Pulpology: Mark & Sonia's Intercontinental Absurdities!

Photo Friday: the Petra experience

2013-06-14T00:00:00-04:00

so many camels, so little time

As I've hinted at in past posts, there's a very good reason Petra is a World Heritage Site. UNESCO goes into great detail on Petra's "Outstanding Universal Value." Personally, I was just glad it was as amazing in person as the photos and movie footage it's featured in.

The pleasant walk into The Rose-Red City first provides a view of ancient silica quarries, partially-carved tombs (which we jokingly referring to as "art school"), and Djinn blocks. The latter, freestanding cube-shaped monuments to spirits from Arab folklore, give the site a Flintstonian feel.

the walk in

the Marriott crew poses at "art school"

Rawan does her best Wilma Flintstone impression

The next section is The Siq, a narrow passage through the mountains leading to the carved city of Petra. Exploring the colors and textures of the sandstone canyon was one of my favorite parts of the visit. You can see my full homage to this natural wonder in my last post "Pet Rock."

entering The Siq

rockin' out

One hazard was the horse-drawn buggies designed for those unwilling or unable to make the walk. They'd come zooming by with little warning, although after a while we began listening for thundering hooves echoing off the canyon walls.

don´t get trampled by lazy tourists in buggies

At the end of The Siq, the carved facade of The Treasure emerges. This is the iconic view you see most often, but is no less spectacular to behold.

iconic Petra

Cue the Indiana Jones theme song!

The Treasury

oktapodi often gets mistaken for Indiana Jones

Unfortunately you can't go inside The Treasury, known in Arabic as Al-Khazna, but you can wander around and admire the carved facade. Crafted by the Nabatean civilization in 60BC, the structure is actually a gigantic tomb, covered in Greek-influenced columns and carvings.

Corinthian columns

Hellenic warriors

loving how the light moves across Al-Khazna

The scene in the Treasury plaza is a chaotic pastiche of camera-wielding tourists, camel-wielding touts, and wheelbarrow-wielding maintenance men.

Captain Jack Sparrow working the Petra crowd

in front of The Treasury

Lindsay, Rawan, oktapodi, Mark, Aftab

Treasury Plaza

cameltoe

obligatory cheesy tourist shot with fake guards

We continued down the Street of Facades towards the Theater, which was also under renovation. Plenty of cool stuff to see along the way, though.

lightshow

Rawan photographs Lindsay

mellow touts

festively-attired donkeys

Street of Facades

The fact that the Theater was off-limits didn't stop Aftab, who hopped the fence to take a better picture. I'm happy to note he didn't end up on an episode of "Locked Up Abroad."

renovations at The Theater

Aftab behind bars

There was no shortage of touts trying to sell us camel rides or trinkets, but they weren't nearly as aggressive as I'd expected. Some of them, like this young girl who approached us with an armful of necklaces, were surprisingly friendly.

vendors

touts awaiting their next customers

hey, shouldn't you be in school?

We weren't able to stick around for the hike up to the Monastery, as a member of our troupe had to get back to Amman for a flight. (A handy excuse just as the heat was starting to crank up.) But the stroll back through the Siq rewarded us with a delicious color show.

more spectacular lighting changes on the walk back

breathtaking

"a rose-red city half as old as time"

Then, sadly, back to reality.

annnnnnd back to the cheese!

time for souvenirs

And thus concludes the lengthy curation of my many-many Petra pics. Check out the links below for other posts and allllll the photos uploaded from our Jordan travels. Next up, our side trip to Beirut!

For more fabulous travel snaps check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Photo Friday: Pet rock

2013-06-07T00:00:00-04:00

Petra is most famous for its Nabatean-carved structures like the Treasury and the Monastery ...and we'll get to those in a future post. But even before the Treasury emerges from beyond the canyon walls of the Siq, visitors are treated to a spectacular display of sandstone colors and textures.

It's a photographer's wet dream.

I started to see faces everywhere in the charismatic rock formations.

The gorgeous hues seem to shift with each passing minute. We lucked out with a sunny morning, and left the site just as the afternoon heat began to seriously bake everything.

