Author: Nancy

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, in the late evening, and immediately collapsed into bed. The jet lag was catching up with us. The next day, we had a one hour early morning flight to Lahad Datu, the gateway to the Danum Valley, followed by an excruitiating three hour drive over rough…

I’d expected some changes to the city in the thirty year lapse since I’d last visited, but Singapore has so significantly transformed itself that I had no recollection of being in this clean, modern, high density city. Once again I was being an opportunistic traveller. I had some client meetings in Singapore so planned a…

Forests of redwoods extend 450 miles down the north Pacific Coast but the oldest and tallest trees are found in a chain of national and state parks between Klamath and Rockport, California. Some of the trees in Redwood National and State Parks and Humbolt Redwoods State Park are so renowned that they have their own…

We left Crescent City early on a foggy morning heading south along the coast; our destination was Redwood Rides, the adventure outfitter, near Jediah Smith State Park, who’d rented us bikes for the day. We caught our first glimpse of towering redwoods along the side of the road as we drove. Seeing a redwood, with…

Standing in the midst of these giant redwoods with the occassional ray of sunlight filtering through to the forest floor is an almost spirtual experience. It soothes the mind and calms the soul. By all rights, I should not be here. It was a very difficult fall, with my dad’s health issues and hospitalizations. He…

I have wanted to commune with polar bears in the wild for years. I started researching trips prior to COVID and quickly determined no tundra buggies for me. Like Humvees on steriods, these monster vehicles hold up to 40 people and with their large wheels and electric propulsion systems navigate the uneven, rocky terrain of…

Until we’d visited Crater Lake, I hadn’t appreciated what a geological hot spot Oregon was and still is. Granted, I knew that Crater Lake was formed by a massive volcanic explosion, but that was almost 8000 years ago. What I didn’t realize was the earth here was still shifting, settling, venting gases, and occassionally erupting…

I understood the meaning of ineffable when I first saw Crater Lake. The blue was so brilliant it took my breath away. Even now I stuggle to describe the beauty of this lake captured within the caldera of a long extinct volcano. My husband and I were visiting our daughter and future son-in-law in Portland,…

Estonia … a new country for me; one that I knew little about but proved to be an enchanting place to visit. I was in Helsinki for a conference so decided to stay the weekend for some exploring. I love Helsinki, particularly in June with the pleasant weather and eleven o’clock sunsets, but had visited…

Glamorous, glitzy Dubai. A city that boast hundreds of world records for the biggest, tallest, greatest … dancing fountain, building, shopping mall, flower garden, man-made islands, suspended aquarium, ferris wheel … and the list goes on. A fun city to spend a few days in but like Vegas can quickly overwhelm. The city had grown…