Wikimedia Commons Attribution: Lfcastro from pt
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on? Were you one of the many who searched for the Bridges of Madison County?
Spill the beans. Or tell us which literary pilgrimage you’ve always wanted to take.
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I’m not sure that my answer technically fits the criteria, since when I think of a pilgrimage I think of an extended journey, which I haven’t done. However, from the time I was a little kid I have always loved everything about the American West both physically in the geography and in the stories of the west. So living in Arizona, and every visit I make to other places like Virginia City, Nevada, etc. is a pilgrimage to me. I’m always trying to envision it before it was overrun–what it was really like to live and build a nation here before modern conveniences.
As to the literary tie-in, my favorite author, Zane Grey, had a life I’m insanely jealous of–he lived here in AZ (but further north) for a good # of years and spent extensive time traveling within her borders, often by horseback (which makes me doubly jealous). My second favorite book of his was set in Arizona.
My absolute favorite novel was set up in northern California–and that is a pilgrimage I intend to make–to extreme northern California on the border with Oregon. I want to see with my own eyes the land that inspired such a great book. I think I haven’t taken the journey before now because part of me dreads seeing the 21st century version of it. But I will have to, to satisfy my curiosity.
I love Zane Grey & often wonder what it would feel like to ride a horse or be on a wagon train riding across a vast hostile land with the courage to do it. Those books made you feel that.
Nothing close to “literary” but when I was in Vancouver, I checked out a number of MacGyver and Highlander settings. 😉
I still remember that sulfur plant ep in Highlander & saw it from afar when I was in Vancouver for a vacation. We are sympatico, my friend.
🙂
OH! MacGyver! Loved RDA! (sorry, I don’t count remakes).
Totally agree — watch the new show twice and gave up. Not the same.
that’s ‘watched’ since I can’t go back and edit.
Was there anyone AFTER RDA? No way.
I haven’t made any pilgrimages yet, but next year I’ll be able to travel more.
One domestic trip I’d like to make is to the Bisbee, AZ area where J.A. Dance set so many of her novels. I’d also like to explore the Navajo area further north where Tony Hillerman brought Joe Leaphorn.
My ultimate, bucket list trip is Ireland to explore where Morgan Llywelyn set her historical novels.
Oh, Henry, I’m with you on both these. Hillerman made you fall in love with his world & Ireland is a must see for me. Good ones.
We vacationed in New Mexico and visited some Tony Hillerman novel sites. Then spent a week in a New Mexico hospital passing a kidney stone. Very memorable trip.
Poor you, Dave. Ouch.
New Mexico is gorgeous. Spent time in Santa Fe area on business (played golf on desert courses) & rafted in Taos. The desert draws you in & forces you to write about it. Beautiful.
I just discovered Ernest Thompson lives 5 minutes from me, and he offers retreats On Golden Pond. Come fall, we’ll be heading out in search of Golden Pond.
I noted this once before, but it is worth a second mention. Sue’s website is a marvelous resource for writers. If you haven’t visited it you should. Thank you, Sue.
Sue is amazing. Fact.
When I think of On Golden Pond, I think of “The loons, Henry.” In Alaska I heard loons on a misty still lake at dawn and the sound is like nothing you’ve ever heard. It haunts you. Camping trips are the best.
LOL! Even mention of “Loons” makes me think of RDA (not that I’m nuts over him or anything) 😎 But as Colonel Jack O’Neill in Stargate, he was always talking up Minnesota (just as RDA did in with MacGyver) and I remember him saying “Don’t forget the loons!” in one of the episodes.
Which reminds me, since RDA DID do such an effective job of promoting Minnesota throughout his career, I need to have a pilgrimage up there to look at their natural spaces. I’ve only been to Minneapolis, once, for a Davis Cup match. Never saw the country-side.
The whole upper midwest is beautiful. You should go. Do a Fargo pilgrimage to Brainerd.
Warning! Biased Minnesotan writing here.
All of Minnesota is gorgeous. From southeast Driftless area of the Mississippi River valley to the northeast arrowhead of the Boundary Waters to the ancient glacial bed of Lake Agassiz in northwest and the beginnings of the prairie in the southwest.
Just beware the high humidity of late summers (and the accompanying mosquitoes) and the blizzards of winter.
My first writing inspiration was a pilgrimage to Salinas and Monterey California. Not for the tourist treats but to walk the places where John Steinbeck had lived. I ended the day on a bench at Stanford University and finished re-reading the Red Pony. I was much younger then, but those moments have always been important to me.
I think the seed for becoming a writer must’ve been planted with that experience, Brian. Wonderful.
These are such fun experiences to read about!
My own literary pilgrimage was to Walden Pond, about thirty years ago. Out of work and rudderless, I went to Boston to see my newly-married, successful younger brother – in hindsight, not a recipe for feeling better about myself. I borrowed his car and drove out to Concord, looking for direction and inspiration. But Walden Pond turned out to be just a…pond. A fairly dinky one at that, with the usual rushes and cattails and sudden soggy spots around the edges. Nothing of what Thoreau found rubbed off on me in the half-hour I tramped around, though a certain amount of mud did. I was disappointed, and in that state of mind I naturally drew the wrong conclusion: if I could detect nothing of what Thoreau saw, why then I was no artist. I think differently about the trip now, and I’m glad I went.
Perhaps it reflected more of your state of mind at the time, Doug. Hard times that are fresh aren’t always the best time to expect a sudden change to appear. Your mind has to be ready for it. There’s not timetable for that, but I like to have faith that our minds are constantly searching and it’s up to us to truly see something when it’s there. I’m glad you got something out of your journey, even if it didn’t hit you in the moment.
Several years ago, I went on a guided tour of Hemingway’s haunts in Key West. Beautiful area, excellent food, perfect weather (in early November).
That would be AWESOME. Great idea. Nice to know tours like this exist.
My literary pilgrimages have been primarily by map, though I did visit Kirkudbright to see the particulars of _Five Red Herrings_, which is heavily tied to the local geography.;
Regarding maps, I can remember reading Richard Hey, _Ohne Geld Singt der Blinde Nicht_ with a huge map of Berlin on my wall. I love following Les Roberts’s Milan Jacovich around Cleveland, where I live.
It’s great to have a curious mind to do research however you can manage it. There’s nothing like feet on the ground, but Google maps/satellites are a good first step.
Pierre Lachaise cemetery in Paris to see many famous grave sites — does Jim Morrison qualify as a writer? — but especially Oscar Wilde’s huge headstone, which is marked with lipstick kisses.
Very cool. Yes. Cemeteries are like museums. Fascinating, especially the very old gravesites. New Orleans cemeteries are beautiful & the city decides inspiration for any writer. You can feel it when you walk the streets or tour the plantations.
A tour of the Hobbit movie set in the North Island of New Zealand was absolutely fantastic. I would recommend it to anybody – even those who aren’t Hobbit fans.
I bet that would be fabulous, Linda. Wow.
My appetite is whetted to do some more visiting.
I live nearby Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin, Wisconsin but it’s been a long time since I’ve visited.
When I lived in Scotland for a couple of years, my sister and her oldest daughter visited me. We took a train and bus to Derbyshire in England to visit Chatsworth House, setting for the Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The house was glorious and we saw the marble Veiled Lady sculpture IRL! Being one of the pourdown rainy days, we didn’t walk the outdoors.
Omg. I would love that. That film is one of my guilty pleasures, especially the last 5 min. Matthew Macfadyen is my forever Darcy. That setting would be spectacular.
Does the Winchester Mystery House count? Yes, I say! ; )