???? Julie is taking a virtual walk to Moab, UT, to see her nieces and nephew. John and Ben are tagging along. As they pass Smallwander towns, John has a stream of consciousness. Read the origin story. Although we are visiting Smallwander towns wherever possible on this jaunt across the States, Ben insisted on passing…
?? Looking back on the routes Julie, Ben, and I have been taking, you might say that they were determined thousands of years ago by their physical geography. During the beginning of our trip, Julie and I traveled through the Mohawk Valley of New York, which separates the Adirondack and Catskill mountain ranges. The valley…
? Julie still manages to outpace us as she ventures into Michigan. This week, she is about 14 miles short of the Smallwander town of Tecumseh. Tecumseh was named after a Shawnee war chief who resisted settlers coming into the Northwest Territory. During the War of 1812, Tecumseh sides with the British but is killed…
? Ben made it to about 10 miles away from Punxsutawney, in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania. If he had been doing his steps more diligently, he could have made it there for the Groundhog Day festival. This celebration, although it has pagan roots, is not my type of thing. Julie, on the other hand, has…
Julie and I passed into Ohio this week. Amazingly, our respective walking totals landed us both in the Smallwander town of Chagrin Falls. The town is the home of Bill Watterson, creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, my all-time favorite. If Julie and I were actually passing though, and if everything was open,…
? Our walking party did not reach our goal of Medina, OH, this week. Nevertheless, Julie was quite pleased to have passed into Girard tonight, just over the Pennsylvania line. Girard was named after Stephen Girard, an 18th-century banking tycoon from Philadelphia. He owned land in the neighboring township of Springfield. After his death, his…
COVID disrupted our traveling plans during 2020. My friend Julie was distressed when she realized she had not seen her nieces and nephew in Moab, UT, in a year. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and take a virtual walk there. For every mile she walks in her neighborhood or along…
South Korea has established a cultural tourism program that invites visitors to stay at Buddhist temples throughout the country. The program was launched in 2002 in response to a shortage of beds during the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Known as the Korea Temple Stay program, it is a…