Young, scruffy-haired lifeguards cruise past us in ATV’s with the day’s warnings written on a board bolted to the back.  Storms can blow through here and change as frequently with the tides, good thing they use an erasable marker.   “No Swimming” flags flap in the wind as the rip currents from far-off tropical storms make swimming and splashing about a bit more of a dangerous undertaking.

We drove down the eastern coast of the United States from New Jersey to North Carolina in about six hours and then over the only bridge connecting this skinny strip of land to the mainland.   If you live on the east coast of the United States, you’ve probably either vacationed in the Outer Banks or know someone who has.  This narrow string of barrier islands curving alongside North Carolina in the Atlantic has long been a vacation haven for families and couples looking for an easy-going getaway.  Because of the weather, it’s also a great place for a little tennis or Carolina Golf.   If you are looking for the ‘woop-woop’ and fist-pumping parties of Daytona Beach or Seaside Heights, this isn’t the spot for you.

I was fortunate enough to be spending a week in Corolla Beach the first week of September this year.  The perfect time if you ask me (well even if you didn’t ask me…I am the one with the blog so…).  The big summer season had just ended and being that it’s a major ‘family’ vacation area, most kids were back in school so it was still warm and a bit more of an all adult-resort at the moment.  Plus there was the added benefit that the ocean water was still a comfortable temperature having been warmed up all season.

The north end of the Outer Banks is less commercial than the south – making it even less of a party, spring break spot.  It’s a much more residential-scene with gargantuan wood-shingled beach homes that board several families and friends who come down here to enjoy a week of family-time or alone-time like us.   We are staying at, St. Nicks (most houses have names, just like you find on boats, this one happens to be named for my nephew, Nicholas!), a great house just a block from the beach in a small community called Pine Island.   The Harris Teeter supermarket (henceforth dubbed “Harry Teets” by my boyfriend) is just a mile away and everything else we need is at our ‘home’ for the week – a pool, a hot tub, several decks with plenty of spots to sit and chill in the afternoon sun, and a grill (nothing says American vacation like the smell of a grill), plus tennis and basketball courts nearby.

My favorite thing to do here?  Nothing.   We spend a good part of the week just being and being together – lying in the sun, eating junky ‘vacation’ foods from our childhoods (ya know health foods like: Pringles, Oreos, Hot dogs, & Kraft “American” cheese on Ritz Crackers) and adhering to no schedule at all.

It was wonderful.  But if you are looking for a little bit more than ‘nothing’ there are all the standard water sports – kayaking, jet-skiing, wind surfing.  You can also check out the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, which, like the other lighthouses on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, still serves as an aid to navigation. The beacon comes on automatically every evening at dusk and ceases at dawn.

At the north end of the Outer Banks, Highway 12 comes to quite a cool and abrupt end without much warning.  Flashing signs right at the very end let you know it has ended just as you start to feel sand under your tires.  The road ends, but you can keep going driving on the 14-mile-long beach where wild horses and small ‘sand’ communities of big beach homes hide among sand dunes, as long as your vehicle has four-wheel drive.  The horses are apparently descendants of wild Spanish mustangs that were shipwrecked or abandoned by European explorers in the more than 400 years ago.

I snap some shots of the horses and we drive a bit more until the sand gets a bit too soft and too high for us to not worry about getting stuck.  So we turn around and head back to our home for the week and return to snacking and being lay-abouts.  Perfect.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the PGA Tour on the Golf Channel.  As always, all writing and opinions are my own.

Traveling can fill you with emotions.  The obvious ones: excitement, joy, exhilaration, wonder and so on.  I’ve tried to express here that, like life, it isn’t always roses. There are times of frustration, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and sadness. Traveling isn’t a ‘vacation’ and it becomes ‘life’ of a different sort.   But those of us that love it, love it all and know the benefits far outweigh any negatives.   These people tend to live their lives with the same positive outlook as well.

Through my travels I have directly and indirectly met dozens and dozens of people with this same attitude.  I have met them face-to-face all over the world from Hanoi to Ecuador to Egypt. But I also have met many people online through this blog.  Because of this little website – I’ve made contacts for jobs and made good friends that I’ve met in person and seen several times thereafter.

