hugthetraveler

Australia Pt. 2 – Cairns at Night: Planks and Legends

Cairns, QLD – June, 2011 Continued from: Australia Pt. 1 – Arrivals: A Tour of Orpheus Hall Continued here: Australia Pt. 3 – Great Barrier Reef: Snorkeling and Sea Turtles We met Samantha and Emily at the bus stop, and then paid the criminally high fee to ride past cane fields and through the resort townsContinue reading “Australia Pt. 2 – Cairns at Night: Planks and Legends”

Australia Pt. 1 – Arrivals: A Tour of Orpheus Hall

Cairns, QLD – June, 2011 Continued here: Australia Pt 2 – Cairns at Night: Planks and Legends “Hey mate, you can switch with me if you want a better view.” I was looking out the window as we flew up the Queensland coast, transfixed by what was below. The water was a breathtaking mix ofContinue reading “Australia Pt. 1 – Arrivals: A Tour of Orpheus Hall”

The Manchester Road Race: A 4.748 Mile Thanksgiving Parade

Manchester, CT: November, 2017 Unlike further inland, the trees of the coastal northeast retain their leaves a bit later – the crunchy, half-shriveled ones that look as if they were photographed in sepia tone and make a scrape when they finally fall onto the pavement and blow across serpentine Connecticut lanes between century old stoneContinue reading “The Manchester Road Race: A 4.748 Mile Thanksgiving Parade”

100,000 Steps In San Francisco: An Anxious Outsider’s Walking Tour

San Francisco, CA – September, 2019 Day 1: 34,714 Steps When I walked up a carpeted staircase that smelled of cardboard and ginger, the proprietor flashed a peace sign, her two fingers inquiring if I had company. She looked dejected when I requested a table by myself but led me to a seat by aContinue reading “100,000 Steps In San Francisco: An Anxious Outsider’s Walking Tour”

Ascending the Indian Staircase: Red River Gorge with Lauren

Red River Gorge, KY: August, 2019 We began by walking down the Sheltowee Trace, a trans-Kentucky trail that starts just north of here and winds its way to the Tennessee border, the little cousin of the Appalachian Trail through the Appalachian state the original one forgot. It was a bumpy and shady single track andContinue reading “Ascending the Indian Staircase: Red River Gorge with Lauren”

Wilderness Something: Red River Gorge with Friends

Red River Gorge, KY: July, 2016 Danny was staring up into the branches of a tree when Lauren and I drove down the skinny lane to the cabin, listening to the familiar popping of gravel on the car’s belly. His girlfriend Veronica was on the balcony looking in the same direction, hand above her eyebrowsContinue reading “Wilderness Something: Red River Gorge with Friends”

South of the Bay: A Layover in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Point Lobos

Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA: September, 2019 “In your piece on San Francisco, I’d like to be referred to as ‘the Baron Salvatore Luis IV or else you cannot use my likeness” – My brother Mike, after reading the first two installments in this series. It was checkout time at the hotel and I had a flight toContinue reading “South of the Bay: A Layover in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Point Lobos”

Below Treeline: Spring in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain NP, CO – May, 2017 We entered the National Park during a driving rainstorm after a perfectly clear drive up from Lyons. Longs Peak was shrouded in several layers of gray, after appearing dauntingly above the foothills for most of the trip. Pyramidal with snow covering the top third, Longs Peak looks likeContinue reading “Below Treeline: Spring in Rocky Mountain National Park”

North of the Bay: Redwoods and Sonoma with my Brother

Sonoma County, CA: September, 2019 I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in the northbound lane again, this time by car and with my brother. We had one last full day in the Bay Area and wanted explore the areas north of the city, mostly the coast and redwood forests of Marin and Sonoma Counties butContinue reading “North of the Bay: Redwoods and Sonoma with my Brother”

Lanterns and Microbats: A Nighttime Tour of Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave NP, KY: August, 2018 Mammoth Cave National Park is the nearest to where I live, just edging out Cuyahoga Valley by minutes, but I had yet to visit. It is not named for the prehistoric elephantine species, but the cave’s position as the world’s largest, though the adjective itself comes from the iceContinue reading “Lanterns and Microbats: A Nighttime Tour of Mammoth Cave”