We had hiked for seven hours, miles from any passable road, the trail, the only way in or out. A morning spent drifting between deserted beaches and smothering jungle canopy. One leaving us exposed to the merciless tropical sun and the other to stifling humidity. Though caked in sand and sweat, it was impossible to … Continued
On Easter Sunday, 2013, my husband and I began our 110ish-mile trek from Cleveland, Ohio, south to New Philadelphia on the old Ohio-Erie Canal towpath trail. I was writing a book about an 1840’s mule driver, and wanted to replicate his journey. Somewhat. I’m fifty years old. I hadn’t backpacked for twenty-five years. And I was … Continued
Thank you to Prevention Magazine for including me in their “Go For It” section for January 2014! “Staying active is my passport to adventure.” Lisa Niver Rajna, 45 Teacher, travel writer When the travel industry went into a tailspin after 9/11, I lost my job as a senior assistant cruise director. Heartbroken over the fact that my … Continued
I stepped off my first international flight at 4:39, along with nineteen other visitors from our small town. We sleepily boarded transpiration that would take us from the city to the jungle. Most of the travelers slept peacefully on the trolley. I sat in the front bench inspecting the strange landscape out the window. It … Continued
Arriving to the upscale restaurant dressed up and excited to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Puerto Rico, we were shocked when the maître d’ blurted, “You are late but we will seat you.” Our expectation was that our 8:00 p.m. dinner would lead to hours of frivolity in Old San Juan; however, from the moment … Continued
I felt the excitement building as we winged our way through a stunning sunset from Buenos Aires to Iguazu airport. The hotel set in lush sub-tropical gardens gave us a taste of what was to come. The next day our adventure began when a vehicle from the Lodge in the Yacutinga Reserve transported us from … Continued
After reading Confessions of a Bad Teacher, I wrote an article called “Why So Many of America’s Teachers Are Leaving the Profession,” which had received over 1450 likes and over 50 comments in the HuffPost50. My next article in HuffPost Education was called Secure Attachment: Do Good Teachers Need It? about the same book and … Continued
My leaden legs plod beneath me. They scream for rest but my mind is resolved to keep moving. I fear that if I stop I may collapse irrecoverably. It feels as though someone has placed a boulder inside my backpack and my body is strangely sluggish. I have only trudged this path for a few … Continued
By Judith La Porte Savannah, Georgia – picturesque, charming, immersed in history and haunted. A pleasant drive from Atlanta where my daughter, Amy is currently living, it is a place I had always longed to visit. Like many others I was fascinated by the depiction of the elegant and eccentric Savannahians in John Berendt’s 1994 … Continued
The Sea of Cortez is so large that the conquistador, Hernán Cortez, thought it was the ocean. Sometimes it is sapphire, bluer than the sky and deep, as if penetrating the skin’s surface and merging with the sea in me. Near the shore, the Sea often exposes the rocky beaches it covers like a jade-green … Continued