granted. I had spent so much time inside of the house not even realizing what was just outside the door. Since this vacation I have spent a lot of my free time outside photographing simple aspects of nature and understanding the beauty of each plant, hoping to inspire others to appreciate the outside world through these photos. This vacation was so beneficial to me and I couldn't be happier that we missed out on the beach that year. There's no way my eyes would have been as open as they were after this vacation to Callaway Gardens.
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