More to Petra pics to come! I'm just getting warmed up. Here's the rest of what I've uploaded so far. Meanwhile, for more fabulous travel snaps check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Photo Friday: unexpected Petra

2013-05-24T00:00:00-04:00

hey, even touts need to check Facebook from time to time

light and dark and dark and light

Yes, I'm teasing out the Petra pictures, little by little... You know you love it. Keep begging for more! Meanwhile, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Photo Friday: waking up in Petra

2013-05-17T00:00:00-04:00

Petra is one of those mystical-magical places that, even with our modern jaded overexposure, never fails to amaze. A small group of us had the opportunity to take a quick trip here after our meetings, and I came away with a small mountain of photos. (Imagine your complete and total lack of surprise.)

Today's first batch is just from the first few moments of waking up at the Petra Marriott, which is about 10 minutes away from the archeological site. Even the views from our room were stunning. We'd arrived late the previous night and hadn't had a chance to appreciate the delicious vistas of the Petra Valley.

Normally waking up before sunrise is not my jam. I got over that. The baklava tray helped.

The misty-mountain-hop quality of the light...

Gradually began to warm up...

It always amazes me to see plants growing under such austere conditions.

Bit of a lonely outpost, but the view beats cubeville anyday!

Just a few minutes' difference made dramatic changes in the scenery...

Oktapodi is awake and ready to see Petra!

Er mah gerrrrrrd, soooooo many more pics of Petra to come. Meanwhile, for more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Also, I'm still working on restoring the site after our recent crashitude, so not all pics have been uploaded and a few bits & pieces need to be tidied up. Do peruse the other Jordan blog posts, though! And thanks for your patience.

Photo Friday: Middle East teaser

2013-04-12T00:00:00-04:00

I'm waaaaaaay behind on posting pics and stories from last month's trip to Jordan & Lebanon -- due in small part to a technology snafu that turned into a mild panic this week -- but I'm back on task and should have some goodies for you soon. Meanwhile I didn't want anyone to abandon hope, so here are a few quick teaser photos from our delightful accommodations at the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort & Spa.

Views from our room by night...

...and by day (that's the Dead Sea in the hazy background of the second photo)

And just for kicks, one from Petra, because who couldn't use a little cameltoe on a Friday?

More to come, including our adventures in Beirut. Stay tuned!

Photo Friday: Happy International Women's Day!

2013-03-08T00:00:00-04:00

grrrrrrlpower!

Right now we're on a long layover in Heathrow Airport, waiting on a connecting flight to Jordan for a work trip. So I thought I'd commemorate International Women's Day with a pic of just a few of my favorite, fierce, international women. This photo always makes me smile; it was taken after we finished build week on our Habitat trip to Mozambique in October. The physical strength shown here is surpassed only by the strength of the relationships we build during that trip. In fact, we're going to visit Hanine, in the middle, in Beirut next week after my work in Jordan is done. Stay tuned for more pics & stories, and meanwhile take a moment today to celebrate the fierce women in your world!

RELATED LINKS:
* A love note to Team Pedro
* browse all Moz posts
* browse all pics from Mozambique and South Africa

Photo Friday: beautiful shiny Carnaval

2013-02-08T00:00:00-04:00

It's Carnaval time! Zoinks, it took me forever to get all the pics posted from our Feb 2012 trip, partly because there were soooooooo many of them, and partly because... well, life gets in the way...

Now seems like a great time to look back on this epic trip, which was primarily a celebration of my 40th birthday. (Mark tried getting them to move the party back to November, but alas it didn't work.) And why not ease the pain of this big milestone by hitting the biggest party on the planet? Brazilians know how to do it right, that's for sure.

