Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers

Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers,Gladorn Portable Wireless Speakers Built-in Mic, Dual-Driver Speaker with Low Harmonic Distortion and Superior Sound, Perfect Speakers for Home, Travel

Snap Cooling Towel

VIMOV Snap Cooling Towel 2 Pack With Pouch, Blue Ice Towel Neck Wrap For Sports, Workout, Gym, Yoga, Tennis, Travel, Running, Hiking

Buildings to see

Inside the worlds largest airplane factory

some airplane factories are so large that clouds once formed inside them
When you learn that
a phenomenon is not unique
that it follows like a twin
that on the front
behooves the back
that it is part of a system
and is not by itself


Vehicle assembly building

Turning Down the Sound

blacksmith by night



chainsaw- carving competition

Unruly Places

Sandy island the island that never was
Thalweg

"Hidden Geographies are the inverse of lost spaces.."
An Island that never was is a great hook into a book of uncommon geography. Leningrad and other countries and cities that change their name made me think of such recently affected places.
"New Moore looked like a political problem caused by nature and solved by climate change."
I had read about the aral sea depleting but this essay put it in the timeline context of its past and future.
This book with its look at borders, places uninhabited, distances kept from uncontacted tribes will make you rethink your sense of place, why we travel, where we live and where we chose to.

North sentinel island
Chitmahals

On one page, gent appeared, a word break with ur on the left side of the page, which made think of urgent origin.

The FootLoose American

Before reading this book 'The FootLoose American: Following the Hunter S. Thompson Trail Across South America", I had read the author Brian Kevin's book on Yosemite. Yosemite is a well covered place, yet his book had pictures and events that I hadnt seen in other books. so I was interested in this travel book too.
I liked the author's approach to travel of 'wandering around through the pleasantly pedestrian tableau' and 'grasping around for links with history.. compelled to travel this way, always sniffing around for the cultural-literary-historical significance of this or that'. All this overlayed on Hunter S Thompson's travels, getting an idea of various people of different countries in S America, the role of Peace Corps.
Thompson articles
Nomads from Affluence by Erik Cohen
Along the Gringo Trail

World's Smartest Traveler

Ask Elliott

The paragraph long Q&A are very interesting.
I have one story to share. Our family was set on a trip to India. As is wont to happen with people living on work visas, we were in a waiting game wrt papers from USCIS. We had to postpone the tickets. The airlines wouldnt refund for the domestic part of it. Enraged, my husband's friend wanted to give it a shot. He found out that the flight we were supposed to be on went full. A phone call and email later, we had refund. This book can be that friend or help you like that friend to redress your grievances related to travel.

Route 66

Books referred

A Fork in the Road

Table of Contents
Consider the Twinkie
Carrot cashew curry  in Stolen apples Yankee pot roast
chasing the tail of chiuchow - strips of taro frosted with silvery sugar
An Italian Education
Annabel Langbein
Afloat On the Amazon
Omar Sharif slept here
Cassoulet  Vs Cassoulet
Cuisine by Design
Green chile chicken with spring vegetables 

I-8 Phoenix to San Diego

What a beautiful drive. After reading about the different kind of landscapes, I was very excited but didnt except the smooth rolling Imperial Sand dunes.
Extinct CA grizzly on the state flag
Algodones dunes on a redwood plank
Old Plank road
Eucalyptus ride for the whole day

Lets Go Paris!

The last time I read a book in short posts format, The Rules of Inheritance, I was scared. It is by a cancer survivor. This book too is by a cancer survivor but not full scale. This book is funny. As much as her visit to a breast cancer specialist whose office was filled with Wonder woman memorabilia. 

The format made it easy for the author to continue several stories parallel. You can look forward to what the family eats at restaurants. Whats the big deal about it? The author moved to Paris with her family for a year. Half of her family is of school going age. The children's experiences at school are full of unexpectables as much as the trips they take their parents on.

Broaden

Author: Pico Iyer

Travel is no longer just adventure.

The Accidental Explorer's Guide to Patagonia - Putting it in a very trite way, its about an unbelievably beautiful place.

Canadian Gothic - Adds the dimension of local people(famous and everyday) to place known for its locale.

Travel can be by people driven with an agenda to understand a place, its people's struggles, even if the very first step is trouble.

Peter Hessler - Chasing the Wall - best
Mark Jenkins- The Ghost Road - best

A Fleet One - I would never guess, something on trucks could make it to this list.

Travel to places where story of a person at the same time reveals the nation's plight

Elizabeth Rubin - The Road to Herat
Kira Salak - Places of Darkness - saving mountain gorillas
Paul Salopek - Shattered Sudan


Jul 20, 2009, 4/5