Provincial or Preferential?

In looking back at our posts I have always enjoyed re-visiting the places we have been and I seem to never tire of the almost boundless opportunities we have for adventures in our country.  And - we have had such great times in Canada and Mexico that I suppose you could say the whole North American continent has been our chosen "stomping grounds" in recent years.  I was thinking about that as I realized a number of my friends and relatives have chosen to spend their vacation time in Europe or on cruises around the Caribbean.  It started me to wondering if my decision to concentrate on places within the United States as my choice for traveling was a sign of "provincialism" on my part.  After all ... there are incredibly beautiful places all over this planet and, to the extent we are able, it would be great to see as many as possible.


 I think I have mentioned before that I had the opportunity to see a fairly good chunk of the world during my military service and I can certainly vouch for the scenic beauty, the dynamic architecture, the wealth of art and the wonderful people that are can be found in every corner of the globe.  I spent time in the Caribbean, Great Britain (especially Scotland), Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and islands throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Atlantic and truly loved every new place I got to see.  But, think about it folks ... even those travels have touched only a tiny portion of this fabulous planet of ours and as wonderful as my trips have been, think about all the stuff there is yet to see!!!!  I'm not sure I can give a really cogent answer to the question I posed to myself above but I'll try.

As you have seen from some of our earlier posts, we find it extremely easy to spend an entire week exploring nooks and crannies of our tiny little state of South Carolina.  In fact, as I have mentioned, I absolutely love our little village of Ridgeway and all the neat places there are to see here.  And, I guess, that is my way of saying whether you are circling the world in eighty days or spending several hours looking around in your own little back yard... if you can allow yourself to look at your environment with "mouth-wide-open-wonderment" it really doesn't matter where you choose for your adventures.  You're gonna have a great time!!!

We have been doing some talking and we will likely branch out a bit in the not too distant future.  There are a couple of venues in South America, the South Pacific and Scandinavia that are really attractive to us and we might just surprise you and head out for really distant places before long.  But - we've gotta recover from our last trip and save up some money for bus fare so it might be a while before we head out.  But - whether it is Switzerland or Sumter, Belize or Barnwell, Papua or Pelion -  we want you with us wherever we go.  We'll be back soon.  See ya.