"By natural law, these things are the common property of all: the air, the running water, the sea, and with it, the shores of the sea." (Institutes of Justinian, by the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, published anno 533)
Back to Nature - Not as Easy as it Seems
Ahh summer! Pack up the camper or the tents, enjoy the great outdoors! Oceans, lakes, mountains, deserts, prairies, there's hardly any type of landscape the US doesn't offer. Freedom is in the country's DNA, so what could possibly go wrong with setting out to roam?
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Temporary urban beach on a reclaimed industrial site in Baltimore
(Photo: Philipsen) |
Turns out, plenty.
I learned this early on after moving to Maryland from Europe decades ago. Living overseas, I had spent vacations roaming seashores and mountains in nearly a dozen countries. This could mean driving my VW camper bus to an especially gorgeous spot overlooking a Norwegian fjord and staying there for a couple of days. This wasn't a campground, nor was it a park; it was just nature. Or sleeping on a Greek beach under the stars. Or hiking and biking from the edge of any German village or town right into the countryside, through fields and woods, using farm access roads or forest roads that were usually a public right of way. In this manner, one could go on for hundreds of miles all the way to Austria, Switzerland, or France and beyond without READ FULL ARTICLE
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects