EXPLORING THE WORLD
It snowed! First snow of the year in the upper elevations of Utah’s southern mountains. As we drove west across
After leaving Torrey and hiking the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail, we arrived at Best Western Ruby’s Inn in Bryce
We didn’t know much about Capitol Reef National Park before this trip, and we still don’t know much about it.
Most tourists heading to southeast Utah go to Moab, as the city is well known, trendy, and close to both
We met a lot of folks who were in Canyonlands National Park only because Arches National Park was closed. That’s
We arrived at Arches National Park at about 10:00 AM on Monday, only to see the following sign: “Park is
On the way to Utah we detoured to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a bucket list item for Stephanie. And
The Graz skyline is, well, unremarkable. The north side of town is dominated by the Grazer Schloßberg, a park high
There is something strangely satisfying riding a train, in relative comfort, across a foreign country. And so Stephanie and I
Day Two on our 48 hr Innsbruck Cards (Day One can be found here): We arrived at Hofkirche in time
Ordinarily we do not purchase city cards marketed to tourists, for the simple reason that we have no interest in
Innsbruck (meaning bridge over the inn, referring to the Inn River) is situated in the Inn Valley between the Tux
After walking past Augustiner Bräu for several days in a row, we finally ventured over to the largest beer hall
We spent our first hour in Salzburg wondering how in the hell we booked an Airbnb with no living area.
Hallstatt is an absolutely beautiful small town (population: less than 1,000). It is postcard pretty, which is probably what lures
Der Prunksaal der Ӧsterreichischen Nationalbibliothek, the State Hall of the Austrian National Library, is fascinating. Constructed in the early 1700s,
The two big ticket tourist destinations in Vienna are the imperial palaces of the Habsburgs, the Hofburg and Schloss Schönbrunn.
No visit to Vienna is complete without a trip to Wiener Staatsoper, the Vienna Opera House. We toured the building,
Albertina was the first art museum we visited in Vienna. It is located in a wing of the Hofburg imperial
We are getting better at using local transportation. For only the second time we took a train from the airport
We left Inverness early in the morning to drive over to the Isle of Skye for two days. It was
Cawdor Castle sits several miles east of Inverness, and is the next stop on our Highlands tour. We arrived early
Scotland has a very efficient train and bus system that will get you to pretty much any city you want
ScotRail’s half price sale made a day trip to St. Andrews super affordable, though our choice of trains was somewhat
The Edinburgh Castle and Palace of Holyroodhouse bookend the Royal Mile in Old Town. No visit to Edinburgh, a designated
Our plane from New York landed in Edinburgh about 8:00 AM. Passport control was a quick trip through automated scanners.
In my trip planning notes Amaru Zoológico Cuenca was designated as both a zoo and a hike. And so it
The weather in Cuenca is slightly more predictable than in Quito. It is rainy season, so there are clouds overhead
Dear Ecuador (specifically, Quito and Cuenca): You know you want to be a tourist destination when you have those cutesy
No matter how much time you spend preparing to take successful photographs, it is almost impossible to get everything right