travel

Knitting Connections

 in China / Gratitude  tagged connecting / conversation starter / expats / family / great grandmother / hand crafts / Knitting / Mona Gardner / Shawna Williams / travel by

This post is borrowed from my daughter Shawna Williams who lived in China for three years.  To read more of her exploits click on this link:  https://americaninchengdu.wordpress.com/ August 20, 2010 I’ve discovered that a good way to strike up conversations with Chinese strangers is to knit in public. I think this is because Chinese people assume that knitting is a Chinese thing, so they figure that a knitting foreigner must be picking up local habits. On a recent four-day trip from Chengdu to Beijing via Shanxi Province, a man in a bus station mimed knitting and gave me a thumbs-up, and a few […]

Discovering Meaning II—Sotol

 in Snowbirding / Texas  tagged archeology / first inhabitants / making paint / pictoglyphs / Seminole Canyon / sotol cake / state park / Texas / travel / west Texas desert by

Mind boggling, the truths archeologists can tease out of an ancient glob. First inhabitants of Seminole Canyon in Texas used bulbs from a yucca-like plant called sotol to cook up portable, storable cakes. Raw sotol bulbs are soapy and painfully gut cleansing. Those problems were overcome by covering them with prickly pear leaves and hot coals to bake, letting them sit for a time before grinding them into meal, adding water and forming them into cakes to be seared on a hot rock. This painstaking process produced a  cake with a dirt/yam fusion flavor. Obviously food options were scarce in the west […]

Crustacean Liberation Cruise 2

 in Our Quest / Snowbirding / Texas / Wildlife/animals  tagged ALDFG / Anahauc / crab trap cleanup / Emily Ford / Galveston Bay Foundation / game warden / Lone Star Law / NRG Energy / Patricia Vannoy / Texas / travel by

“See the lady in the pink shirt? I think she’s from Colorado. She’s got a blog and everything.” I was actually wearing green, so I overheard Emily Ford, the event organizer, pointing a faux me out to her setup team. A retired Water Resources Director and lobbyist from Houston, was also awed that I’d come 1000 miles to the Texas gulf to rescue crabs from derelict traps. Well, excuse me, but Abandoned Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) kills countless sea creatures every year including dolphins, whales, turtles, seals, and yeah, crabs. Why wouldn’t I want to help? An unexpected bonus came in my being assigned […]

Northern Normality 2

 in Canada / Wildlife/animals  tagged Authors on Eighth Writing Contest / Dawson City / Jack London / Robert Service / Thaw-digra / travel / Yukon Territory by

Rode an ATV to tea Fresh from meeting Sam Magee. Grand digs and heirloom china too, All because “we like you”? We like you too and we might stay But oh, the winter’s cruel they say.   So dark and cold that fissures crack, Grit and grunt to fill them back. La, the stories locals tell Of artfully rebranding Hell. Engage the neurons, thrill and train Before the darkness drills your brain. Wouldst thou learn a sexy skill? Tassel twirling o’er the hill. Weaving, pickiin’, tossing ax, Write a memoir, make up facts. Ice worms dancing in the road? Sober […]

A Gift from the Orient 2

 in China / Travel tips  tagged China / Chinese customs / Jiuzhaigou / pocket knife / souvenir / travel by

We needed souvenirs for ranching men, and what better than knives? But Chinese gift-shopkeepers carried no knives. A knife, given as a gift, would signify the giver’s wish to cut off the friendship. We walked the length of the Jiuzhaigou shopping street, asking for knives at each shop.  No one had a knife, but when we walked past those same shops on our way back to the hotel, the sellers met us on the sidewalk to offer knives of all kinds.  This one isn’t sturdy enough for ranch work, or much of anything else, and we were skeptical of the […]

The Haunting of John Wilkes’ Grave 2

 in Maryland  tagged Baltimore Maryland / Green Mount Cemetery / John Wilkes Booth / pennies / travel by

J John Wilkes Booth’s grave seems a likely top attraction for Baltimore’s Green Mount Cemetery.  The staff is happy to mark the location on a map, and that took us to the family plot, but even so, there was no finding J.W.  What we found was more interesting–pennies.  I noticed a collection on an unmarked stone at the corner of the plot.  More balanced amongst the raised “Booth” lettering on a central stone.  The more we looked, the more pennies we found. Where do they come from…and why?  It’s not hard to guess, but can anyone know for certain?

Where To Hear Tunes

 in Snowbirding / Texas / Travel tips  tagged Bronson / Las Vegas / Live music / Nashville / Texas / travel by

What city is the live music capital of the US? Austin? Really? How does Austin out croon Nashville, Branson, and Vegas? Willy, Waylon, and the Boys I guess. Luckenbach is right down the road.

Berries and Bears

 in camping / Canada / Wildlife/animals  tagged bear / Canada / Saskatoon berries / serviceberries / travel / Waterton Park by

I’ve always loved finding sweet ripe serviceberries (pronounced sarvice) while hiking in the mountains.  The Waterton Park guide called them Saskatoon berries which has an even funner ring to it. Our campsite was overrun with them, so when our dog spotted a bear rummaging around right under our window, I was only surprised that the bear didn’t stay longer.  

Bowhead Blessing 1

 in Alaska / Gratitude / Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / Anchorage / baleen / Education / Native Alaskan tribes / NOAA / protected species / travel / whales by

I wanted baleen bad, but I didn’t want to go to jail over it — especially in the middle of giving a whale lecture. So when Steve and I set out for Anchorage, I called NOAA and asked how I could carry a piece of a protected species around the world without risking handcuffs. No problem, actually. If a member of a Native Alaskan tribe inscribes the baleen with artwork, it is no longer taboo. Better yet, the agent I talked to, had a few illegal pieces that were cluttering up the NOAA office, and he was happy to gift […]

Moving On

 in camping / Canada / Newfoundland  tagged camping / Newfoundland Ferry / restless travelers / shark habits / travel by

A fellow Newfoundland Ferryboater commented on the miles that Steve claimed we’d put on our trailer. I said that Steve is the kind of guy that likes to get there…and there, and there, and there.  The man’s wife upped the smart comment bar by saying: “He thinks he’s a shark and has to keep moving or die.”