After having seen the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and then hearing of the death of a beautiful wife, mother and grandmother, my old neighbor Carol Hall, I'm feeling a little melancholy. I've been thinking a lot lately about my place in this world, just how short a time we have to explore it, and the overall magical beauty it has to offer us if we just seek it out. I'm thinking it's time I got the old hiking books back out and hit the trail, so to speak. There's still a lot I haven't seen.