A hole in the wall

Hello Virtual Traveler!!!

I hope your summer is running smoothly and you are enjoying it all. Before we get into an update of our new and future plans, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our new virtual travelers. Blendingtogether continues to add new members to our group from locations around our globe, and we're happy to increase the size of our traveling family. If you are new to our travels please visit the welcome page to acquaint yourself with virtual travel, and our carefree "no-rules" approach to exploring this beautiful planet and it's dynamic population. You can also experience all of our completed trips by clicking on the "journeys" link. 

Our next adventure is Atlantis, that "lost continent" we've all heard about at one time or another. This one will take "virtual" to a whole new level, and I'm so excited to see what we can experience together. New plans for this journey continue to evolve, and at this point we will be visiting a total of six countries in three weeks. This whirlwind excitement begins just after the year-end holidays, on January 7th. If you'd like to visit the journey map to see the details, it can be viewed by clicking Here.

But there's more! At the end of September we will be sharing a three day trip, right here in the Blog section of our site. Are you familiar with the Hole in the Wall Camps, passionately founded by Paul Newman? I can't possibly describe it any better than this description borrowed from their web site:

"It all began in the late 1980s with a brilliant idea that was coupled with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of laughter.  Together with close friends, Paul Newman founded The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in 1988.  The vision of a camp for children who were seriously ill came after an accomplished acting career and a well-known food line, Newman’s Own.  After years of giving money to different charities, Paul decided to create one of his own – a whimsical camp for children with cancer. This idea has since flourished and is today the world’s largest family of camps for children with serious and life-threatening medical conditions. Eleven camps are serving children and their families from 39 countries and all 50 states.  

Paul NewmanPaul once wrote of his initial idea for the camps in this way: 

“I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse that compelled me to help bring this camp into being.  I’d be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose.  I wanted, I think, to acknowledge luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.” 

Though Paul was always the motivating factor behind the camps, he took special pride in that these camps were not about him. They are about the children. Thanks to the wonderful leadership that exists among the family of camps, and because of thousands of donors and volunteers that support the camps each year, the awe-inspiring innocence of childhood continues to happen." 

It will be my honor to offer volunteer services during a weekend camp for children with heart disease next month. To date there are eleven Hole in the Wall Camps scattered around the globe (and many more in process). We'll be working this time around with the Boggy Creek Camp in Florida. It's an experience I'm delighted to share. I've been assured, and believe, that children with a life-threatening illness are often the most profound teachers about life. And thanks to this site, you can come along with me to see what we can learn from them!

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