My son is finishing up elementary school this week and moving up to the middle school grades starting this fall.

After attending a little school graduation ceremony this morning, I thought of all the times that travel with him as a younger kid was, well, not always the joy of joys.

Yes, the little ones are cute with their sense of wonder at experiences that we take for granted, but my own opportunities to savor new places are somewhat stunted by the need to change diapers, find food that isn’t “icky” and keep their grubby fingers off of museum statues and out of hotel room power outlets.

I do a lot better when my kids become ‘tweens and teens – we can talk about history and art and food and music and their responses are somewhat more intelligible and interesting than they were at age 3.

My son was not as easy a traveler as my daughter was in the early years….I mean, I’d tell her “No” and she’d usually listen, but my son seemed to need a lot more, er, multiple repetition and drastic threats.

Suddenly, though, when he hit about age 9 or 10, we went together on a press trip to Hawaii where I was covering family travel, and he was a champ. Considerate, polite, ate at least one bite of everything (even poke, a raw fish salad that I love) and I realized that travel with him was delightful.

This was not an adjective I’d previously used a whole lot with him while on the road.

So, to parents of young ones out there who wonder when they’re going to get a “normal” travel life back – let me assure you that it takes a few years, and you’ll have to scale back expectations for awhile, but it WILL happen.

Meantime, do not stop traveling. It all adds up and (most of) the aggravation is worth it….especially when your kid opens up his/her school social studies textbook, sees a photo of Notre Dame and says, “Hey, I’ve been there!”

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Pytheas was a Greek who lived almost four hundred years before the Christian era. Perhaps it was in part his interest the mathematics of navigation which led him to sail from his home in on the Mediterranean coast of what is now France, to leave behind the limits of the known world as he passed Cape Saint Vincent in what is now Portugal, and to sail on, looking for a sea route for the tin trade. He passed Caithness, in Scotland, and sailed on to Unst, in the Shetlands, which was then the most northerly place where people lived in those islands. He saw the northern lights.

In the first part of the fourteenth century AD, Ibn Battuta set out from his home in Morocco. Set out many times, in fact, in journeys that took him as far east as China, and south as far Mogadishu and Mombassa in Africa. He went west as far as Tangier, and traveled to the Caspian Sea, India, and Timbuktu, a scholar and a judge in search of knowledge, and a man of faith who made the pilgrimage to Mecca seven separate times.

Sebastian Cabot lived in the fifteenth century, setting out from his home in England to sail around Scandinavia seeking a northeast passage to Asia, exploring the Rio de la Plata in South America, seeking spice and gold, and heading out on a voyage to North America where he explored what is now Newfoundland. Henry Hudson sought that northeast passage too, also exploring the river in New York and the bay in Canada which bear his name. Vitus Bering left his name on maps as well, as he sought a land bridge between Russia and North America. Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humbodldt were as interested in science as they were geography. Francis Xavier and David Livingstone (yes, that one, of ‘Livingstone I presume’) were missionaries taking their faith to foreign lands. Columbus, Magellan, Cook, Sir Francis Drake, Vasco Da Gama, Freya Stark, Thor Heyerdahl, John Franklin, Jacques Cousteau, Neil Armstrong –dozens of people, whose stories are told in the book Explorers: Tales of Endurance and Exploration, a joint project of The Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Geographic Society, with Ellen Namey as project coordinator.

It is a thoughtful book, with stories told — and well told — as much through map and image and graphic as through narrative. A narrative of people reaching for the limits of what they know, and reaching beyond them, set in context and in time, reaching from the story of the ancient Egyptian Harkhuf who journeyed along the Nile to expand the knowledge of the then known world to the story of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who ventured into space to do the same. Then there is Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who said “The difficult is what takes a little time. The impossible is what takes a little longer.”

At first glance, you could think that this is a coffee table book, meant to flipped through casually. It’s not. It is a work meant to be explored and savored.

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Last weekend, I visited the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut. As you can see, it wasn’t the prettiest of days, but that didn’t matter as I descended into the centerpiece of the museum, the USS Nautilus.

The USS Nautilus was launched in 1954, becoming the first commissioned nuclear-powered sub. Mamie Eisenhower broke the champagne bottle across her bow, which went on to be the first to cross the North Pole, among other missions. It’s been at the Submarine Museum since 1986, and it’s all set up for a self-guided audio tour.

This is the only submarine museum operated by the U.S. Navy, in fact, it’s practically on the grounds of an active submarine base. The museum is meant to present the heroism, endurance and creativity of the people who have worked on and in submarines throughout history, and it ends up being quite inspirational.

