How, and why to do history adventuring


I like history adventuring, both in my imagination and in real life. And to me, those two things aren't really so far apart. I've always been this way, even when I was a little kid, and I'm hoping to continue doing it until my old bones are too brittle to risk walking out of the house.

If you're wondering where you should go, and when you should do it, the answer is here and now. If you think that you could only have an adventure during a week of vacation, or you have to travel to somewhere miles away, you're missing the point. And you're missing out on adventures.

As a little kid, I wandered around my grandma's little town, just looking at stuff. She would ask me where I went, and I would say that I went to the park to swing on the swings. And maybe I didn't and maybe I didn't. The point was that grownups need to know where you're going, and why. I could have said "My final destination is right back here, grandma, and I'm just gonna look at stuff, like dirt and weeds", but that's no way to talk to your grandma.

If you're a grownup, I understand that you need reasons to do stuff. My reasons are ultimately that I'm a nervous person who likes to go to quiet places as often as possible to see if I can calm down my jangled nerves. Yes, I had jangled nerves as a kid.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I got what I called the "LA Hee-Bee-Jee-Bees". Everything was so crowded there, and noisy, and complicated. I sought out quiet places. My motto was "find out what everyone else is doing, and then don't do it". I didn't sit in traffic jams on the freeway, I didn't squash in with crowds at sporting events. By the way, I did go to one Dodger game (it was free hat day), and I remember eating a Dodger dog and walking around the stadium, looking out at Chavez Ravine. Whether the Dodgers won or not, or who they played, I have no idea. But if someone had asked me what I did that day I could say, "I went to a baseball game".

Nowadays I call what I do "history adventuring". And I report back here on things like my recent visit to see the construction at Castle Hot Springs, or going downtown to get a better view of the Gooding Building. But I'm just wandering around looking at stuff because it makes me feel better.

If you want to do this, I encourage you. Remember that your final destination is right back where you started, so consider it a loop. Take a look at a map, find a friend, pack a lunch. If you're not sure where to go, just head "thataway". Adventure isn't really that hard to find.

Image at the top of this post, Castle Hot Springs 2017 construction. Castle Hot Springs Road, near Morristown, northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
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