How To Find Beauty In Your Backyard - Saxe Point Park, Victoria, BC
Why did I decide to start an adventure travel blog you ask?
Don’t you already have so much on the go?
The answer is yes, I do have so much on the go but the full answer is a little more complicated than that.
See, I’m an online business owner. I am a copywriter. I write for other people. But I only changed my business back to that just a couple of months ago.
The story is kind of funny actually.
When I first started as a virtual assistant my first ever VA job was writing a blog for a real estate company in New York. I had never been to Queens, New York and I certainly did not know anything about the real estate business. Nor had I ever been paid to write for someone.
At that point, I did have my own blog. A parenting and development blog and I was in the process of writing a book (no, I have not finished writing that book).
Eventually, I lost track of the reason I had initially started my own business. I left it behind because I was so focused on making money and on pursuing someone else’s dream. I tried offering a million different services and never felt fully satisfied with any of them.
We moved into the place we are currently living in September of 2020 and since then I have gone on an almost daily walk into a place called Saxe Point Park.
And I have always been amazed by the fact that I never seem to get bored of taking that same walk 5-6 times a week. I find myself just continuously taking photos of the same places because the views just completely take my breath away.
Photo taken on iPhone 12
I have also started learning to shoot on a DSLR camera. Now I am by no means a professional I am still learning about the settings and how to not have my photos end up so bright but it’s been fun to invest time into learning.
Saxe Point was the first place I took that camera. I spent almost 2 hours there one day playing around with the camera trying to get some great shots. Doing that quiets my brain and gives me time to reflect.
What I reflected on during one of these walks was that I was lying to myself…
I never really wanted to be a coach, I didn’t start my business to become a 7-figure business owner (don’t get me wrong that’d be awesome but it wasn’t the dream I was chasing), I didn’t particularly want to do a lot of the services I was currently doing (I only did them because I thought they’d make me money).
It was on the particular photo walk where I took this image of the ocean that I finally got honest with myself.
Photo taken on iPhone 12
All I really wanted to do was capture the beauty. I wanted to write about it and I wanted to photograph it.
Now writing I knew how to do but photography… Not so much.
So I declared I was a copywriter and started to learn everything I could. I’m still learning about the photography (both on the iPhone and on a DSLR, just to see which one I like the most and sometimes the phone is just the convenient one).
And I realized, from diving into this, that there is beauty literally in my backyard. It takes me 5 minutes to walk to Saxe Point Park.
Photo taken on iPhone 12
I crave adventure and I love travelling. I’m not as good at taking vacations, you know the kind where you just relax for a week or two, lying on a pool deck or beach doing nothing. Turns out… I suck at doing nothing.
I love the travel where you explore, see new things, new people, learn stuff.
I love getting lost in the expansiveness and the beauty of a place I have never seen before.
I also love to capture that beauty.
But the thing is… I have beautiful sights and amazing places to explore right here.
Even in the winter, I don’t miss a walk into Saxe Point because just look at this!
Photo taken on iPhone 12
That’s why I decided this wasn’t just going to be exclusively a travel blog. This was going to be an adventure travel blog because I live in a place that is so beautiful and full of life that people come here for their vacations.
When my dad came for my wedding in 2021 (don’t you worry, there will be a blog on that as it was full of adventure!) he said something I’ll never forget…
“You live where we like to vacation.”
And he’s not wrong. I’ve been told this a lot. Friends and family love to come visit me because this is a very appealing local and non-local vacation or travel destination.
Saxe Point Park is one of the many areas in Victoria that offer both a wooded backdrop and an ocean backdrop. Sometimes you can get both in the same photo.
Photo taken on iPhone 12
But here’s the thing….
We get so caught up wanting to chase the overseas vacation and travel that we forget that we have beauty often right in our backyard.
I might live in a tourist hotspot but if you look hard enough I bet you can find beauty too.
Here are some suggestions for how to find these gems:
Check hiking apps for great hikes if you live in a place with mountains or trails
Google your town or city as if you were a tourist and see what’s advertised for tourists
Get in the car and simply drive around. Not with a destination in mind but just simply with a curious mind
Slow down when you head out. Sometimes to see the beauty in the everyday all it takes is to unplug those headphones and to slow down and notice what’s around you
Join FB groups for your local area or search hashtags of your town or city for some good ideas
So, if you ever decide to come check out Victoria, British Columbia go check out Saxe Point Park on the beautiful lək̓ʷəŋən traditional territory also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
To learn more about this territory and the original peoples who lived here head to www.songheesnation.ca/community/l-k-ng-n-traditional-territory
Photo taken on iPhone 12
