In March 2018 I made my first trip to Australia to visit Sydney and Melbourne. It was a beautiful country and I really enjoyed my visit. The only downside was the 14 hour flight to get there from San Francisco. Scroll below to see some of the highlights from the trip as well as links to my photo albums. Sydney Sydney is located on the eastern coast of Australia and is the largest city in the country. It is perhaps most…
In January 2016, as part of a trip to East Asia I visited Hong Kong and Macau which are Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 while Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999. They each maintain political and economic systems that operate separately from mainland China. The combination of Chinese and Western influences make these very unique regions. scroll below to see some of my favorite places as well…
While people often think of North Dakota of as being a flat endless prairie, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is anything but that. Protecting the badlands of the state, the park is a scenic expanse of buttes, gullies, rivers, and grasslands. A large amount of wildlife live in the area including prairie dogs and bison. Theodore Roosevelt made multiple visits to the then Dakota Territory between 1883 and 1896. He credits his experience as being influential to his conservationist policies as…
The Black Hills are a mountain range in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. While it is probably most famous as the site of Mount Rushmore, there are some other remarkable places which I mention below. A trip to this beautiful region is something that everyone should experience at least once. Mt Rushmore One of the most iconic places in the United States, Mt Rushmore was carved between 1927 and 1941. The mountain features the faces of four U.S. presidents…
I’ve heard it said before that if you’ve seen one beach, you have seen them all. From plane watching to people watching, that was not the case on my recent trip to the Caribbean. I went to the Island of St Martin which is split between the southern Dutch side of Sint Maarten and the northern French side of Saint Martin. At just 34 square miles it is the smallest island in the world that is divided between two countries….
Following Dublin, the final stop of the trip was London. I would compare London to New York in the sense that it was a good mix of residents and tourists. It was probably my favorite city on the trip. There are so many sites to see (I’ve detailed the places I went below) and I really enjoyed the cityscape as I explored. It is very walkable and the Tube makes it easy to get around. Where as with all the…
After leaving Italy, I flew directly to Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has been on my list of places to visit for awhile. I would have liked to have stayed longer so I could see the countryside, but due to time constrains a visit to the capital city would have to do. Compared to some places in Italy, especially Venice, Dublin felt much more like a city people lived in as opposed to being full of tourists. After a week of lines…
Following a visit to Rome I took a bullet train on a short hour and a half ride to Florence. From Florence I made side trips to Pisa and the Cinque Terre. The final stop in Italy was Venice. Overall I really enjoyed getting to see Italy. Almost everyone was friendly and I was surprised at how easy it was to get by without knowing any Italian. Now its on to Dublin, Ireland. Florence Florence was much smaller than Rome which…
On April 1st, I left the United States to go to Europe for the first time. Other than a short layover in Amsterdam, the beginning of the trip was Rome, Italy. My biggest observation after spending a couple days there was the large amount beautiful art and architecture. It was honestly overwhelming, not that it is a bad thing. It was very crowded even though early April is far from the height of peak tourist season. I suppose that comes…
In March 2016 I made a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. Why you might wonder? Well Fairbanks and the surrounding region provide the best opportunity to view the northern lights in the United States. If you stay in Fairbanks for at least 3 days between September and March, the odds are 80%. I decided to go in March because it is the warmest month that the northern lights are visible. It was still 14 degrees outside but on the plus side…