Wish Boats and Lighthouses I am not a good traveler. I get car sick on mountainous roads, I don’t sleep well in unfamiliar places, and I am grouchy if I don’t eat on time. So when my college-aged daughter told me she wanted to spend her summer internship at a camp in Casco, Maine, my … Continued
I wiggle my toes further into the sand, enjoying the coolness on my sun-burnt feet. Leaning back on my elbows, I butt-dance the sand into a more comfortable shape, feeling the sun caress my face in the early morning light. The beach, nearly empty of tourists, has only a few, lone souls appreciating the solitude. … Continued
It’s the scent of the place that keeps bringing me back, that lulls and haunts my memory when I am away from it. Miles of densely packed pine trees, woven and stitched together like a thick army: a force like that can’t help but emit not ripples but waves of their earthy perfume, rich and … Continued
Perhaps it is fitting that we celebrate the beautiful places to travel in America alongside the 50th anniversary of our nation’s War on Poverty. From the hill of an Appalachian farm, to the cellar of an abandoned metropolis, we have all witnessed two Americas in which we live. Yes, we can choose to ignore the … Continued
I remember vividly the first time I heard Avicii’s song “Wake Me Up.” I was riding from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Red River Gorge, Kentucky (The Red) with a bunch of fellow in-coming college students. The song created a new atmosphere in the van, everyone smiled a bit more and happiness seemed more alive. At … Continued
Secret Beach My dreams spread across the sheet, each fragment captured in its own little box: Moraine Lake; the Saskatchewan River Crossing; The Athabasca Glacier; Sunwapta Falls; Maligne Canyon; Tofino; Clayoquot Sound; Ucluelet; Vancouver. I savoured each name on my tongue – some smooth as New World silk, others rough as the cedar bark cloth … Continued
Make No Small Plans – or How I Learned to Love Home I was chatting late with a boyfriend one night. We were up in the balcony of the Improv Comedy Club in Chicago. Yup – that’s the one – with the red brick wall and a microphone. I worked in the box office there … Continued
Throughout the eighteen young years of my life, I have learned that inspiration is not so much a destination as it is a transformation. If you were to ask each person on earth what their definition of inspiration is, more likely than not, each answer would come out somewhat the same. However, if you were … Continued
Some say life is full of regrets. I disagree. You can’t change the past so you might as well learn from it. So by taking any regrets and turning them into lessons it is hard to find a place I have traveled without learning a lesson. Out of my limited hat of travels, one place … Continued
There has been a plethora of cataclysms over the years in the United States. From the attacks on September 11th in 2001, to Hurricane Sandy just last year. The United States has been able to come in sync as a whole and fight through every disincentive that comes our way. That’s why if I were … Continued