small trips around a big world
I stepped off the train late on a Friday night to two smiling faces waving at me from across the platform. This has to be one of the greatest feelings in life, to be met by familiar faces in a foreign land, and it immediately put a huge smile on my face too. I was in the picturesque town of... Continue Reading →
The longest sled run in Europe happens to be an easy train ride from Geneva, in the resort town of Grindelwald, set in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Rick Steves has it out for Grindelwald, so I set my expectations low, picturing a town like Interlaken, overrun with tourists and shopping strips . But Grindelwald, though full... Continue Reading →
When I first saw the landscape I thought, this is the place I imagined when I read the phrase "primordial soup" in my science textbooks. Sulfur, nitrogen, complex carbons everywhere, you can almost see them mixing to create the necessary chemistry for life. But from the air, the land appears barren: asphalt colored soil, bluish-gray waters, the clouds taking on... Continue Reading →
The AmeriCorps taught us that Martin Luther King Day was "a day on, not a day off", which meant that Chris and I would spend weeks planning a large volunteer service event for our communities, to paint murals, plant gardens, renovate schools...Well, for the past five years MLK Day has marked one of our most relaxing weekends of the year. That's... Continue Reading →
As a child I remember looking forward to the holidays with an almost nervous excitement and anticipation, giddy about what the season would bring - long sled rides down my grandfather's mountain driveway in Vermont, colorful platters of butter and springerlee cookies, games of dreidel with chocolate gelt as the candles melted in the menorah, stockings bulging with fruit and canned sardines (which... Continue Reading →
The peak travel holidays are over. The tourists have come for the summer and left by fall, but we’re still here. And we’re thankful for it: The streets are less crowded, the flights are less filled, the lines are shorter. That all makes a late fall visit ideal timing for Barcelona, and a welcome reprieve... Continue Reading →
The holiday season and our current locations are cause for a little reflection, as we find ourselves living outside our own country and in a place that doesn’t – for obvious reasons – always celebrate the same holidays that we grew up with. Thanksgiving is of course a truly American holiday celebrating the kindness that... Continue Reading →
(Spoiler: we did not see Ibexes, only their hoof prints – or maybe they were just plain old goats – in the sand along the Rhone. But you can see photos of Ibexes here!) A visit from Allison’s brother inspired our second trip to the Swiss wine region of Valais, this time during the beautiful autumn colors.... Continue Reading →
Seven years ago, right before my 24th birthday, I was sent on a fateful trip to Mission, Texas, to lead an intensive week-long Care Force service project renovating a Boys and Girls club. The universe aligned that week, and Chris was sent in as reinforcements. The rest is sweet sweet history. A year ago, Chris took me... Continue Reading →
Today was a window into Swiss tradition at the "Desalpes" festival in St. Cergue. After spending four months in the high alpine pastures where cheese is made on site the old-fashioned way, the farmers and their cows parade down from the mountains at the end of September to rejoin their winter farms in “Desalpes” (French-speaking areas)... Continue Reading →