Mangueira Samba School performs at Rio Scala Ball

In addition to attending a traditional samba ball, we splashed out on some fabulous front-row seats to the parades in the Sambadrome. Unreal. Gigantic floats, elaborate costumes, and nonstop smiling-singing-dancing from every single person in the parades and in the stands. For like eight hours straight.

warrior tigers

are we having fun or what?

sing it, sister

My siblings contributed to the birthday celebration by booking us a scuba junket in Arraial do Cabo. While it wasn't the most fabulous diving we've ever done, it was nice to get out of the city for a bit, and the scenery was divine.

and life is good

We also managed to fit in a few standard touristy things, like...

taking a trip up Corcovado to see The Big J

checking out the jaw-dropping views from Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar)

and loving life on Ipanema Beach

Choosing just a handful of "best of" pics was almost painful! There were just so many beautiful shiny things as far as the eye could see. (See below for links to the rest of the photos, as well as all the blog posts from that trip.) Someday it'd be great to go back and see Rio in its natural state -- y'know, without a troupe of singing and dancing M&Ms crammed onto the subway at all hours of the day and night -- but it sure was fun to experience it in all its partyrific glory.

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED LINKS:
* browse all Brazil pics
* browse all parade pics
* browse all Arraial do Cabo pics
* browse all Corcovado pics
* browse all Pão de Açúcar pics
* read all Brazil posts

Photo Friday: the kids are all right

2012-12-21T00:00:00-04:00

For those of you keeping score, I'm still working on the final installment of my three-part series. (Check out the WHO and WHAT posts, if you've missed those, and WHY is coming, I promise!) But in light of last week's horrificness in Connecticut, it seemed a good time to showcase some of the beautiful children of Chipenhe Village.

These kids were our constant companions during our week on the Habitat build site, and part of our assignment was to interact with them. This was pretty much the easiest task we were given... they were friendly, adorable, entertaining, and just all-around fabulous kids.

They helped out around the worksite...

Delighted in having their picture taken...

Of course, loved them some oktapodi...

They greeted us every morning and said goodbye each evening, by running after the van and frantically cheering...

They played with whatever materials were on hand...

Enjoyed some of the supplemental entertainment we brought with us...

And generally seemed to make the most of just being kids

To say they touched our hearts is the understatement of the century.

This is just the tip of the iceberg... of course there are tons more photos of these little guys. (Warning: somebody's been having a bit too much fun with some new Lightroom presets/filters!)

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED LINKS:
* Work is love made visible
* A love note to Team Pedro
* browse all Mozambique posts
* browse all photos from Mozambique and South Africa

Photo Friday: London's Friday Night Freakshow

2012-12-14T00:00:00-04:00

Today we take a short break from Moz posts to bring you a few pics from the London Wonderground.

freaks and a geek

Southbank Centre in the moonlight

Open May through September at Southbank Centre, this "marvellous new festival of cabaret, circus and sideshow" was set up right behind our hotel, and we happened to catch one of the last nights. By chance, as we strolled along after dinner one eve, the Friday Night Freakshow was about to begin. Oh, what luck!

freakshow next to The Eye? yes, please!

let the show begin

Emceed by the salty Miss Behave, this fabulous concoction of vaudeville acts kept us well entertained into the wee hours.

Miss Behave

Kalki Hula Girl

Gypsy Wood

This was one of those magical moments of travel synchronicity that we couldn't possibly have planned better.

score!

Back to our regularly-scheduled Mozambique posts soon! And more London pics/posts to come.

Photo Friday: thankful for...

2012-11-30T00:00:00-04:00

On the heels of last week's American Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share this photo from our Moz trip that encapsulates the concept of thanks.

Felixmina and Nosta celebrate their new homes

I took this during the dedication ceremony for the two houses we'd built, which included lots of singing and dancing and words of thanks from Nosta and Felixmina. When was the last time you did something at work/home/anywhere that made someone this joyfully appreciative?

This helps remind me of all I'm thankful for, especially as we barrel through the hectic holiday season.

More-more-more Moz to come, I promise! I am making some progress in wading through the mountain of pics and will be sharing more in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, check out the fabulous travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED LINKS:
* A love note to Team Pedro
* browse all Mozambique posts
* browse all photos from Mozambique and South Africa

PhotoFriday: Kruger Safari

2012-11-09T00:00:00-04:00

take the long way home

As I alluded to in my last post, our Africa trip was not all hard work and grappling with serious issues. There was serious fun, too! At the start of the trip we managed to fit in a one-day safari to Kruger National Park, in South Africa.

canoodling zebras

Despite the frigid cold and pelting rain (part of the charm of traveling in an open vehicle) we managed to see a lot of cool stuff, including four of The Big Five* and lots of other fascinating flora & fauna. .

trotting warthogs!

