Gazing at the riot of designs and colors my eyes darted around wildly, unable to focus on any one motif. I shuffled around the showroom trying to organize the patterns into a coherent sense, without success. With some relief we were ushered into a workroom to begin our education of Umbrian ceramics, after which I …
“Hong Kong: An Extended Layover” published in International Travel News, October 2009, Vol 34, No 8, pp 36-42 (http://www.intltravelnews.com/) Many travelers to Asia find themselves with a layover in Hong Kong, a thriving metropolis of 7 million people where East collides with West. Reclaimed by China in 1997 but still a melting pot of …
No stay in O’ahu, Hawaii is complete for us without at least one day at the North Shore, and sometimes we rent a house and stay there the whole time. There are no high rise buildings and no shopping malls, just miles of gorgeous beaches, laid back people and small town charm. To get there, …
The myriad activities in Waikiki are obvious, from people watching to surfing on perfect waves, outrigger canoeing in the surf, catamaran rides, and world-class shopping on Kalakaua Ave. After a couple of days unwinding on the beach you might be ready to avail yourself of the many other charms the island of O’ahu in Hawaii …
The Anderson Valley, an appellation only fifteen miles long and a half mile wide in places, is a hidden jewel among the rolling hills of Mendocino County, close to the coastal areas of Northern California. Lurking the shadows of its better known brethren in adjacent Sonoma County, and over the next ridge, Napa County, Anderson …
We have hiked and mountain biked around miles of trails in the Lake Tahoe area, but I can already see that after only a few weeks of having our canoe that we are going to be discovering all kinds of new terrain. Steve and our good friend Cindy loaded up the canoe and took off …
“This is awesome!” seven year old Chase exclaimed excitedly. What got him so excited? Disneyland? Action figures? Trucks? No, he was building a dam in a shallow creek to catch the elusive fingerling trout slipping by. We were deep in the Granite Chief Wilderness on a multi-day backpacking trip and his face reflected pure joy …
“How much longer? Are we almost there?” The familiar refrain from our godchildren came, not in a car, but in the Sierra wilderness, as they shouldered heavy backpacks and bent toward the granite formations as we neared the summit, having gained 1,000 feet of elevation in about 2 miles when we went backpacking to Loch …
On the Hike From Hell(hole) (https://ingasadventures.com/2009/07/13/the-worst-backpacking-trip-ever/) Steve and I resolved to get a canoe, harkening back to the good memories we had of paddling on the Yukon River last summer and eschewing further backpacking trips. Now she was on top of the car, the maiden voyage of the little red canoe beginning with a road trip …
This trip to Hellhole Reservoir in the Granite Chief Wilderness won’t qualify for the worst trip in the annals of backpacking because no one was seriously or mortally injured, but in our combined history, this was the worst trip ever for my husband and me. A combination of minor mishaps, lost trails, illness and topography …