Ass Over Teakettle
A Few Random Notes from Chance
Postcard from Florence, July 2022
Talking of Michelangelo
Traveling With a Guitar
There are several ways to travel with a guitar; using one that fits in the overhead bin on a plane is only one of them, but it’s the safest and least nerve-wracking.
Desert Driving: Mesas and Mistakes
I’m back at home, finally! … I had better finish up the road trip I started writing about last week while it was happening. Because it got a lot weirder from there.
Bonus Post – Monterey Bay Aquarium
Ay-yi-yi-yi, The Open Road is Home
We take a break from the Italy trip report to tell you about the road trip, which is finally happening even as we speak. I’m writing this from a Best Western in Barstow, California.
A Message From the Crab.
A crab knows beaches better than any vertebrate. And the beach was where we went next. Sorrento, to be specific, on the Amalfi Coast.
St. Peter and St. Christopher
The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, more commonly simply known as St. Peter’s Basilica, is the largest church in the world. And boy, does it ever make sure that you know it.
United Breaks Passengers
We interrupt the saga of our Italian adventure to bring you the horrific story of what has been happening as we attempt to finish the trip. Next week, I’ll be back to telling you all about St. Peter’s Basilica and our adventures in the subways of Rome, but I had to stop for a while to tell you about this. Because it’s the worst airport experience I’ve had in almost fifty years of frequent flying.
Another Country
The Vatican — a very different country from the antiquities of Rome, or even the flashy design of modern Italy.
Of Things Colossal
The Roman Colosseum is indeed colossal, but that’s not how it got its name. According to our guide, the emperor Nero …
Scattered Chunks of Antiquity
In addition to the ancient pieces built into the everyday houses around us, there were random elements of ancient archaeological sites all around us.
Fettered to the Foam
I always feel both halves of that song, when I’m getting ready to take off for a trip. I love travel. It’s my favorite thing to do in the entire world. Every trip has me breathless and eager — and yet, I do leave a family behind, and it’s always, always hard.
Last Steps (Italy)
I’m currently in the panic phase of preparation — the stage at which we’re getting close, but there is a lot still left uncertain and it feels incomprehensible that it will all come together in time.
Exploring at Home
One of the most common pieces of advice travelers get is, if you can’t go anywhere right away, go traveling in your own town or city.
Traveling With a CPAP
Frankly, It’s a Sick Truck
Frank the Truck is unwell. The conclusions from the inspection were mixed, but worrisome
Frankly, It’s a Truck
If time is nature’s way of ensuring that not everything happens all at once, it doesn’t work! The development process doesn’t happen smoothly. Instead, …
A Very Short Update
Turtles and Gators and Snakes: Oh My!
And what did we do with our Mother’s Day excursion? We went and petted snakes, of course! Isn’t that what most families do when they want a pleasant, relaxing day out? No? Well, maybe we’re just bizarre, then. That’s just fine; we like our weirdness. We also like our snakes.
Racking Up the Miles
On Thursday and Friday, C and I went to look at trucks. The one from last week that he’d found interesting needed to be brought to the mechanic, so I picked him up early Thursday and we hurried north for 70-ish miles to collect the truck.
Putting It Together
Things I Learned in Africa
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
Five Tips for Balancing Energy While You Travel
Figuring It(aly) Out
Things That Don’t Help
Going Sideways to Go Forwards
I told you last time that, even though there is definitely some frustration in the planning stages of a big trip when it feels like there’s a wall that I can’t get around, I have learned that I almost always just need to
Lime Soda
St/rolling
The day after Colleen’s mobility scooter arrived, we went for our first st/roll. I strolled, she rolled. It was wonderful — for the first time in over a decade, I had trouble keeping up with her!
It’s for You!
I got you a present! It’s a brand new camera, all for this blog. (Okay, it also happens to have a phone wrapped around it, and that part’s for me.)
Catching Up to Now
Homecoming
Shipping Out
The Dutch in the Ancient World
Today we took the train to Leiden, to explore the town and visit the Museum of Antiquities.
Being Eleven Again
I mentioned in my last post that J and I were once eleven together…Today, the two of us went off to the Nemo Science Museum, to be eleven again and play with all the cool exhibits. It was a lot of fun.
On the Water
Cut and Run
After all the animals I’ve seen in the wild here in Africa, it felt distinctly strange to be going to a zoo… but I wanted to see what a Ugandan zoo was like
Impenetrable
For a Woman
Trip Diary: Breaking the First Rule
On the Nile
The Rhinos, the Road, and the River
Postcard from Uganda
In this special post I’ve put together some of the coolest photos from my two weeks in southern Africa, that somehow never made it into the write-ups.
Transitions
Bushman’s Holiday
Soft Camp, Hard Landscape
Trip Diary: Red in Tooth and Claw
Trip Diary: Beastland
Trip Diary: So This Is the Delta
Trip Diary: Where Are All the Elephants?
The Lookout Cafe is the centerpiece of Wild Horizons’ empire of Victoria Falls tourist attractions. It’s a restaurant, but that’s a little bit like saying that Broadway-caliber dinner theater is a restaurant. At the Lookout Cafe, lunch is respectable, but it’s really all about the view.
Trip Diary: Paying Calls
Trip Diary: Tenderness in Warthogs
There’s a line in an old Robert Heinlein book, in which the main character muses about the perfections of female humans, and then adds, “No doubt a gentleman warthog feels the same way about a lady warthog. But if so, both of us are very sincere.”
