The Traveling Pancy

I dreamt of exploring Egypt, when as a ten-year-old, my grandma brought me a souvenir from her trip to the Holy Land; a yellow gauzy veil with bronze coins dangling from the crown.  More than a half century later, I still have that veil and the accompanying postcard of the Pyramids at Giza, tokens of…

We arrived in London tired but excited to start our adventure.  Between retrieving our luggage, clearing immigration and navigating rush hour traffic, we arrived at our hotel, The Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge about 8:30 am, a good two hours after touchdown.  Not surprising, our room was not ready so we breakfasted in the restaurant, sitting…

After more than two years of planning, anticipating, delaying, waiting and rescheduling, we are starting our journey to explore nine ancient sites on some of the world’s earliest trade routes.  Crossroads is an apt name for this adventure; crossroads being places where civilizations mingle, ideas are shared and innovations flourish.  We often think that long…

I have always struggled to turn down work, enjoying what I do and believing that I can squeeze a few more minutes of productivity out of my day. So it’s not suprising that at times I overcommit myself and then scramble to prioritize what does and doesn’t get done. (Note: this is why I have…

It was a cold, misty morning, ideal moose viewing conditions. We were out walking before sunrise, hoping to spot that elusive Bullwinkle. Off in the distance we saw the dim outlines of grazing animals, approaching cautiously, only to discover horses foraging in the adjacent field. Perched on a wooden fencepost, a magpie watched as we…

Today our plan was to hike one of the iconic trails of Grand Teton National Park -South Jenny Lake to Inspiration Point. A moderate 5.6 mile in and out hike, we weren’t sure how complicated the trail would be with a foot of snow. One benefit of the snow – this trail, normally one of…

Our basecamp for exploring the Tetons was the Fireside Resort, a 15 min drive on the outskirts of Jackson Hole, about 6 miles from Teton Village. We’d decided to stay here after reading reviews from people who awakened to moose foraging in the woods near their cabins. Another good omen as we approached – there…

Our final days in Yellowstone were reserved for seeing the park’s must sees – the Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone . The Grand Prismatic Spring, located in the Middle Geyser Basin, is in the western region of the park. The morning of our visit was overcast and single digit…

We’d come to Yellowstone to see its wildlife so were eager to visit the Lamar Valley, the area we’d most likely find elk, bison, bighorn sheep and wolves. Before leaving Gardiner mid afternoon, we drove along the outskirts of town and immediately spotted a female bighorn sheep bounding up a hillside. Resembling goats more than…

We woke to a white world – almost a foot of snow had fallen overnight and looking out the hotel window, we could see the mounds of white, fluffy snow piled atop the vehicles in the parking lot. We had a quick grab and go breakfast provided by the hotel, eating in our room as…