Category Archives: Travel

Guess where?

Getting out where I had a cell signal in case of an emergency (but never needed to use it, fortunately) but otherwise stayed offline. All five senses engaged, I found a large boulder the size of a small boulder next to the trail. The sun was warm, but not too warm, not too much humidity, a little breeze. I could small the damp earth, trees, and flowers at spots. I could hear birds off in the trees, cardinals, robins, and hawks circling in the in the thermals rising off the side of the mountain. I was smart enough to have brought water and Gatorade, mainly to stay safe and healthy, but also to avoid getting yelled by my daughter at for being stupid.

The world compresses here. Sections of the path like this are wonderful, just walking, strolling, cruising. Other sections, more rocky, more steep either up or down, required some focus to avoid doing another of the aforementioned stupid things and tripping or falling. But when I was here I wasn’t worried about any spreadsheets, reports, payroll, audits, or any of the other details that can consume too many hours back in “the real world.”

I have friends who are retired and I know that day is a way off for me, probably several years. But there’s the goal. Reading, watching movies, going out hiking and traveling, 365 days a year… Not yet. But hopefully sometime while I still have the ability to use that time correctly.

White water rafting in Colorado, August, 2008.

We got bounced a little bit. We got wet a little bit. We never, ever came even close to anything that might have dumped us into the river.

If this was “Deliverance,” it was very, VERY much “Deliverance Lite.”

The scenery was great, our guide was friendly.

I took the time at our lunch break to go looking for “artistic” still lifes and interesting things to take pictures of. For this trip I had just bought a new waterproof camera. I don’t us it that often these days since my iPhone is just about as waterproof and weatherproof, but fourteen years ago we didn’t have iPhones, so it fit a need.

I would love to do it again some day, perhaps in a bit more of a turbulent environment. Maybe not a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, but at least a 6 or 7 instead of a 3 or 4.

With the Olympics going on we’re seeing all of the stunning views from Paris, a place I’ve never visited before but would dearly love to someday. I was thinking about how I sort of had a chance to do a hit-and-run, overnight visit once, when I was on my trip to Prague and Brussels with my Pepperdine EMBA class. As we were finishing in Prague and had two days before we were to meet up again in Brussels, a couple of people decided on the spur of the moment, with no hotel reservations or anything else in advance, to jump on a train to Paris for a day before rushing off to Brussels. I declined, and had a most wonderful full day to cruise around Prague. But at times like this, I do wonder what would have happened if I had been a little bit more spontaneous and less rigid about my schedule and plans. The road not taken…

Gargoyles and flying buttresses.

They don’t build them like this any more.

Maintenance is constant.

Walking down from the castle and the cathedral, the city and the river are laid out below.

I don’t regret spending that day in Prague, it’s truly one of the favorite places that I’ve ever been. But I do need to get to Paris for a few days also.

Maybe next week…

When we visited New York City in 2016 (my first and so far only visit) we hit one tourist site after another, including, of course, the Statue of Liberty.

I found the visit to Liberty Island and Ellis Island to be particularly emotional. And with Lady Liberty there, it really would be tough to take a bad picture there.