It’s also a good reality check on the submarine movies you might have seen.  Touring the Nautilus gave me a visceral understanding of the level of cramped claustrophobia — or perhaps I should call it, amazingly efficient use of space — on a sub. I banged my shins several times on the high thresholds between rooms, and although I stand only 5’6, my head was really not that far from brushing the ceiling.

I spotted this sign, and while some of its provisions only logically apply to a submarine in distress, a few struck me as good advice in many of life’s less pleasant circumstances. (Click to enlarge.)

I’ve been pondering the notion of “personal damage control” ever since.

I’d always thought that the happiest place in California was Disneyland.

Turns out I was wrong.

The happiest place in California (and all the USA) is San Luis Obispo, a small town of 45,000 located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Least that’s what researcher and writer Dan Buettner believes. In his new book, Thrive, in which he examines where the happiest places on earth are and why these places produce exceptionally happy people, he named San Luis Obispo America’s happiest place.

Why?

Well, according to Buettner, San Luis Obispo’s happiness has, for the most part, come about through decades of good local government policies that have created a thriving healthy and active community.

A town green before being green was popular, San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the locals like to call it) favors the pedestrian and cyclist, with plenty of green space, wide sidewalks, a meandering river, and a town square.

Come to think of it, San Luis Obispo was starting to sound a lot like Disneyland.

That in mind, I just had to go discover San Luis Obispo for myself.

To be honest, by the time I arrived in America’s ‘happiest place’ after an exhausting seven hour drive from Palm Desert, I wasn’t feeling all that happy.

But checking into the Apple Farm Inn soon fixed that. I’m not sure whether it was the Inn’s delightfully cozy country décor or the fact that there was fresh home baked chocolate chip cookies and hot apple cider in the lobby, but within minutes, I was feeling much, much happier.

The next day, I took off on foot to explore downtown San Luis Obispo. Within ten minutes, I’d not only found the town square but thanks to brief conversation with a local I meet on the street, discovered where the best coffee (Black Horse Café) and best breakfast (Big Sky Café) could be found.

But first, I needed to leave my mark on SLO. And I knew just the place – the infamous ‘bubble gum alley’, a 70 foot long alley lined with chewed chewing gum placed in the most decorative and innovative ways. Originally a college prank, it is now SLO’s most talked about landmark.

From there it’s only a short walk across the San Luis Obispo Creek to creek to Mission Plaza. This pedestrian only two block area bordered by the creek on one side and the historic Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (founded 1772) on the other, is the physical, cultural, and spiritual heart of SLO.

The rest of the morning was spent alternating between window shopping and sitting in cafés watching people go by. Maybe it was my imagination, but they all seemed to be smiling.

(Disclaimer: Writer was hosted by Apple Farm Inn during her stay in San Luis Obispo)

A consideration of the healing power of the arts in Derry in Northern Ireland, previews of music festivals from Savannah in the US deep south to Stornoway in Scotland’s Western Isles to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, introductions to Irish musicians you may not have heard of, and bluegrass and Native American ones too, cookbooks that take you from the countryside of Ireland to the countryside of Oklahoma, a museum in Tallahassee and a library in Glasgow, the town of Saint Andrews and its connections to the royal wedding, eight songwriters inspired by the life of scientist Charles Darwin, Texas at Christmas and Indiana too, Kelvingrove Park in winter, a conversation with a legendary songwriter of the Canadian west, and thoughts on why you may want to include a book of poetry in your travel kit — it has been a year of stories since I came on board here at Perceptive Travel. Those are a few of the stories you have invited me to share with you. Here are links to several of my favorites you might have missed :

Song Journeys songwriters as travel writers

An Evening in Belfast along the Falls Road with songwriter Cathie Ryan

Singing of history and Home: Julie Fowlis you may not speak her language, but you will understand her songs

Touched by Robert Burns Scots reflect on the work of the ploughman poet through word and image

Ireland in winter land of legends

Bahrain and Scotland: a musical connection music, laughter, and creativity build bridges

I’m one of five writers here at Perceptive Travel. You’ve heard vivid reports and thoughtful reflections inspired by Thailand, France, Texas, New Zealand, New York, Montreal, and other places across the globe from Liz. Sheila, Alison, and Brian. Look around, look up their writing, look up places places you’ve been and places you’ve dreamed of going and places you’ve barely heard of — guaranteed, among the five of us we have plenty of each.

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