Day 508 – 11.20.10 Big Ben National Park, Texas

Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail

Langford Homestead, Hot Springs

Boquillas Canyon

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child. – Marie Curie

Day 483 – 10.26.10 Cape Cod lighthouses & Other Historic Places

You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.           2 Samuel 22:29 (NIV)

Day 355 – 6.20.10 Lake Michigan Lighthouses

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

 John 9:5 (NIV)

Day 213 – 1.29.10 Dunns Fall Waterpark, Mississippi

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. ~ EE Cummings 

Day 209 – 1.25.10 French Camp Historic District, Natchez Trace Parkway

The Frenchman’s Camp was founded in the early 1800s by Louis LeFleur when he opened a tavern and an inn for westward travelers.

Day 176 – 12.23.09 Coastal Alabama

Dauphin Island

Fort Morgan State Park

Gulf State Park

Mobile Bay

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran

Day 111 – 10.19.09 Amana Colonies, Iowa

I first learned about the Amana Colonies on the way home from my last trip west in 2005. As a cultural geographer the prospect of visiting a former utopian communal society was exciting. I vowed to visit this community on my next trip west. So here I am, keeping my vow.

Amana, the first of seven community villages, was constructed in the mid 1850’s by the True Inspirationists. Amana was one of the longest lived communal societies.

Day 89; 9.27.09 Grand Teton National Park

The first time I visited this park my daughters and I were driving south from Yellowstone. I was in the passenger seat looking out the window, jaw dropped, breathing rapidly. I had never seen such a site. The mountains appear shoot out of the ground effortlessly. It was amazing. I’m from the east coast where 4000 feet is considered a good size mountain. We were already at 8000 feet and these peaks shot up another 7000. This was a spiritual experience, the force it took to create these massive peaks can only compare with the power of God. I decided then to change my geographic focus from cultural to geomorphology. Everywhere you look, this earth is filled with his glory.

I had to come back. No the experience wasn’t the same, the wild fires put a damper in my enthusiasm but I realized it was just as amazing and a new experience. It didn’t have to be the same. This time Jesus was with me.

 

How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! – John Muir