Active Mind, Creative Spirit
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…
Another Kind of Homecoming
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. We saw Radio City, Central Park, Madison Sq. Gardens, Empire State, NYSE (where I…
Christmas in Summer
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 days in San Diego. This year we went a little outside the box. We…
Time and Nepal Cartography 101
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 re-entry mode, so even now it mostly comes out all jumbled. I remember that…
The Portal
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 want to see when I am there… The 36 hours of flying is like…
The Here and Now
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 my 5 year old losing his first tooth. And his second. I wanted to…
Small Flight
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 the photo and the only other thing missing is Numbur Himal. No, wait –…
Over East Asia
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 to my nearest copy and flip through pages until I find the answer. Here…
Related Tales
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 check. I decided to call my mom (bad decision) and let her know that today was…
It Was All Sherpa
(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 predominantly Sherpa. They are a jovial, friendly, very social people and thrive on connecting…
Insallah
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 to an Irish gal who was staying in the same lodge as we were….