I answer just about every email I receive (except for those spammy ones – no, I won’t advertise your on-line gambling company).   About two years ago, I received a fun comment on a blog post about Ecuador from a girl named Reed in Hoboken, New Jersey (my home state!).   She had found me through a podcast I’d done with Chris Christensen on the Amateur Traveler about how I worked around the world.

We had some nice, easy emails back and forth and she told me she was working in New York City and at the same time ‘planning her escape into the world’.

Like I do with many of my new email friends, I saved her email as a reminder to try and meet up with her next time I was in New York.  I could tell that this was someone I wanted to know.   This was someone with whom I would most likely become friends and know for a long time.  I could tell she had the same attitude as me and was really living.  And this is what life is all about to me – making connections with people and sharing ideas and a lot of laughs.  A year later, I emailed her to let her know I’d actually be in Hoboken and hoped maybe she could meet up for drink prior to a dinner engagement I had.

The email I received back hit me like a ton of bricks:

Hello Lisa.  

My name is Rhonda and I am Reed’s mother.  I am very sorry to say that Reed passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure last July.  She had her trip to her final frontier, Asia, planned and paid for.  She was going in September.  

We say that she is traveling.  I guess there’s no place that she can’t visit now so that would make her happy. Travel was her true passion.

I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to meet.  You would have loved my daughter like so many other people that I met and have heard from.

I was floored. I’d never met her, but sat there stunned and cried for her and even more for her family.

Reed Angela Davis was just thirty-years-old when she died last summer. She was born in Florida and lived in Boston, New York City and Hoboken. She was the salutatorian of her graduating high school class, received an International Baccalaureate Diploma, and was a National Merit Scholar.  She graduated with honors from New York University, where she received her undergraduate and law degrees.

I wrote Rhonda back and expressed my deepest sympathies.  She agreed to do an interview with me about her daughter so I could write this tribute on her behalf.

Lisa: When did Reed first get interested in traveling?

Rhonda: I don’t know exactly when the travel bug bit Reed.   I took her to Costa Rica when she was 13 or 14 and she hated it, so that certainly didn’t do it.  She went to Australia on an exchange student program the summer after she graduated from high school.  That might have been the start of it.   The following year, as a part of her undergraduate scholarship at NYU, she had to go to Italy.  The following year, also as a part of her scholarship, she went to Prague.  She had a great time on those trips.  I also think that many of her classmates at NYU traveled quite a bit, so they may have also influenced her.

She and a high school friend did a whirlwind tour of Europe in May of 2001 and there was no stopping her from then on.  Her main focus in life was making enough money to travel (oh, and to buy designer handbags and shoes). Her postcard to her brother and me dated May 13, 2001 says:  “Vienna sucks.  Everyone is homely & smokes incessantly.  We’re trying to find the Danube but not having much luck.  We’re eating at McDonald’s to express our dissatisfaction.  We leave for Prague early tomorrow – thank God.” On May 14th, she writes, “I love being in Prague again.  It’s as beautiful as I remember and more people speak English than I remember – score!  It’s a much-needed relief from the unrelenting suckiness of Vienna.  I really love this city.  I miss you guys!”

Lisa: She wrote me that you traveled some together and enjoyed a trip to Chicago together? How was traveling with your daughter?

Rhonda: Reed and I did travel together some.  She lived in Paris for a few months in 2002 and I went and visited her there.  While I was there, we traveled to London and Brussels and since we didn’t kill each other, we talked about doing other trips together.

Reed gave me a Mediterranean cruise in 2007 for my 50th birthday.  We had originally talked about going to Ireland and Scotland, but our travel styles and ideas about a vacation were so different that we decided on this.  She had already been on the cruise, loved it, and thought I would, too.  She was right!

Reed was a planner so I let her plan almost everything and then I pretty much just showed up.  She would ask me if there was anything that I wanted to do and if the answer was no, she took care of everything. She would have an itinerary so that we could see and do everything that the destination had to offer in the time that we had there.

