Give Me a Moment

As is well known, some say the journey's the thing; some, the destination. Others invoke the sensual dazzle of the wide world or cite the kick-starting challenges of the outdoors, or the escape into something serene and purely natural, or the craving for new and enlarging experience — all worthy, time-tested reasons why we choose to venture far beyond the lights of home.

But perhaps the truest reasons are less explicable and more fleeting. We go outside because (we hope) great moments await us there — those crowning, superlative instances when thin, habitual understanding becomes symphonic realization. We go because sometimes, in a moment, life attains its highest pitch, and it seems to do so more readily when we head for the wild places. As this aggregation of essays is about to show you, lighting out for the territory is a game of chance, but you can win the prize in a heartbeat.