far away and right here

The question is not where did the traveler go? What places did he see?...but who was the traveler?...how genuine an experience did he get?    – Henry David Thoreau

I conceived of the Walden Here project when I was craving a long trip to a beautiful, natural place. The circumstances of my life prevented me from going very far. It was an opportunity to notice what was right in front of me.

Thoreau, Henry David, and Jeffrey S Cramer. I to Myself : An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. p. 121.