Scenic State Park, located in northern Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Country, features glistening lakes surrounded by forested hillsides. It has a bit of all the things that make this part of Minnesota special. Exploring Scenic State Read More …
The products SC Johnson (Johnson Wax) manufactures are probably familiar to most, as they include household staples like Windex cleaner, OFF! insect repellent, and (my favorite for packing) Ziploc storage bags. However, fewer people realize Read More …
Claude Monet’s gardens and home in Giverny, France, offer a peek into the famous Impressionist painter’s world. Wandering Monet’s gardens and more in Giverny Painter Claude Monet moved to the village of Giverny in the Read More …
Sparreholm Castle (Sparreholm Slott) is one of the hundreds of manor homes that wealthy land owners once built in the Swedish countryside around Stockholm. Over the years, Sparreholm has undergone significant changes in both its Read More …
Tourists heading to Puerto Rico in search of the island’s history would do well to visit San Germán. Exploring San Germán Everyone knows San Juan is the colonial heart of Puerto Rico. However, in the Read More …
Surrounded by laterite in Duong Lam Commonly referred to as Duong Lam Ancient Town, this village near Hanoi, Vietnam, is among the last to retain its traditional laterite buildings. Laterite buildings have a long history Read More …
Established in 1579, Lithuania’s Vilnius University is among Europe’s oldest universities. It is also one of a very small number where the historic campus remains largely intact. This makes it a wonderful place to explore. Read More …
Day 4 off the tourist trail: Yen Minh to Hoang Su Phi Day four of our northern Vietnam road trip includes visits to several villages tucked into valleys far off the tourist trail. We also Read More …
Vietnam is filled with villages racing to modernize by tearing down their old buildings and replacing them with modern ones as fast as they can, but there are still places where visitors can see what Read More …
While Stockholm is the largest and most well-known of the towns linked together by Sweden’s Lake Mälaren, travelers would be wise to journey farther along the lake to discover its smaller and less-famous gems. The Read More …
The traditional Vietnamese villages of Duong Lam, Vietnam, have many treasures hidden within their ancient walls, but the largest collection – both in number and physical size — reside within the quiet confines of Mia Read More …
In the beginning, there was Best beer Before there was Pabst – or Miller or Old Milwaukee or even Schlitz “the beer that made Milwaukee famous” – there was Best, as in Best Select, an Read More …
I don’t really keep a bucket list, but one of the things I have always wanted to do is to see the cherry blossoms on the Mall in Washington, DC. I finally got to do Read More …
Looking for a hotel that does everything just right AND allows you to immerse yourself in Milwaukee’s brewing history? Then you belong at the Brewhouse Inn and Suites in the newly renovated Pabst brewery complex. Read More …
Watching the Milwaukee Art Museum open its wings It’s not every day you can watch a building take a morning stretch, unless, of course, you are in Milwaukee. Here visitors and residents alike have that Read More …
Time is a shapeshifter at Mission San Juan Bautista. This is a place where the past slips into the present, where both the church building and the religious life conducted within it have continued largely Read More …
Despite its name, Nyköping (which translates to “new market”) was founded in 1187, making it one of Sweden’s oldest towns. It’s a great stop for tourists, as the town has a charming center with a Read More …
Seen from the water, Gripsholm Castle (Gripsholms Slott) looks like a fairytale castle, with huge round towers (complete with onion-dome tops), high brick walls, and lush lawns. But it’s a real castle, one that has Read More …
Mission San Juan Capistrano (and its swallows) has been immortalized in song and film. It’s among the first California missions to capture the public imagination and has long been a popular tourist attraction. It’s easy Read More …
I love discovering cities on my own, wandering without much of a plan and little knowledge of what I might stumble upon. After all, if you don’t know what is supposed to be “important,” you Read More …
The countryside beyond Stockholm is home to hundreds of manor homes, the remnants of a time when large landowners controlled agricultural production in this part of Sweden. While many of these elegant manor houses remain, Read More …
The royal palace that serves as the permanent residence of the Swedish Royal Family has been nearly 500 years in the making, as the first true palace was built on the site in 1580. Built Read More …
