
Feelin’ Easy-ahh in Tunisia
We chose Tunisia rather randomly – the cheapest nearby country to fill 2 weeks before our upcoming UK housesit – and very ignorantly worried that it might just be a continuation of our Moroccan experience. More mosques, more North African landscape and culture, more medina market peddlers and walled old cities and offers of camel…

2024 – A Review and a Rewrite
When it came time to write the traditional Family Christmas letter, I was stuck. After 61 blog posts, was there anything new to say? So I took a deep breath and re-read every post, beginning to end, Minnesota to Morocco. While there wasn’t much to be added, there was an arc, a development or evolution…

Morocco through fresh eyes (and professional lens)
One of the most humbling and joyous achievements of parenthood is watching your children get better than you. I have been quite good at lot of things, then watched my own flesh and blood do them even better. Zekiah blasts past me in soccer, logical thinking, even professional networking these days. Galen’s fingers dance beyond…

Just the Two of Us (in Morocco’s Blue City)
We don’t know what to do. Our boys have left us – off to Portugal for four days of Bro Time (our Christmas gift to them) then back to their real lives – and we’re feeling once again the Empty Nesting Blues and trying to get our travel mojo back. Morocco has been great for…

Parenting, Still (and Joyfully) in Fez
“Papa, hold me!” My little boy would look up at me plaintively, arms upstretched, wide teary eyes, clearly and unabashedly expressing his need for comfort and connection. I vowed then and there to always respond. Once in a while the response had to be a deferral to a later time that I would be careful…

RELAX! It’s just the Sahara…
Africa is embedded deep within me. A childhood of African dreaming after cousin Sharon came back from Peace Corps with drums and jewelry and tie-dyed cement-bag robes. Backpacking through Egypt-Kenya-Uganda-Zaire after college grad. Seven years there with Habitat for Humanity then another four back&forth to Kenya with ACCES. But of course, Morocco ain’t Zaire, and…

Christmas in Casablanca
With two of us in Turkey and one child (Zekiah) flying to Europe anyways to start a semester of Urban Design studies in Copenhagen, it was cheaper and wilder to bring the boys here for Christmas instead of us flying back across the pond. After much deliberation, we agreed to give them their first taste…

Ignorance is a Miss – Cyprus
This isn’t the first time I’ve gone somewhere in complete ignorance. Sitting on an airplane in 1989 on my way to Costa Rica I couldn’t find it on the airplane magazine map – I thought it was an island (and didn’t know they spoke Spanish, nor how to find a hotel when we arrived at…

Cappadocia – Fairy Chimneys and Cave Churches
Remember those drip sand castles we used to make at the beach? Let some very wet sand dribble through your little kid fingers to form little plop chimneys. Well, imagine valley after valley filled with those chimneys, and you’ve got Cappadocia Turkey. Now remember that God uses a much bigger sand bucket, and was smart…

Only one “n” in Istanbul
Four weeks living in the Turkish capital and I still sometimes spell it Instanbul – like it’s an Add Water & Stir cow mix. Four weeks in a place where Rick Steeves recommends 2-4 days, and I’m still discovering and reaching and wondering. Where have all the churches gone? After a month on the Camino…

Here’s to Crazy Aunts (and Rock-Solid Uncles)
Everyone deserves a crazy aunt. The one in the movies who pushes the boundaries, buys outlandish presents and wears outlandish clothes, travels to exotic places, drinks with flair, and uses the word “Sex” in everyday conversation. I was blessed with two. Aunt Sally Aunt Sally, whose laugh was as full and real and nourishing as…

Winter Swim in the Black Sea
Stimulating or overstim? After 2 weeks of Istanbul delights and Turkish markets, our souls are crying out for fresh air (today’s air quality index is 71: “The air quality is generally acceptable for most individuals. However, sensitive groups may experience minor to moderate symptoms from long-term exposure.”) We hastily pack an overnight bag and head…

