Tales from the Trail: the Blog's Beginnings

Tales from the Trail (the Water, Mountains, and Other Places I've Been) began as a travel blog for local Massachusetts papers.  Recent changes have made earlier blog posts unavailable.  Since there's a chance readers might be interested in some of the places I've been, I'll be reposting earlier entries here.  Today begins with the first post from Tales from the Trail.

I begin with a confession:    I grew up adventure-deprived.   I didn’t hike. I didn’t climb mountains, I didn’t water ski.  I went to the beach but all I did was sunbathe and toe-dip. Not much actual swimming.  A lot of time I’d lie next to a pool and talk about swimming.

There are a time and place for that.  Anyone who works too many hours (that’s almost everyone), anyone who has wintered in New England, reaches a point where lying in a warm climate and just ‘being’ is an appealing and re-energizing activity.

But deep in my heart I’m a wanna-be adventurer, and as my youth began to recede, I wanted to SEE stuff.  And DO stuff.   I don’t enjoy the research that goes into finding lodgings.  I don’t like driving myself around when I travel.  I don’t like driving where the rules are different.  I do, however, relish learning about other countries, other cultures, all sorts of animals, exotic places and how they came to be, why others are the way they are, and how they differ from what I know.

So when I can, I travel.  I let somebody else do the accommodations research, booking, navigating, driving, cooking…all of it. And I’ve found there is every level of service and price range for people who want to travel as I do.  For people who like to control their own trips and love planning, looking at available tours offered by companies who ‘do it all’ is a great source of information to start.

But me?  I let someone else do that. I go for the adventure.  What will follow are stories from some of the places I’ve been.  Some are exotic.  Some are familiar.  Some happened far away, some could happen almost anywhere (almost all my hiking experiences could have happened anywhere… except maybe the polar bear part….). 
Please join me.