Lake Superior once had a large number of independent fisherman working its icy waters. Those small-scale fisherman are largely gone now, their sturdy shacks slowly melting into the lake’s rocky beaches. But for now, these Read More …
While Minnesota has been home to immigrants from a wide variety of countries over the state’s 150 plus years of statehood, it’s probably best known for its ties to Scandinavia. (This is true even though Read More …
I’ve always been a fan of grain elevators. They are a link back to a time when agricultural production and architecture had a more human scale. I particularly like the smaller elevators found in rural Read More …
We returned to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for a day at the end of our travels in Vietnam. After a month traveling, the city that seemed impossible to navigate when we first came here Read More …
The ancient Vietnamese city of Hoi An is magical at any time, but I think it’s at its most enchanting when darkness falls. While it might be tempting to linger over dinner and drinks, this Read More …
Spain authorized the establishment of Roman Catholic missions in Alta California with the intent that these missions would become the nucleus for new cities inhabited by loyal Spanish citizens. In many cases cities did grow Read More …
The penultimate stop on our Texas Hill Country tour last year was the historic little town of Gruene, Texas. Settled in 1840, the town grew up around and in conjunction with the very successful cotton Read More …
One of the homes we visited in November 2014 as part of the house and garden tour offered by the Mérida English Library was owned by a couple of serial remodelers. Their own home was Read More …
Izamal wakes slowly. While the sun is already illuminating the facades of the city’s egg-yolk yellow buildings, the streets are still largely empty. Over at Itzamna Park, the morning maintenance workers are sweeping away the Read More …
The lovely church of Mission Santa Clara de Asis is the mission’s sixth church and the second at this, the mission’s fifth location. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? The many churches of Mission Santa Clara Here’s Read More …
Two or three stories above the streets of New York City’s Chelsea and Meatpacking neighborhoods, a former railroad track winds around and (literally) through the historic factories and warehouses that now serve as upscale homes, Read More …
With skyscrapers all around, it seems a bit superfluous for New York City to have a museum dedicated to skyscrapers. Why look at pictures and models of skyscrapers when some of the most famous ones Read More …
The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam) in Hanoi is a relic of a quieter, more structured and orderly time. The complex dates back to the early days of Hanoi’s founding, when Van Mieu Read More …
It hasn’t been a particularly snowy winter on Minnesota’s North Shore, but the fish shacks by Stony Point still look pretty cold above the icy blue water of Lake Superior. And the lake looks really Read More …
Rockefeller Plaza. What images flash through your head when you hear those words? My mind immediately glides to a blissful scene of ice skaters gracefully moving across an outdoor rink. There is an elegant concert Read More …
As we drove through northern Vietnam last fall, I was always curious about the people living in the towns and villages we passed along the way. Fortunately, we did have some time (not enough!) to Read More …
The House and Garden Tours offered by the English Library in Mérida, Mexico, begin with an introduction to the architecture styles found in the Yucatán and a list of the addresses that will be visited. Read More …
I saw a number of interesting things while up along Lake Superior’s North Shore for a photo class last June, but I wasn’t able to stop and photograph many of them. These missed opportunities included Read More …
Mission Santa Clara de Asis is one of only a small number of California missions to remain active throughout its history. Established in 1777, the mission barely survived “secularization” in the 1830s. It was ultimately Read More …
Wandering the streets below Manhattan’s gleaming towers, it’s easy to believe that the city George Washington knew – the city that served (briefly) as the capitol of a fledgling nation – no longer exists. However, Read More …
When I took the house and garden tour offered by the Mérida English Library last year, there were four houses on the itinerary – although in the end we got to tour seven homes. Each Read More …
All of the homes we toured last fall on the Mèrida English Library’s House and Garden Tour underwent substantial remodeling at some point. A major remodeling project is a challenge in the simplest of situations, Read More …
It’s November again. That means the English Library in Mérida, Mexico, is once again offering expats and tourists a chance to peek into some spectacular homes.
