tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76517538438119915442024-03-13T06:26:20.687-07:00How'd I get here?I may not be as adventurous as a National Geographic Explorer or as photogenic as Samantha Brown, but I have been a lot of places, some well known, some not. More importantly, each place has its own quirks and fascinations and I want to share them with the world. This blog is a travelogue of the places, people and events that I have witnessed. I hope you enjoy and maybe learn something too.C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-46496590762256570832018-05-24T16:11:00.000-07:002018-05-24T16:11:33.609-07:00This Week: St. John, USVI
Coffee Walk
Morning came fast. The hangover even faster. It came because
I remembered I was in an easterly time zone and if I were home it would be 4 AM
and dark. It was 6 AM here and the morning light crept through the windows into
my eyelids. Ugh.
We had arrived late yesterday afternoon to our happy place
of St. John, USVI. Getting to St. John required an overnight flight to Houston,
aC Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-78330211541354795942018-02-28T18:56:00.000-08:002018-02-28T18:56:21.441-08:00This Week: Boca Raton, FL
The Calm after the Storm
The tattered remains of Hurricanes Irma and Maria hung in
the air around me in the form of low grey clouds and howling wind. In front of
me the Atlantic Ocean was a weird shade of cornflower blue, like the least used
Crayon from the box you had when you were a kid. The shore was mesmerizing and
menacing at the same time with thick white foam coming over the top C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-38887386249342006382017-09-27T11:41:00.001-07:002017-09-27T11:41:16.774-07:00This Week: St. John, USVI
Hurricanes and Rum Punches
All Photos by Carrie Dow. No reuse without permission.
This hurts.
I keep watching the news and searching the internet for video footage of the hurricane damage on St. John, US Virgin Islands. AKA my happy place. We have visited this Caribbean island seven times in the last 12 years and each visit is better than the last. We have reservations scheduled for MarchC Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-64486159443577772322017-06-08T14:54:00.000-07:002017-06-08T14:54:34.220-07:00This Week: Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
I'm on a boat!
This is not a post about my day trip to Dry
Tortugas National Park in Florida. The Dry Tortugas, a group of remote
islands and islets 70 miles south of Key West, Florida, is one of the most remote national parks in the US. However, this blog is not about the towering fort the army built on
this isolated spot and once held some 400 people. It is not about the
history of C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, United States24.628477 -82.8731874-0.10313800000000128 -124.1817814 49.360092 -41.564593400000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-41627960490047691902017-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:002017-04-07T10:00:18.128-07:00This Week: Redondo Beach, CA
It’s not just the places you go, It’s the people you meet
The hotel’s website said it provided shuttle service Monday
through Friday from 7 AM to 11 AM and from 4 PM to 9 PM. The site also said the
shuttle had a three mile radius around the hotel. Checking Google Maps, I
realized that was not going to work. I was traveling to Redondo Beach, CA, for
a press trip and my hotel was the Hilton C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-29856097797718134142016-05-22T18:44:00.003-07:002016-06-21T12:39:19.918-07:00This Week: LAX
*** Part III
Los Angeles International Airport
was not empty at 2:30 AM. Airport workers were everywhere. I walked in front of
the Southwest ticket counter area looking for an outlet to
charge my phone. There were small pockets of seats and chairs between the
entrance doors and each one was already filled with groups of young people who had
already commandeered those outlets. Even though I C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-42516809989316701902016-05-05T19:43:00.001-07:002016-05-05T19:43:45.603-07:00This Week: Mammoth Lakes to Los Angeles
No Sleep 'til LAX
Part II
Most everyone else went back into the annex even though the
snack bar had closed. I stayed outside. I propped my bag against a light pole
and sat down on the sidewalk leaning my back against it. As I sat, a dark green
SUV pulled up to the curb and a blonde woman got out. From inside the annex,
the woman who had offered a ride came out with her new entourage C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-59371702372469854042016-03-26T19:44:00.002-07:002016-03-26T19:44:40.596-07:00This Week: Mammoth Lakes, CA
No Sleep ‘Til LAX
An Ordeal in 3 Parts - Part I
My eyes are closed, but I’m not asleep. I knew going in that
there would be no sleep tonight. I’m trying to focus on the music streaming through
my ear buds while enduring the thumps and bumps of my vehicle seat. It’s not working. That’s because I’m in a
gigantic white van lumbering down a dark highway with 12 total strangers in it.
