Careful Feet?

“The careful foot can walk anywhere.”

This
quote just *might* be kind of a big deal in the conservation ecology
world (ok, I admit it, I’m a huge dork when it comes to all things
biology), but I think it sums up my feelings on travel, and the year I
have ahead of me, very nicely.

Smiles for the best city in the world!
Oh, cheap brie,
how I’ve longed
for thee.
I think this place is an eyesore,
but lots of people love it.
Oh lala!

If
I’m going to go somewhere far away from home, I don’t want to stay
along the beaten track all the time. I want to explore every little inch
of the place I’m in. However, I also recognize that going off the path
can also lead to extreme issues, similar (but obviously not the same as)
going off a trail on a hike. During a hike, the Forest Service or the
other redundant agency, the NPS, wouldn’t look too kindly on it,
considering that, with every step, you’re impacting the “pristinely
preserved” environment around you. I won’t bore you with my opinions on
what wishful thinking that is, but I will tell you that, if you can affect the environment so much,what about the environment’s affect on you!? 

So here I am, ready to let the environment take it’s affect on me as I walk (carefully) through places I wouldn’t get to in my old life back home.

 

Errr…on second thought,
maybe sometimes it’s a
good thing not to wander too far…