August 13, 2012
by David Ryan
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Wandering Along the Ditch Banks of Albuquerque’s South Valley

One of the underlying themes of The Gentle Art Wandering is that wandering can be done anywhere, even in an urban environment. In addition to street scenes, urban areas have an abundance of creases and corridors where the natural world thrives. They are perfect places for a wandering adventure.

One of those places can be found on the floor of the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico. There you will find a network of irrigation ditches, called acequias in New Mexico. Many of the ditches date back to Spanish days and earlier.

A few days ago I took my dogs on walk along a ditch in Albuquerque’s South Valley. The ditch eventually joined another ditch which made it possible for us to loop back to where we started. Like all walks, this one was wonderful and had many surprises to make it an excellent morning.

We started our walk near a duck crossing and headed south.

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August 7, 2012
by David Ryan
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Stair Wandering in Cincinnati

Cincinnati is built on hills, and hills mean two things. The first is a pretty setting. On this front, the city is pretty and Winston Churchill called Cincinnati, “the most beautiful inland city in America.”   The other, and more important thing to the wanderer and stair seeker, is the potential for public stairways. And according to the city’s web site, there are close to 400 hillside stairways.

A year ago, after finishing a bowl of Cincinnati-Style chili, I still had time for a couple of hours of wandering before going to a Cincinnati Reds game at Great American Ballpark in downtown Cincinnati. I chose the Mount Adams neighborhood just east of downtown for some stair wandering.

My adventure started near the end of Celestial Street where I headed down these stairs.

That’s Kentucky on the other side of the Ohio River.

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July 31, 2012
by David Ryan
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Wandering Through SW Portland, Oregon – Part 2

Don and I parted company when we got back to the bus stop. He headed home with his dog, and I caught the next bus headed for downtown Portland. While on the bus, I noticed a small set of stairs on the other side of the road leading to a path. I immediately pulled the chord to signal the driver to stop and got off the bus directly across the street from the path. 

If you’ve read The Gentle Art of Wandering you know that wandering is about seeing and letting what you see determine where to go. Wandering is not a station to station activity; you have permission to go in the direction of whatever catches your attention. Continue Reading →