Our plane touches down at eleven o'clock pm after a five hour flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My wife and I start our five day vacation in-famous Las Vegas. For fifty-nine years I have been meaning to pay a visit to the city where anything goes and finally I have made it thanks to a little incentive from Hurricane Ivan. We jump into a taxi and right away the happy-go-lucky driver wants to know if we want to take the freeway or the strip … [Read more...]
The Memorials of the Black Hills of South Dakota
A recent trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota has filled yet another page of this writer's ledger of beautiful places to visit. The rolling landscape of the Black Hills, the stark contrast of the nearby Badlands, and the memorials of the Black Hills area present a vacation experience that will not soon be forgotten. South Dakota is a sparsely populated state of only 760,000 inhabitants, averaging only 10 inhabitants per square mile. Proud … [Read more...]
Serious Romance at an Oregon Coastal Inn
On Oregon's northern coast, the tiny town of Wheeler sits at the edge of a pristine bay that cloisters all sorts of wonders, which stay even more secret because they often get passed over by the major tourist publications. A mere few blocks long, if you blink you may miss this diminutive gem, where antique shops seem to be the number one industry (there are four such shops, yet only two lodgings and two restaurants). All of this looks out over … [Read more...]
America’s Dream Town Offers Fun & Relaxation for Summer Vacations
The passing of the Memorial Day weekend marked the start of the travel season and one Texas hotspot is gearing up for another busy summer. Voted America's Dream Town in 2004, Glen Rose is one of the most popular travel destinations in Texas. In addition to being America's Dream Town 2004, Glen Rose is also known as the Dinosaur Capitol of Texas due to the concentration of fossilized dinosaur tracks that were left all over the area. Nature … [Read more...]
Market – La Paz (Bolivia)
"Son para dinero y trabajo," the plump little witch raises the talismans to eye level. "Con estos tu tendras buena suerte." Magic talismans for money and jobs? Do they work? Of course not, but I need all the luck I can get, so I purchase the talismans for five Bolivianos. Darn cheap if they'll do as claimed. Depositing the new toys in my leather shoulder bag I continue down the street, with my wife teasing me to the tune of "Raiders of the … [Read more...]
Devils Do Good
This story takes place in Cuzco, Peru where the author attended a shamanic ceremony that involved taking San Pedro, a cactus used in certain Peruvian religious rituals and known for its ability to open areasof the mind that are normally unreachable. The article describes the author's hallucinogenic experiences during his initiation, and shares the mystical philosophies of the shaman and medicine women who introduced him to San Pedro. They … [Read more...]
Burma: Poverty, Government Greed & Human Sweetness Part I
Burma Part I August 18 2002 Rangoon (renamed Yangon) Burma We took Thai Air to Rangoon. Bob left his Lonely Planet Guidebook Burma (renamed Myanmar by the military junta) on the plane and of course someone had pocketed it by the time we debarked. But we remembered the Yoma Hotel downtown and headed there. At the Yoma a French Canadian couple at dinner loaned us their LP so we could locate a bookstore somewhere in the city. Incidentally the … [Read more...]
Burma: Poverty, Government Greed & Human Sweetness Part II
Kalaw In a monsoon rainstorm we climbed off the train in this cool wooded hill station built during the British occupation. The locals laughed (with me) at my little paper sun umbrella I carried that I had bought at the umbrella shop in Inle. Only transport available was in a partially covered horse cart Driven by a kind old man. Off went the horse clipclopping with us along to the ironically named Dream Villa Hotel a few blocks away in the … [Read more...]
Great Wall and Great Zoo
The frigid bite in the September morning air in Beijing, China made me glad I had brought along a jacket. With the help of the hotel clerk who had acted as my interpreter, I had hired a taxi to drive me to The Great Wall. I thought that my request was simple enough to avoid any confusion with the taxi driver, but I thought wrong. Because of the demands of the 50th Anniversary celebration under the communist rule that Beijing was carrying … [Read more...]
The Good China: Yunnan
Ni Hao once again from China, still the world's most populous country. I had forgotten since my last tour here which ended just 9 months ago that it may also be the world's loudest and dirtiest at times. Which is not to say it's all bad. Only the areas with too many people are. The trick is getting to those rare places without swarming masses as I finally did a week into my stay here. Hong Kong Phooey: Not that it's all that bad, I just liked … [Read more...]
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