This past weekend was one of those in which I did nothing special, but it ended up being quite special in its own Central Wisconsin way.
It started with no particular plan. By the time it was all said and done, though, I had visited four regional outdoor recreation institutions, with each visit sandwiched around a bunch of indoor activities.
All in all, it was yet another reminder of what a great place we live in.
Izaak Walton Jamboree leaves us hungry for more
Continue reading
Click to see larger version of this picture of Ron and Donna Zimmerman.
I’ve been on an unintended break from blogging for almost two months now. The needs of my faculty position, my other writing, and my family life took precedence, but now I’m trying to ease back into my blog.
I’ll start with a link to my Portage County Gazette column from last week that was really fun to write because I got to sit down for a while with some wonderful folks.
The paper’s site is now fully functional, so I suspect we’ll renegotiate what I do with my columns. Access to the site is free until March.
I’ve got another post that’s not recreation-related almost ready to go. It was written with a mix of disappointment, dismay, and criticism, and it’s the latter that is making me wait another day or so.
Schmeeckle Reserve’s new interactive app features aerial-photo layers underneath a trail map. Click photo for a closer view.
Last week’s Gazette column is posted on the paper’s web site, which can be accessed at this link.
In the meantime, here’s a screen shot of the app. Head on over … and, as a teaser for this week’s column, I wish everyone happy holidays! (Yes, I’ll make fun of Texas, my former home state. But it will be an equal-opportunity column.)
Last week was all about thankfulness. Now, a week into the holiday season and with winter apparently ready to hit us full on, it’s time for a little crankfulness.
Being cranky is easy when we look outside to see a cold, dreary, dank, dark world. But doing something about a bad mood doesn’t have to be difficult. In this case, I’m talking about counteracting our continued destruction of American outdoor values.
My son Sam and brother-in-law Fernando enjoying a sunset on the Cape Final Trail, Grand Canyon’s North Rim, 2007. The park is one of many funded by the LWCF.
Before we get there, a little scene-setting is in order. I’ve been hoping recently for at least a bit of warmer, drier weather to finish up the fall yard and garden cleanup – getting rid of the decay and dead remains of that which once brought beauty and hope, the growth from warmer seasons when it’s easier to focus on good things in life.
In winter, we may be prone to looking around and detecting rot and putrescence that eventually freezes into a lump of useless, ugly blight. You know what I mean: Congress.
Not all of Congress. It’s primarily one guy, who also happens to be the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources –Rob Bishop of Utah.
Never was there a congressman whose first name more aptly described his relationship to the American people.
He’s the guy holding up reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program which for 50 years provided the country with many of its spectacular and well known outdoor recreation opportunities, along with immeasurable benefits to communities, regions and states that used the fund for park and recreation projects.
These chairs are so beautiful, they need their own set of photos. They were carved at Schmeeckle Reserve and are on the new patio at the head of the Trail of Reflections Loop.
“By three methods may we learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is the noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; third, by experience, which is bitterest.” (Confucius)
Words Are Roads 