Travels Archive

Around the country, and around the globe, blogging.

• Amsterdam

  I foolishly, but honestly, confided in my wife while vacationing in Amsterdam recently. I told her that if — and when — I have my nervous breakdown, or mid-life crisis, or whatever, that this would be where she could find me… Amsterdam. It was honest in that I believe it actually would be true, if [...]

• A Polish Scene

  I wrote this while sitting in a Polish sidewalk café in a failed search for a free wifi connection… 2009/05/25 12:44pm Pol I am sitting in a café/bar in Pisz, a small city in rural northern Poland, maybe a couple hours from GdaÅ„sk, formerly known as Danzig. Damn the Germans. I am on my second [...]

• No trumpets allowed.

  This is one of my favorite pictures from Krakow, taken aboard a streetcar…

• Krakow

  We spent four days and five nights in Krakow. (Yes, that combination is possible. We arrived very late on a Friday, following more than twenty-four hours of consecutive travel, and left in the morning four days later.) Krakow is very beautiful, easily up there with what Paris and Barcelona have to offer. Speaking of Paris. [...]

• The view from my window.

• AMS

  Sitting in the Amsterdam airport. Schiphol. Pronounced Skipel. People-watching. The flight was one of the better ones I’ve been on, except they served too much food. I never thought that that would be an issue, but apparently it can be. We have a four-hour layover, and no free wifi. Fifteen minutes costs three euros. I [...]

• Drinking Hawaiian

  It wasn’t my intention to make this a blog about beer; so it goes… As my readers know — and are painfully and often reminded of so — I try to drink local when I travel. (I also try to eat locally, at least sample, but that is less exciting, unless you consider the time [...]

• O

  Nothing new on the email front. Let me tell you WHY we are going to Hawaii this week. It all starts with a man from Hope. That is right. Obama. We are on a pilgrimage to his home-state, where the next president — the best president ever — was raised (outside of his time spent [...]

• OAK

  My wife and I are en route to Maui for a week. We are in the Oakland airport, which now offers free wireless. I knew it was a good idea to bring my new MacBook. It has already paid for itself. First, I checked my email during breakfast. Then I checked Flickr. Then email again. [...]

• The Beer of Buffalo

  Long-time readers of this blog know that when I travel, I try to drink locally. And long-time readers love to hear about it. When I ventured east for Thanksgiving, it was the first time I set foot in my parents’ house in nearly six years (since mid-January 2003). I was still a graduate student at [...]

• JFK

  The forty-fifth anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy came-and-went this weekend. I think that CBS should re-live those dramatic events, similar to how the cable networks have been paying tribute on anniversaries of nine-eleven, re-airing the events as if they were live. The aftermath of the JFK murder cemented television as a medium, [...]

• Buffalo Road Trip

  I spent some time planning a road trip around the Buffalo region a few weeks ago, but now that I think about it, it is probably impossible (or equally foolish). Image: Google First, it takes roughly three hours of driving, assuming no traffic on Thanksgiving weekend. Considering that we actually enjoy the stops, that is [...]

• Blogging Live from New Orleans

  At first I thought New Orleans, or New New Orleans, whatever, was a lot like Saint Louis, but I was greatly mistaken. I foolishly made my way to the waterfront, and just like Saint Louis, there really is none, except for a walkway (which was nice, although nothing special), but what more could you ask [...]

• Oregon Thoughts

  I spent a few days along the Southern Oregon coast this past weekend. It was unimaginably picturesque. Some thoughts… – The southern Oregon area really is most appropriately described as the State of Jefferson, along with the northernmost parts of California (north of Eureka). There really is more of a southern mindset, rather than, say, [...]

• Folsom Nights

  I am at a two-day conference for the purpose of improving myself in regards to dialogue. A two-drink ticket was provided, but I was able to turn that into six, or was it seven (or eight). Anyway, conversations on nights like this between colleagues are priceless… – I talked to a veteran from the hey-day [...]

• The “i” Stands for Internet

  Free internet access at the Denver airport… my new fourth favorite place on Earth. Okay, that is maybe overstating the situation, but are there any other major airports that offer this?

• Denver Thoughts (So Far)

  - My 6am flight out of Oakland ended up being a disaster. I thought it would have been a light passenger load, but nope, nearly full. I didn’t check my bag this time — a new experiment — and I found it not to be worth the effort. Baggage claim from here on. The rental [...]

• Sandstorm At Big Sur

  This past weekend, my wife and I went down to Big Sur, and introduced the ocean to our six-month old puppy, Haley. We were caught in some sort of sandstorm at a beach… Note: The flying sand seen in the video nearly broke my digital camera, getting lodged in the optical drive.

• Joshua Tree, Day Three (Part 1)

  Although Haley enjoyed the desert, the new smells, sights and creatures, it was so hot and dry, Haley needed to find a home beneath our car. She did this on her own, with no direction or encouragement. We set out on the day to get some scrambling in, a form of bouldering. I was new [...]

• Joshua Tree, Day Two

  Whether or not my wife and I could stand the desert heat wasn’t a real concern. Whether or not our six-month-old lab puppy would survive the weekend, was a whole other question. Haley sure loved to investigate the large boulders… It turned out that Haley really enjoyed the desert (when it wasn’t too hot, that [...]

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