5 Ideas to Reduce the Cost of Travel

Other than airfare, (which, unfortunately, has gone through the roof over the past couple years) lodging is usually the biggest expense when traveling.  Hotel stays are pretty pricey, so unless you have friends and family all over or a home on wheels, you might be finding the cost of traveling prohibitive these days. There areContinue reading “5 Ideas to Reduce the Cost of Travel”

Down by the Creek

I have always been irresistibly drawn to water, particularly creeks, streams, and brooks.  While road tripping, I’ve stopped to photograph them more than any other feature in Nature.  Their beauty can be breathtaking, nestled beside a mountain, surrounded by trees and wildflowers.  And the sound of the water running over the stones in the creekContinue reading “Down by the Creek”

Five Life-Changing Gifts of Travel

Learning about new cultures is fascinating to me. I love hiking and biking new landscapes, towns, and villages. It’s thrilling to see with my own eyes the ancient structures first glimpsed in the textbook of my college Renaissance Art and Architecture class. And the people I’ve met couldn’t have been nicer.

Need a Reason to Get Away? Here You Go!

Do you remember vacations as a kid?  I can recall living for vacations.  My family would always go to the Gulf of Mexico and stay in a motel on Florida’s Panhandle.  We traveled to Flarda, as it’s pronounced in the South, to swim, lie in the sun, play in the surf, and deep sea fish. Continue reading “Need a Reason to Get Away? Here You Go!”

Kinship in the Wild West

I’ve recently read Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, Volume 1, Planet, edited by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gavin Van Horn, and John Hausdoerffer.  It’s a beautiful little collection of short essays by ecologists, philosophers, professors, and others sharing information and stories from different viewpoints on our kinship with all of Nature.  There are 4Continue reading “Kinship in the Wild West”

Blessed Are the Adventurous

An adventure can be defined as a daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm.  Due to studies showing the many benefits of adventure activities, there are now possibilities for adventure travel, adventure therapy, and even adventure prescriptions handed out by physicians. In other posts, I’ve shared how my personal adventures have changed theContinue reading “Blessed Are the Adventurous”

Let’s Get Lost in a Forest!

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything. ~Alan Watts The above quote describes the experience I had as I began hiking in the forests of the Western US.  What a difference it’s made in my worldview!  The hundreds of milesContinue reading “Let’s Get Lost in a Forest!”

Trails of Renewal

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something . . . that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. ~Robert Louis Stevenson That subtle something that Stevenson references above is love, in my opinion. Hiking for miles in areas surroundedContinue reading “Trails of Renewal”

Red Rocks on the Water

The lovely little desert town of Sedona, Arizona, has more than 400 miles of trails for hiking and biking, and is surrounded by 1.8 million acres of forest land, according to visitsedona.com. Not bad for a destination known for its spas and luxury resorts! The rich colors of Sedona’s earth and trees are a delightContinue reading “Red Rocks on the Water”