We are off to Scotland!
On June 10th Sandy and Lauren are going to Scotland for 10 days. Our itinerary calls for stops in four cities, where we plan to mix historic sights with the natural beauty of the area.
Why Did You Travel Around the World?
Even more than five years after we took our 4 1/2 month around the world trip with our girls in 2003 to 2004, we still get questions about what the circumstances were leading up to that journey and why we decided to do it. We received our initial inspiration from several sources.
Email: Greetings from Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
Since we last wrote, we left the hacienda north of Quito on Wednesday and made our way to Cotopaxi National Park about 50 miles south of Quito. We hired a driver to take us between the two destinations, which included a stop at the equator itself, about 15 miles north of Quito.
Email: Greetings from Rio Napo, Ecuador
As I write this, Sandy and I are making our return trip upstream on the Rio Napo (Napo River) from the Sacha Lodge back to Coca, Ecuador – a distance of approximately 50 miles. We stayed at Sacha for the last four days.
Email: Greetings from Buhoma, Uganda
There is no electrical grid in Buhoma – the name of the settlement that includes the buildings both inside and outside of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. It took 180km (111 miles) of poor dirt roads to get here and the nearest paved road is 85km (53 miles) away. Our purpose for coming to Buhoma was to see the mountain gorillas in the wild.
Guatemala: Tikal
Tikal is one of the major sites of Mayan civilization, inhabited from the 6th century B.C. to the 10th century A.D. We spent three days viewing this and other ruins in the vicinity.
4×4 Off-Road Adventure in Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is known for being remote and harsh. We took a 4×4 vehicle trip in April 2006 that packed in many of the iconic sights of Death Valley with 270 miles of off-road travel to the most remote and varied parts of the park.
Across the USA by Train
Traveling across the USA by train is an unique way to see and experience the variety and scale of the country. We broke up the journey, stretching it into a 17 day trip in August / September 2004, by stopping at Glacier National Park for five days and visiting Chicago before reaching New York City.
Trans USA Train: Glacier National Park – West Side
The first few days of our time in Glacier National Park were spent on the west side of the continental divide. Here we enjoyed our lakeside hotel room, drove along scenic roads and took several day hikes to beautiful lakes.
Trans USA Train: Glacier National Park – East Side / Canada
The east side of Glacier National Park was no less spectacular than the west side. We continued our day hikes in the area and stayed in one of the historic lodges. A day trip to Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada was a highlight.