A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Moab, Utah and spent some time at one of my favorite places: Arches National Park. The landscapes within Arches are spectacular and like no where else on earth, at least not that I am aware of. With so many interesting things to see and so many unique shapes, shadows and colors, it was the perfect place to practice some HDR photography.
As if the Bavarian Alps (Oberbayern) aren’t beautiful enough with the Wetterstein Mountains and the towering peak of the Zugspitze framing up some truly spectacular…
We certainly had our fair share of encounters that made our heart rate increase more than just a little bit on The World by Road, but usually these situations resolved themselves one way or another and actually turned into some of the most memorable experiences on the expedition.
Its easy to get caught up by the sights, sounds and smells of Times Square, but on a recent trip to the Big Apple, my curiosity was sparked by another aspect: how much power does it take to keep all of the signs, lights and billboards in Times Square lit up 24/7?
“However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day.”
It wasn’t until I first saw a Lada 1500 (also VAZ 2101, 2103, 2105 and 21073), that I think I actually saw what Jenkins was referring to. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but somehow, sharkmobile seems to fit the Lada 1500 and its just one Russian automotive design that remains unique and confined to this part of the world.
When you first think of Russian architecture, images of the great cathedrals that grace the skylines of cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg and their distinctive onion shaped roofs might come to mind. You may also think of the magnificent public halls, museums, schools and government buildings; the Spasskava Tower in the Moscow Kremlin, the Iberian Gate, Red Square, or the GUM department store.
Many city dwelling Russians, and residents of countries that once made up the Soviet Union (Ukraine, Belarus, etc.) have a dacha, and with it, a green thumb and they take great pride in the quality and composition of their gardens. The shelves of many a dacha are filled with books on horticulture and when the flowers are blooming, you can bet most Russians are eager to have a portrait photo taken in the midst of the blooms. As such, many Russians who have dachas grow their own fruits and vegetables and prefer it that way.
Last week was the 60th anniversary of the first summit of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay. A lot has changed in 60 years and Everest is still viewed by many as the pinnacle of mountain climbing. After all, it is still the tallest mountain in the world. However, according to some seasoned climbers and adventurers, in the 60 years since Hillary and Tenzing sat atop Everest summit, the mountain, and the process of climbing it, seem to have lost some of its romanticism. Long queues to ascend the summit, a landscape littered with oxygen bottles and other climbing debris, fights between sherpas and climbers, the pressure of high dollar paying clients and more recently, a controversial proposal to set up a ladder bridging one of the more technical sections of the mountain, the Hillary Step, thus increasing the mountain’s accessibility to “idiots who don’t know a crampon from a tampon” have turned Everest into somewhat of a sideshow.
For 11 years, Denver has celebrated the artistic qualities of chalk and highlighted the work of those who have developed an unparalleled skill to create stunningly realistic images with it at the annual Denver Chalk Art Festival on Larimer Square.
If you’ve ever looked out the window of your New York to Frankfurt flight and became nervous upon seeing Iceland 30,000 feet below, you can now rest easy knowing that your Trans-Atlantic flight, along with thousands of others, were right on course.
I recently returned from a two week trip to Russia. Compared to the expedition and some other post expedition travels, two weeks really wasn’t very long… at least it didn’t seem very long as it flew by incredibly fast, but then again, the expedition flew by like a blur as well. Needless to say, I packed in as much as I could into those two weeks: from Russian language lessons and Moscow sightseeing, to countryside barbeques and a gigantic celebration of Russian war veterans. I also packed in as much as I could into my luggage. In Colorado, May is a tricky month weather wise. It can be snowing one day and sunny and hot the next. Case in point, the Saturday before I left for Russia, the mercury hit over 80 degrees and a few days later, Denver received 10 inches of snow. This left me scratching my head as to how to pack. My friend Elena said spring in Russia can be equally unpredictable, and considering how far north I was going to be, I decided I had better be prepared for it all.
