Stories

Travel, food and wine, life, health, and the occasional sermon on perspective. Here is the latest – the rest, with other categories, is below.

The Latest

Random thoughts and mostly useless observations on the Camino de Santiago

Here are only a few of my observations and random thoughts – with some explanation if I feel like it – on our experience walking the Camino de Santiago.

Notes On Failure – As We Start Pilgriming

I don’t want to fail at this. It’s funny, I think I have reached a place in my life, through experience as well as through elements of privilege (money and health, etc) where the outside world is not what challenges me any more. It’s all inside We’ve chosen our first...

Leaving 55 in 2020

2020 will probably be one of the, if not the, most significant years of my life. This was the year I had been waiting for; the year I was planning to retire.  What a year it’s been.  2020 kicked off with me suffering from and recovering from a pretty severe...

Perspective on coronavirus

Warning: Totally irreverent #coronapocalypse perspective in 3, 2, 1... I think it’s noteworthy that there is a swelling of questioning, lecturing, and anger being directed generally at young people in America by the Boomer generation (and others, to be fair)...

I hate digital photography

Regarding travel photography, seriously, what is the deal with the picture taking?  As we stood on the platform to catch our train to Rome some time ago, a platform that was amazingly small in a train station that was puny in a hill town that...

Pilgrim Journal – Not Every Day Is Fabulous

Everything is wonderful, inspiring, and fabulous…until you wake up on the wrong side of the world and it suddenly isn’t.

Twenty Four Hours in Travel Hell

6:00am (10:00pm DT or Denver Time) We wake up in the Aklesia B&B in the Colosseum district of Rome to the sound of the iPhone alarm going off on the side of the bed.  Snooze?  Nah.  Gotta get up, shower and hit the Metro station.  I reach in to my backpack to find...

Urban Adventure Dublin

We had never been to Dublin and have been told by many of our friends that it was a must-visit. That, and Irish history has always been a bit of a blind spot for me that needed correcting.

Wino Journal

Stories, logs, and blogs on moving on from a life of work and routine.

Early Retirement Ideal vs Real

Early Retirement Ideal vs Real

What I want my days in pandemic-time self-imposed Mexican exile (Mexile?) to look like, versus what they actually end up being.

Leaving 55 in 2020

Leaving 55 in 2020

2020 will probably be one of the, if not the, most significant years of my life. This was the year I had been waiting for; the year I was planning to retire.  What a year it’s been.  2020 kicked off with me suffering from and recovering from a pretty severe...

Adventure

Stories, logs, and blogs on our pilgrim journeys as we grab our backpacks (and a wine key) and walk through Spain, Italy, France, Scotland, and the great wine regions of the world – hopefully including New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Argentina, to name a few.

Another Useless Travel Blog – Rovinj

Another Useless Travel Blog – Rovinj

Make no mistake, I would hang out in Rovinj any day, and for a quick weekend on the beach or week at a resort, it’s top notch. It’s a really cool town to wander through. The history is incredible, the food is more than okay, and there is no way to not have a good time.

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On Youth, Passports, and Consulates

On Youth, Passports, and Consulates

Yeah, we had to visit a consulate to check a passport, but more noteworthy part was the encounter with the other American tourists while waiting in the secure seating area outside the consulate functional area, namely two lovely and young American girls.

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No substitutions, please.

No substitutions, please.

Hi.  Yes, I’m ready to order.  I’d like your double-cut pork chop with apple sauce, but instead of the braised cabbage, I’d like steamed broccoli.  And, rather than the shredded potatoes, may I have a house salad with ranch dressing on the side?...

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How To Wine and Cheese

How To Wine and Cheese

The best way to demonstrate the beauty of wine and cheese is to invite some friends and throw a wine-and-cheese tasting. Now, most people do this all backwards. They read about mixing cheeses from cows, sheep and goats and adding a selection that ranges from soft to hard, new world to old and fresh to aged.

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More Stories

Useless Travel Blog – Cabo San Lucas

Useless Travel Blog – Cabo San Lucas

“No Bad Days” my ass. Save yourself  TL/DR - Cabo San Lucas sucks. Below is all you need to know. Our travel blogging disclaimer Fifteen or twenty years ago, Cabo San Lucas was cool. It had more of a chill hippie vibe. But now, unless all you want to do is fish (there...

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I Fucking Hate Travel Blogging – A Disclaimer

I Fucking Hate Travel Blogging – A Disclaimer

I'll make this brief and simply attach it to everything I write. I fucking hate travel blogging. I’m not good at it and I’m not trying to be good at it. I’m not a travel agent. I’m not a tour guide. I’m not TripAdvisor and I have no interest in developing itineraries...

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Cheers! Clink.