Whew! Where’d 2022 go? This was one whirlwind of a year, as whirly and twirly as my custom-made propellor cap from Boopie’s Closet! I made some major circuits this year, starting with my first global circumnavigation from Los Angeles to Thailand, Thailand to India, India to Turkey, and home again!
I visited eight states I’d never explored before and checked off 23 national parks, 10 state capitols, and a Wonder of the World! I saw humongous whale sharks in Georgia, searched for Champ the lake monster in Vermont, and visited the Scientific Center of North America in the fittingly named Center, North Dakota! Along the way, I used a new prototype Flutter Phone from Master Sae, which let me capture better views of places I’d otherwise miss!
As you can imagine, with all this adventuring, it’s been tough to narrow down the ten best photos of 2022, but without further ado, here you go!
1. Chattanooga Cannons!
My first visit to Tennessee was an exploration of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and it just so happened that Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga had some spectacular views of the city! I lucked out with the light and the wind as I perched atop a Civil War era cannon and took in a big view of history!
2. The Cold Terror of Montgomery!
One of the most humbling places I’ve ever been was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. It was quiet, cold, and snowing when I walked through this memorial to the victims of racial terror lynchings, represented by suspended monoliths, one for every county where those lynchings took place. Alabama hadn’t been high on my visitation list, but after visiting this memorial and its surrounding historic sites, I’d put Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma on a must-see list for American history buffs.
3. Doorway to the Ancients!
Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Macon, Georgia was a real gateway to some important learnings about national parks and Native history! Here I learned more about how acreage impacts a park’s title, as this one was just upgraded from a national monument to a national historical park because it acquired more land! It was also a good illustration of Native history, a place that had been abused by farmers and the railroad before it was preserved. Lots of information has been lost, leading to limits on who can visit certain reservations, like Zuni Pueblo, and how much a site can be excavated. Advances in ground-penetrating radar have been amazing!
4. Thirst Is the Theme!
I learned about two neat themes on the National Register when I visited Albuquerque in February! One was that there are multiple Madonna of the Trail statues scattered across America, and another was the abundance of National Humane Alliance fountains! These stone fountains were designed to keep city-dwelling animals, cats to horses, from getting thirsty, and they were donated for free to any city that wanted to install them!
5. Music City Singalong!
I learned a lot about the music industry on my visit to Nashville in March! Originally the Athens of the South, it became the Music City with the invention of the Nashville Sound in the 1950s. I recognized a lot of names, like Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton, but I’d never heard of Owen Bradley, whose Quonset Hut paved the way for more recording studios to move into Nashville! Now, Music City is home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry!
6. Beechy Keen!
Learning about history doesn’t have to be a slog. It can be fun! Heck, that’s why I keep questing for it after 11 year! I think this photos shows that off best of all. I was visiting Beech Grove at Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument and found all these beech nut shells that looked like eyeballs. The rest, as you might say, is history!
7. A Seaside Escape with Mom!
Family get-togethers are always a cause for celebration, but they’re really hard to coordinate across continents and date lines! I was super lucky this year to spend a week with my Mom in Thailand, including the very fancy Centara Grand Beach Resort in Krabi! Some days were too stormy to explore, but Mom forced me to kick back and enjoy the buffets. We were practically in Paradise after all!
8. A Star-Crossed Visit to the Taj Mahal!
After my adventure with Mom, I continued west to India for a trip around the Golden Triangle with Mr. Annu of Crystal India Holidays! My goal was to see the Taj Mahal, but it turned out, animals like me were not allowed inside its walls! I was pretty devastated to find that out, because this was a Wonder of the World I’d really been excited to see. This photo from across the Yamuna River was the best I’d get, but I think it embodies making the most of adventure setbacks!
9. Ticonderoga or Bust!
As the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to settle, I went to a good friend’s wedding in New York and used the opportunity to take an Amtrak train again! That brought me to Fort Ticonderoga, a place jam-packed with history from French construction to British control to a colonial reconquista! I’m a sucker for cannons, and I think this photo shows the storms of war pretty well!
10. Prairie Dog Surprise!
One of the new states I visited in 2022 was North Dakota, home to lots of surprises, like a super well preserved dinosaur mummy and the vast prairie dog cities of Theodore Roosevelt National Park! One of these cities surrounded one of the trails I took, and I got to commune with some of my fellow rodents, albeit of the squeakier, subterranean type!
So what’s next for 2023? California has added new historical landmarks to the register, and I have lots more national parks to explore! It’s the Year of the Rabbit, which marked the beginning of my adventures back in 2011, so expect some big milestones and surprises in a new year of Bill Beaver Project adventures!
Happy New Year!
