Eco-tourism
Beavertail cacti bloom in Kanab Creek, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Mitch Stevens.
In the spirit of the holiday season — and getting into shape after indulging in all those holiday parties — I’m running a guest post from my fellow Tucson, Arizona, resident Mitch Stevens, founder of Southwest Discoveries.
Mitch or one of his trained guides at Southwest Discoveries will take you on a personalized hiking tour in the Tucson region or around Arizona, including the Grand Canyon and Sonoran Desert. His market is primarily baby boomers and multi-generational hiking groups, which is how Mitch and I originally connected.
Appropriately, Mitch writes about the benefits of going hiking (which I can now do in the winter, having recently relocated from upstate New York to sunny Tucson — following in the footsteps, as it were, of countless other baby boomers heading south and west).
So I’ll hand… Continue reading
The former King Strang Hotel overlooks the Beaver Island waterfront. Photo by Catharine Norton
Third in a Series
I’m sure that many residents of Michigan have heard of Beaver Island, even if they haven’t actually visited there. But when I saw it on the itinerary for my recent “Magical Lake Michigan Cruise” aboard the Grande Mariner from Blount Small Ship Adventures, it had me scurrying to my atlas.
It turns out that Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan: about 13 miles long and three to six miles wide. But it’s remote and sparsely populated — with only about 550 year-round residents — and it can only be reached by boat or small plane.
Ferries serve the island from the mainland in warm months, but when the weather gets cold and the northern reaches of the lake ice over, Beaver Island residents mostly have to hunker down… Continue reading
Sydney Greenstreet in “Casablanca.” Peter Lorre was in it, too.
I confess: I’ve dined on KFC in Nairobi, Big Macs in China, and A&W in Kuala Lumpur.
I’ve watched Bob Newhart reruns in Zimbabwe, ordered bacon and eggs in Mumbai, and visited the Holiday Inn in Swaziland.
There are times when seeing a familiar face — even Colonel Sanders — has proved reassuring while traveling in distant lands.
But usually not.
When I go abroad, in fact, I’m almost always drawn to the remote, the exotic, the unfamiliar, the unpredictable. Give me the jungles of the Amazon to the shores of Waikiki, the tea houses of Hong Kong to the salons of London, the ends of the earth to the easily accessible hubs.
When it comes to travel, I’m a hopeless Romantic, spurred by images on old postage stamps and scenes from Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre movies.… Continue reading
Dominica, the “Garden Isle.” Photo by Amy El-Bassioni
Third in a Series:
It was a tale of shipboard adventure and romance played out on the high seas.
Well, that may be a bit dramatic. But when one of our fellow shipmates fell onto another passenger while standing on deck during a rocking and rolling nighttime voyage between the islands of St. Lucia and Dominica on our recent Island Windjammers French West Indies Cruise, her husband gallantly came to the rescue and promptly fell onto the anchor chain.
The result: one broken wrist (wife), one badly sprained finger (husband).
Both remained good-humored throughout the trip, sling and bandaging notwithstanding. In fact, they were two of the most upbeat folks on board, and I heard not a complaint from either.
The sheer pleasure of being on a windjammer on tropical seas can turn even what appeared to be painful injuries… Continue reading
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