Exploring downtown Huntsville, Alabama
If we daydream of exploring nature and cities in other
countries but never explore our own, we are lying to ourselves. Either we only want the “big adventure image”
or we only imagine that exploration and adventure are for us, we don’t actually
believe it to be true.
I watched a
video of one man walking El Camino del Santiago in Spain, and I wished with all
my soul I was there, walking the mountain pathways and exploring the Spanish
villages. I have a dream of walking El Camino one day. I want to find joy in the daily wonders of
walking across the Spanish landscape.
The next
day I drove to the library in my brand new town of Huntsville, AL. After parking in the shade, I grabbed my
camera and walked down a sidewalk towards downtown. I entered a neighborhood of townhomes and
shops all mixed together. Just outside
the front door of a restaurant was an old piano and lawn chair painted in
bright colors. I turned a corner and
climbed a grassy hill, then continued to a beautiful city park. Huntsville was founded beside a natural
spring, which was later turned into a canal to move cotton to the Tennessee River. Now the spring has a water fountain, a canal
leading to a large lake and surrounded by walking trails. Thousands of colorful Koi swim around waiting
for handouts. In the park I found
another decorated old piano and chair.
Walking on
I passed the courthouse, and several offices, of which many were law offices. I entered the Old Twickinham
neighborhood. Twickenham was the
original name of Huntsville, later changed to honor the first settler, a Mr.
Hunt. The neighborhood was beautiful;
homes were built between the early 1800’s to the 1940”s. I saw hydrangea bushes as large as small
cars, lots of older gingko trees and daylilies everywhere. The Magnolia trees were large and healthy,
covered with plate-sized flowers
I just
walked along one street then another, turning as the fancy hit me, and mainly
choosing shady streets. Alabama is hot,
and I walked slowly under the trees enjoying any breeze I could find. Eventually I returned to the park, made a
loop along the city trails and ended at the library and my car. Although Huntsville is not as old as my last
city, Charleston SC, it is still beautiful and well preserved. While walking I remembered exploring my SC
home as well as the times I’ve walked and explored cities, and neighborhoods in
different states. Many times one
location will remind me of another. Even
though there is so much variety in the world, there is also sameness. The differences are exciting; the
similarities create bonds. Isn’t that
part of the joy of travel, reveling in that which makes us different and
rejoicing in things that are the same?
So, in
order to truly enjoy travel abroad, we must know what is at home. How unique could a foreign place be, if we
don’t have our home standard to measure it by?
If we don’t
like to explore and open up to people and cultures outside our own door, what
makes us think we will like it in the exotic places of the world?
I guess I can see a comparison to a
person that dreams of being a writer but never writes, to a person that dreams
of walking/exploring but never goes out on nearby pathways.
All these thoughts passed through
my mind as I walked around town that day.
I don’t have the time right now, or the money, to travel to Spain and
walk the Camino. Does that mean I have
to put all that exploration on hold until my life changes? I read bloggers that say, “This is your life,
now. Get up and go!” I say yes, but maybe not in the way they
mean. Adventures, exploration, these are
mindsets, attitudes. I choose to live
here, with my family, and I choose to be an adventurer and explorer anyway. I can walk and discover new (to me) places
and still pick up my daughter from work, and cook a healthy meal for my family
at the end of the day. My exploration
life may look different than another persons, but it is mine, and I am happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment