A Walk from Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino

On our last Saturday in Sestri Levante, the day after our classes ended, our language school offered an excursion to walk along the Ligurian coast from Santa Margherita Ligure to the famous resort town of Portofino. It promised to be a long day (and it was), so Cheryl decided to…

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Exploring Cinque Terre, Italy’s Coastal Gem

The Cinque Terre (literally, the "five lands") are a string of five centuries-old fishing villages perched on the rugged coast of the Italian Riviera between Genoa and Pisa in northwest Italy. The villages—Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore—were accessible only by rail or water, and linked to each…

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Kayaking at Bear Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park

Rest stop beach

We got our first taste of sea kayaking--and checked another national park off our list--on a spectacular guided excursion with Seward tour company Liquid Adventures to Bear Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park on June 23, 2017. After meeting our guide, Libby, and getting outfitted with drysuits for protection against the near-freezing water,…

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The Washed Ashore Project: Saving the Seas With Amazing Art

Sculpture of a salmon jumping from the water

We stumbled upon what initially looked to be an unassuming art gallery in Old Town Bandon-by-the-Sea on the southern Oregon coast. Once inside, however, we realized that it was actually much more than that. Huge sculptures filled the space, and when we looked at them closely, we realized that each of them was made from thousands of pieces of trash!

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Hiking in Patrick’s Point State Park, California

View northeast from top of Wedding Rock

With heavy rain in the forecast for the next several days, I decided to spend the afternoon exploring nearby Patrick’s Point State Park, a densely tree- and meadow-covered headland that juts into the Pacific Ocean. The entrance to the park is just a few hundred yards down the road from Azalea Glen, so I walked there from our house.

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