Rhonda and Reed went on to travel together to Chicago, New Orleans, Argentina, and Guatemala. Their next trip planned was Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reed made a must-see list in May of 2008:

I want to make a list of must-see travel destinations, just like my new role model, Tony Wheeler. Here is my list, on which I have included some places to which I have already arranged to travel just so I feel more encouraged when I check it off the list:

1. Egypt (pyramids)
2. Dubai
3. Jordan
4. Syria (Damascus)
5. Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda/Rwanda (safari(s))
6. Madagascar
7. India (Taj Mahal)
8. Nepal
9. Russia (Moscow/St. Petersburg)
10. Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
11. Bhutan
12. China (Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Hong Kong)
13. Macau
14. Argentina/Uruguay
15. Peru (Machu Picchu)
16. Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
17. Antarctica

She managed to do 1, 9, 14, 15, and 16.

Her most recent trip was to Russia in May of last year. Reed wrote home during her various trips :

On August 7, 2009 she wrote, “Machu Picchu was incredible.  It was so beautiful there in the Andes mountains.  I have no idea how they got all the stones up to the top of the mountains, but the people who built the place must have been very strong and physically fit.”

On May 28, 2009 she wrote from the Galapagos Islands, “This postcard show the famous blue-footed boobies, which I saw in the wild.  You wouldn’t believe how friendly the animals are.  They are totally unafraid of people, which makes it much easier to take photos of them.  I have really enjoyed myself on this trip and am glad I came!”

On February 10, 2009 she wrote from Egypt, “So far, Abu Simbel has been the highlight of the trip.  It is two amazing temples built by Ramses and Nefertari in the middle of the Nubian desert.  We had to take the scariest plane I have ever been on to get there, but it was worth it.”

On June 2 she wrote from Morocco: “…we were in Meknes this afternoon, which was beautiful.  It looks a lot like Spain.  I bought a present for Mom and ate a camel burger, which was delicious. (I was surprised).”

On August 16, 2005 she wrote from Greece, “I hiked up a ginormous hill today to see the monastery  where St. John heard God’s call to write the Book of Revelations.  I wanted to either throw up or black out by the time we got to the top so much that I thought I heard God’s voice, too.”

Asia was planned for September of 2010.  Everything was booked and paid for.

Lisa: What kind of traveler was Reed?

Rhonda: As far as the kind of traveler that she was, I would have to say that she was a conqueror.  She wanted to make sure that she did everything and saw everything that each locale had to offer. When she was planning a trip, the people never seemed too much of a concern except if she had to share a room, but she always came home with great stories of the people she met.  She could really bring them to life for me and I wish I had recorded those stories in some way. She always had good experiences and had formed some pretty solid friendships.

Lisa:  What do you want the world to remember about her?

Rhonda:  I want the world to remember her wit, humor, generosity, sense of adventure. She had so very many friends who absolutely loved and admired her. She was unbelievably thoughtful and fiercely loyal to those she loved. Reed was a supernova.  She burned incredibly brightly during her time here.  Anybody that knew her would tell you that she squeezed the most out of life that she possibly could.  We are taking her ashes to different countries.  So far she is in Israel, Italy, France, The Netherlands, and Argentina. In the fall she will be going to Germany.

To Rhonda, her father, Kent, and the rest of her family and friends…my deepest, heartfelt sympathies go out to all of you.  Reed and I never got to meet in person, but from our email exchanges, I knew she had a spark, a great sense of humor, and an optimism that makes you reach out to a stranger to say hello and chat about a common bond.  I know that she is dearly missed.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, Palm City, FL, (772) 287-5733 and Smallbean.org, a charitable corporation providing sustainable computer labs and an innovative technology skills curriculum empowering local communities to document and preserve their endangered cultures and languages.

Nowadays there are said to be approximately 400 million people speaking Spanish as a native language and a total of 500 million speakersworldwide. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese.   Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries in the world.  Are you getting my point? Oye chicos y chicas! (Warning: Non PC/fun writing coming up) Spanish is the new black. Literally. For about a decade now, Latinos have been the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing African-Americans.

So learning Spanish is a no-brainer and literally can be with a download-able language-learning program I just tried out called Bueno, Entonces. If you’ve wanted to improve your Spanish or learn from scratch…now is really the time. Vamos!

