The time has come for me to put "Travels & Tribulations: Random musings from the road..." to bed.
The reality is that, as I've settled here in St. Augustine, Florida, my traveling has been dialed back to almost nil. When I was in San Diego, I was traveling throughout Canada and, let's face it, Canadians are always good for a good story or two. Aside from traveling in Canada, I might make a trip here or there which deserved inclusion in a blog which was, despite any other appearances, strongly geared towards travel.
After leaving San Diego, Portland, Oregon awaited, and that certainly fell well within the confines of whatever parameters might exist for a travel blog. Whether I was off to the Oregon coast or finding my way inside the "blast zone" at Mount St. Helens, there was a healthy degree of travel involved.
Following my departure from Portland, I embarked on what can only be described as an epic journey, so the "T&T" moniker was still appropriate. A 25 day, 5,800 mile cross-country drive, by myself, was a soul-cleansing experience as well as an unrivaled photo op.
Since arriving in St. Augustine, though, I've been staying relatively local. The degree of travel I've experienced has been far less than when "T&T" first came to be. I wrote my first blog entry over seven years ago. It was called something completely different then; I think it was just my name. But it was a good time to have a blog like that. I was busy and moving all over and taking pictures and never sitting still. The blog has morphed and evolved since then, and has continued to do so until today; this afternoon.
Where it will end.
So, why "The Beaten Path"? Great question; thanks for asking.
A couple of months ago, I sat down with Heather Vreeland, my Editor at St. Augustine Social. We had talked about me writing a recurring column on the magazine's website regarding inexpensive things to do within a day's drive of St. Augustine. Andrew Vreeland, the Publisher and Heather's husband, liked the idea, as well. I was excited to get started.
But we never actually used the title "The Beaten Path".
My thinking behind the name was simple: Everyone says they want to "get off the beaten path". "Hey, you say you're going to the Keys? Well, get off the beaten path!" "You're going to take the kids out for some fun family time? Well, stay off the beaten path!"
What this meant, as I saw it, was that a person would actually have to spend some measurable amount of time on the beaten path in order to, at some point, get off of it. I just liked the juxtaposition of it all, and decided I liked the name to use it.
Had it been used on the magazine's website, it would've been reserved for exactly what I'd said: Inexpensive day trips. Here, however, left to my own devices, it can mean so many different things. I still may go "off the beaten path" with travel. I'm going to spend the summer in the northeast, and I'll undoubtedly have things to talk about.
"Off the beaten path" can mean many things, and I intend for this blog to encompass all of them.
So, yeah, there ya go...
Where it will end.
So, why "The Beaten Path"? Great question; thanks for asking.
A couple of months ago, I sat down with Heather Vreeland, my Editor at St. Augustine Social. We had talked about me writing a recurring column on the magazine's website regarding inexpensive things to do within a day's drive of St. Augustine. Andrew Vreeland, the Publisher and Heather's husband, liked the idea, as well. I was excited to get started.
But we never actually used the title "The Beaten Path".
My thinking behind the name was simple: Everyone says they want to "get off the beaten path". "Hey, you say you're going to the Keys? Well, get off the beaten path!" "You're going to take the kids out for some fun family time? Well, stay off the beaten path!"
What this meant, as I saw it, was that a person would actually have to spend some measurable amount of time on the beaten path in order to, at some point, get off of it. I just liked the juxtaposition of it all, and decided I liked the name to use it.
Had it been used on the magazine's website, it would've been reserved for exactly what I'd said: Inexpensive day trips. Here, however, left to my own devices, it can mean so many different things. I still may go "off the beaten path" with travel. I'm going to spend the summer in the northeast, and I'll undoubtedly have things to talk about.
"Off the beaten path" can mean many things, and I intend for this blog to encompass all of them.
So, yeah, there ya go...
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