Cashew Wine

Last week one of the vendors I work with at my new job gave me a bottle of Mât Sim. It’s Vietnamese wine made from honey myrtle fruit. I thanked him as he described its flavor, and suggested it go over ice. It’s like…

Canyons on Wheels

This is a year of extensive travel for me. It began in November, with almost a month in Nepal, then December on the Big Island of Hawaii, winter camping on Mt Rainier in January, then I put my head down on my new business…

What’s in a Symbol

One of the things I love about my travels to Asia, is that they remind me of how many little bits of knowledge and learnings have been packed inside my head over the past 40 years. For instance, color association: we associate red with…

Following Ansel’s Path

Way back in 1989, I had to declare a major in college. I toyed with an architecture major, but the prof for the prerequisite: History of Cities was horrific and scared me from that path. I considered math (very briefly) before settling on Fine…

Nation

Our group walked through a flat, red-rock area in Arizona. There was nothing for miles. We’d just come through Monument Valley and stopped our six-van caravan at a dirt pullout to let 23 kids stand on the freeway and do “the Forrest Gump running pose” all together….

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

Let it be known that if you catch a 5:20 am flight out of Seattle, you can shoot sunset at the Grand Canyon that same day. Even when you have 23 teenagers in tow. That’s what I did last month. I chaperoned a school…

Water (Garden) Park

The first full day in Bali, we toured a tropical botanical water gardens. I tiptoed through acres of flora I’d never met before. Glorious mists permeated the warm air. There were waterfalls and sweet little rattan tables with umbrellas, tons of food (we had…

Observation and Objectives

One summer day in 1985, I stood with my brother and grandmonster (I had just seen St Elmos Fire) atop the twin towers, overlooking New York. I was 15, my brother was 13 and we were living for a week in Grandma’s one bedroom…

Impressionable Everyday Photos

How would your impression of a faraway place be different if you saw photos of everyday life there instead of the stories that the photographers and journalists want you to see? Think about that for a minute. You have all sorts of impressions of…

Hometown History

While it also has the monikers City of Lakes and The Mini Apple, a name I never knew while I lived there was Mill City. Only once I went back to visit and became a tourist in my hometown did I realize how much…