Our calendars are (nearly) bare, waiting to be filled with this year’s adventures. But now we wrestle with the eternal conundrum of travel planning: Return to a place we have loved or explore a place we’ve always wanted to see? Both types of trip have merit. (Don’t you get a strange little thrill when you visit a place you’ve been before and find that everything is still right there where you left it?)
So today is sort of a twofer Three-fer—one place we’ve been that we’d like to return, one place we’ve never seen and hope to. Soon.
For this first Three-fer of the new decade, we’re welcoming back our ol’ buddy Matt Villano, whose been setting the world afire, juggling work for Time magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times …. as well as a new daughter.
***
Mount Kathadin in Baxter State Park, Maine
I’ve visited cities in coastal Maine and I’d go back to those anytime. But even before I read Bill Bryson sing its praises in A Walk in the Woods I was fascinated by the 100-Mile Wilderness in north-central Maine. Trees! Lakes! Wildlife! And no signs of humans whatsoever! It certainly sounds like my kind of place (especially the no humans part). Much like Mount Kathadin towers over the rest of Maine, hiking this last segment of the fabled Appalachian Trail tops my personal travel ”bucket list.” I just hope I can convince my wife and daughter to join me.–Matt
Some of the Monroe County Marble Club members in front of their beloved building. Photo by Jenna Schnuer.
OK, so I’ve already been jawing about the places I want to go this year. Forgive me. There are always more. I miss my marble men so I need to get back to Tompkinsville, Kentucky to hang out with them, shoot another round of Rolley-Hole marbles, and get some barbecue. But since Tompkinsville’s dry, I might need a drink when I get home so I think I’ll rent a car and head up to the Finger Lakes to, finally, check out the wineries whose products I’ve admired from afar.–Jenna
The land that Willa Cather captured. Photo by szlea via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Maine. I went to summer camp there, honeymooned there, store a piece of my heart there. It’s been almost 20 years (yikes) since I’ve visited my little corner of the state (Sebago Lake) and the yearning to return is getting intense. Maybe I’ll manage it when I head for New England next fall for a reunion of that summer camp. (And, yes, I have popped into Baxter State Park. Long story. Longer drive.) For someplace new, I’ve got Nebraska on the brain. Happily, research for my next book may take me there; specifically, Red Cloud, NE, childhood home of Willa Cather, the quintessential Midwestern writer. What could be a better introduction to the state?–Sophia
[...] at Flyover America, the old traveler’s conundrum was brought up. Do you go back to a place you know and love, or [...]