Archive for the ‘Passport Travels’ Category
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
My photo won the prize for “Most Unusual Object” in West Seattle Blog’s Garage Sale Contest. No, smart guy, the unusual object wasn’t ME, it was two huge bags of duck decoys.
Me: How many duck decoys does a person need?
Duck Decoy Guy: About a dozen.
Me: And how many do you have here?
DDG: Oh, about three dozen… do you want one? You can take one home…
Me: [Selecting a duck decoy]
DDG: Everyone knows the Mallard.
What did I win? A 20 dollar coffee card from Hotwire at the Junction. Mmmmm. Coffee. And a duck decoy!
Cap Hill Garage Sale Day is June 14th.
West Seattle neighbor and travel goddess Beth Whitman of Wanderlust and Lipstick has asked me to help judge her
travel photo contest. The fabulous prize? An
X-Shot Monopod. I’m not familiar with the gadget, but it looks like it could be a fun thing to have. You’ll need to register on Beth’s site, upload some pics, and send your absolute best to her. Details are
here.
Posted in Passport Travels, Pics, Seattle | No Comments »
Monday, May 12th, 2008
The web is a graveyard of travelblogs, musings of gap year students, summer road trippers, one time round the worlders who thought it would be fun to share their stories while they were wandering. Travelers return home, cull their photos, flood the Flickr stream one last time and then… nothing. That’s fine for most, but what if you want to keep the travel enthusiasm going when your wallet is empty and your adventures limited to to the backyard? There’s plenty left to write about, even for the travelblogger at home. Here are a few suggestions that will keep your blog alive until the next time you’re off.
- Go local. It doesn’t matter where you are, people live there for a reason. Take your readers on a tour of your hometown as though they were your houseguests or you’d just arrived.
- Read and write. Many a traveler seeks solace in books. The travel journalism section at the book store or library is a great place to find adventure, even if it’s someone else’s. Don’t overlook the classics, after all, Huck Finn and Alice in Wonderland are travel stories too.
- Seek the exotic at home.We’re lucky in that if we go south just a bit we find Vietnamese communities, to the north,there are Korean and Indian neighborhoods… ethnic diversity is right out side our door. A few years back a friend and I attended the Scottish Highland Games, a mere 1/2 hour drive from here, and earlier this year, we attended the Cambodian New Year’s Festival, just two miles away.
- See it all as a trip. Even the shopping mall suburb has a story. Find the tiny community museums and learn about the place before the townhomes.
- Find the festivals and fairs. A quick search of my local paper’s festival calendar turns up a Norwegian Festival, a Native American cultural event, something called Viking Fest (horns and helmet, anyone?) and that’s just on the first page. Spring and summer are here; what’s on near you?
- Travel on your stomach. Think about how much the food you eat defines a place. Food and travel are excellent companions, why not try to write about your dinner. Seafood is an inseparable part of Seattle, as are the Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in the International District. Food that’s distinctive to where you’re from can be as interesting as food from far away places.
- Plan your next trip.There are a few travelbloggers I read who published the exhaustive details of their planning phases before they even stepped foot out the door. I can think more than one blog where I found the reading at the planning more compelling then the travel writing.
Just about anytime you go from A to B, there’s the potential for adventure. Keep your eyes open. Remember the details you observed when you were in Buenas Aires or Stockholm or Hanoi and look for them at home. Think of writing about travel as writing not so much about the act of being in motion, but as writing about PLACE. Then, look at where you are. If you’re still a traveler at heart, you’ll have no trouble bringing that enthusiasm to continuing your blog, even if you’re standing on your own front porch.
Sort of related:
Posted in Passport Travels | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 9th, 2008
He arrived a bit travel worn, but he sat quietly until we could spend some time with him and the weather improved. He’s not really set up for rain, and we’ve had too much of it. Then, I was too busy to show him around, so he just hung out, not asking for much. I felt kind of guilty, I’d said I would host and then, the work I’d been waiting so long to get finally started, so there was little time. I took him with me to Ukulele Sunday and out to the software ranch, but I couldn’t really pay attention to him and do what I needed to get done at the same time.
Finally, we had a beautiful afternoon and I was able to clear my desk. We all got in the car and headed down to admire the view at the waterfront.
