Category: Travels for Fun
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DAY 11. Madison, Wisconsin
In May of 1986, I finally figured out that I didn’t know diddly squat about anything so after five years of living and working in Central America, I packed my bags and came looking for an education. I really didn’t know where to go but I flew in to Chicago and then at the last minute decided to take a bus to Madison, Wisconsin and check out the University of Wisconsin. The bus dropped me off in front of Memorial Union. I pulled my life’s possessions – a backpack and a…
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DAY 10. BILLY GOAT TAVERN
Joseph loved the show Man Vs Food and watched the Chicago episode when host Adam Richmond ate his way through piles of Italian food. So Joe had a list of places he wanted to eat. We could only grant him one wish so we chose to go to the Billy Goat Tavern in downtown Chicago. The Billy Goat Tavern is famous for two reasons. In 1945, the Chicago Cubs seemed destined to win the World Series and local tavern owner William ‘Billy Goat’ Sianis attended game 4 with his lucky goat.…
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DAY 9. St Charles, Illinois
My grandfather was a Methodist minister and preached in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and California. My dad was a deep sea diver and brought the family to Southern California and Alaska. My uncle Carl was a journalist and settled with his family near Chicago. Because of these geographic differences I never got too close with the only first cousins I have – Jennifer, Jeff and Lee. About the last time the whole family got together was in Seattle around 1957 a year before I was born as shown in this…
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THE ELK MOUND TOUR
I was born in Southern California and didn’t move to Wisconsin until I was 10 years old. As a result I always felt like a bit of a foreigner here and that probably explains why I left Wisconsin after finishing university and spent most of my adult life living overseas. What I didn’t know at the time though is that my ancestral roots are very deeply embedded in Wisconsin and my ancestors were some of northern Wisconsin’s original homesteaders. I was keen to get in touch with my Wisconsin roots so…
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DAY 8. Twins vs Yankees
This was the day Joseph and I were really looking forward to – a Major League Baseball game! Russ offered us his company’s Twins season tickets and Jenni, Padma, Joe and I went to see the Twins battle the Yankees at Target Field. We were four of 36,000 fans who came out on a perfect Saturday afternoon for a ball game. There were plenty of Yankee fans in the stadium who proudly displayed their loyalty to their heros. But the Twins fans were very eager for a win after what’s been…
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EXPLORING RUINS OF SYRIA
Every schoolchild has heard of the Sphinx, the Parthenon and the Coliseum but who has heard of Palmyra, Ebla, Ain Dara or even Crak de Chevalier? Syria has never gained the international recognition it deserves for its archaeological wonders and as a result has never benefited from the mighty tourist dollar which has allowed Egypt, Greece and Italy to restore their ancient cities and bring in even more tourists and recognition. Unfortunately Syria has limited funds to restore some of the world’s greatest archaeological sites and when they have attempted restoration…
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TORTUGUERO
Recollections from travels in Costa Rica – 1981-1986. Many images are scanned from duplicates (hence the poor quality) as the original Kodachromes remained in Costa Rica In the far north-east corner of Costa Rica, lies Tortuguero National Park – a park bursting with biological diversity and an important nesting area of four species of sea turgles. The park is bordered by the Caribbean on the east and consists of a maze of interconnected canals. A naturalist’s paradise. There are no roads leading into Tortuguero. You arrive either on boat by travelling…
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CHECKING OUT CORCOVADO
Upon arriving to their host country, Peace Corps Volunteers go through a very intensive three-month training course. About a month after arriving in Costa Rica, my fellow volunteers and I finally learned who we would be working for and where. Three of us were assigned to Mario Boza, of the Environmental Education program of the Costa Rican Open University (UNED). Mario visited our Peace Corps training grounds with our assignments and said he wanted ‘books, books and more books’ as he said there simply weren’t enough books about Costa Rica’s natural…
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TWO ASCENTS OF CHIRRIPO
At 3,280 metres Cerro Chirripó is Costa Rica’s highest peak, the second highest in Central America and the 37th highest in the world. The peak is the centrepiece of the 50,000 hectare Chirripó National Park which was established in 1975. I climbed Chirripó twice –alone in January 1982 and with a couple of mates in March 1983. It’s not a technical climb but does involve an ascent of 2500 metres in elevation and when carrying a full backpack can be quite exhausting. The hike alone is quite spectacular as you pass…
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