July 20, 2025: Singapore (Author: J) When we last left off, we had finished a wonderful dinner at the top of Marina Bay Sands and settled in for a good night’s sleep at the Pan Pacific. The following day, a Sunday, was our last in Singapore. Our plan was to visit River Wonders and theContinue reading “Australia Trip Report: Day 4”
Tag Archives: wildlife
Australia 2025 Trip Report
July 17-August 6, 2025 Earlier this month, we returned from a 20-night trip to Australia via Singapore. As in my previous trip reports, “we” is me, a 40-something professor; my husband, D, a 40-something teacher/pet sitter; and P, our 12-year-old son. It tends to take me a while to finish these trip reports, so IContinue reading “Australia 2025 Trip Report”
Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 5
Charlotte, NC to Columbia, SC – Sunday, July 27, 2024 (Author: J) I was up before the rest of my family as usual, so I used the opportunity to visit the Ballantyne’s fitness center for a short workout. By the time I had finished my workout and gotten ready for the day, D and PContinue reading “Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 5”
Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 4
Shenandoah National Park to Charlotte – Saturday, July 26, 2024 (Author: J) Because of the bizarre aerobics of our nocturnal upstairs neighbors, we woke up on Saturday happy to check out of Skylands and start our journey to our next national park. Congaree National Park is about an 8-hour drive from Shenandoah, so we spreadContinue reading “Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 4”
Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 2
Gettysburg, PA & Shenandoah National Park – Thursday, July 25, 2024 (Author: J) Thanks to a great night’s sleep at Hotel Gettysburg (which has very comfortable beds), we woke up on Thursday refreshed and ready for more exploration. The first order of business was deciding whether to eat some of our road trip provisions orContinue reading “Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024 – Day 2”
Trip Report – Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024
July/August 2024 (Author: J) This is the beginning of a long overdue trip report for our 2024 summer vacation: a 3-week Southeast US road trip. I initially delayed writing the report because it felt odd to write about the trip right after Hurricane Helene impacted some of the places we visited. From there, inertia setContinue reading “Trip Report – Southeast National Parks Road Trip 2024”
Colombia Trip Report: Day 8
Friday, March 17, 2023 – El Dorado Reserve (Author: J) (photo: the last remnants of the sunrise over San Lorenzo ridge) Our plans for our full day at El Dorado Reserve were to do some hiking and birding along the San Lorenzo Ridge. This mountain ridge, even higher in the mountains than El Dorado, isContinue reading “Colombia Trip Report: Day 8”
Colombia Trip Report – Day 7
Thursday, March 16, 2023 – Los Naranjos to El Dorado Reserve via Minca (Author: J) Photo: Sunset at El Dorado It’s pretty common for travelers to Colombia’s Caribbean Coast to add a stop in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The ecotourism hotspot of Minca seems to be the standard stop, but we chose toContinue reading “Colombia Trip Report – Day 7”
Colombia Trip Report: Day 5
Tuesday, March 14, 2023: Tayrona National Natural Park (Author: J) (photo: beach in Tayrona National Natural Park) Day 5 of our trip started early. We had a 5:45 am meeting time so that we could get to Tayrona early for wildlife watching. P has reached an age where early wakeups are hard for him –Continue reading “Colombia Trip Report: Day 5”
Colombia Trip Report – Day 2
March 11, 2023: Cartagena (Author: J) (Photo: buildings in the historic center) We decided not to preplan our time in Cartagena other than to make dinner reservations. That meant that we were able to forego alarms for the first few days of the trip. On our first full day in the city, I woke upContinue reading “Colombia Trip Report – Day 2”
Travel Monkeys 