breathtakebyways

About breathtakebyways

Ann Williams’ travel articles have appeared in publications all over the country including The Washington Post, Roads to Adventure, and Jack and Jill. Between researching and writing books, she specializes in creative lectures.

Dolphins Boosting Wounded Warriors

 in Florida / Gratitude / Wildlife/animals  tagged dolphin / Dolphin Research Center / dolphin therapy / donation suggestion / DRC / Giving Tuesday / PTSD / travel / Wounded Warriors / WWP by

Since 2009 the Dolphin Research Center in Florida has been partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project to ease severely wounded heroes into healthy civilian lives.  Project Odyssey, named for Homer’s saga of a hero’s journey home, helps brain injured and PTSD warriors work through challenges and improve their outlook.  The warriors participate with peers in a three day retreat which includes dolphin dock interactions and a dolphin swim.  The atmosphere and activities are designed to invite warriors to connect with their outer world in a stress-free, nurturing environment. In addition to core goals of bonding with others on similar journeys, connecting with nature, and learning new skills in a novel setting, the program supports the warriors […]

Galveston, Port of Storms

 in Snowbirding / Texas  tagged Galveston / Galveston Hurricane of 1900 / high water marks / history / island / sculpted trees / sea wall / storms / survivors / travel by

Galveston history makes for a strong role model in challenging times.  The Galveston hurricane of 1900 is still counted the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States.   After a night of battering wind and waves, survivors found much of their thriving city demolished if not washed away.  Islanders had no contact with the mainland, no water, lights, fuel, or water.  Many had no shelter.  Food and clothing were scarce.  The task of disposing of over 6,000 bodies was so gruesome that men had to be forced at gunpoint to take part, and whiskey was allotted to ease their anguish.  After dumping the bulk […]

Suffering Sweetness

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Peru / Wildlife/animals  tagged blackflies / bloodsuckers / butterfly / butterfly garden / Florida / Minnesota / mosquitoes / New Foundland / Peru / Thanksgiving / ticks / travel by

After a walk in a Minnesota park I glanced at my shoes and started tearing my clothes off.  Ticks were swarming my laces, storming my socks, and breaking ground on my shins.  The battle was epic.  In Florida, mosquitoes ravaged my legs right through my leggings until I looked like I’d been kick-boxing cactus.  In Newfoundland, heavy clothes helped, but blackflies left knots all over my neck.  Then a Peruvian butterfly garden specimen perched on my arm and begin shoving its proboscis at my skin…drinking my sweat? Steve may be right about my being a bug magnet.  My parents used to call me “Sweetness” which sounds nice, but I’m beginning to suspect it […]

Bridging 4

 in Gratitude / New Mexico / Snowbirding / Travel media  tagged American Indians / Bennet Spring State Park / bridges / Foundation for Alcoholic Research / New Mexico / Rio Grande Gorge / Royal Gorge / suicide / Sydney Harbor / Taos Pueblo / The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian / travel / wish list by

I’m a bridge walker which is nothing like a street walker.  I just love bridges. I’ve walked the Brooklyn, Sydney Harbor, Royal Gorge, Multnomah Falls, London (in Lake Havasu) and pretty much every other bridge I could get my feet on. But until Steve and I walked the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge outside Taos, New Mexico, I’d never seen a bridge equipped with a phone offering on-the-spot suicide counseling. Ten of those hotlines were spaced along the Rio Grande Gorge’s span. Why is suicide such an issue there?  A Taos Pueblo tour guide told us that young American Indians are two to three times more […]

Dog Gone 2

 in Snowbirding / Travel tips / Wildlife/animals  tagged Blue Grass music / Cherokee Alabama / coon dog cemetery / Deep South / Labor Day festival / Liars Contest / travel by

In search of attractions to add to our Deep South itinerary, I came across a coon dog cemetery.  I like dogs and cemetery strolls, but I think it’s enough to know that this coon dog cemetery exists. If you’re thinking of adding it to your list, Labor Day might be the time to go.  An annual festival includes Bluegrass music, hickory smoked barbecue, decorated graves, and a Liars Contest telling tall tales.  No, really, it’s true!