C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-45034608624790450732015-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:002015-11-18T12:58:32.172-08:00This week: Kauai, HI
The Search for Kauai’s “Aloha” Bench on the Okolēhao Trail
The sweat on my forehead mixed with sunscreen as it dripped
down my face, stinging my eyes, which is ironic because the trees had blocked
the sun a quarter mile ago. Ferns whipped at my arms and legs. The only place with
any space left was at my feet. I pressed on thinking, it can’t be much farther…Can
it?
I had set off earlier C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-47462513610866822992015-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:002015-08-13T17:00:06.917-07:00This Week: Steamboat Springs, CO
Dine without the Dash, Part II
As we continued a few more people came walking up the trail.
A family, mom, dad and two boys, passed me. The boys were jumping on rocks and
squealing like boys do. Old Man asked the parents how much farther to the
bottom and the dad’s eyes opened wide.
“Uh, you’re a long way from the bottom. You OK?
“Oh yeah, we’re fine, but I brought the wrong shoes for this
C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-35470086249215196802015-07-28T20:19:00.000-07:002015-07-28T20:19:15.853-07:00This Week: Steamboat Springs, CO
Dine without the dash, Part I
“So, you walking down?” asked the Old Man sitting next to
me. He wore a teal polo shirt with the name of a Las Vegas casino on it,
matching teal golf shorts, a white golf cap and white running shoes. He was
very tan with a Tom Selleck mustache and dark sunglasses. He sat hunched over
his plate with a bit of a pot belly, but skinny arms and legs.
“I dunno. I C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-23034121489220086862015-06-02T12:29:00.000-07:002015-06-02T12:29:41.029-07:00This week: Saying good bye to Larry
Good Boy
In May we said goodbye to our dog Larry. Larry was a
black/white brindle Cattledog/Border Collie mix. He had a black nose with large
black spots on his back and his black tail had a cute patch of white on the
end. The black of his tail covered his rear making it look like he had a
pin-the-tail-on-the-dog tail. His eyes were a chocolate brown and his ears were
slightly floppy, C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-13482156622273546072014-12-27T19:21:00.001-08:002014-12-27T19:21:57.647-08:00This Week: Virgin Gorda, BVI
Boats and Billionaires
The roosters had no sense of time.
The cawing echoed in my ears intensifying my already aching head. The chicken cacophony
was in complete contrast to the gentle chirps of the tree frogs. The beasts
sounded like they were right below our balcony and I couldn’t close the
windows, because there were no windows, only screens open to the world outside.
I thought roosters C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-36643084626947031862014-10-29T20:28:00.000-07:002014-12-27T19:30:27.811-08:00This week: Tucson, Arizona
The $14 Cocktail
My husband likes air conditioning a little too much. The
room was downright chilly. I opened the balcony door to our Ritz Carlton hotel
room and the early morning heat of Tucson felt wonderful on my goose pimpled
skin. I made myself a cup of hotel Starbucks coffee, put it in the Ritz logoed
cup and sat on the balcony drinking and breathing in some warmth.
I had arrived C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-78708747865047166322014-09-02T21:10:00.000-07:002014-09-02T21:10:41.218-07:00This week: Albany to Denver
When things go right
Nobody ever talks about when good things happen at the
airport. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a bad airport story. Stranded in
Green Bay with the internet down. Stuck on the runway on a hot Phoenix day for two
hours. Caribbean airport food that causes one to go through three air sickness
bags. Yeah, we’ve been there. The
airport gods rarely smile on anyone and C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-39407280808035563302014-07-23T20:58:00.000-07:002014-07-23T20:59:10.543-07:00This week: Geneva, NE
The best and worst interviews ever
What seems like 100 years ago, but has really only been 23,
I worked for a small county newspaper in the middle of south-central Nebraska.
