In exploring Redding today while visiting family, I realized how important it can be to travel to “ordinary” places as well as spectacular. Not that the surrounding nature here isn’t sublime—it is—but we often forget to discover what’s beyond our own backyard.

When I look in on a new place, I try to find the pulse of the environment and the culture of any people living there. What’s the pace of life, and what are the sunrises and sunsets like?

Being in Redding today has reinforced the majesty of the Earth, but also validated the education that traveling brings. Experience adds new dimensions to our perspective, and travel provides unrepeatable ventures into the new and spectacular.