Trip Diary: Crocodiles and Rhinos
When I was very small, my father used to sing silly things to me, as many parents of small children do. One of his favorites was to sing the words “Heffalumps and Woozles,” from out of the Winnie the Pooh books, to the tune of “Politics and Poker,” from the Broadway musical “Fiorello!” I now understand the compulsion. All day today, I’ve been singing “Crocodiles and Rhinos” to myself, using the same tune.
Trip Diary: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Seattle to Johannesburg
It’s 5:30 in the morning, and I’m lying in bed feeling perfectly content as a baboon chatters outside my window.
The birds have a great deal more to say
Last Steps
Hitting a Wall
Omicron
Wheelin’
My Best Trip Ever
Upcoming Trips
All Posts
Ass Over Teakettle
A Few Random Notes from Chance
Postcard from Florence, July 2022
Talking of Michelangelo
Traveling With a Guitar
There are several ways to travel with a guitar; using one that fits in the overhead bin on a plane is only one of them, but it’s the safest and least nerve-wracking.
Desert Driving: Mesas and Mistakes
I’m back at home, finally! … I had better finish up the road trip I started writing about last week while it was happening. Because it got a lot weirder from there.
Bonus Post – Monterey Bay Aquarium
Ay-yi-yi-yi, The Open Road is Home
We take a break from the Italy trip report to tell you about the road trip, which is finally happening even as we speak. I’m writing this from a Best Western in Barstow, California.
A Message From the Crab.
A crab knows beaches better than any vertebrate. And the beach was where we went next. Sorrento, to be specific, on the Amalfi Coast.
St. Peter and St. Christopher
The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, more commonly simply known as St. Peter’s Basilica, is the largest church in the world. And boy, does it ever make sure that you know it.
United Breaks Passengers
We interrupt the saga of our Italian adventure to bring you the horrific story of what has been happening as we attempt to finish the trip. Next week, I’ll be back to telling you all about St. Peter’s Basilica and our adventures in the subways of Rome, but I had to stop for a while to tell you about this. Because it’s the worst airport experience I’ve had in almost fifty years of frequent flying.
Another Country
The Vatican — a very different country from the antiquities of Rome, or even the flashy design of modern Italy.
Of Things Colossal
The Roman Colosseum is indeed colossal, but that’s not how it got its name. According to our guide, the emperor Nero …
Scattered Chunks of Antiquity
In addition to the ancient pieces built into the everyday houses around us, there were random elements of ancient archaeological sites all around us.
Fettered to the Foam
I always feel both halves of that song, when I’m getting ready to take off for a trip. I love travel. It’s my favorite thing to do in the entire world. Every trip has me breathless and eager — and yet, I do leave a family behind, and it’s always, always hard.
Last Steps (Italy)
I’m currently in the panic phase of preparation — the stage at which we’re getting close, but there is a lot still left uncertain and it feels incomprehensible that it will all come together in time.
Exploring at Home
One of the most common pieces of advice travelers get is, if you can’t go anywhere right away, go traveling in your own town or city.
Traveling With a CPAP
Frankly, It’s a Sick Truck
Frank the Truck is unwell. The conclusions from the inspection were mixed, but worrisome
Frankly, It’s a Truck
If time is nature’s way of ensuring that not everything happens all at once, it doesn’t work! The development process doesn’t happen smoothly. Instead, …
A Very Short Update
Turtles and Gators and Snakes: Oh My!
And what did we do with our Mother’s Day excursion? We went and petted snakes, of course! Isn’t that what most families do when they want a pleasant, relaxing day out? No? Well, maybe we’re just bizarre, then. That’s just fine; we like our weirdness. We also like our snakes.
Racking Up the Miles
On Thursday and Friday, C and I went to look at trucks. The one from last week that he’d found interesting needed to be brought to the mechanic, so I picked him up early Thursday and we hurried north for 70-ish miles to collect the truck.
Putting It Together
Things I Learned in Africa
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
Five Tips for Balancing Energy While You Travel
Figuring It(aly) Out
Things That Don’t Help
Going Sideways to Go Forwards
I told you last time that, even though there is definitely some frustration in the planning stages of a big trip when it feels like there’s a wall that I can’t get around, I have learned that I almost always just need to
Lime Soda
St/rolling
The day after Colleen’s mobility scooter arrived, we went for our first st/roll. I strolled, she rolled. It was wonderful — for the first time in over a decade, I had trouble keeping up with her!
It’s for You!
I got you a present! It’s a brand new camera, all for this blog. (Okay, it also happens to have a phone wrapped around it, and that part’s for me.)
Catching Up to Now
Homecoming
Shipping Out
The Dutch in the Ancient World
Today we took the train to Leiden, to explore the town and visit the Museum of Antiquities.
Being Eleven Again
I mentioned in my last post that J and I were once eleven together…Today, the two of us went off to the Nemo Science Museum, to be eleven again and play with all the cool exhibits. It was a lot of fun.
On the Water
Cut and Run
After all the animals I’ve seen in the wild here in Africa, it felt distinctly strange to be going to a zoo… but I wanted to see what a Ugandan zoo was like
Impenetrable
For a Woman
Trip Diary: Breaking the First Rule
On the Nile
The Rhinos, the Road, and the River
Postcard from Uganda
In this special post I’ve put together some of the coolest photos from my two weeks in southern Africa, that somehow never made it into the write-ups.
Transitions
Bushman’s Holiday
