Well-worn Knees and a Lifetime of Questions

Welcome to my first blog! It’s kind of like walking and chewing gum, right? Some people will ace it; others will bite their tongue and trip on their shoelaces. Hopefully I fall (no pun intended) into the first group, although I’m sure I’ll make an appearance in the second group as well.

And what am I trying to write about? Well, places I’ve been to, places I’m going to, and questions that invade my head as I’m wandering around. That’s the broad answer. Here’s the background:

I’ve loved to travel ever since my dad pulled me out of first grade for a week to take me to Yosemite National Park. He was of the opinion that I could learn a lot more being outdoors than what I could learn in a classroom. I have memories of doing my spelling lessons in the back seat of a 1960 Chevy Impala, while looking out the window at the redwoods rushing by, or struggling with math problems while my dad’s aging pickup struggled up a grade near Mt. Shasta in northern California. My teachers may not have approved, but I sure did.

There was a time when a week-long backpack trip down the Grand Canyon was rather commonplace, or a 10-mile day hike in the mountains above Santa Fe was a great leg-stretcher. But the years have punished my knees and hips, and my hikes have become shorter, with more sauntering, and less epic hiking. And that’s just fine, because the little things along the trail become more significant, the pondering becomes more thoughtful, and the end result is still soul-satisfying and rewarding.

While international travel hasn’t happened much for me until recently, the hundreds of thousands of miles that I have traveled across the United States and Canada has shown me what an incredible, international melting pot we have – places that lure those from other countries to see the remarkable, diverse landscape we live in, and the people and cultures that make up our country. In all my travels, the Southwest corner of the US, particularly the Four Corners states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, call me home like nowhere else. I am fortunate enough to live where I can see all four of those states (well, I’d have to get on the roof to see New Mexico), and those are the places I visit and write about most often.

So that’s what this blog will be about – saunters, short hikes, road trips, good food, out-of-the-way places, and unexpected treasures. Hidden locations will stay hidden; special, sacred places that must stay protected, will stay protected. There will be no GPS waypoints or detailed directions, unless the location is already listed in books or maps. Some places are extremely popular places that can be re-experienced with a different purpose, a new tidbit of knowledge, or by just slowing down and really enjoying the journey, rather than just the destination.

I hope you enjoy some of my wanderings, and you take a few of them with a new level of thoughtfulness.