To get a feel for the program, here is a clip for you (if you are reading this in email and the vid doesn’t come through, please go to my site to see full video clip):

Click here if video is not above:

Bueno, Entonces quick info:

• Cost: $147 (for full download)
• 30 Classes = 18+ hours of audio and video to help you retain everything.
• 30,000 vocab words
• Slang dictionary

The Good (the Bueno)

You are not only learning Spanish, but the lessons are fun and quirky.  There are animated hosts that you like and root for: David, the lovable loser from Britain and Jimena, the cute and smart girl from Buenos Aires.

So it not only feels like a lesson, but like a bit of a TV show that you want to watch again to see what happens.  There is even character development.  Will Jimena fall for David’s sense of humor and constant advances? Will she break-up with her boyfriend? Or will David meet another Porteña linda (pretty girl from Buenos Aires) to date?  And often ‘dropping in’ is the oddly British-accented ‘Einstein’ professor who pops on to give us some deeper facts and explanations.

The graphics and animations are cute and well done. The whole thing has an overall fun, whimsical feel.

The program costs just under $150 which is less than half the cost of the popular Rosetta Stone course, which I find very slow moving and tedious. I have tried those too, but because there is so much repetition I get very bored with them very fast.

The Bad (the Malo)

The classes are based in Buenos Aires so there is a little slang and usage that is indigenous to that area. For example they pronounce 2 Ls together like ‘sh’. Whereas in most Spanish-speaking countries, the 2 Ls are pronounced like a ‘Y.’ Either way it would mess up the name of this blog.  In Spanish it would be pronounced ‘SH World Tour’ or ‘YA World Tour’.  That’s just not right.

The class moves along a fast clip…almost a tad too fast for me. As I mentioned, I’ve done some Rosetta Stone courses before and they were way too slow and too repetitive. While I love the quick pacing of Bueno, Entonces, sometimes, when you are trying to follow along and read all the words on the screen, it cuts to the next shot just a tad too quick.

The files to be downloaded are quite large so just keep in mind it will take awhile.  But like me, you can just start it and walk away or do something else in the meantime…like take a quick nap, solve a tricky algorithm,  eat a grilled cheese sandwich…or even better, make a quesadilla! Esta bien?

If you are about to travel or just want to improve your Spanish or even give it as a gift to someone else…Bueno, Entonces is a good idea!

Muchas gracias!

“The bathroom is in the back of the bus. Gentlemen, if you miss…you have to see me! Clean it up please!!”

‘Straight-to-the-point’ Douglas would be driving me and about 75 other passengers aboard a bus headed three hours southeast of Chicago to Indianapolis.

“Barring any traffic, we should be there on time, let’s just be safe. Indianapolis will be there,” he said during his slightly odd and slightly amusing pre-trip spiel.

Megabus is a fairly new long-haul bus company in the US and Canada owned by the much larger Coach bus company based in New Jersey.  Its marketing idea mimics that of many long-distance bus companies I’d seen abroad. On the side of their buses they tout a $1 ride.  I have known a traveler or two to snag these deals, but they are few and far between.  It’s usually for the rides that get in around midnight or leave very early in the morning and there are only a couple ‘dollar seats’ for each trip.  But if you’re flexible and on a tight budget – it’s a great deal.   In full disclosure I too got a very good deal on my tickets (read: free) because I’d be writing this story on Megabus.   The tickets I did reserve would have cost me $29 each way which seems like a pretty good deal, I think.

Megabus offers affordable regional bus service between nearly 50 cities from five hubs at New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, and Toronto. If you are based in New York City, you can  hop a bus to DC or Boston.  The buses in the Midwest connect cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

It was Thanksgiving week so my bus was largely filled with college students heading home for the holiday.  I was heading to Bloomington, Indiana for a visit with my cousins. Well, the bus was going to Indianapolis…then we’d drive the final hour down to Bloomington.  There are some double-decker buses in their fleet, but we were stuffed into a standard coach.  The bus itself seemed pretty new with plush fabric seats, metal foot rests, fold-down TV screens (not sure what would be showing on these as they were off the entire time), a bathroom in the back, and pull-down screens for the windows to block out the already-setting sun in the western sky.   On all their buses and on their website, they promote the fact that they have free Wi-Fi on the bus – a big plus to me since I was going to make this my office for the next three hours.  But, to my dismay (and discomfort) the seats were pretty tight with not as much legroom causing my laptop to barely fit on my lap without the screen bending in against the seat in front of me, making typing a slightly cramped affair.

