Travel

Category

Lights

LIGHTS

Deena and I are planning a trip to Maine in May.  There are many reasons we enjoy excursions to “The Pine Tree State.”  There is the sheer charm and natural diversity of the state, the seafood cuisine, Maine’s culture and history, the rocky, rugged shores and, of course, the many lighthouses that dot the coast of the state.  The coast of Maine, itself, is barely 230 miles long as the crow flies, but if you include the many navigable channels, bays and inlets...

When God came to Ireland

WHEN GOD CAME TO IRELAND

In this post, I’d like to share when God came to Ireland. In the beginning, in Ériu, in Éire, long before the land was dubbed Ireland and before the birth of Christ, there were the Celts.  This group traces their beginnings to 1,200 B.C. and they were predominantly in four countries of Europe; France, Spain, Britain and Ireland. The influence of the Celts was pervasive, militant, and it took Julius Caesar six years to conquer then (if he ever truly did.) The Celtic...

TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE

My wife and I decided a year ago to join our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons on a vacation for ten days on Oahu.  We purchased two tickets to paradise. We hoped to find a “window” between surges in the Pandemic and we booked a stay at the Hale Koa, a military hotel, which was actually a much nicer facility than the adjoining Hilton (See information at the end of this post.) We flew to LAX, dodging bad weather in the...

Point of no return

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

A small portion of the border between Canada and the United States involves the Niagara River. People from around the world have heard not only about the Niagara River, but more importantly, the Niagara Falls. This post will deal with the point of no return as one approaches the falls as well as metaphorical uses of the same phrase. The speed of the Niagara River varies from location to location as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario according...

Eustace as a dragon

EUSTACE SCRUBB

This is a case study on the consequence of sin and the pain of recovery, based on the adventures of Eustace Clarence Scrubb while on holiday in Narnia. For those few who never heard of Narnia, Narnia is a mythical land like Middle Earth, created by JRR Tolkien’s friend and colleague, C.S. Lewis. The premise contemplates what Jesus would look like and how He would interact on a planet of animals–talking animals in many cases. Common beavers and mice, but...

Catskill Mountains

MOUNTAIN SOUNDS

Those of you who have read my biography know that I am a child of the Catskills, though I spent forty of the last forty-two years in Texas. Now, there are many commendable things about Texas, though with few exceptions, it cannot compete with upstate New York in terms of vistas and the diversity and sheer numbers of living creatures. The mountain sounds which their abundance of life are music to one’s ears. The land in most of Texas (excluding the Hill...

Map of Fort Ticonderoga

FORT TICONDEROGA: THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN/LAKE GEORGE In my Fort William Henry post, I described the French and Indian War between France and England in North America.  Fort Ticonderoga is a good point to open a discussion on the geography of the war.  The major waterways in this part of far eastern New York are the Hudson River, the Richelieu River, Lake George and Lake Champlain.  The Hudson River flows southward from near its source close to Lake Tear of the Clouds, north of Albany.  Overland, from the Hudson...

Family emerges from a darkened room as pandemic ends

AFTER THE PANDEMIC ENDS (PART II)

For the past month or so, we’ve finally been able to see light at the end of the tunnel as far as the pandemic goes, thanks to the vaccines and the end of winter with more and more people spending time outdoors. India and Brazil are having difficult times at the moment and so we’re not out of the woods yet.  The SARS-CoV-2 virus may continue to be endemic to certain areas after the pandemic ends, but hopefully it will be...

Troubled waters during the French and Indian War

WE VISIT FORT WILLIAM HENRY

The Seven Years’ War is not very well known in this country. Winston Churchill called it “The first World War” since it was actually fought on five different continents.  It’s difficult to point to a single event that historians agree was the casus belli.  Was it the Prussian invasion of Saxony in Europe?  A dispute over the boundaries of Arcadia? A skirmish, perhaps, in western Pennsylvania between British forces who were badly-led by a twenty-two-year-old officer named George Washington in which a French envoy...

Serene pool with waterfall in the Catskill mountains

A CATSKILL MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING

“Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains; and they are regarded by all the good...