Our guide Sibusiso was an absolute expert at spotting random stuff from incredible distances, and seemed to really enjoy sharing his knowledge even with just the two of us huddled under blankets in the back of the enormous jeep

spotting rare leopard spots
(if you squint hard you'll either see a spaceship or one of its blue eyes peeking out of the foliage)

a pachyderm family affair

* The Big Five:
1. elephant
2. rhino
3. water buffalo
4. lion
5. leopard

We saw everything but lions, which apparently prefer not to come out in the pelting rain. Smart cats.

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday. And there are plenty more safari pics where these came from.

RELATED LINKS:
* browse all Mozambique posts
* browse all Kruger pics

PhotoFriday: bi-coastal beachy goodness

2012-08-17T00:00:00-04:00

Recent work and family adventures have taken me to both coasts of the US. While there's not much similarity between the towns of Spring Lake, NJ, and Newport Beach, CA, one thing's for sure: you just can't get too much beachy goodness!

Laura chillaxes (NJ)

sandtastic (NJ)

ready to watch the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Monster Mile race (CA)

bird is the word (CA)

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday.

And, one last shameless plug for our Mozambique trip! I hit my goal a while back, but Mark is still working on raising the funds (which go towards supplies and construction materials for the houses we'll be building). This is the last week to complete fundraising. If you can spare a few bucks, please consider contributing toward this cause! Every dollar counts, and as promised we'll be sending cool postcards to every supporter. You can be the only kid on the block with a postcard from Moz on your fridge!

RELATED LINKS:
* Jersey Shore + Dad's Retirement Party album on Google+
* Newport Beach album on Google+
* The Jersey Shore you'll never see on MTV
* Mark's Habitat fundraising page
* browse all Mozambique posts

Photo Friday: independence personified

2012-07-06T00:00:00-04:00

the funktastic Jacumba Hot Springs, April 2010

This is a slightly-delayed tribute to my dear, departed crazy aunt, who would have celebrated her "Yankee Doodle" birthday on July 4th if she hadn't succumbed to breast cancer last October. Above is a shot of her at Jacumba hot springs (with Mark and some random scraggly denizens), where she took us in April 2010.

three Gallo sisters on July 4, 2003
I love how nobody's looking in the same direction... typical...

Auntie didn't just march to her own beat, she brought a whole band along for the ride. For her 60th birthday, she threw herself a fabulous party, and she actually did hire a high school mariachi band to play in her backyard. Several years ago she'd already invited the entire family to come out to San Diego to celebrate her 70th on July 4, 2013. She was a piece of work. I miss her almost as much as I miss my mom; both were role models who taught me the real meaning of fierce independence.

For those of you in the US, amidst all the fireworks this week, take a minute to raise your glass to all the Founding Mothers (and Aunties) out there who made us what we are!

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday.

PhotoFriday: smiles everyone, smiles!

2012-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

You didn't seriously think I was done posting samba parade pics, did you? Oh heavens no!

This week's theme is the ridiculously good mood everyone seemed to be in while marching through the Sambódromo.

Part of what made our front-row seats so much fun was the ability to interact with the paraders, who lit up a little bit extra when they caught someone's eye in the audience.

Even the folks who'd been waiting all night for their parade to start were chipper and fresh and fulla spunk. Which was more than I could say, 'round about 6am. But their enthusiasm was certainly infectious!

It's uncanny how your gaze is drawn to a smiling face, even in a sea of snoof and fuzzle.

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: from Rio with love

2012-05-04T00:00:00-04:00

night falls on Rio

There's a reason everyone who's been to Rio ranks it among their favorite cities. It's gawjeous! For Photo Friday this week, here's another snap from our trip up Pão de Açúcar/Sugarloaf. If you want a sneak peek, all Sugarloaf pics have been posted. And the full story is coming soon. Really. Soon. (What can I say? Spring is in the air, and real life has gotten in the way this week!)