We check out the view from Alki Beach, West Seattle
We’re delighted to have the easiest house guest in the world hanging out with us, Flat Stanley. We know he was in Germany before he came here, though he had a stopover somewhere in Minnesota on his way to our house. He arrived with a short explanation from his home in Worthington, Ohio. It’s our job to show him around, take some pictures of him seeing the highlights of our city, and then, send him on to somewhere new. We’re hoping to get him off to Hawaii, of course.
I love the idea of this, it’s a little bit like the garden gnome in Amelie, though more educational. We’ll scribble a little writeup about Seattle, print our photos, maybe toss in some postcards, and send a trip report back to Flat Stanley’s host school. The kids learn about new places from the people that live there, which is a great idea because individuals see their homes so differently than encyclopedias do. It’s geography made real, what’s not to like about that?
Truth be told, I am outrageously envious of our 2D friend. Off he goes, on his cheap postal service fare, carrying nothing but his sleeping bag (a manila envelope) and his letter of introduction. He arrives at the welcoming home of strangers who show him around and then, whoosh, where he goes next is anyone’s guess! I find the whole idea so thrilling that I would like nothing more than to BE Flat Stanley. The human Flat Stanley, going to wherever my hosts deem is the next destination - what an awesome adventure that would be!
Posted in Passport Travels, Seattle | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
With family in Portland and Eugene, we spend an unlikely amount of time buzzing up and down the I-5 corridor. If I’m flying solo, I take the train and pack a picnic, but with just one extra person it’s cheaper to drive, though a bit of a bore after the 37th time. Coffee isn’t just a luxury, it’s a requirement. We try to stop somewhere different every time, unless we find a real score, and then, we go back.
I spent a long weekend in Kalama once for the Discovery Days Festival, a gathering that celebrates the relationship between the Kalama tribe and, you guessed it, Hawaii. The festival is a combination luau/powwow with lots of music. While wandering the main strip with a fellow uke star, we discovered the Antique Deli and Mall. The coffee is nothing special, but the baked goods are home style all the way and the place is full of locals on the weekends. The ginger cake? Yum.
413 N 1st St Kalama, WA 98625
We’ve struck out in Salem on all previous stops, but this time, aided with a little technology, we scoped out the Governor’s Cup in the center of Salem’s old downtown. I had a nice fluffy sweet chai and the house coffee was a good strong brew. The treats were picked over on a Sunday morning so I can’t speak for the offerings there, and it looks like they don’t bake in house. A fine stop for caffeination, not so great if your expectations run on the snacky side. There’s free wifi, so if you absolutely must check your email, you’re set.
471 Court Street NE Salem, Oregon 97301
The best we’ve discovered so far - and there are lots of stops we’ve overlooked - is Boccherini’s in Albany. They’ve got a full lunch menu, a pastry case full of towering cakes, a wide selection of teas, and make a perfectly fine cup of coffee. The chocolate cake is moist and covered in yummy butter cream frosting and ganache. It’s a little more than halfway between Eugene and Portland, but for the right combination of good treats and coffee, this is the place. We’ve made a point of stopping here more than once, it’s worth it.
208 First Avenue Albany, Oregon 97321
Posted in Food, Glorious Food, Passport Travels | No Comments »
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
A quick review, in case you’re just in: Angela Nickerson as part of her virutal book tour, agreed to do a “micro workshop” on Nerd’s Eye View. She provided the prompt, you provided the work. Here’s here take on what you’ve done - and many, many thanks for your participation! I’ve linked to the posts below, but I’ve left the pictures on the “home” sites. Click through to see the original posts, with photos, and to meet some interesting travel bloggers.
I’ll hand it over to Angela, now.
First, many, many thanks to those of you who participated in today’s travel writing workshop. What a delight to read such good writing and to visit such interesting – and diverse – places. Your submissions are a testament to the richness that comes from diverging from the beaten path. Thank you!
Ok, to the task at hand…
(more…)
Posted in Travel Reads | No Comments »
Monday, April 7th, 2008
Angela Nickerson, author of A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome
, is on a virtual book tour. One of her stops is right here at Nerd’s Eye View. Rather than your usual book review (that will come when I’ve finished the book), Angela’s agreed to do a “Micro Travel Writing Workshop” with us.
Here’s the deal. You write a 200 word (or less) post following the prompt below. Include a photo as per the guidelines. When you’re done, drop a link to your post in the comments. I’ll compile them and Angela will do a short critique of each participant’s post. Once that’s done, I’ll post the entire workshop back here on Nerd’s Eye View.
Here’s the writing prompt: (more…)
Posted in Passport Travels | 6 Comments »
