Guess what? I’m speaking at TravelCon 2020 in New Orleans! Use SPEAKER50 to get $50 off. Read Part I and Part II. While I was loving Mardi Gras from the local perspective, I was also craving a bit of the cheesy traditional one I’d seen in photos all my life. Thus far, we had yet to…

Guess what? I’m speaking at TravelCon 2020 in New Orleans! Use SPEAKER50 to get $50 off. Read Part I here. We woke up on Mardi Gras Saturday to bright sun and warm weather. So far, the weather had been pretty glum and so we were pretty much beside ourselves that our first full day of celebrating…

Summer has arrived in upstate New York! This week the weather finally took a turn for the awesome, and I’m remembering how good it is for the soul to feel sun warming up your skin and spend Saturdays outside. Those who lived through this area’s brutal winter are rolling their eyes at me right now, but…

Guess what? I’m speaking at TravelCon 2020 in New Orleans! Use SPEAKER50 to get $50 off. Back in early December 2013, I was swinging in a hammock in Puerto Maldonado, Peru when I heard an American couple discussing Mardi Gras. My sister Olivia having recently moved to New Orleans, my interest was piqued as they discussed…

“It sounds like some friends do not want special South American candy!” I stiffled a laugh as my sister’s — excuse me, I mean Ms. Baackes’s — shrill threat sent a hush over the crowd of six-year olds. Fresh off the plane from Costa Rica, I was visiting my sister’s classroom in New Orleans for the…

I always struggle with Photo of the Week when I’m in Albany. It’s true that great photography can happen anywhere, but I rarely so much as pick up my dSLR when I’m here. And this week, the weather hasn’t left me very inspired. A heavy cloud cover that hasn’t budged has me feeling like I’m living…