Our next major stop proved to be the enormous majesty of the Grand Canyon; where we hiked down the steep South Kaibab Trail to spend the night in the Canyon itself, before then hiking back up the Bright Angel Trail the following morning … “The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in […]
Interestingly enough, we only got the slightest taste of the Joshua Tree National Park. Even though the landscape was surreally wonderful, it somehow wasn’t grandiose enough for us to warrant a side trip into its depths, and we turned around and left soon after entering; missing much of its great Beauty as a consequence … […]
The Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were our next major stop, and intriguingly enough, even though we saw Carl Lewis run and Michael Jordan play basketball, my most vivid memory of that event was watching Mary Decker & Zola Budd get tangled up during the women’s 3000m final. Decker fell just a few feet from […]
We paused thereafter for a time to soak up the grandeur that was (and still remains) the Sequoia National Forest … “Having made these noble trees an especial study during the past year, I approach them always with reverence. As giants and patriarchs of the forest they stand alone … The trees are grand without […]
Then it was onward into Yosemite National Park. Amusingly enough, my most vivid memory of this portion of our journey was mom quite nervously allowing me to drive our Winnebago mobile home up the narrow, winding, guardrail-less road that led into the park. Indeed, Courage is only as Courage does … “Yosemite Valley, to me, […]
Las Vegas was our next main stopover. I still remember the lights and the glamour and the noise and the sleepless faces. And I remember the zombied eyes & slackened jaws of those wiling their lives away at slot machine and betting tables. And I remember my hyper-nervous mother receiving a subtle tip from a […]
Thereafter, we made a brief yet awe-inspired stop in the Redwoods National Park … “The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s […]
Next, we stopped (for over a full day this time) to soak up the phenomenal beauty of Yellowstone National Park … “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we would only pause long enough – and humbly enough – to fully tune […]
Then, while heading homeward, we crossed over the Rocky Mountains and its famed Continental Divide – the pinnacle of North America, where fallen rains get to choose as they will to flow either one way or the other … “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine […]
Our last major stopover on this summer’s Grand Journey across the United States and back was the St. Louis Arch; for many the “Gateway to the West” – and for us a gateway back Homeward … “There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed … It is […]
My junior year of high school comes to a close, and I find myself inspired by Jimmy Carter; especially his selfless work with & for Habitat for Humanity … “We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children … To be true to ourselves, we must be true to […]
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