LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — British Virgin Islands, Part I
British Virgin Islands is an archipelago of more than 60 islands, with 21 national parks. We stayed on Tortola (visiting the high point in Sage Mountain National Park). We took many taxi rides and two ferry rides and also visited Virgin Gorda (more of the BVI National Parks there) and Beef Island. Lots of swimming, rum, birding, exploring, eating and …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Travel Rules And Observations, No. 4
No. 1 On the Virgin Islands, they drive on the left side of the road. No. 2 There is on the part of drivers a lot of honking. No. 3 The tourists from the USA talk a LOT and listen a LITTLE. No. 4 The people who live in the islands are friendly and helpful and want to teach people …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — St. John And U.S. Virgin Islands National Park
From Red Hook, a ferry to Cruz Bay, St. John. Much of the island belongs to me (— and to all citizens of the USA — because it is Virgin Islands National Park. Cruz Bay seems like managed chaos. Taxis (trucks that seat multiple passengers, some call “safari taxis”) serve as transport for visitors. Some visitors rent cars — or …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — St. Thomas Via Cape Air And Some Interesting Taxi Rides
So we arrive in the U.S. Virgin Islands via an eight-seater prop plane (flawlessly flown by a young woman) from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to St. Thomas. 3here we take many more taxi rides on the left side of the road, where my birding resumes, where we swim at Caribbean beaches, where we eat local food, where we spend a …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Dispatches From A Retired Woman Traveling, Now In The USVI, Where today I Visited Oppenheimer Beach
Also I saw more lizards and a tarantula and went swimming in the Caribbean and am now sipping on a Painkiller (sprinkled with nutmeg). I hope to bring little Lily here someday and my daughter, Chelsea. More birding to do. Oppenheimer ‘s daughter donated the house to the island of St. John.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Travel Rules
No. 1 Don’t be a jerk. No. 2 Don’t be a drunken and loud jerk. No. 3 Don’t litter. No. 4 Wash your derned hands. No. 5 Rinse and repeat back to No. 1.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — San Juan, Part Quatro
Buy local food and art and such. Wear sunscreen.
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Halfway Through A Winter Odyssey
For most of the past 10 days, there was at least 100 degrees difference in the temperature where I was eating, sleeping and playing and the temperature in my backyard in Bismarck. The colors are different, too. White where I came from, green where I am now. That’s the reason Lillian and I came to the Caribbean in the dead …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — San Juan, Part Tres
Take a taxi or Uber or walk is my advice. Chat respectfully with the locals, etc. Thank the people who preserve the customs and language and places and critters. Obey the rules and laws. Don’t be rude.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Buenos Dios Puerto Rico, Adios Biscayne Bay National Park
Goodbye Miami. Biscayne Bay National Park Institute boat tour to Boca Chita Key. White Ibis. Sea turtles, manatees, Royal Tern, Iguanas, Prairie Warbler.
JEFF OLSON: Photo Gallery — Hello, Hawaii!
It took 70 years, but photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, made it to Hawaii. They visited the Big Island and Kauai, the garden sland. From a rainbow over Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to remote beaches and Waimea Canyon, everything was stunning. And they also made it to the westernmost bookstore in the U.S. and the …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 9
Our last day in Morocco began very early, before sunrise. We got up and walked out into the sand dunes and watched the magic as the sun peaked over the sand. I think the part that is the most indescribable is the different shades of color of sand. And how intensely and incredibly beautifully it reflects as the the rays …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 8
As an avid traveler, I’m not sure I have a “bucket list” per se because travel for me is about life not death. But I definitely have a list of travel dreams. To accomplish one in a few years is incredible. But to accomplish two in less than four months seems unfathomable. However, a mere months after reaching my seventh …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 7
And now for something completely different. I am not a birdwatcher. I feed the birds on my deck and I recognize a few of them, like the cardinal and the finch. But mostly if I see a bird that’s pretty, I point at it and say, “Oh. There’s a pretty bird.” But it has to be fairly obvious because my …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 6
A few people have asked about how I put this trip together and how it was organized, and I thought that this would be a good post to explain that as the past day has been about travel coordination. When Gretchen and I decided to go, we talked about the places we wanted to visit, knowing we would want to …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 4
The key to successful travel experiences, in my opinion, is pace. You can’t go, go, go all the time and really appreciate all that a country has to offer. At least I can’t. So some days you need to deliberately slow down to experience a country and not just see it. That’s what today was all about. We had a …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 3, Evening Iftar
Serendipity: “The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” Serendipity — what we experienced this evening in Tangier. Last night, during dinner, we had the most delightful waiter, Reda, a high school senior. During the course of our conversation over the meal, he extended an invitation to us to join him and some of …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 3
Normally when I get up in the morning, I do not plan my wardrobe to coordinate with the city to which I am traveling. However, this wasn’t a normal day and Chefchauoen is not a normal city. We set out with our driver from the previous day and drove two hours up to the mountains to this famous blue city. …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco, Day 2
I often tell people that I have adopted Rick Steves approach to travel, which focuses on being a backdoor traveler. Today I took that to a whole new level. We spent the first part of the day touring Morocco with a driver arranged through our lodging. Our driver, Mohammed, spoken no English. However, we were able to communicate through Martha’s …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco, Day 1
