Growing up in Ontario, we often heard about all the interesting places to visit in New York State. Along with the Poconos, Jay Peak, and shopping trips to Watertown, I frequently heard people mention "the Finger Lakes." I assumed it referred to four or five long, narrow lakes that looked like fingers and never gave the region much thought after that. It wasn't until I began planning this summer's road trip that I pulled up a map and realized how wrong I had been. There aren't four or five Finger Lakes—there are eleven, stretching across central New York. Suddenly, what had always been just …
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Visiting Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon: A Scenic Guide to Pine Creek Gorge
I've visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona several times. Each visit, I find myself standing at a different overlook, quietly taking in its immense scale, endless layers of rock, and impossible depth. No matter how many times I see it, it still leaves me in awe. So, when I started researching places to visit along our route from Richmond, Virginia, to Syracuse, New York, one destination immediately caught my attention: Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon. Although its official name is Pine Creek Gorge, most people know it as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. I questioned how it could possibly compare …
The Best Caves I’ve Explored – So Far!
I stood among the trees admiring how the rocks sparkled in the sun. Another treasure for my collection. I carefully picked my way across the mine tailings, searching for fool's gold, quartz, and mica. Then I'd gather them up and pretend I was the King in his counting house. If you've never spent time around old mines, you may not know that tailings are the piles of rock left behind after miners extracted the valuable ore. There are countless abandoned mines scattered throughout the Canadian Shield, and exploring them became part of our family vacations when I was growing up in …
Traveling Inward
Reflections on Compassion, Discernment, and Protecting What's Good I love to experience new things. Whether it’s a new country, park, city, food, or experience, the novelty feeds me. I am an explorer at heart, and that exploration doesn’t stop at the physical world. I tend to explore my inner world too. The brain is another muscle, and experiences are exercises that expand the big muscle between our ears. Understanding different cultures and viewpoints is just what I do. I could blame the behaviorist in me, but it started long before college. My inward travels started before I ever …
At the Crossroads of Gettysburg
How a final stop at Gettysburg National Military Park on my summer road trip became a journey through history, perspective, and understanding. The sound of cicadas filled the warm summer air as I stepped out of the truck. A gentle breeze stirred the grass, carrying the earthy scent of sun-warmed fields. In the distance, birds called from the trees lining the ridge. It felt like any other peaceful countryside. Except for the monuments. Stone memorials rose majestically from the fields, standing silent watch over the landscape. Their presence left no doubt that something important …
