Memorial Day weekend approaches, which for some strange reason signals the beginning of the barbecue season, the pool season, and the pitch-a-tent-outdoors season. When we lived in Seattle, people went camping the way I run to the grocery store for milk. You packed up your gear, drove in some direction and within less than an…
Category: Travel
Taking it Easy at the Foot of Mount Mansfield
Next Sunday is All Species Day in the capital city of Vermont, a spring festival that sounds like it would be as old as the Green Mountains itself, but actually took off during the 1980s. Unfortunately, we missed the party in Montpelier by just a few weeks, but managed to enjoy an unseasonably warm day…
Stuffed!
During my four days in Quebec, I’ve consumed the following: duck, cow, pig, chicken, wapiti, chocolate, cheese, spinach-mushroom crepes, brie with mushrooms, more cheese, maple fondue, baked beans, French onion soup almost every day, Quebecois tortiere, salmon torte (twice), poutine (which means more cheese), McDonald’s (yes, once), macaroons, carrot cake, a handful of strawberries, one…
Oh, Canada!
Colonialism’s footprints run along the walls of Quebec. The streets look like Paris, yet the shops sell dream catchers, moccasins and hats made of beaver skin. The people speak French, yet vestiges of Inuit and Algonquin words linger; the city’s name “kebec” means in Algonquin “where the river narrows,” referring to where the icy serpentine…
Three Places Where I Want to Om
One sunny late afternoon while working at a dot-com in downtown Seattle, I decided to skip my usual after-work routine, which was just watching TV (back when I used to watch TV) and head to the gym to take a Monday night yoga class. My back was sore from sitting in front of a computer…