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…
travel
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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When I was sixteen, my brother and I flew to NYC and stayed with my grandmother for a week. She did a really good job of showing us New York.…
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This is the second year that my immediate family has kissed off the regular Christmas routine and headed to warmer climes. Last year we hit 4 theme parks in 5…
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After a week home only a small handful of people have been able to ask me about the trip. The stories are beginning to unfold, but I am still very much in…
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My head has been spinning far too hard lately and I am anxious for that to stop. Packing, setting the kids up, planning the itinerary, matching up with people I…
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I was lamenting all the things I will miss here at home while I am away in Nepal for a month. Maybe that sounds ridiculous, but last time I missed…
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A photo of us and the plane we took from Lukla to Phaplu. The runway is just behind the plane – yup gravel strip at 7800 feet. Pilots are in…
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On occasion I think of a description or passage that existed in one of my early drafts, and I don’t remember if it made the final cut. Then I sprint…
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I was dropped off at SEA-TAC airport a couple hours early the day we flew out to Nepal. So I had a couple hours to kill after security and bag…
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(Yeah, songs again in the title.) Sherpas are the culture of people who live in the high Himalaya, in the shadow of Mt Everest. The group I traveled with was…
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When we returned to Lukla (back down to 10,000 feet from the top), we had a couple days to rest. One evening in the common room at dinner, I talked…