In fact, as I was rushing to the bus stop, located right outside Union Station in downtown Chicago, I wondered why I didn’t just look into taking a train. Or did I look? I couldn’t even remember. But it was too late now, I was already a sardine in this metal tube on wheels heading to Hoosier country.

So what can I really say about a bus ride? It was a pretty standard inter-state type bus, wrapped in a slick marketing campaign.   But at least, the US is catching on with offering more public transportation routes to and fro. Now if only our train system could be upgraded to be on par to that of the European Union.

All that was missing was a small snack cart or offering. I was starving and had hoped to grab a sandwich on the way but was running late and did not want to make a fuss and possibly miss the bus.

A few days later, I boarded my return bus with a slight feeling of dread.  But this one was a double-decker.   It was like I was in London, but without anything British at all.  I climbed upstairs and found an aisle seat next to a thin girl (have to admit, this is a plus for obvious reasons).   This bus seemed a bit roomier and my knees weren’t hitting the seat back in front of me—keep in mind I’m only 5’4” tall.   I was typing this post as we cruised through the fields of corn and soybeans and wind farms of Indiana.   This bus seemed to be full of a mix of clientele and not just college students like the first ride.  So all in all, not too bad.  Not that college students are bad. Well, some are. Anyway, I realized on the way back that I’ve been out of the traveler mode for quite some time, so, really, for the price, this bus was clean and comfy.  Of course I didn’t pay for the bad breath of the passenger next to me. She was graciously skinny and didn’t crowd me, but when she woke up from her nap…wooo…it smelled like something died in there.

Oh…and just like on the ride out, the Wi-Fi stopped working. If they are going to advertise free Wi-Fi on their buses, they really should improve the system since it only seemed to work 50% of the time on both my trips.

To see if they are in your city or to book your next bus ride—check out Megabus.

For several years I celebrated Christmas very far from home.  Sometimes I was alone and sometimes I was with wonderful new friends. From a fabulous oyster lunch in Sydney, to a gastropub dinner in London pulling ‘crackers’, to a free Natalie Cole Christmas concert in Milan, it was always different and always more than I ever expected.  It was a little strange not being home for so long, but honestly, in many ways, it was more exciting and touching not to be.

Wherever you are home or abroad, with family or new friends…have a Merry Christmas from LL World Tour.

I’m writing this on what has been dubbed “Black Friday” in the United States. A big shopping push made by retailers all around offering big “Day after Thanksgiving” sales to lure anxious consumers into their stores to start their Christmas shopping.

After being unpacked now for six months, surrounded by all my belongings, I feel the need to take stock in how this feels.  Although, I am a purger and love getting rid of stuff and like to keep my life as simple as possible, there are still just some ‘things’ that come along with apartment living: i.e. kitchen utensils, sheets and towels, and bigger items like furniture.   I do like my bed and my couch and I enjoy cooking and having the pots and pans that I use.  But I was surprised by some of the extra items I had unpacked—like spare bottles of shampoo and lotion–I probably bought them because they were on sale.  There is this habit of stocking up or buying in bulk that I have kicked now—for two reasons: 1.  I simply don’t want to have extra items around me mostly because I want to be more mobile and want to be able to travel easily. And,  2.  I no longer have a car, so simply buying big, bulky items or multiples is thankfully no longer a real option for me. It’s not too fun dragging a super-size box of laundry detergent or a 20-roll package of toilet paper on my bike or on the bus or train, so I do just fine with my four-roll store brand package. It’s two-ply and everything.