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: Holy Floats, Batman! (part two)

2012-04-13T00:00:00-04:00

Last week we explored some of the splendiforous parade floats that make their way through Rio's Sambódromo during Carnaval. Believe it or not, I only got halfway through. For this week's Photo Friday post, here's a few more.

Most floats were preceded by a group on the ground in matching costumes. Sometimes the theme was easier to detect, sometimes it was more about coordinated colors.

A common float element was a spectacular giant face.

And then there were some outlandish themes:

The Porto da Pedra school decided to celebrate calcium this year...

Of course I totally love this Mocidade colored pencil float...

The people at top of the floats tended to sport the skimpiest costumes, but always-always had something to hold onto.

And some floats just blew me away...

Are you experiencing parade overkill yet? Try sitting and watching these in-person for 9 hours straight! Ay samba-caramba!

I'll leave you with a few interesting characters found aboard floats:

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out DeliciousBaby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: Holy Floats, Batman! (part one)

2012-04-06T00:00:00-04:00

Rio's samba parade costumes are brilliant, but the floats are works of mad genius.

Several stories high, often with a dozen or more people aboard, and of course covered in all manner of snoof and fuzzle, parade floats are nothing short of mind-boggling.

One or two of these floatstravaganzas would be flabbergasting to behold. But each samba school has half a dozen, and we watched seven or eight schools over the course of the night. As I've said before, after a while we just got tired of saying "wow."

Ranging from the opulent to the absurd, each float has its own share of theatricality.

And this is just the first half. More to come!

Meanwhile, check out the other great travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: snoof and fuzzles, tringlers and trappings

2012-03-23T00:00:00-04:00

In keeping with this week's Seussian theme, I thought I'd feature some more samba parade photos, focusing on the floof and flounce and utter whimsy of the costumes.

All the Whos down in Whoville might've had panpoolers, pantookers, and bisslebigs, but they couldn't hold a candle to these creations. And there's the added effect of about a hundred people marching and dancing and singing together, all identically dressed with giant birds on their heads, like it was no big deal. Just when we got used to it, the next group came marching by in something even wackier.

Parade costumes are full of feathers and spangles, and that's par for the course. But a surprising number of them also incorporated frilly fabrics with froufrou ornamentation.

And strange, unexpected accents.

The amount of work that must go into sewing all these costumes simply boggles the mind.

After a while, we gave up saying "wow!" and "what the..." and just stared in slack-jawed astonishment.

This just scratches the surface of all the amazing things we saw in the Sambódromo. Over the coming weeks I'll continue to curate parade photos, attempting to put them into some logical themes rather than bludgeon you with a gigantic batch of Wow! Next week: Holy floats, Batman!

Meanwhile, check out the other great travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: Sambódromo favorites

2012-02-24T00:00:00-04:00

the Portela crew, workin' it

shiny objects

Our Sunday evening trip to the Sambodromo to watch over seven hours of samba parades was epic, to say the least. We had incredible seats, right on the ground level in the sector next to the judges.

this little dude had charazzzzzzma

confetti cannon!

Mocidade's batteria was definitely tops

As you can imagine, there are myriad photos to curate. These are just a scant few of my first-run faves.

love the energy

colored pencil float! ('nuff said)

zombierific

even the cleanup crews got down with their badselves

one of Beija Flor's incredible floats

I gotta get me one of these hats!

One of the best parts of being right down in the action was the opportunity to interact with the paraders. Despite marching for 90 minutes straight, in some cases in a parade that didn't even start till the wee hours of the morning, these folks had amazing energy.

still cheerful at 5am

front row seats to the sambaliciousness

partying till the sun comes up

Watch for more Carnaval and parade pics to come in the next days and weeks! And check out the other great travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED POSTS:
* Dois Gringos em Dois Irmãos
* Samba till you drop
* browse all Brazil posts

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Merry Chrismoose!

2011-12-23T00:00:00-04:00

best cookie cutter ever, courtesy of my sister in Alaska

Hope your holidays are merry & bright! Or at least covered in frosting. And here's to a stellar 2012... it is the Year of Awesomeness, after all. Cheers!

