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.

Iberia Mystery Master

 in Louisiana / Snowbirding / Travel media  tagged James Lee Burke / Louisiana / mystery writers / New Iberia / travel / travel books by

The name ‘Iberia’ came up a number of times in the planning of our New Orleans road trip and always made me wonder if it was the New Iberia I’ve come to know and love through the writings of James Lee Burke.  Sure enough, when we walked into the small town visitor’s center, there was a poster inviting aspiring novelists to a workshop. New Iberia, it seems, is a mystery lovers’ mecca.  That’s how good Burke is.  If you love books with such a strong sense of place that you feel you’ve lived there, give Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series a try.  The Neon Rain kicks it […]

Have You Seen My Mother?

 in Gratitude / Peru  tagged family / Mother / Peru / travel by

      When Mom was two or three, she told her mother something that sounded like “yammer yada blaa boo” to my busy grandmother.  Mom put on her mother’s high heels, packed up the cat and a little rocking chair and set off to visit her grandfather who lived three-quarters of a mile or so up the road.  But Mom didn’t take the road, she dragged the chair and cat cross-country through ditches and fences, gulches and cactus. Her mother enjoyed the quiet for a while then realized what was missing and panicked.  Mom’s father had no trouble following the high-heeled […]

Forth Worth Five

 in Texas  tagged Fort Worth Five / history / Kid Curry / outlaws / Texas / travel / Wild West by

The problem with being a slippery sort is that it’s so easy to slip up.  Kid Curry–the most wanted outlaw of his time and cohort of Butch and Sundance–probably changed his alias more often than his underwear.  He and those he ran with were so careful to ride under the radar that even when they made the mistake of having their picture taken, lawmen spent years looking for someone who could identify them. It was the already widowed bride from the wedding the fellas dressed up for, who finally provided aliases. Even she didn’t know their actual names. I learned the iconic tale […]

Cement Sinker? 2

 in Texas  tagged cement ship / Galveston / shipwreck / SS Selma / Texas / travel by

Concrete seemed not to be the best choice for shipbuilding. Who would have thought? The U.S. government tried using it during World War I because steel was in short supply. One of those ships, the SS Selma wasn’t completed until the war was over, so she was used as an  oil tanker for 11 months.  It wasn’t her fault that a reckless steersman put a hole in her, or that no one knew how to fix it.  She’s still toughing it out in the shallows off Galveston almost 100 years after she was abandoned there. As a shipwreck she’s a grabber. I wish I […]

Legacy Longhorns

 in Snowbirding / Texas / Wildlife/animals  tagged cattle drive / Fort Worth Texas / longhorns / stockyards / travel by

Fort Worth’s stockyards as tourist attraction?  It didn’t sound like a bucket-list item, but we needed a road trip stopover, so we gave it a try.  The historic tour set in turn-of-the-century brick cattle pens, turned out to be a real find.  The prime rib and smoked catfish were also exceptional. The cattle drive wasn’t so much — for good reason.  Pushing a rambunctious herd of longhorns past a lineup of small children would be insanity.  Still a half-dozen deadheaded longhorns escorted by shushing cowhands makes for a laughably lackluster spectacle. Indeed, the saddled photo-op steer on a street corner put […]

Snub Boat? 2

 in Travel tips  tagged cruise ship etiquette / Cruising / dolphin presentation / sophisticated travelers / travel by

I hadn’t realized what cruising has done for me until a writer friend dithered over her clothes and etiquette while attending my dolphin presentation at the local country club.  Before my first cruise I was equally stressed that all those rich, sophisticated people would look down their noses at me.  Now that I’ve spent a couple months sailing with seriously wealthy cruisers, I say “no worries Mate.”  There are always people looking for ways to feel superior, but Steve and I found that most frequent-cruisers are looking for friendly conversations rather than one-up ops.  People who are into status games must have a tough time figuring out who to snub because multi-millionaires generally dress and act the way they want to.  A […]

Death Squirt

 in Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged archer fish / Colorado / Denver aquarium / mangrove swamp / travel / volunteer work by

A beetle picked his way along a branch above a mangrove swamp. Wham! A geyser of water smacked him right in the kisser, dropping him into the water where he was snatched down a hungry gullet. On the other side of the globe, in Denver’s Downtown Aquarium, an innocent child climbs a ladder to stretch his arm over an exhibit and offer the fish a cricket. Wham! A powerful spurt smacks his palm dead-center, jolting the little guy with backsplash. The exhibit and swamp are each populated by hand-sized archer fish which specialize in precision squirts ranging to six feet.  I’d been captivated by an article about archers sometime back and am thrilled to find that the Denver aquarium not only has archer fish, it […]

Sloth Blockage

 in Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Columbia / jungle / sloths / travel by

“Sloths look sweet but they can tear your jugular out with one swipe.” Our volunteer trainer at the Denver aquarium reminded me of a photo shoot I had with a sloth in Columbia.  As you can see below the little guy’s claws did put me on edge. The handler wrapped the sloth’s legs around me slowly as if its limbs required extra time to move, and they did feel stiff, almost creaky. Sloth is not a weakness in the sloth’s case.  It’s about surviving in a predatory jungle.  An animal that moves slowly and sparingly is hard to spot.  Sloths do have […]

In Praise of Tuesday Afternoon Writers

 in Gratitude  tagged angels / gratitude / writers groups / writing by

One of my biggest pre-retirement worries was how to find a writers’ group to keep me growing. Good writers’ groups are a rare treasure, so when a woman I’d just met invited me to join her group, I answered by hugging her. Bless you Marsha! Our meetings keep me working when the going is tough, and feedback is important, but writers’ groups become so much more.  Shared writings are almost magical in their power to spirit us far deeper into each other’s experiences, gifts, and perspectives than conversation can. In kindling another’s courage to write what matters, I seem to open my mind extra […]

Roadside Romeo

 in New Mexico / Signs / Snowbirding  tagged country woman / Lonesome Dove / Lordsburg / New Mexico / romance / travel by

Spotted on a magnetic sign on a pickup truck in desolation New Mexico: Lonesome Dove seeking country woman for dinner and dancing. Would you give roadside romance a chance?