Quest Blessing

 in Gratitude / Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged Denver aquarium / presentations / sea jellies / sea stars / shark huggers / Stirring Sea Secrets / volunteer enrichment by

The Denver Aquarium seemed like a good place to find audiences interested in hearing my Stirring Sea Secrets presentations, and it is, but when I contacted the education manager there I found I’d stumbled on a motherlode. Colleen Shipley’s standards for volunteer enrichment programs are stringent. Every driblet of information in my hour-long talk had to be cited to respectable sources. My terminology needed updating too. Starfish and jellyfish are now sea stars and sea jellies because they aren’t fish–the very sort of nitpicking I needed to bolster my confidence and credibility. Colleen’s passion for education keeps her running hard, but […]

High Tide Horror? 2

 in Canada  tagged Bay of Fundy / highest tide change / Maitland / Nova Scotia / rafting the tidal bore / travel by

  The Bay of Fundy claims the world’s highest tidal change, and in Maitland, Nova Scotia that water runs unsettlingly red. Our tidal bore guide rafted us out to a sandbar, invited us out of the raft, and insisted that we go watch the tide cover the sandbar. None of us seemed too keen on the idea of walking the length of a drowning sandbar, but the experience turned out to be my favorite of the trip. As the floodwater’s shallow leading edge lapped over sand ripples, it made a cheerful, almost tinkly, sound. The pink wavelets seemed to be whispering and chuckling like cute horror show “innocents” […]

House Haunter on the Loose

 in Louisiana / Snowbirding  tagged amputations / Avenue Plaza Resort / Civil War / ghosts / graffiti / haunted house / Louisiana / New Orleans / piano / toys / travel by

The Avenue Plaza Resort in New Orleans offers a pool, rooftop sundeck, fitness center…and a haunted house? Yes, a Civil War era house occupies the resort’s back corner, and on certain evenings, hotel employees offer free tours. Our guide was new and had only heard rumors of ghostly goings-on.  She’d been told that twelve ghosts inhabit the house which was used as a hospital (amputation factory) during the war.  One of the ghosts objected to visitors playing her piano.  Another sometimes rearranged the toys on one of the beds. If our hosts were in, they apparently were not feeling it.  Vigilant as we […]

Celebrity Sauce

 in Louisiana / Snowbirding  tagged Avery Island / Bird City / ecology / factory tour / fermentation / hot sauce / Louisiana / McIlhenny family / Mr. Ned / salt mine / snowy egret / Spanish moss / spreading oaks / Tabasco / travel by

The Avery Island, Louisiana Tabasco Factory tour is about what you’d expect and not at all.  Inside, the factory is the typical sterile, automated, conveyor belt, assembly line.  Not the sort of thing you usually find in the midst of a jungle island.  The McIlhenny family has taken pains to preserve the beauty and habitat for generations.  Back in 1895, before ecology was even a thing, “Mr. Ned” founded Bird City, a refuge to foster a colony of the then endangered snowy egrets. Having spent my life in a prairie, I treasure trees, and massive oaks draped in Spanish moss are especially enchanting.  It was good that I was more than happy just hanging […]

Painreliever Puzzle

 in Alaska / Snowbirding / Travel tips  tagged Alaska / back pain / motion sickness / pain reliever / puzzle / sudoku / Travel tip by

When we drove the Alaskan Highway, my back protested the long hours in the truck.  I tried pillows and cushions and giving Steve heck, some of which helped, but not enough.  Then I happened on another sort of remedy–Sudoku.  Puzzles do an amazing job of muting discomforts of all kinds, and for some reason, staring at them doesn’t make me carsick. They are somewhat addictive, and I miss miles of scenery, but I see a lot more than I would staying home with a bad back.