I love looking at the world through old glass, the way the swirls and bubbles and waves provide motion even on the stillest of days. These images were captured in August in the Great Hall Read More …
Texas Hill Country is littered with historic towns of varying degrees of charm. A few of these (Fredericksburg and Gruene, among them) have become major tourist attractions – places where their considerable charm is diminished Read More …
The National Park Service protects more than 7,000 acres of land on the island of Saint John in the US Virgin Islands. Most of this consists of stunning beaches and the sort of wilderness areas Read More …
I’d expect Saturday to be a busy time in a small town, but that wasn’t the case when we stopped by West Concord, Minnesota, on our way to Rochester from Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. Read More …
The Stony Point Road intersects Scenic Highway 61 (the old road, not the new bypass) about 10 miles north of Duluth. It’s a quiet road that lacks big tourist attractions. What it offers instead is Read More …
Yes, the barn built by Charles Moody in 1915 really is both blue and round. Utilizing the most up-to-date barn design of the day, Moody’s two-story barn was built around its silo, simplifying the Read More …
Grand Portage (the Great Carrying Place) is an 8.5 mile trail that links the Pigeon River (and the Canadian northwest) to the shore of Lake Superior. The trail bypasses a series of waterfalls, including the Read More …
Linked to Wordless Wednesday at image-in-ing All Minnesota posts
If you look south at just the right moment while zipping along I-94 through central Minnesota, you may glimpse a cluster of odd-looking structures off in the distance. Structures might be too strong a word Read More …
Xcaret (located near Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Caribbean coast) emphasizes that it is a cultural park as well as an eco-adventure park. The Chapel of Guadalupe is part of its cultural side. This modern Read More …
My husband and I spent a few days in Miami in 2006 on what was basically a two-day layover on our way to Peru and Ecuador. We spent all of our time in South Beach Read More …
The west is riddled with ghost towns, the abandoned remains of big dreams and economic booms gone bust. While a quick tour of Pinos Altos (Tall Pines) may leave you thinking you’ve stumbled across a Read More …
Discovered along the road in San Antonio, New Mexico: Linked to Wordless Wednesday at image-in-ing Our Arizona and New Mexico itinerary 2015 All New Mexico posts
I happened to have worked my way up to the front of the group at our Mérida English Library’s House and Garden Tour last November when our guide asked if we minded waiting for a Read More …
During Mexico’s Spanish colonial period, homes in Mérida were built with utilitarian courtyards that provided space to do chores, store supplies, house small livestock, and even prepare meals. Today those courtyards are often transformed into Read More …
Mérida is one of those cities where private life is well-hidden from passers-by. Streets in the city’s historic neighborhoods are lined with doors and windows, but they give little hint of what lies within. This Read More …
The Convent Route runs through the heart of the Mexican Yucatán. One of its highlights is the colonial Church of the Ascension in the village of Mama. Descriptions of the church make it sound fascinating: Read More …
As you drive through Playa del Carmen, you get a glimpse of the businesses that serve local residents, rather than tourists, like these lumber yards. Everything you need to build your own traditional Mayan abode. Read More …
What’s the most unusual pizza place you’ve ever visited? Last year’s Microdwelling exhibit featured the most unusual pizza place I’ve ever visited: A repurposed Bay-City steam shovel from the early 1920s. I would never see Read More …
I’m starting to think about this winter’s trip to Arizona. In the process I’m looking back at some of our previous trips. For example, last year we had the good luck to be in the Read More …
Submitted to Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Fences and Wordless Wednesday at Image-in-ing. Seeking a church’s past in Mama All Yucatán state posts All Mexican Yucatán posts
The tiny town of Terrace, Minnesota, is an old settlement that retains many of its historic buildings. While most well-known for its 1870s mill (which will be featured in another post), much of the settlement Read More …
Last week’s warm sunny weather was perfect for rambling through central Minnesota farm country and stopping whenever we came across something that caught our eye – like the slowly collapsing remains of this old barn Read More …
We begin our trip again with another cab to the airport, another delay due to another missing captain. Delta assures us they have a pilot this time. His eventual arrival is greeted with applause. We Read More …
On one of the first warm evenings of spring, we took the convertible out and headed downtown to photograph the city at night. Despite gorgeous weather, the streets were nearly empty. There wasn’t a lot Read More …
A few short blocks of Tucson’s Main Avenue, an area once nicknamed “Snob Hollow,” showcase Tucson’s architectural variety, as the mansions wealthy residents built here changed along with the trends over time. The historic mansions Read More …
The colorful tile dome of the Old Pima County Courthouse is an iconic symbol of Tucson. This is actually the third courthouse built in the city to serve the needs of Pima County. The first Read More …