But I still have gotten rid of so much and continue to try to pare down my belongings.  A nifty side-benefit of travel is that I lost weight from all the walking I did around the world.  And since I’ve gone down a size or two in clothing, I gave away about a third of my clothes.  Sure they were cute and maybe I’d gain the weight back, but I don’t care. I’d rather not hold onto it ‘just in case.’  I gave away the appliances I didn’t use often enough (bread maker, food processor, etc). These can come in handy once or twice a year, but they just weighed me down.   Overall I am still continuously trying to get rid of stuff.  And this idea of Black Friday makes me a little nauseous as Americans flock in droves to the malls to fight over the latest doll or video game for their kids.  Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with buying your children and loved ones some gifts, as long as the loving and ‘giving’ notion is really behind it.   I enjoyed many smiles as a kid opening fun presents under my mom’s Christmas tree.  But even as a young adult, I remember telling my mom I didn’t want or need much and definitely not anything physically ‘big’ that would take up a lot of space.  It makes me think of even more ways to simplify my life and how it’s not that difficult if you don’t ‘buy’ into the whole marketing machine of consumerist culture. Of course if you like that culture and shopping and if adding to your possessions is your thing you can stop reading here as this article will not pertain to you.

Simplifying your Life:

Material Possessions

My feeling is that if you don’t love it, use it, or wear it–get rid of it and more importantly try not to buy it in the first place.   Donate, swap, or sell the stuff you just don’t need.  Sites like Craigslist, Swap.com, Bookcrossing, & Sell DVDs Online are incredibly helpful with this.  Do you really need the latest iGadget just because it’s ‘new’ this year or has been upgraded to 57.5 Megapixels? We already live in too much of a throw away culture and we often turn a blind eye to exactly where these things are going after we just ‘toss’ them out.

People

Don’t waste time hanging around with people you actually don’t like or that tend to bring you down.  Around the time I turned thirty, I stopped doing this. I pride myself on being social and proactive in planning stuff with friends, but it finally occurred to me that I didn’t need to spend my time with you unless I actually liked you.  In my twenties, a bunch of us from my TV station used to hang out after work.  One day, I was asked to join a few and realized that I didn’t even really like these particular people and I’d enjoy myself more alone at home.  And that was that.  I started appreciating my own time more and what I actually wanted to be doing with it.

Communication

I am definitely attached to my email.  Admittedly, I check it whenever I can.  A lot of it is business related since I primarily work for myself now and have several different clients and outlets.  But I often find myself trying to do too much at once or being torn in different directions instead of staying focused on attending to one task at a time.  I’ve started trying to unsubscribe from email lists to at least whittle down the sheer number of emails I get each day (somewhere from 75-100).  Social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter can be fun, but also are an important aspect of my job.  But they are a huge time sink and take even more of my attention and time. It’s a necessary evil that I have yet to fully embrace.

One thing I am very good at is NOT talking on the phone.  I haven’t really enjoyed being on the phone since high school.  When I traveled for two and half years…I had NO cell phone. I canceled my plan (along with all of my bills) and didn’t miss it at all.  Of course that was because I hardly used it before and, as I mentioned, am more email-centric anyway.

Upon return, I have only purchased a pre-paid cell phone that I use as little as possible since I pay for every call and text. But this only costs me about $200 a year or $16 each month.  That is pretty good considering most Americans pay at least $50 each month and often closer to $100 per month.  And it serves me just fine.  I can still make or receive quick business calls and texts and don’t really feel it limits me at all.

Season of Giving

So as we enter this busy, very commercial season, how about giving your time more by volunteering?

And as far as gifts, how about giving something more experiential instead of material goods? Take a look at what my friends are doing at wisegifter.com where you can give people experiences instead of material ‘things’.

There is a balance to strike.  Of course, I’m not living like a pauper with nothing.  I enjoy some nice things. I love my comfy bed and for personal and work reasons love having my laptop.  But I just feel much more aware of all that I consume and then in turn throw away and I am glad to be aware of it and continue to reduce my footprint on our planet however I can.

It’s autumn in the USA right now and it’s  one of my favorite seasons.  I actually like something about every season and most of all I like living in places where I can experience the changes that each season brings.   I grew up in New Jersey and now live in Chicago where I’ve gotten to enjoy the flowers of spring, the hot days of running through the sprinkler in summer, the crisp fall nights with the smell of wood-burning fireplaces in the air, and the gorgeous white-blanketed tree limbs after a winter’s day of new-fallen snow.

Last year I went on a road trip up to beautiful New England, visiting Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.  It’s an area of the United States full of charming colonial towns nestled in wooded valleys where simple white church steeples poke out of an array of golden yellow and blazing red maples in the fall.  America is beautiful and this is one of the most charming and visually stunning areas to check out.

