Blue water lapped across my feet, squishing white sand between my toes as I strolled down Playa Dorada beach on my first evening in the Dominican Republic. Golden rays highlighted lush forest on the shore across the cove. A cool breeze tempered the heat of...
Our group stood quietly in the forest trying to ignore the mosquitoes buzzing incessantly as our guides played a softly-repeating whoop-like call over their loud speakers. We all listened as they paused the audio, straining to hear the faint response of a Gray-fronted Quail-Dove. Our...
Bromeliad-laden trees arched across the highway as my cab ferried me from Singapore’s international airport. A lusciously shade-dappled park with intermittent benches and exercise equipment ran along one side. Median plantings, neighboring walls, and even some of the buildings themselves were meticulously landscaped with botanical...
Fall isn’t a season I know well, having spent most of my life in the tropics or sub-tropics. I remember being completely baffled by it when I moved from the Philippines to Indiana for college - how could it be a bright and sunny day,...
We’d barely dropped from the ridge into our first flower-studded meadow along Mt. Rainier’s Northern Loop Trail when my hiking buddy popped the question – “What’s the wildlife goal this time?”I had to laugh; this woman knew me well. She’d trudged through parks in Miami...
Born in Seattle, one of my earliest delights was the rare glimpse of Mt. Rainier in her full glory, shimmering through breaks in the clouds. Family weekends, holidays and even commutes across the Cascade Range were punctuated by visits to Paradise, Tipsoo Lake, the Grove...
How do you approach a polar bear? I confess, it’s not a question I spent time contemplating until I began exploring my options for a polar bear expedition. Canada’s Churchill in northern Manitoba, otherwise known as the polar bear capital of the world and possibly...
I thought of my friend’s tale of her own visit to Stonehenge on a cold British morning as I shivered in the ticket line myself. She was huddled at the end of a long line in frigid pre-dawn fog when a van load of local...
Need a break from the Santa images, overplayed holiday jingles and frazzled crowds at the mall? My personal escape from the chaotic aspects of the Holidays is my Christmas tree. Over the years my tree has evolved from a potted palm with twinkly lights to...