Your Own Back Yard

"We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time." - T.S. Elliot

I know I haven't written in months. I can't believe it has actually been months. For awhile I thought I didn't have anything to write about anymore because I wasn't "traveling" any longer...meaning I had returned to the US, so why continue...what could I possibly find interesting in Minnesota.

Well, it took these couple of months...not to find the interesting things...but for my perception to change. I have realized a few things...

First, now that I am back from South America my reasons for starting my blog have changed. It started as a way to communicate with my family and friends...almost a brag sheet in a way...as arrogant as that sounds, there is an element of truth to it. Since I got back it has become a remembrance of everything I experienced. However, now it has become a way for me to show my new found friends where I am from...I forget that some of them have never seen piles of freshly fallen snow, ice house shanty towns, the coast of Lake Superior and so on.

Secondly, I have really started to notice how powerful a blog can actually be. I had a woman leave a comment on my site. She was from a random state in a random city and had randomly found my site because we both worked at the same orphanage in Cusco, Peru...so I thought...if she was searching for an orphanage and found my site maybe others would be searching for travel tips, places to go, places to volunteer or ways to make a change...so I like to think of my blog as breadcrumbs and hopefully someday someone will see one of the places I have been, or things I have done and decide ...hmmm...I think I will try that...you have to start somewhere.

However... I think the best part is that thirdly I have realized...I have not lived in Minnesota for almost 18 years and even when I did live here...I never really explored it, looked at the beautiful parts, appreciated the eccentric or observed the special...so I have finally decided to give it a try...and what I have seen so far has helped me realize a ton about little 'ole me...more then even tromping around South America by myself taught me...so I guess in away I HAVE been traveling the past two months...pretty far really...and I don't see it stopping any time soon...

"Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in younder seas: they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them" - Russel H. Cornwell