I begin the one-kilometer trek out to cross the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, one of the most well known attractions in Northern Ireland. After leaving the sun on the Giant’s Causeway just down the road, I was hopeful for the same weather here. I have no such luck as a sea mist hangs over my walk. I keep looking and looking to see this rope bridge in the distance, dangling in the wind, but nothing by a few sheep enter my view. I finally reach a man in a bright red jacket, with the National Trust. He sets up here to make certain no one falls into the 23 meter deep, 20 meter wide chasm below, Continue Reading
In The Heat of Valencia
When a heat wave rolls through in summertime, I don’t turn up the air conditioner. I think of a day spent sweltering in Valencia, Spain. No amount of sun and heat can rival that day for me. As the heat overcame me, I turned from pale to blotchy. There was no end in sight. My new travel friend Christine of C’est Christine decided we should go explore Valencia at the hottest part of the day. Perhaps I didn’t know Christine well enough to tell her I couldn’t handle this and so I agreed. When it is hot in Colorado, I remember that day in Valencia. Suddenly the heat I am experiencing is all put Continue Reading
Arches National Park, Utah Wishes You Were Here
Three women gossip on top of red rocks. They watch each car pass by as the cameras click, whispering in each others' ears in comment. At Arches National Park just outside of Moab, Utah, these women never seem to leave. However they might one day if erosion has anything to do with it. From the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint you can see these Three Gossips on the left, the Tower of Babel on the right and the Organ just in front on the right. The landscape appears not of this world, but another, so red, so creative in formation and so empty at the same time. Feelings of emptiness are short Continue Reading
Virginia City, Nevada Wishes You Were Here
Some places, like some people, get rich quickly, usually as a result of one or the other. Virginia City is one such place, a destination that probably wouldn’t be what it is today without the discovery of silver in 1859. Known as the Comstock Lode, you can still see traces of that discovery all over Virginia City. It is no wonder why as that silver found here produced $400 million by 1898. The 19th century mining boom gave Virginia City its importance, along the same lines as Denver and San Francisco. In fact, San Franciscans can thank Virginia City for its very existence. The riches of the Continue Reading
Lonely Travel Is Good For You
Looking up lonely in the dictionary presents several less than flattering definitions. Some will be blunt and define the term as “sad because one has no friends or company”. Others will be gentler and define lonely as merely “unfrequented, remote or solitary”. The adjective is not one we couple with travel often. Travel is filled with company, new friends, new places and new ideas on the world. Generally looked at negatively, I don’t think I am alone, ironically, in saying lonely travel is not what we strive for on our travels. I want to feel apart of a place and people, not outside of it. Continue Reading
Lake Tahoe, California Wishes You Were Here
I can hear the crashing of waves as I fall asleep. No wonder I was out like a rock after the long drive from Park City, Utah. I haven’t reached the Pacific just yet, but rather Lake Tahoe, falling in muddled territory between Nevada and California. The winds today have brought in the waves of America’s second deepest lake. As my ears burn, I walk out to the pier on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore. As my overly enthusiast waiter last night said it’s a calmer scene compared to the South Shore. He says this with a few extra “likes” and “mans”, so I will take his word for it. Snow is not far away in Continue Reading
Locorotondo, Italy Wishes You Were
When you read that the most beautiful village in all of Italy is just a few miles away, you can't fight the urge to go and judge for yourself. Italy crawls with villages that could easily be the most beautiful in all of the country. Locorotondo in the country’s southern Puglia region has the coveted title of one of the borghi piú belli d’Italia, otherwise, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. I had to go and see for myself. Coming up on Locorotondo, my skepticism got the best of me. It didn’t look like much, a city on a hill but not one a pilgrim would write home about to Continue Reading