Photo Friday: lawn ornaments come to life

2011-11-04T00:00:00-04:00

This time last year we were in Aruba, chilling out at the Renaissance's private beach and enjoying some fabulous diving and not doing much else. One side of the beach sported some massive iguanas, the other had a flock of flamingoes. I don't think I'd ever seen one this up close before... they're kinda surreal.

RELATED LINKS:
* browse all posts from Aruba
* check out other great travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday

Photo Friday: there's a fungus among us

2011-09-16T00:00:00-04:00

almost looks good enough to eat

Last week NPR's Science Friday did a piece on how, due to the recent torrential rains, there seem to be mushrooms EVERYWHERE. Inspired by this, I took a walk through my neighborhood. Sho 'nuff... shrooms aplenty. What was meant to be a quick walk to stretch my legs soon turned into an obsessive chronicalling expedition, with me stooping in front yards and patches of roadside grass to snap pics with my phone. Once I started, I couldn't stop!

unseen by most passersby

curdled

brrrrrrrrrain

striped umbrellas

shelf

crinkly

Super Mario mushroom?

I also had a little fun with Instagram:

The heck with stopping to smell the roses... I recommend you stoop a little lower and check out the mycological wonders awaiting you in the damp spaces of your world!

See more fabulous travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Oh, and speaking of travel snaps, Tripping.com is running a photo contest. Wanna help me win a trip? Vote for my submission, taken during our recent Finger Lakes winery trip. Vote once a day if you want to, between now and Sept 30. Thanks for your support!

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: rain, rain, go away!

2011-09-09T00:00:00-04:00

This week's rain has been a bummer, reminiscent of some of the heavy rains in tropical places we've visited. (Although it's much more fun to experience rain in an actual rain forest as opposed to rain flooding into your basement.) Here's a snap from the archives:

attempting to view lava flows in the rain at Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, is one of the country's top sites to visit. When I was there in 2007, it was recommended time and time again as a must-see. Unfortunately on the day I took the tour to see the lava flows, a torrential downpour blocked most of the view. I did get to see the volcano from afar under better weather conditions, but it wasn't quite the same. There's a much better pic in Marina Villatoro's guest post on Arenal.

view of Arenal from downtown La Fortuna

See more fabulous travel photos at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

PhotoFriday: Great Balls of Fire

2011-08-26T00:00:00-04:00

I just realized I never uploaded all my pics from last year's Burn. We're not attending Burning Man this year, but in honor of the 2011 event -- which has sold out for the first time ever, yikes! -- here are a handful of characters from our camp, Great Balls of Fire (GBOF).

Mama Love, Bitchezz, Forward

Jewellee in the camp kitchen

Forward & Crystal are ready for the Million Carrot March

Mitch jams

Lunar is one cool customer

Codrin (from Michigan) & oktapodi

Liz gets a package

one of Jon's many outfits

Jim, and a bit of dust

This is but a small sampling of GBOF denizens. To see the rest of the freakburgers (and there are many), check out the full album on Google+.

See more fabulous travel photos at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED LINKS:
* Burning Man art installations | Bliss Dance
* Photo Friday: Burning Man art cars, part two
* Photo Friday: Burning Man art cars, part one
* Photo Friday: ab-fab, sweetie-dahling
* Photo Friday: my night with oktapodi
* Photo Friday: this is your brain on Burning Man
* browse all 2008 Burning Man pics
* read all Burning Man blog posts

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: aye-aye, cap'n!

2011-07-29T00:00:00-04:00

Oktapodi seems to be in a cruising state of mind lately, so here are a few boat-related images to take us into the weekend...

Lago de Atitlán, Guatemala

Grand Canal, Venice

Loy Krathong, Thailand

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Río Dulce, Guatemala

Oranjestad, Aruba

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday blog carnival.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: welcome (back) to the jungle!

2011-07-15T00:00:00-04:00

Sungai Kinabatangan at sunrise

Today's secret word, boys and girls, is "Kinabatangan!" Use it three times in a sentence. Roll it around on your tongue a bit. Trust me, it's fun.