The Kancamagus Scenic Byway
White Mountains, New Hampshire, USA

This is probably not the first image that came to your mind when seeing this post’s title. But there it is — a blazing sunset over the Hudson River taken from the New Jersey side looking east toward New York.  Yes, just north of the city, is a gorgeous green state that goes for hundreds of miles all the way up to the border with Canada.

What’s special about this photo is that I snapped it when I was in high school.  That’s right, this was before digital, before Photoshop, and before sex (well, for me).   Got your attention?   ‘My first SLR’, my high school sweetheart and I were wandering around the New Jersey coast and lo and behold, the sky was really that ‘on fire’.  But what I always liked the most about this shot was the little tug boat and its tiny lights.

Red Dusk

New York 1990

Yes, Virginia there is a Chicago River.  Perhaps Chicago is most known for its vast Lake Michigan or for its towering Sears (Willis) Tower or its old, ivy-covered Wrigley Field. But lest we forget this amazing thoroughfare that serpentines right through the heart of the city. It carries commuters on water taxis. It’s crossed by 38 bridges. For forty years, it has been dyed a bright green every St Patrick’s Day. And its direction was magically reversed away from Lake Michigan in an engineering feat back in 1900 to help improve sanitary conditions of Chicago’s drinking water.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging public interest in architecture and design. CAF gives hundreds of tours (by boat, bus, bike, Segway, or on foot) exhibitions, lectures, and special events all around this city very famous for its skyline and architecture. From Daniel Burnham to Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry, Chicago has been progressive and innovative since it was burned to the ground back in 1871, creating that blank slate and canvas for something well-planned and truly amazing.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the CAF to take their wonderful and informative Chicago River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady.   I had taken the river cruise years earlier and had frequently recommended it to others. It’s fun to be on the river and also cool to learn more about the buildings that surround us everyday.

Expert volunteer tour guides—called docents—interpret more than 50 buildings along the Chicago River, revealing how the city grew from a small back-country outpost into one of the world’s most important crossroads in less than 100 years.

For more info or to sign up for the CAF River Cruise, click here.

Looking for an evening of sheer fun and non-stop smiles? This will do the trick: Dancing at dusk in Chicago with the beautiful Chicago skyline above. Good music. Good people. And great fun. Plus…it’s free.  Summer Dance is an annual Chicago program that takes place all summer, 4 days a week in Grant Park providing free dance lessons, live music, and good times.

[Cue big band music]  Whether you’re into swing, ballroom, salsa, house, gypsy, step, whatever… Summer Dance has something for everyone.  Got two left feet?  Don’t fret because before each night’s performance and open dancing, there’s a fun hour-long dance lesson.  It’s a great place for beginners who want to learn, and also for experienced dancers to slide across the dance floor.

My friend Robin and I checked it out last week and I couldn’t get rid of the smile plastered across my face. We sweated our way through a “jive” lesson while the Polish instructor made us laugh with his “stop…and jive” rhythms and funny jokes. Then it was time to ‘pair up.’ Just like an old-school dance, the ‘boys’ were instructed to come over to the ‘girls’ side and take a girl by the hand and twirl her around for the rest of the lesson.  It was also my partner’s ‘first time’, but I have to admit his dancing skills were worse than mine. This made me feel pretty confident until some ‘real’ dancers pulled me out on the dance floor later on and made me feel klunky and lost.

The greatest thing about Summer Dance, besides the actual dancing is the people watching.  The event draws together people from all walks of life, backgrounds, ages, classes, ethnicities.  You’ll find yourself watching (or dancing with ) a variety of people of all kinds – giggling toddlers and their proud parents, enthusiastic elders, groups of friends, couples hand-in-hand, and a few loners scattered throughout the dance floor. Yes, there even were some people kind of ‘out there’ that we really believed were on a field trip from their ‘ward.’ But they were some of the ones who looked like they were having the most fun.  On a beautiful evening out, it’s a wonderful way of appreciating Chicago and those who reside here.

Go dance. You will make friends and forget your troubles for a few hours. There’s just a few weeks left.

Check out these fun pictures here: