Today I was a very brave person. Despite my inner voice telling me to stay home, give my busy self a relaxing day for a change, I put the leash on my dog and we …
May 12, 2013
Festivals
I survived Carlsbad Village Faire
Celebration of Life at Day of the Dead, Oaxaca
“The word death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips. The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates …
March 18, 2013
Carnaval en Rio – Firsthand
My head was pounding. Fireworks crackled overhead. Hordes jeered, screamed, waved and then broke into joyous whirls of samba. The smell was unbearable, an open sewer ran beside our Sambódromo warm-up lane, and yet thousands …
September 28, 2012
Gila, Geronimo and More in New Mexico
Along the Gila River built into five interconnected caves high in a canyon wall, in the 2.7-million-acre Gila National Forest and Wilderness Area, is a 700-year-old Mogollon pueblo designated as the Gila Cliff Dwellings National …
September 6, 2012
Utah's Moab Music Festival
From August 29th through September 10th, music will echo through some of Utah’s most scenic canyons. The Moab Music Festival aims to merge music with the natural landscape found along the Colorado River in the …
August 21, 2012
Bluegrass High in Telluride
"Festivarians are endowed by Planet Bluegrass with certain unalienable Rights, among those are music, mountains, and the uninhibited pursuit of Happiness." And so begins the Festivarian Bill of Rights, the code by which all who …
July 19, 2012
Beer in Bruges
At first glance, Bruges in Belgium doesn’t have a lot going on. It’s small. Tourists often outnumber locals in the summer. And in recent years it’s most famous for a quote from Colin Farrell in …
July 3, 2012
Glamorous Cannes, France
Cannes is a scenic resort town on France’s southeastern coast – a stretch of Mediterranean beach cities known collectively as the French Riviera. This busy destination features endless sunshine and gorgeous stretches of sand, so …
Outside Lands Inside a Car, San Francisco
Tickets in hand: check. Place to stay in San Francisco: check. Ride secured: check. Last night for two hours I (legally) downloaded over 21 hours of tunes for the eight-hour car journey. Mobile music leading …
August 30, 2011
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is usually a sleepy seaside town, known for commercial fishing and tourism. But when my girlfriend and I visited our friends Courtney and Chris, who recently moved to the area, the town was thronged …
July 14, 2011
Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Queen's Day
This might be hard to believe for the fun-loving Irish lads, but I dare any Irish person out there to out-party the Dutch. Not gonna happen – and I’m not sure you’d want to. In …
June 21, 2011