This post is part of a series called Azores 2018 Our last full day on São Miguel! We kicked things off with another homemade breakfast (we had some bread and eggs to use up). Then we hit the road to the north side of the island to check out the Gorreana Tea Plantation, the only…
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This post is part of a series called Azores 2018 Today we took it easy. We didn’t climb mountains, hike around volcanoes or climb any rocks. Actually we did climb rocks but they were rather small rocks. Our first stop of the day was a bakery in Ponta Delgada near our now familiar grocery store….
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This post is part of a series called Azores 2018 It’s time to come clean: Kat and I have a horrible disease. More on that in a moment. We got up early again to enjoy the sun and the view and the coffee pot. Since we wanted to get an early start on our day,…
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This post is part of a series called Azores 2018 An entirely reasonable 10 hours of sleep transformed us from mad-eyed miscreants mumbling incoherently into normal-eyed miscreants mumbling incoherently. As per usual. I got up early to make coffee and watch the city wake up. We’d assumed that town was so quiet yesterday because it…
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This post is part of a series called Azores 2018 When you tell someone you’re headed to the Azores, you’ll get one of two reactions: “What are the Azores?” or “Oh I was there on a military flight once.” We have yet to meet anyone in person who’s actually been to the Azores for fun. …
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You should visit Senegal because chances are you don’t know much (if anything) about it, aren’t entirely sure where it is, and are looking to be totally surprised by a destination. You should visit Senegal because chances are good you’ve never been to Africa (under 0.5% of American international travel), and it’s time to change…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 We left Mbour at 9 am, but not before Colin grabbed a Cafe Touba and a breakfast sandwich. Bandia Nature Reserve had not been high on our list since it’s a zoo rather than a natural community of animals. However, we were pleasantly surprised. The…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 We woke up a bit early in Dangane, hoping to catch the sunrise. The horizon was cloudy, so instead we watched the birds swooping out over the marsh. Three kingfishers came to take a bath in the pool, and numerous other birds were in the…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 This morning we were off to a much better start. Kat was feeling better and was able to have some bread at breakfast. We started the day by hitting up a grocery store before driving to Dangane. The drive was smooth – we think Bala…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 Today was a bit less fun-packed than days past. Kat came down with some stomach trouble overnight, and we spent most of the day in the car traveling from Saint Louis to Kaolack, via Touba. All the car time didn’t help Kat much, with plenty…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 One of the downsides of a canvas tent in the desert is that they don’t tend to have ultra secure doors. The type of doors that would, for example, keep a cat out in the middle of the night. Aside from our brief cat-terruption, we…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 This morning we were met by Alex, our guide for the week. First stop was the morning market. We ate the Senegalese version of a cheesesteak and then wandered around the market for a while as Alex greeted his favorite vendors. Properly fed, our next…
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This post is part of a series called Senegal 2018 The Super Bowl is coming to the Twin Cities. Perhaps hopping a plane to Africa is an overreaction. But perhaps not. Regardless, we find ourselves in Senegal, the westernmost point in Africa. This trip is a new experience for us – our first time in…
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You should visit New Orleans because, along with perhaps New York, it is that rare city that manages to feel authentic while catering to tourists. It is accessible to the visitor, without being a theme park. It is beautiful and delicious and full of character, without being designed by a committee. And it probably won’t…
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You should visit Hanoi because Hanoi doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t care about your worries, your hopes, or your neurosis. But it’s not that Hanoi doesn’t like you. Hanoi is just too busy to worry about you. And for some of us, that’s deeply comforting. Hanoi is Southeast Asia, turned up to full volume….
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You should visit Bogotá because it will help you understand the true meaning of friendliness, hope, and community. As with all good travel, it will give you perspective about your own trials and tribulations and those of your country. And you should go to Bogotá now, so you can go back in ten years and…
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This post is part of a series called Colombia 2017 You only find them when you’re not looking. But if you’ve got a smartphone, you can eventually track them down. Our last day in Colombia started in Medellín with packing and tidying our Airbnb. We then wandered down to Hija Mia for, ostensibly, a quick…
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This post is part of a series called Colombia 2017 You might be surprised to learn that Colombia gets roughly 70% of its electricity from large hydro power plants. More than 30% comes from a single dam, near Medellín. Building that dam meant flooding a valley, which created a set of newly-lakeside communities catering to…
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