Petit Jean weekend, empty passenger seat

Petit Jean Mountain is ninety minutes away and I go at least once a season, and the drive through those winding roads with the windows down is the closest thing I have to a spiritual practice. I'm thirty-nine, a landscape architect, and a long-term relationship wrapped up nearly two years ago because we were better as friends than as partners, which is a hard truth to arrive at but a clear one. I want a man who has a relationship with the outdoors that goes beyond a casual hike once a year — someone who feels pulled toward wild places, who understands that being in nature isn't an escape from life but a return to it. I'm contemplative, creative, and I think in spaces and landscapes the way some people think in words. I want someone who'd sit on a rock at Cedar Falls with me and not need to fill the silence.