Literary Tourism: Forks, Washington

Does your dream vacation include walking in Edward’s footsteps and photographing Bella’s truck? A jaunty, five-hour drive from Portland or Seattle, up the coast to the farther, rainier side of the Olympic Peninsula will get you your fix. Despite the distance, twilight fans are descending upon the sleepy little logging town of Forks. A woman [...]

On the Kiwi Trail – Rotorua to Wellington

Our trip to New Zealand, part 3: On Sunday 2 of Mr. Wonderful’s Adobe coworkers rented a car and the 4 of us drove 2.5 hours to the Maori stronghold of Rotorua. The town is built over a mini-Yellowstone of hot springs, mud pools and scalding geysers. A bit too close to volcanic activity for [...]

Adventuring in Auckland

After Queenstown and the Routeburn Track, Mr. Wonderful and I flew to the north island (see, Tez, I know there are two!) and stayed on the Viaduct waterfront in Auckland. New Zealand’s biggest city has a similar feel to Seattle, only warmer. Built around the same time and fueled by the gold rush, both cities [...]

Tramping New Zealand

New Zealand is a beautiful pair of islands of soaring mountains and sparkling blue water, friendly people and not nearly enough sheep. We arrived in the picturesque village of Queenstown, “Adventure capital of New Zealand”, on Easter Sunday. This lovely walkable town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is crawling with international backpackers. A trekking [...]

Wanderlust: New Zealand

Mr. Wonderful and I set off today for 10 days in New Zealand:
Part 1: Hike the Routeburn Track, one of the Classic Hikes of the World, out of Queenstown, South Island. The 3-day hike is either 45 K or 32 K, according to the Classic Hikes Book or the NZ Gov’t site, respectively. It passes [...]

Seeking eBook recommendations for New Zealand

Help! I need to stock up my Stanza iPhone library for my upcoming trip to New Zealand (April 10-21). Since Mr. Wonderful and I are going backpacking, I can’t pack too many paperbacks. On the other hand, there may not be a place to plug in my iPhone. When someone invents an ebook reader that [...]

Wanderlust: Caribbean Dreams

Like a Harlequin heroine whisked around the world by her ruthless Greek tycoon, I’ve been globetrotting like crazy these past few months. It’s been a bit unreal. Mr. Wonderful travels 80% of the time for work and stocks up a heck of a lot of frequent flier points. Sometimes he brings me with him. I [...]

Wanderlust: Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto

On our return to Tokyo, Mr. Wonderful was occupied preparing for and presenting at the Adobe MAX Conference, so I learned the Tokyo subway and explored the city by myself. Solo exploration is lonely, but more instructive, since I am forced to relinquish my passive role and make a decision. It is a testament to [...]

Wanderlust: Minakami, Japan

Sunday we rode the train to the center of Japan, up into the mountains to Minakami. The scenery was…um, to be honest I was reading a book instead of paying attention to the scenery. Minakami is a hot spring town that attracts numerous outdoor enthusiasts to Joshinetsu Kogen National Park. The river running through it [...]

Thursday Thirteen: Cruising for Love

Saturday I leave for Miami to board a cruise ship for a week of fun & sun in the caribbean with three girlfriends. This will be my first foray into that corner of the world and my first time aboard a cruise ship.

Saturday: Fly to Miami
Sunday : Explore Miami
Monday: Set sail aboard the good ship [...]