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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling to St. Augustine, Florida
I’m one of those people that loves history and the biggest reason why is because I love story-telling. History weaves a story and I love to understand and learn from those that came before us. Here in the United States, most of our history was influenced by English Protestants, which consequently means that a lot…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Downtown DC–Part Two
This is the second part to my “A Catholic Pilgrim traveling to Washington DC” series. You can read the first one here, which I recommend as it gives some ideas for places to stay and eat. In the summer of 2022, I decided to explore the oldest Catholic churches in downtown DC. I made it…
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A Pilgrimage of 800 Miles: The El Camino Real
You all know that I love going on pilgrimage. I could hardly call myself the Catholic Pilgrim if I didn’t, right? Recently, I came in contact with Christian Clifford, a Catholic who walked the 800 miles of the El Camino Real in California. Along this journey, he visited all 21 missions, a feat that I…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling to the Franciscan Monastery in Washington DC
Any Catholic Pilgrim visiting the DC area should make time to tour the Franciscan Monastery located there. Take time to enjoy the expansive grounds and the church is worth a self-guided or guided tour.…
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The Library at Ephesus
Travel with me, Catholic Pilgrims, to Ephesus. This ancient city was a major player to our Christian faith. St. Paul, St. John the Apostle, Our Mother Mary, and St. Polycarp all spent time here working to spread the Good News. While the ancient city is abandoned, the ruins are still pretty magnificent. Ephesus once boasted…
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Travel with Catholic Pilgrim to The Church of Mary in Ephesus, Turkey
Travel along, Catholic Pilgrims, as we visit the Church of Mary ruins at the ancient city of Ephesus, Turkey. A very important ecumenical council was held here in 431 AD presided over by St. Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. Thank you to Schola Magdalena for the Ave Maria music. www.scholamagdalena.ca…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Ephesus
Before my husband told me about the job in Turkey that he was trying for, I knew literally nothing about Turkey. Okay, I knew that Istanbul was once Constantinople, but that’s it. You all can now freely sing the song, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” You’ll get it stuck in your head and that’s a promise. When…
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So, the Catholic Church Keeps All These Relics of Saints. What’s Up With That?
My maternal grandfather was a carpenter. Mostly he built houses, but he could pretty much make anything out of wood. One day, when I was in my early 20s, he took me down to his workshop because he had a piece of furniture he wanted to give me. It was a beautiful antique vanity that…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To The Holy Land
Let me just start by saying that there is no way a blog can do the Holy Land justice. I’m not a good enough writer to fully capture the emotions, feels, and overall experience into words. Traveling to the Holy Land is the cream of the crop of all pilgrimages because it’s where Our Lord…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Prince Edward Island
I think I was around 11 when I first watched the movie “Anne of Green Gables.” From the first few scenes, I was hooked and have been a fan of the movie ever since. Not only did I identify with Anne Shirley’s dramatic and passionate ways, but I longed to go to Prince Edward Island.…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling to Mackinac Island and Northeastern Michigan
Thirteen years ago, the military planted us at Tyndall AFB. Little did I know that while there, I would meet one of my best friends ever. In fact, her whole family became family. Over these past 13 years, we’ve been stationed together four times and made countless memories together. We’ve done so much stuff together…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling In Montreal, Canada
My family and I recently grabbed our passports and headed off to check things out in the land of our northern neighbor–Canada. My oldest recently graduated and we wanted a fun way to celebrate as a family. We love to travel and explore, so we thought Montreal would be an interesting place to check out.…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling to Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Cool name, huh? There’s a good chance that you’ve never heard of Chincoteague Island. I’d never heard of it before living in Virginia, but, man, what a place to visit. If you are an outdoorsy person, you are going to want to go here. Chincoteague is a very small island off the mainland of Virginia. On…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Catalina Island
In 2016, my family went to Catalina Island to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. On a clear day, you can see Catalina from the beaches in the Los Angeles area and ever since I saw the island out on the horizon I had wanted to go. We left port from Long Beach early one morning…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Santa Barbara, California
My sister and I being silly in Santa Barbara. I will never forget the feeling I had when I first visited Santa Barbara. My husband surprised me for my 31st birthday with a trip there and I thought to myself, “This is paradise!” Granted, we were stationed in the barren Mojave desert at Edwards AFB…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling to Charlottesville, Virginia
Sitting on our porch swing in Virginia. In 2012, our military family moved across the country from the desert of California to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the University of Virginia. It didn’t take long for my heart to fall in love with this town. Our family lived just a little…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling In the Heart of Washington DC–Part One
For three years, our family was stationed in Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville is a short drive from DC, so during our stay, we spent a lot of time exploring our nation’s capital. There is so much to do in DC that it would take me forever to list out all the things I’d recommend to do.…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling Down Highway 1 in California
Back in 2012, my family was living in California. Now, before you go and get all jealous thinking we were living the lap of luxury on a beach somewhere–think again. We were stationed at Edwards AFB which is smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert and there is no civilization around it. None.…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling To Las Vegas
I will never forget how I felt when we crested the hill that overlooks the entire city of Las Vegas back in December of 2015. I’d been to Vegas a few times before but now I was coming to live here. After coming from my beloved Virginia, it felt surreal to see all the lights stretched…
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A Catholic Pilgrim Traveling in Phoenix, Arizona
A big ole seguaro cactus. Native to the area. This past week, my daughter’s gymnastics meet saw us rolling down the road through the Sonoran Desert to Phoenix, Arizona. We didn’t have much time in Phoenix, but we did hit up some pretty cool spots and if you are a Catholic Pilgrim traveling there, I…