Are you a member of the Sunrise-From-Mount-Cadillac Club?
Those who made the effort to witness sunrise from Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park in the 1960s could become certified members of the “Sunrise-From-Mount-Cadillac Club.”
In search of our authentic selves
Travelers seeking the authentic in the places they visit are looking for evidence of an authentic self. They desire authentic experiences that reveal a meaningful essence inside themselves.
Pilgrim or Tourist: How do we know the difference?
The difference between pilgrims and tourists is a perennial question. The best answer I have found came from a conversation with Peter Brown.
Permanent Vacation: The Impermanence of Life in the National Parks
Review of Permanent Vacation: Twenty Writers on Work and Life in Our National Parks, edited by Kim Wyatt (Bona Fide Books, 2011), an assortment of short recollections by writers who lived and worked in national parks. Sometimes adventurous, even frightening, often poetic, this collection offers intimate views rarely experienced by the millions who enjoy American national parks each year. ♨
Missions of San Antonio as Places of Possibility
San Antonio’s Spanish colonial missions attract local residents, tourists, and others. As the Alamo City approaches its tri-centennial celebration, this may be an apt time for some collective reflection on the importance and value of the historic missions. New possibilities are in the making in this place once called Yanaguana, a place that has become a busy modern city in an uncertain world. ♨
The Sacred and the Secular at San Antonio’s Historic Missions
San Antonio, Texas, boasts a magnificent World Heritage treasure in their Spanish colonial missions. These places serve both religious purposes and tourist pleasures. Which raises the question, are the San Antonio missions sacred or secular? ♨
Natural Bridge, Virginia: America’s First Tourist Destination
Natural Bridge in Virginia may be America’s first natural feature promoted as a tourist destination. Thomas Jefferson characterized Natural Bridge as “the most sublime of Nature’s works,” and now it is recognized as an affiliate site of the National Park Service.
100 Years of the National Park Service
Happy centennial day for the National Park Service! On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson took up his pen and made official the National Park Service Organic Act. To be clear, Wilson’s autograph did not originate our national parks system. That distinction goes to the establishment of Yellowstone in 1872, or to federal protection of Yosemite in 1864, or to…
Religious Tourist to Wyoming in 1840
History remembers Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet primarily as the missionary who brought Catholicism west to the northern Rocky Mountain region of the United States. His first entry into the region where he would have his most lasting impact came on a reconnaissance tour in the summer of 1840. ♨
Detourist in a Holy Land
On a sojourn to the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, author Tom Fate discovers the detourist’s novel ways of seeing, being, and relating.
Celebrating a Government Agency
America celebrates the centennial of the National Park Service this year with some high-profile publicity for the nation’s parks. First Lady Michelle Obama and former First Lady Laura Bush are serving as honorary co-chairs of the National Park Service’s centennial celebration, highlighted by Find Your Park, a public awareness and education campaign celebrating the milestone centennial anniversary, specifically targeting millennials;…
Detourist
A detourist is a disrupted tourist. She disrupts the conventions, values, aesthetics, and purposes of the tourist mentality.