Photo Postcards: Bay of Kotor

Montenegro is a small country — smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut — but its beauty packs a punch much larger than countries 50 times larger than this jewel of the Balkans. For years I had heard that Montenegro is one of the prettiest nations in Europe, […]

Sensational Sarajevo

Before this summer, I had two distinct early memories of Sarajevo and Bosnia–Herzegovina. My first memories of watching the Winter Olympics were in 1984 as a child witnessing Katarina Witt and Scott Hamilton win figure skating gold medals in Sarajevo. Later during the 1990s, I remember watching CNN’s […]

50,000 Miles Down the Rabbit Hole

After a frustrating summer of awkward kayak rolling lessons in a pool, I found myself in my truck driving back to Atlanta from the north Georgia mountains. I endured and suffered through a humbling day of achieving basically no balance in my kayak. “How do you feel about […]

WWI and Remembrance Day in Ottawa

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, and it’s an appropriate time to not only pay our respects, but reflect on what happened a century ago. The Great War doesn’t receive nearly as much attention in the United States compared to the Commonwealth nations […]

Exploring Detroit’s Famous Eastern Market

  Many years ago before my very first trip to Detroit, I asked a friend from the Motor City about what was her favorite attraction in the city. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Detroit Institute of Arts, Belle Isle Park, the Detroit RiverWalk, Comerica Park, Ford Field, Joe Lewis […]

Photo Postcards: Montana Sunflowers

In the wide open spaces of the American West, sometimes you will not see the most spectacular scenery from the interstate highways. The real surprises begin off smaller highways and local roads that roll through the plains, twist though the canyons or climb the ridges of timeless landscapes. That’s […]

Photo Postcards: A Very Ukrainian Mary

I find it fascinating when I step into any Catholic Church around the world, there are often subtle artistic differences in the way that the Mother Mary is portrayed in paintings, tapestries and sculptures. During my recent visit to the magestic Monastery of the Basilian Fathers in Zhovkva, […]

The Most Evil Place in Europe

Almost all travelers will agree that experiencing a place through travel is much more powerful than reading about a destination or seeing it on television. In most travels, this is the great blessing: the sights, the sounds, the smells and the vividness that you take with you. But […]

Vitaliya in Carriage Five

My eyes slightly opened to a uniformed and somewhat agitated conductor in a white shirt speaking downward to me through the half-opened door of my train’s compartment. Through my earplugs, I heard a slavic language I didn’t understand, but I did recognize body language and a few words […]

Why I Love Belgium

Tuesday, March 22, was a historic and terrible day for the city of Brussels and all of Belgium, as terrorists struck Belgium’s capital. But I feel like this tragedy should not stop you from visiting this wonderful country. Today had me reflecting on the first time I visited […]

Photo Postcards: Sea to Shining Sea

I drove quickly to make sunset on the Oregon coast not far from the beautiful resort town of Seaside. As I took a turn off the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, I discovered a hidden west coast jewel: Oregon’s Ecola State Park. After cruising through a lush Sitka spruce forest, the road opened […]