If I seem even punchier than usual, it's because this beastly heat & humidity may have fried my brain just a tad. It's been pretty junglicious around Our Nation's Capital this week. Accordingly, today's Photo Friday is an homage to Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where we stayed at a small lodge alongside the mighty Kinabatangan River in November 2008.

bewildered tarsier

proboscis monkey

We spent a few days at Kinabatangan Nature Lodge viewing the jungle's moist bounty via night hikes, early morning boat rides, and midday treks through the muck and slurm with our guide Jungle Jay. (Yes, really.) In addition to monkeys-aplenty, we got to check out bizarre jungle creatures like tarsiers, monitor lizards, toucans, tiny chirping frogs, and all manner of giant bugs. Oh, and the leeches! Plenty of leeches too.

leech alert!

I'll let you write your own leeches-in-Washington joke (too easy), and leave you with a few lovely parting shots of the scenic Kinabatangan.

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday blog carnival.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: go to your happy place

2011-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

Hope everyone plans to take a deep breath and go to their happy place this weekend!

Here's one of mine:

our friends' beautiful backyard in Kamloops, BC

Happy Canada Day!* Not a bad tribute, eh?

Check out other fab travel snaps at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

RELATED LINKS:
* What's Canada Day? (don't worry, I didn't know either)
* browse all Kamloops pics
* Quiet moments
* Loopy in Kamloops

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: DC in the hizzouse

2011-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

@middleseatview and @landlopers

turns out @nerdseyeview isn't a big fan of oktapodi (hey, nobody's perfect)

It took a trip to Vancouver to bring together some of the usual suspects from our monthly DC Travel Tweetup. During Sunday's TBEX lunch recess we gathered at The Mill on the waterfront to break bread with our East Coast comrades, plus maybe even an interloper from "the other Washington."

@wheresandrew and @nerdseyeview show off their tats

@laurably and Mark

@marilyn_res needs a bigger mouth for that massive salmonburger

up close and personal with @20stravel

Want to meet these tweeps in person? Come hang out with us at next week's joint DC Travel Tweetup and Meet,Plan,Go! social, hosted by Hosteling International. On Wednesday June 22, we'll convene, as we do each month, to talk travel and swap stories of our latest adventures. It'll also be a chance to hear a bit more about what's in store for this year's MPG DC event on October 18. C'mon out, and bring a friend!

The meetup event is free, but we're asking everyone to RSVP in advance so we know how many people to expect.

For more great travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

Photo Friday: searching

2011-06-10T00:00:00-04:00

We took the even-more-scenic route back to Vancouver, choosing to drive through Fraser Canyon and past some amazing vistas. Smell that fresh mountain air! Not even a temporary halt for road construction could dampen this gorgeous road trip.

Check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday for more great travel snaps, including lots of Vancouver-themed pics from folks in town for TBEX!

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!

Photo Friday: VA Gold Cup fashion statements

2011-05-13T00:00:00-04:00

lovely ladies in lovely hats

It should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of hats. Always have been, always will be. So I jumped at the chance to attend this year's Virginia Gold Cup, espcially when friends invited us to join the Eleventh Street Lounge bus trip. Sure, a glimpse into blueblood horse country culture is fun. Unlimited booze and a spot "on the rail" at Virginia's biggest steeplechase event of the season? Good times, especially when you've got transportation there and back. But the real reason I was so excited to go? The hats.

Danny rocks his wife's hat... and this is just on the bus trip out!

on the rail

grounded hat

ethereal hat

crisp and tasty

Katie sports some bling to match her chapeau

this chick's hat matches her dude's shirt

fabulous even in repose

this family is so cute it hurts

Don't worry, the gents have some fashion options too. I'm not saying they're good options, per se, but choices abound!

fellow in yellow... hello!

owie zowie

the original Virginia Gentleman

And, finally, MY hat! Something borrowed, something blue. Mark doesn't like how he looks in this picture so unfortunately I had to crop him out. But he wasn't wearing a hat anyway...

For more fabulous travel snaps, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

If you enjoyed this post, please help us spread the word!