The Vignettes


Walk with me down the trail.

For two years, we lived in a tent trailer while traveling the American West. To document the kind of adventure I’d never have again, I told our stories through weekly vignettes.

We’ve left the RV life for now, but still continue to recount adventure’s ups and downs, our relationship with the outdoors, the wonderful disaster of parenting, and the struggle to catch lightening in the creative bottle.


Weather Makers
Beth Downing Beth Downing

Weather Makers

In that moment, I floated like the balloon and like the clouds caught on the atmospheric interruption. In that suspension, I was within my own cloud.

Read More
The Storm We Made
Beth Downing Beth Downing

The Storm We Made

I didn’t even have to close my eyes to know how similar it sounded – to feel like I was walking down a street as the storm died down. I expected to reach up and feel wet hair on my head. I expected to have to change my socks when I got home.

Read More
The Fear and the Thin Line
Beth Downing Beth Downing

The Fear and the Thin Line

And I was scared. Not the heart-pounding, I-have-to-get-out-of-here-scared, rather an intense awareness of my aloneness.

Read More
The Bell Curve and the Halfpipe
Beth Downing Beth Downing

The Bell Curve and the Halfpipe

But just like that part of the mountain, the remarkable stands so close to average. Incredible talent can sit alongside the so-so. It does this in me and in you and in each of the children out there that day.

Read More
A Bird, a Plane, and Their Place
Beth Downing Beth Downing

A Bird, a Plane, and Their Place

I hope the bird found its way out. I hope I do too, eventually. To get where I was going but also to understand existence in a place you’re not supposed to be. For them, the building. For me, the air.

Read More