Finding beauty locally

(First blog post using Blogsy and Flickr)

My go to blog - Althouse, had an interesting blog post about why we travel. It was very thought provoking - for me, when I see photo's of someone's trip to Paris, my first response is to "want" to go there sometime. Is it the beautiful photo's that attract me? Is it the wonder of something new and different? Is it the pursuit of a gentler, more relaxed environment? What do I really expect to find abroad, or in some distant city or state or region that I can't really find in my own back yard?

Do we take into account the pollution from traveling to distant places, especially when we fly? We might say that our dollars spent on vacation in distant places helps the local economy, but how about spending those dollars locally?

Here is a list of destinations I have traveled to:

• Florida, winter vacation, flew
• Bahamas, winter vacation, flew
• California, winter vacation, flew
• Montreal, summer vacation, flew
• New Orleans, Katrina relief work & youth mission trip chaperone, drove
• Colorado, vacation summer and winter, drove and flew
• Vancouver, summer vacation, flew
• S.Dakota, vacation and youth mission trip chaperone, drove
• New York, work and bike ride, flew and drove
• Washington DC, spring vacation, drove
• Mexico, winter vacation, flew
• British Virgin Islands, winter vacation, flew
• Michigan, visiting relatives, drove
• Toronto, youth mission trip chaperone, drove
• San Diego, work training, flew
• Kansas City, work training, flew
• Chicago, all times of year vacation & work, drove
• Albuquerque, work, drove
• Keys, winter vacation, flew
• Canada, summer fishing, drove

I guess the point is that while I have traveled some, I would not consider myself to be well traveled. Obviously, many of us that live in the north travel to warm destinations during the peak of winter weather!

Anyway, today's post is about finding beauty in my back yard (neighborhood)! No further words are necessary!

Posted with Blogsy