Where There’s Smoke
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. African Proverb Two weeks ago, Laurie, our friends Trev and Kim, and I started a 55-mile, seven-day hike—but thanks to a forest fire, it wound up to be 77 miles over eight days. This summer lived up to the […]
A Slice of Small Town Italian Life
“The Creator made Italy by designs from Michelangelo.” Mark Twain Before this trip when we thought of Italy, the big cities came to mind: Rome, Venice, Florence. The most eye opening part of our journey has been experiencing small town Italy: villages with a population of 500 or so, with lineages to a time before […]
Francis and the Wolf
If we could talk to the animals, just imagine it Chatting to a chimp in chimpanzee Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting to a cheetah What a neat achievement that would be… Lyrics from the movie Doctor Doolittle St Francis is often remembered for his love of animals. He’s the patron saint of animals, there […]
A Magical Stop
“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” Neil Gaiman Last Sunday we had one of our toughest days of hiking, ever. But the ending was…magical. We left at about 8:00 am because we knew it was going to be hot and the guidebook classified the […]
Hadrian: King of the North?
“The Night’s Watch is the only thing standing between the realm and what lies beyond.” Maester Aemon to Tyrion Lannister On our third day, we finally began to see segments of what remained of one of the great achievements of Roman engineering, Hadrian’s Wall. As we walked I noted how it stretched across vast landscapes. […]
Show Me The Wall
We’ve been walking Hadrian’s Wall for two days, and of the ancient Roman Wall—nothing yet. This isn’t unexpected. When the people in the north of England started to build houses of stone they had a choice of quarrying it—or scavenging from this stone wall that had been unused for centuries. Easy choice. Times were tough […]
Land of Two Thousand Arches
In a world that is becoming increasingly virtual, the parks remain places of visceral beauty. Nevada Barr, American Author You may not have been there yourself, but you’ve undoubtedly seen pictures of Arches National Park. On our current journey through the southwestern US we managed to spend two days hiking through this unique area, located near […]
An Unplanned Gem: Antelope Canyon
One of the best ways Dennis and I have found to discover an unexpected treasure is to listen to what people we meet say their best finds are. A recent example of this was when Grace and Jake, the couple we hiked The Wave with, told us about their experience doing the Lower Antelope Canyon tour. Originally, […]
Winning the Lottery: The Wave
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. Edward Abbey One hundred and two applicants–all vying for only thirty spots. It was the largest group of the year applying in person to be able to hike into the Coyote Buttes North wilderness—better known as “The Wave.” Even though it was a frigid […]
Sampling the Appalachian Trail
For a walk to do you any good, you ought to move along as though you mean it. Harry Truman Much of our Journey Across America has been a chance to sample different places and activities. This week we chose to backpack a small section of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail may be the longest […]
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