Author: Edward Lawlor

Generosity/Curiosity in Pictou Nova Scotia

Generosity/Curiosity in Pictou Nova Scotia

Traveling you realize that different regions and localities have distinct cultures and norms. It is a trap to overly stereotype certain places, but at the same time it is one of the fundamental reasons to travel, to experience different ways of living and relating to one another.

An encounter in Pictou, Nova Scotia, this week – small in the grand scheme of things – seemed so unusual in the current U.S. climate that it deserves a note.

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Museology*

Museology*

A pervasive feature of the North American landscape – urban, suburban, rural – are museums of every size and purpose. From county historical societies or private hobby collections in small communities to major destination sites such as presidential libraries or national art museums, it is possible to organize trips almost entirely around museum hopping. Indeed, some of the common road trip planning tools like Roadtrippers can populate a whole route – town by town – with museums of every type. Museums have played a central role in our van travels, so what follows is a kind of informal museology – the formal study of museums – as seen from our van. What follows is only a subset of the extraordinary number of museums we have enjoyed.

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Beeville, Texas

Beeville, Texas

A template for many on-the-road small cities and towns in Texas and Oklahoma is a courthouse and town square, a largely-vacant downtown that provides a look-back to more prosperous times, and a smattering of franchise convenience stores and fast food on its outskirts. Often, these cities and towns were settled along major rivers in the area, or later along railroad lines.

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Rockorama

Rockorama

Newfoundland has been called the “Patagonia of geology.”

The geologic history is enormously complex, but to understand some of it, nothing substitutes for visually observing the rock, plant, and animal history on display in Canada’s national parks. Continue reading “Rockorama”