hugthetraveler

Costa Rica: Swinging with Sloths

Osa, Costa Rica: December, 2021 Continued from: Costa Rica: Coconuts on the Playa Costa Rica is the most biodiverse place on Earth, and nowhere is this more true than the Osa Peninsula, which doglegs out from the southwestern coast between Uvita and the border with Panama. This area of impenetrable and unbroken mountainous jungle is aboutContinue reading “Costa Rica: Swinging with Sloths”

Costa Rica: Coconuts on the Playa

Playa Ventanas, Costa Rica: December 2021 Continued from: Costa Rica: Swimming with Sea Turtles The sonorous groaning of the howler monkeys announced another morning in paradise but as is local custom, they were a few minutes late. I was already out on the chez near the pool watching a toucan nibble at something in a palmContinue reading “Costa Rica: Coconuts on the Playa”

Costa Rica: Swimming with Sea Turtles

Caño Island, Costa Rica: December, 2021 Continued from: Costa Rica: Welcome to the Villa We woke early one morning to go snorkeling, not difficult as the sun was up and the sky was blue by six in the morning every day. This was one of my favorite things about Costa Rica, the energetic, appropriately timed naturalContinue reading “Costa Rica: Swimming with Sea Turtles”

Costa Rica: Welcome to the Villa

Uvita, Costa Rica: December, 2021 I wasn’t planning on my first time driving in Costa Rica to be after dark but it was. We landed in San Jose at 1pm, looking forward to an early dinner at our Villa, which was about a three to four hour drive south, but a long line at customsContinue reading “Costa Rica: Welcome to the Villa”

Minnesota Redux: The Run and the Flames

Ely, MN: August, 2021 Continued from Minnesota Redux: The Sunset and the Shallows The activities in far north Minnesota in the summer revolve around either woods or water, and given the temperature, we spent the afternoons with the latter. The lodge fee includes rentals on non-motorized watercraft: paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, and something called an aqua-cycle. WhenContinue reading “Minnesota Redux: The Run and the Flames”

Minnesota Redux: The Sunset and the Shallows

Ely, MN: August, 2021 The northern triangle of Minnesota, the pine and birch covered part that juts out over Lake Superior, is so sparsely populated that they didn’t need to put too much thought into naming the county roads. To get to Ely from Duluth, you can either take Route 1, which arrives from theContinue reading “Minnesota Redux: The Sunset and the Shallows”

The Freedom Trail: A Walk Around Old Boston

Boston, MA: June, 2021 Continued from: Fenway and the Finish Line: An Evening in Modern Boston A quarter of a millennium before my visit to Boston, the seeds of discontent had blossomed into rebellion in what was then a colonial seaport. Maps from that era are hardly recognizable as the same city. What we now knowContinue reading “The Freedom Trail: A Walk Around Old Boston”

Fenway and the Finish Line: An Evening in Modern Boston

Boston, MA: June, 2021 It looked fairly walkable to Fenway Park despite the distance, as Boston’s streetscape developed centuries before cars deemed our legs obsolete. Besides, I was in the city during a rare moment in time, just weeks after all capacity restrictions ended in the state of Massachusetts, but not late enough that theContinue reading “Fenway and the Finish Line: An Evening in Modern Boston”

The Tallest Mountain: Mt. Mansfield and the Long Trail

Mt. Mansfield, VT: June, 2021 Continued from: The Greenest Mountains: Burlington and a Big Red Bus Not far south of Jeffersonville the Green Mountains launch upward so steeply and dwarf in ruggedness anything in the east outside of New Hampshire. As they loomed ahead, a flashing sign read ‘Route impassible for trucks’ followed about a half-mileContinue reading “The Tallest Mountain: Mt. Mansfield and the Long Trail”

The Greenest Mountains: Burlington and a Big Red Bus

Jeffersonville, VT: June, 2021 It wasn’t far after crossing the Champlain Bridge that I began to notice signs in both English and French and saw Vermont’s namesake mountains paralleling the lake shore. It could have been self-manifesting confirmation bias but the trees really did look greener, as if they permanently retained the squint-inducing electric limeContinue reading “The Greenest Mountains: Burlington and a Big Red Bus”