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My Love for Laos Restored by Looms and Rice
A month ago, I read about Living Land Farm in a Lonely Planet Guidebook and immediately clocked it as something I wanted to do. I’d been looking forward to it for several weeks and it lived up to my expectations. At Living Land Farm I learned how to... Grow, harvest, and prepare RICE.
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A Quarter of a Century Old in Sydney, Australia
I cried when the plane left New Zealand, but in the air, as I crossed the Tasman Sea, I regained my sense of exploration and landed in Sydney, Australia with the wide eyes and the eager heart of an adventurer.
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A Hidden Paradise in Whiritoa, New Zealand
On Google Maps, Whiritoa looks like a beach town at the very bottom of the Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast. As I drove in through 16 kilometers of windy S-curves and 180-degree switchbacks, and then entered the town, I realized that I had been wrong. This was no town. Rather, it was a collection of a few hundred houses clustered around the beach. A single cafe provided snacks and a few staples (bread, butter, milk), but anything beyond would require the twenty minute trek into town. I wondered where the hell I had just based myself for the next month. The answer:
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Crash Course: All the History I Need to Know about New Zealand
The Auckland Volcano Field, which holds Auckland city at its center, is home to 53 ancient volcanos. Many have eroded or been built on. But, from high above, I could spot several green hills, the bones of old volcanoes, rising above rooftops. Only 600 years ago, Auckland's youngest volcano, Rangitoto, rose from the sea when an underwater volcano erupted with violent fury. Today, Rangitoto Island is only a 20 minute ferry ride from downtown.
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Where the Buffalo Roam–Some Thoughts on Yellowstone NP
National Parks remind me that once the whole west was as starkly beautiful and untouched by exploitation. But no longer. Yellowstone reminds me how, then and now, control is everything. Not harmony. Control. In 1872, the land of Yellowstone NP didn't have to be protected from Native American tribes who had called it home for centuries. It only needed to be protected from us.
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High-Up in The Austrian Alps: 48 Hours in Innsbruck
We took a small local train that wove through the mountains like a snake, stopping in small towns with peaked train stations and only a few roads stretching off into the emerald-green hills. We went over bridges that spanned deep ravines and we were even with the clouds that settled low over the valley. A hawk soared beneath the struts of one bridge just as we crossed. Then we emerged high in the mountains over Innsbruck.
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Invictus: the Best Time Travel Novel I’ve Read in Ages
Invictus by Ryan Graudin is a brilliant non-stop adventure filled with sassy characters, sweet friendships, and high stakes. This is one of the best time-travel novels I have ever read.
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The Weight of Ink: A Feminist and Jewish Masterpiece
The Weight of Ink whisks you from the present to the past, and guides you on a path (paved by strong, intelligent women) through Jewish history and faith.
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A Gem in the German Alps: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Springtime
2022 European Adventure: Part 5 of 6 Garmisch-Partenkirchen (along with being a mouthful of a name) is a beautiful town nestled in a valley in the German Alps. When deciding where to go after the lovely town of Heidelberg, all it took was one picture before I was hooked on Garmisch-Partenkirchen (just scroll down and you’ll probably feel the same). With low hanging clouds, jagged peaks, traditional Bavarian architecture, and a long history, this is the perfect European mountain town. Getting to Garmisch-Partenkirchen was another adventure, as train travel often seems to be (no splitting trains this time, which is a shame because we were ready!), but several long delays…
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The Red-Stone Ruins of Heidelberg Castle
2022 European Adventure: Part 4 of 6 Any one who knows me knows this: I am obsessed with castles. The German town of Heidelberg is home to imposing castle ruins rising above a red-roofed medieval town. It’s the medieval kind of castle, with towers and bricks and spiral staircases and looming walls. Palaces are the lacy, frilly, gold-gilt ones. That’s not what I’m about. I love fortresses, castles, bastions–anything that can be defended and, preferably, sports an imposing skyline. I can’t pinpoint a moment when my love affair with castles began, though I can guess at all the little pieces that influenced it:. Cair Paravel in Narnia. The Royal Palace…
