Tag Archives: crooked and steep
Guayaquil, The Pearl of the Pacific
Join your GypsyNesters in Guayaquil, Ecuador!Discover the steep Cerro Santa Ana, a colorful, dynamic neighborhood of 444 steps with amazing sunset visits from the top.
Delight in the Parque de las Iguana where the reptiles were so thick that we had to be careful not to step on them.
And stroll the beautiful, romantic riverwalk – the Malecón… CONTINUE READING >>
Fear Conquering & Snow Skiing
Learning to ski at my age had me worrying about things that a younger person might not have.
What if I plummet over a cliff, break my hip, and die from complications a week later? What if I take a blow to the back of my head from one of those chair ride thingies and end up like an amnesia-riddled soap opera character? What if I end up like Sonny Bono and that horrible tree? What if?
But as a committed GypsyNester, it is my duty to step out of my comfort zone and… CONTINUE READING >>
Discovering The Lost City of The Inca, Machu Picchu
When we stepped off The Expedition Train at Aguas Calientes we wasted no time, proceeding directly to the busses for the ride up to Machu Picchu.We did not stop to eat, did not check into our hotel, did not pass go, and did not collect two hundred dollars. We just climbed aboard our carriage for the harrowing trip up the side of a crazy-sheer… CONTINUE READING >>
The Key to Quito, Ecuador
What we THOUGHT was going to be a simple stopover on our way to The Galapagos Islands, turned out to be a gem of Colonial American history.Quito’s Colonial Center is perhaps the largest and best preserved historic center in the Americas, and was the first New World city to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO… CONTINUE READING >>
The Inexplicable Stairway to Heaven
As the legend goes, when the chapel was built without stairs up to the choir loft. Monks used ladders, but since this chapel was for nuns, a staircase was needed. Conventional stairs would take up nearly half the space in the little chapel, so the nuns decided to pray a novena for some divine assistance. On the ninth (and final) day of the devotion, a mysterious man with a few simple tools appeared and informed the sisters that he could fashion a suitable staircase, but he must be left completely alone. Locked in the chapel for three days, he finished the stairs and disappeared without asking for pay. Nobody knew who he was or where he went, so naturally …CONTINUE READING >>Inexplicable Stairs of Santa Fe
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On the ninth (and final) day of the devotion, a mysterious man with a few simple tools appeared and informed the sisters that… CONTINUE READING >>
Catalina Cart Blanche
“A rose by any other name…” No doubt ol’ Bill Shakespeare didn’t know Catalina from Capulet but the little island off the coast of California sure has had its share of monikers. The Tongva, dating back to 7000 BC, lived on the island and called it Pimu. Portuguese explorer and serial-California-stuff-namer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo dubbed it San Salvador in 1542. In 1602, Spain rechristened it Santa Catalina. Today, it’s Catalina Island or just plain Catalina… CONTINUE READING >>Sur. Yes Sir!
Waves crashing against the craggy coast, mist drifting up mountains that rise abruptly from the sea, bridges impossibly clinging to cliffs — we’d seen …CONTINUE READING >>The San Francisco Treat
Growing up all we knew about San Francisco was that it was really cool. Eric Burden sang about it, Otis Redding sat on its dock of the bay and it required flowers in your hair if you were going there. Sure Tony Bennett left his heart there but Jimi Hendrix left his guitar, on fire! Well… it’s true, it’s true, it really IS cool.
We rode the subway under the Bay into town (comforting ourselves with the knowledge that the odds of an earthquake rolling through while we were underground were minimal)… CONTINUE READING >>
Big Heads, Badlands & Bear Claws
After the seemingly endless trek across the windswept northern prairie, the landscape suddenly changes. On second thought, suddenly hardly describes it.Abruptly, immediately, instantaneously the topography dramatically goes from flat grassland besieged with billboards to the spectacularly gnarled Badlands.
Out of nowhere the South Dakota plains give way to layers of soft shale, clay and limestone that wear away at a rate of about an inch a year… CONTINUE READING >>
The Healing Waters of Eureka Springs
If you’re driving along route 62 through Northwest Arkansas and don’t venture off the main highway, you will only catch half of Eureka Springs. Depending on one’s bent, it’s the best half or the worst half.
Along the highway, the businesses seem to cater mostly to Christians and bikers, but they share the space in peace and harmony. Many establishments sport slogans like “Family Owned” or “Bikers Welcome” to entice their chosen… CONTINUE READING >>
Dale Ertel, Reptile Wrangler
Winding through the “crooked and steep” roads of the Ozarks near Berryville, Arkansas, it would have been easy to miss the intriguing and very colorful hand painted sign on the side of the road, but Veronica caught a glimpse of it. “Did that sign say Snake World?”
Lucky for us, Dale Ertel was standing in the front yard of the dilapidated dwelling that houses the exhibition. Dale and his family originally cohabitated… CONTINUE READING >>
