I found out today that there is a corn maze in Chicago (like actually in the city of Chicago, not one of those "Chicago" events that are in Naperville, or Schaumberg, or Idaho) starting next week that somewhere in the maze there is a bar. And there is ax throwing (which I have found to …
Continue reading Chicago area peeps: A corn maze with a bar and ax-throwing? Count me in.
Escape rooms are the current rage and my friends and I really enjoy them. An escape room is a physical room that is generally hosted by one person (who helps you when you get stuck and makes sure things don't malfunction leading you to not escape when you should have). When you enter the room, …
Continue reading A fun experience at home with your friends – Escape Rooms in a box
My tagline is: Collect Experiences, Not Things When I was in Colombia at the Bazurto market, I had the opportunity to have El Runner make me a poster. And that is what I chose to get. One good way to collect experiences is through travel. For example, this research concludes that "And here’s the important …
Batik in Thailand While in Thailand, I discovered Backstreet Academy. They have many affordable classes in arts like glass-blowing, batik making, jewelry making, etc. They offer classes in many Asian cities, not just Chiang Mai. So check them out if you are in any major city in SEA. I signed up for both a batik …
Sunset over Uluru (Ayer's Rock) In the Red Center of Australia, Uluru is the main attraction. You can fly directly to the area, or drive south from Alice Springs, or north from Adelaide. The road is very long and has very little to see other than a few dead kangaroos, some tumbling weeds, and …
Continue reading Magical: Sunset over Uluru and the Field of Light (Australia)
One thing I would like to do in the not too distant future is to see the Aurora Borealis. Some of the best places to see the Northern Lights, with some major(ish) cities you can see them from: Russia, Mongolia, etc Greenland Alaska (Fairbanks) Norway Sweden Finland Scotland Iceland (Reykyavik) Canada (Yellow Knife or …
For the Loy Krathong celebration, there is a great parade in Chiang Mai in addition to the floating candles. Loy Krathong means "to float a basket." People from all around come with their krathongs (either hand made or bought along the streets) and then set them lit in the river. They are traditionally made of a …
Continue reading Loy Krathong (Kra-tong) floating lantern festival in Chiang Mai (Thailand)
This is the little glass elephant I made with Backstreet Academy in Chiang Mai Thailand. Backstreet Academy offers many classes in Chiang Mai, including batik, jewelry making, metalworking, soap carving, painting, leatherwork, cooking, etc. . . I did this class and the batik class (in another post). They have classes in many cities in Asia, …
Continue reading Making a glass lampwork elephant (Thailand)
In Beijing, you can do a Hutong tour with a visit to The Cricket Man (with or without lunch). To me, the cricket man was the only worthwhile part of the tour, so I'm so glad I didn't do one of the many hutong tours that didn't visit The Cricket Man This is The Cricket …
Unusual adventure: Zip-line in a cave (unique experience in Louisville area) Having zip-lined in a couple places already, I was excited to find out about an in-cave zip-line experience. This is available just outside Louisville Kentucky and is the world's only fully-underground zip-line course. Mega-zips is a really fun experience. If you go: make sure …
Continue reading Unusual adventure: Zip-line in a cave (unique experience in Louisville area)
Puerto Rico has a few bays that have bio-luminescent dinoflagellates in them (they often just refer to these as "biobays" for obvious reasons. There is one near Lagas, called La Parguera on the SW side of the island. The one in Mosquito Bay is supposedly much better but I didn't have time to go there. …
Continue reading Swimming with living sparkles (Puerto Rico)
If you are in Brisbane, I recommend a stop at the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary. There are over 100 koalas there, and you can see quite a few of them, generally sleeping in their trees or eating eucalyptus. The park also has areas where you can walk around with, and in some cases feed, …
Continue reading Animal interaction: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (Brisbane, Australia)
Aruba - Cruise port Once off the dock, we started looking for a likely taxi ride to take us to the things we planned to see. Our primary interests were the diorite boulders and the butterfly farm. We quickly found a driver who would take the three of us to those two attractions and a …
Continue reading Oranjestad, Aruba – Netherlands Antilles – sightseeing and the Butterfly Farm
I've run across an article several times in the past few years about how your happiness related to travel is mostly affected by planning a trip not taking the actual trip itself. The study abstract says: "Vacationers reported a higher degree of pre-trip happiness, compared to non-vacationers, possibly because they are anticipating their holiday. Only …
Swimming with a stingray fever (Antigua) Yes, that's what a group of stingrays is called. A fever. One of the more unusual collection names I've seen. Although my favorite is probably "a murder of crows". In Antigua (Ann-tee-guh), one of the popular attractions is to swim with stingrays at Stingray City. This is quite fun …
Continue reading Swimming with a fever of stingrays (Antigua)
Travel Around, Experience the World 