At the Canadian Border (Part 2)

As mentioned in the previous blog, my fishing buddies and I arrived at the Canadian border with contraband eggs and fishing bait. Since the Canadian customs office is on Canadian soil, officials there were not allowed to simply confiscate our prohibited goods. Instead...

At the Canadian Border (Part 1)

Manyu and I made it home from France the evening before I was supposed to leave for Canada. We arrived jet lagged and tired, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to switch gears, unpack, repack, purchase an Ontario fishing license, restock my tackle box, and complete the...

Camino de Santiago (Epilogue)

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, our five-day pilgrimage in France concluded in Conques. The centerpiece of this beautiful village is the eighth century (rebuilt in the eleventh century) Saint-Foye Abbey Church. Dominican monks who oversee the church and its...

Camino de Santiago (Part 2)

While hiking the Camino de Santiago, I did not write lengthy journal entries. I did, however, jot down a few general impressions. The following is a list of the notations that jumped out at me when I reviewed them back in Wisconsin.  The villages where we spent our...

Camino de Santiago (Part 1)

I was familiar with the famed Camino de Santiago, but thought it was a single long trail through the Pyrenees. It actually is a web of trails across France, Portugal, and Spain that gradually converge as they approach the gravesite of the Christian disciple James at...
Steven Simpson