I’m a terrible writer. I mean, I think I’m a decent enough WRITER, but the business of writing… I’ve always kind of struggled with. If you’ve followed me for very long you know the truth of this. I don’t post often enough, I’m all over the place with my subject matter, I don’t promote my…
Category: Travel
Breaking Down the Walls of RECEPTION
I just wanted to be ALONE, damn it. But the Universe brought in a sledgehammer to bust down my walls
Festival of Lights, Villa de Lleyva, Colombia
There is almost ALWAYS a good reason to find yourself in Villa de Lleyva, Colombia. In truth, the town itself is reason enough. Fiercely protecting the architectural influence of the Spanish that invaded these lands centuries ago has given the whole town a sense of cleanliness, continuity, and tranquility that has appealed to travelers from…
FLYING
We’ve been trying to go paragliding since my first trip to Colombia. Or, at least, the first trip we had together. But despite having spent nearly a half a year here, we just couldn’t make it happen. Conditions weren’t right or we were off doing other things, or whatever. Finally the stars aligned, however, and…
Manizales, Colombia: the BEST little detour.
We’d already been on the road for 7 hours and still had four to go when we stopped for gas a little after midnight. We’ve done it before – pushed through 13, even 20 hours in the car – but we were both tired and we couldn’t hang out with Li’l Wild until afternoon the…
Love. A package deal.
We’re different people, the Wild Man and I. I mean, obviously. And I know this isn’t news. We have SO MUCH in common, but there’s significant differences too – even outside of the cultural things. I like to keep my clothes in a separate bag from my laptop, for example. He’s more a shove-it-wherever-it-fits kind…
Backpacking packs are not the right way to travel.
Back when I bought my first backpacking pack I used it exclusively for camping and true backpacking, because that was really all the travel I was doing at the time. The first time I took a trip and packed my backpacking pack I was so excited to BE backpacking through a country! It felt so……
Mesa de Los Santos and the 2nd largest canyon in the world: Chicamocha
We’d thundered across the Andes (because the Wild Man LOVES his music at full volume) a few days before, fresh from Socorro and 10 days living with his mother. Whom I love. But, you know, living with the boyfriend’s mom… not super easy. (Shameless plug: if you’d like to read the more personal stories of…
Monterrey Mexico: Parque Natural La Estanzuela
Monterrey is a significant city full of beautiful ways to spend your days and a rich nightlife. San Pedro-one of the cities that comprises the Monterrey metro area-is perhaps the richest city in all of Latin America and as such San Pedro and the surrounding area of Monterrey offers a lot in terms of shopping…
Angels in Colombia
Yes, weird things happen to me. It isn’t news. In fact I have another book on the horizon detailing all my weird little adventures. Or at least the ones that are appropriate to publish. (Actually, no guarantees on that – some of the best stories are the slightly inappropriate ones). Anyway, I’m so excited about…
Toilet tales
You may have recently discovered your personal level of gratitude and appreciation for toilet paper. And I’m happy for you. I really am. Because I learned that lesson, back in June when I made my first trip to Colombia. In my now-favorite country, you often have to pay to use public restrooms and TP isn’t…
15-ish Tips for Traveling in Colombia
Being from a small midwest city, when I told friends and family that I had plans to travel to Colombia, the news wasn’t exactly received with unbridled enthusiasm. Quite the contrary, in fact. Dropped-jaws, most notably. Generally, immediately followed by an apparently inevitable question: “Why?” And a caution: “Be careful!!” or even “Please don’t go.”…
Following Your Curious Bliss : Vancouver, WA
Last summer I took a road-trip west and vowed to make it epic – just by more intentionally immersing myself in the experience. After my first stop in Wallace, Idaho, and a particularly rewarding stop-and-smell-the-roses moment in Coeur d’Alene, I knew I was on to something. So, I made my first day in Vancouver Washington…
Enjoy the Journey: Coeur d’Alene, ID
It’s been FOREVER since I wrote about my trip west last summer (I have good reasons – you can even read about some of them. But I can’t tell you about the biggest one. Not yet. I promise I will though.) and it occurred to me it might come off a bit ridiculous to write…
Enroute to Washington : Wallace, Idaho
I love to travel. LOVE. I really love to travel alone. And it seems that at least 70% of the time when I do, I head west. Often, I think, because I feel a sense of safety and connected-ness in the mountains. So when I received an invitation to attend a friend’s wedding in Oregon,…
Weird Ones… Hands UP!
Not long ago, I had the chance to visit Phoenix, Arizona for the premier of a movie directed by a documentary film maker whose acquaintance I’d recently made. It was a great trip, overall, it really was. I had the chance to actually hang out with a friend of a friend of mine, with whom…
Be. Be still.
Last year about this time I took a little road trip. Just me and my dog, wandering around the Northwest Coast, looking for… well, I’m still not really sure what I was looking for, but something in me said I’d find it in the Redwoods or the ocean. So we headed west. I learned a…
Lessons from a hobbit-hike.
I hiked like a hobbit on Sunday. Barefoot. There wasn’t really any one reason why… I’d heard many times about the benefits of direct contact with the earth, it was hot, my socks were itching me… it happened about 200 feet in or so, I guess. I stopped for a drink of water and noticed…
River and Woods Restaurant in Boulder, Colorado
Every so often you get the chance to do something ordinary that becomes something more. Something extraordinary. The weekend just past was one such occasion. The something extraordinary was the first ever trip with my younger sister. Just she and I. No partners, no parents… she even bravely left behind both of her magical little…
Just LOVE
“Church” today was incredible. As my loyal readers and dear friends know, I “get to God” differently than the term ‘Church’ would imply. I think of God differently than the term God would imply too, but it makes sense to people so I use it anyway. I won’t get in to what I think or…
THE GIFT OF SOLITARY TRAVEL
It’s the kind of freedom that makes it OK to sleep in your car, eat at nice restaurants in otherwise-unacceptably-casual clothes, and take pictures of EVERYTHING.
THURSDAY IN THE BADLANDS
It’s been a weird winter here. Extraordinarily long. Our first (HUGE) snowfall came in the first week of October. And It’s snowing today. Big, fat, beautiful flakes that I’m trying really hard to enjoy, instead of wishing them away. We’ve also had a lot of random occurrences of “Spring”. Even in February when snow and…