After a late, bumpy coast-to-coast flight, I landed in Boston for TravelCon2019. By 2am, my cab dropped me at the Back Bay brownstone where I’d rented a VRBO studio apartment, and thoughtfully waited til I was in the front door. Nothing was creepy at all…until I found my apartment door, unlocked and open. Yep, solo…
Author: SJ
Utah: Coyote Gulch, Part Two
Clean Water, Good Food, and Leaving No Trace I learned a lot on this backpacking trip to Utah. First, if someone invites you to hike a desert canyon in the springtime, you should immediately say YES. Second, water is the key to enjoying desert hikes—finding it, purifying it, and even slogging through it. And finally,…
Utah: Coyote Gulch, Part One
It started with a birthday message from Connor. “Happy birthday mom. Come out to Utah and we’ll go camping or something.” Who could resist such an offer from their 20-something son? What a gift! It did take almost a year to make it happen, but the following April I tagged on a three-day layover in…
Ireland: How to pour a perfect pint
Family travel is always fun, but all kinds of new cultural opportunities open up once the kids reach legal drinking age. When we toured Ireland with two of our grown boys, we could all partake in the full spectrum of life in Ireland, including learning to pour a perfect pint of Guinness beer. During the…
Ireland: Bogs of Quagmires and Moss
Why you need a walking stick in Irish peat bogs. The best part of having a college kids study abroad is the excuse to go there and travel with them (tip of the day: strongly encourage your kids to study in countries that you want to visit. Also, know that very little actual studying will…
Four Paws, Two Skis
The Best Dog-Friendly Nordic Trails in Bend, Oregon Once the snow covers the Cascades, the number of dog-friendly trails dwindles dramatically, but Wanogo Snow Park is a wonderful exception. Thanks to the volunteers at DogPAC.org, nordic skiers can cruise a nicely groomed figure-8 loop, about two miles total, with dogs romping freely along side. It’s…
Beijing Daytrip: The Great Wall of China
Three hours climbing stairs and pathways of the Great Wall of China brought up many questions for me, but it only answered one. The one question that was answered went back to my childhood, when my Hungarian grandmother would refer to anything far away as being “practically in Outer Mongolia!” I never knew what she…
Favorite Gear: The Do-it-all Daypack
Osprey’s Sirrus 24 Women’s Dayhike Backpack Someone recently threw out the question “What topic could you easily spend thirty minutes discussing?” It’s the kind of question you find on twitter, and also the kind that bubbles up on a nice long hike, when you are completely unplugged and dive deep into random topics. One topic…