Turkish Markets
Today I’m going to take you on a photographic tour of the many markets we’ve enjoyed around Istanbul. Each outing includes a long walk there and back where we stumble upon other sights and discoveries about Turkey. Fish Market Just 10 minutes downhill from our AirBnB, winding through steep narrow streets filled with electric lights…

Turkish Delight
“Find us our next adventure,” we asked our panel of friends and family. A place where we can recover and build from the Camino experience. A place with new foods and smells and sights. A place we’ve never been and maybe wouldn’t have thought to choose on our own. Our fantastic five zoomed together, swirled…

to the End of the World – Camino Bonus Days 40-44 (Finisterre)
I’m blissfully alone in the world. Legs crossed, back to the lighthouse, shrouded in fog, mesmerized by Tofino-worthy waves crashing up and over the rocks. I suppose Sarah’s somewhere on some rock doing the same thing, but for this hour or hours it’s just me and the rest of my life and the end of…

We Did It! – Camino Days 35-39 (Santiago de Compostela)
39 days ago I wrote about starting a camino family, not really believing that the random group of pilgrims who just happened to start the same day and walk about the same pace could be any more special than the ones from the day before or the day after. But in these final 5 days…

Beauty Cuts – Camino Days 31-34 (Somos)
Shortcuts are the fast route to missing life. By definition they cut something short in the name of efficiency. That’s why I’m notorious in our family for “beauty cuts.” When I announce, “I think this will be a better route – trust me!” the family groans (which I generously interpret as endorsement) and knows their…

Chariots, Crusaders, and Baby Jesus Playing Cards – Camino Day 30 (Cacabelos)
Before the invention of ATM’s, trekking the long isolated Camino with everything you needed to survive was a dangerous game, and the Knights Templar were created to provide protection. At sunrise we’ve reached Ponferrada, home to the Game-of-Thrones-worthy Castle of the Knights Templar – a church-created army designed in 1119 to safeguard pilgrims to Jerusalem…

Gonna Lay Down My Burden – Camino Day 29 (Iron Cross)
At the start of the Camino, Sarah told me to pick up a rock that I would later lay down at the famous Cruz de Ferro. Choosing (as always) to walk in ignorance, this is the first of only three things I knew to look forward to on the entire 800 km pilgrimage (the others…

This is Not My Beautiful Wife! – Camino Days 26-28 (Astorga)
One of our favourite couples on the Camino isn’t a couple at all. Zois & Gemma met nine years ago and found they had similar walking paces and life outlooks. They enjoyed walking the rest of that journey so much that they agreed to meet up on another camino in the future. And unlike most…

Simply Walking – Camino Days 23-25 (Mesita)
Pack – walk – eat – walk – eat – walk – nap – eat – sleep. Repeat (times 38). The Camino is that simple. No wondering what we should do tomorrow. Each day will unfold with its own wonders and blunders. Landscapes softly transition from field to forest, hill to plain, green to brown…

Singing Nuns and True Caring – Camino Days 19-22 (León)
At the end of a long day of 27 km and 39,000 steps, we stumble into Casa Susi in Trabadelo. As the owner glides down the stairs, I preemptively answer the question they always ask, which is, “Do you have a reservation?” As I rush into this un-greeting, he doesn’t even answer, he just smiles…

Retirement Role Models – Camino Days 16-18 (Castrojeriz)
Foggy pre-dawn starts up a final hill and officially onto the Mesita – the flat table-top plains that some find boring and is supposed to challenge us mentally for the next ten days or so. A time to ponder big questions, and for these first few days it seems that the How and Why of…

Ugly-Yummy-Real – Camino Days 14-15 (Burgos)
This 2-day walk from Belorado to Burgos is one of great contrasts – in landscape, emotions, history, geography. We leave yesterday’s windy open hillsides and plunge uphill into beautiful forest land. So many branches and trees down, thankfully no-one was hurt in yesterday’s gale force winds. In hindsight, we maybe should have taken a safety/rest…
Currently in...
Housesitting in Alderney (Channel Islands, UK) till end of February.
Heading to...
Albania (Mar-Apr), Copenhagen, Krakow (Poland). Please share any sites, people or ideas by email.