The town: Geneva. The Paper: The Nebraska Signal. Geneva is about one hour
south of York on Highway 81 in Fillmore County. I was hired as a typesetter,
one of only seven employees, but with a degree from the C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-7685617370398651422014-06-29T12:24:00.002-07:002014-06-29T12:24:24.570-07:00This week: Fraser Valley, CO
I would like to share one of my rare paid writing assignments. I had a feature article about Snow Mountain Ranch in Fraser Valley published in the May/June issue of TravelWorld International. TWI is the magazine of the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) of which I am a member. I didn't get paid much, but this magazine has a lot of reach with professional travel journalists C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-22650905234117107252014-05-11T20:41:00.000-07:002014-05-11T20:44:09.878-07:00This Week: Gringo Trails (the film)<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-91956337884269186902014-04-22T14:55:00.000-07:002014-04-22T14:55:07.667-07:00This Week: Maui, HI
For my latest blog post, I'd like to direct you to my new piece on driving in Maui that has been posted to Go World Travel. Based in Colorado this online magazine features some of the best travel writing on the planet. They also pay the writers who contribute to so if you could give them just few minutes of your attention, you'll be helping writers like me continue to do what we love; share our C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-89118434640105815702014-01-26T12:28:00.000-08:002014-01-26T12:33:21.969-08:00This Week: SingaporeBasset Hound meets Buddha
Moving with a pet can be difficult. Now imagine
moving halfway around the world with a dog in tow. Sandra Goodman of Lakewood,
CO, found herself in that situation in 2006 when her husband, Bob Schafish,
received a 3-year work assignment in the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore.
An avid world traveler, Sandra was ready to go, but wouldn’t leave her beloved Basset
C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-31288262563664137572013-12-23T19:02:00.000-08:002013-12-23T19:09:15.114-08:00This Week: Maui
The
totally untrue story of Marilyn Monroe’s Maui House
My
husband and I were riding in van, returning from a downhill bike tour of
Haleakala Volcano. The tour company, Mountain Riders, picked up seven of us
tourists from hotels in Ka’anapali in Western Maui at 2:30 AM and drove us to
the 10,000+ foot summit of Haleakala volcano to watch the sunrise. That was 10
hours ago. After the sunrise, C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-63745709757689400572013-10-29T14:29:00.001-07:002013-10-29T14:36:27.666-07:00This Week: The US (economy)Drink Beer; Save the Economy
After covering the Colorado drinking for scene for three
years now, 3 years as a blogger for Drinking Made Easy and 1 year for DrinkDenver, I have seen the
brightest star in the US economy and that star is beer. Whether a casual
drinker or total beer snob the size of the beer industry in the US has seen unprecedented
growth over the last decade and completely C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-67209689788857141952013-09-06T17:30:00.001-07:002013-09-19T11:46:17.519-07:00This week: Go World Travel
I have written a total of 3 pieces that the folks at Go World Travel website have been kind enough to publish. I enjoy writing for them because they prefer offbeat locations and personal narratives. My pieces focus exclusively on the Virgin Islands, but hopefully I'll have some others for them in the future. If you would be so kind, please take some time to read one orC Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-67988549509392634212013-08-30T22:38:00.002-07:002013-08-30T22:38:53.261-07:00This Week: Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
That Time of Day
Kenny Chesney and I share a common bond. Not every day I
have the same experience as that of a country music superstar. What could we
possible have in common? We both know the joys of happy hour. However, I should
state that it’s not just any happy hour. We know deeply the sublime and transcendent
experience that is happy hour at the Soggy Dollar Bar in White Bay, Jost van
C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7651753843811991544.post-26089435465303608892013-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:002013-08-10T19:18:41.640-07:00
Jasmine
March 19, 1998 - July 31, 2013
We lost our wonderful dog Jasmine today. She was 15 years, 4
months and 12 days old. That’s over 105 in human years. Jasmine lived a lot of
life. She rode with her daddy when he
traveled the Baja Peninsula. She’s been to Moab. (I have yet to see Moab!)
Jasmine has been to the top of Colorado 14ers (although she rode to the top of
C Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778143794642922508noreply@blogger.com0