What started with a loose screw ended with a magical encounter with a painting that has long been one of my favorite works of art. So goes the serendipity of travel as I embark on another segment of “Travels with Paula—Moroccan (and unexpectedly Madrid) edition.” (Time to silence my posts if you don’t like my travelogues.) After getting up at …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 12
I write this final post having just awakened from a three-hour nap after completing a 28-hour journey from leaving the ship to arriving home. We needed to be out of our rooms by 8 a.m. and on the bus by 8:40 a.m. So we had a last breakfast and a chance to say goodbye to some of the friends we …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 11
Our last full day on the ship started early. Very early. Around 4 a.m., both Janel and I woke up when a series of swells and waves covered our window on the fourth floor of the ship. Later, I heard that it did the same for people on the fifth floor. This is a huge ship. That was a huge …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 10
Our time on the continent was over, so we set out to once again to cross the Drake Passage, which takes two days. We had been forewarned that our trip across was average, but the return trip would be the Drake shake. I spent most of the morning birdwatching. I was particularly interested in the albatross species that were flying …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 9
Today was the day that I had been thinking about and debating over since I first decided to take this cruise to Antarctica: the day of the polar plunge. When thinking about jumping into the water, I knew I could not do it, not out of fear but out of solid sense of safety. The form of asthma I have …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 8
Sometimes the best laid plans don’t pan out and even better plans take their place. That is what transpired today. The intent had been to land at a site and do quite a steep walk to the top of a vista where there would’ve been many many Chinstrap penguins and had yet another chance to get a good workout in …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, The Campout
When I first begin to explore going on a cruise to Antarctica, I read about the opportunity to go camping on the continent. Of course, every fiber of my outdoor being hoped and prayed that I would be able to take advantage of such a unique and incredible opportunity. However I was fully aware that because of conditions and limited …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 6
After a superb sleep, which I can’t help but think was the result of a nice hot tub and sauna before bed in Antarctic temperatures, we woke up a bit more leisurely than we had in the past few days because our cruise around Port Lockroy wasn’t until the second grouping. I’ve had a few questions about clothing and temperature, …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 5
I woke up early in the morning and looked outside and immediately thought of the end of the movie “Fifty First Dates,” when Drew Barrymore comes out from the ship and sees herself surrounded by icebergs. Although I was more prepared for it than the character in the movie, it was nonetheless just as shockingly stunning. Completely surrounded by such …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 4: Drake Passage
Today we continued our journey through the Drake Passage. To be completely honest, I had one of my better sleeps in a long time, and a large part is because of the rocking of the boat. It kind of reminded me of the days when I had a waterbed. Organizers tell us that the waves are not as big as …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 3: Drake Passage
Today was all about the Drake Passage and acclimatizing to the ship and sea travel. The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America’s Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. According to Wikipedia, “The Drake Passage …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 2.5: How I Chose Hurtigruten Expeditions
I thought it might be nice to explain a bit of why we chose to take a cruise with Hurtigruten Expeditions. Priorities for me, and I believe I also speak for Janel, a fellow pastor and my traveling companion, were: Sustainability and eco-friendliness. Size of cruise. Ability to do landings on the continent. Cost. Reputation. Ability to learn about climate …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 2: Ushuaia And Tierra Del Fuego National Park
Our flight from Buenos Aires took us to Ushuaia, a city known as the “End of the World,” since the town is located at the southernmost tip of South America and therefore is the southernmost city in the world. The cruise arranged for a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park (The Land of Fire), at the base of the …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Antarctica Journey, Day 1: Buenos Aires
Sometimes good energy pays off and the beginning of my journey to Antarctica illustrates that. I’m a pastor and my trip to Antarctica was originally part of a Lily Sabbatical grant that I lost after leaving the congregation I was serving. I was called to move the church from a charity model to one focused on systemic racism. However, the …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Garden Notes No. 76 And An Interlude In Calgary, British Columbia And Home Via Montana
The vibe, the music, the food and the company was mighty fine. Home to harvest.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Campaigning With Crook Redux
“Campaigning with Crook,” by Capt. Charles King, (excerpts), Harper and Brothers, 1890 “At 2 p.m. we bivouac again, and begin to growl at this will-o’-wisp business. The night, for August (1876), is bitter cold. Ice forms on the shallow pools … and the thermometer was zero at daybreak. “The grandest country in the world for Indian and buffalo now … …
MICHAEL BOGERT: Photo Gallery — White Horse Hill
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert recently visited White Horse Hill National Game Preserve near St. Michael, N.D. White Horse Hill is a 1,674-acre national wildlife refuge that was initially established as a national park on April 27, 1904 under the National Park Service. In 1914, it was further designated by Congress as a big game preserve. And in 1931, it was …
JEFF OLSON: Photo Gallery — Rocky Mountain National Park
Photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently mad a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The park, 415 square miles (265,807 acres), encompasses a spectacular range of mountain environments, from meadows found in the montane life zone to glistening alpine lakes and up to towering peaks. Sun, rain and snow, moose, deer and …