Blogs

Oropesa, Tipon, Sacsayhuaman, and Kenko

Oropesa Today, we explored the valley south of Cuzco, beginning in Oropesa, The “Town of Bakeries…

Cuzco

We traveled first by train and then by bus to reach Cuzco, our next destination. After spending the…

Machu Picchu

As Peru’s most iconic archaeological site, Machu Picchu has appropriately been deemed one of the New…

The Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley of the Incas lies north of Cuzco, stretching along the Urubamba…

Lima–Miraflores

We arrived in Lima in the middle of the night and stayed at a hotel in the Miraflores district of…

Lamar Valley

We were fortunate to have friends who do horseback multi-day tours into the Lamar Valley take us on…

Second Trip to Yellowstone

After our original survey of the park, we booked an all-day guided tour.  Our guide was…

Paradise Valley

The Yellowstone River Valley south of Livingston, MT is known as Paradise Valley and is truly a…

First Trip to Yellowstone

We ventured out about 6:15 to head for the North Entrance in Gardiner.  We arrived at the…

First Sunday

We started early and headed to Emigrant for the 8:00 service at St. John’s Episcopal…

Traveling to Livingston, Montana

We began our trek to Montana about 9:30 a.m. not knowing if Bob would be able to do services on…

Singapore

Our last night on the ship, we docked in Singapore. We dined in Polo Grill with a view of the city…

Australia

On our sea days we had two interesting lectures on the history of Australia.  It has been…

Indonesia

Having left Australia, our next destination is Indonesia, a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania…

Melanesia, Part III

Tonga Tonga is the South Pacific’s only monarchy, and Nuku’alofa is its capital. It is the…

Melanesia, part II

Cook Islands Rarotonga is a kidney-shaped, volcanic island and the largest and most populous island…

Undiscovered Melanesia

Ra’iatea Our first stop on this leg was the island of Ra’iatea, the second largest of the…

French Polynesia

Nuku Hiva Our first port is Nuku Hiva one of the 14 islands that make up the Marquesas group. It is…

South Pacific

Oceania P Pacific Lagoons and Retreats–San Diego to Pape’ete, French Polynesia Departure…

Aruba

Our final stop before Miami was Aruba, another island I had never visited before. I started by…

Curaçao

The next stop after two days at sea was the island of Curaçao.  Lying 68 miles off the…

Two Sea Days

Heading to Curaçao We were supposed to stop in Cartagena, but because of the political situation, we…

At Sea

Wednesday: 10/8 Today we continue our route southeast along the coastlines of Costa Rica and then…

Traversing the Panama Canal

Today started early. The pilot came aboard around 5 am.  There are two sections to the canal: the…

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Tuesday 10/7 Puntarenas is called the Pearl of the Pacific. It sits along the Gulf of Nicoya on a…

At Sea–Heading to Costa Rica

Saturday: 10/4 As we were having breakfast we were treated with another pod of dolphins, some…

Los Angeles to Cabo

Tuesday 9/30 This morning, we arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, which is actually in San Pedro…

San Francisco

Sunday: San Francisco 9/28 Overnight, we picked up our pilot to guide us under the Golden Gate…

Leaving Seattle

Thursday: 19/25 The day has finally arrived; we are packed and just waiting to leave for Pier…

Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier

It was another early morning, so we ordered to-go breakfasts from the restaurant in the…

Lake Louise

Originally the indigenous Stoney or Nakota people named the lake “Ho-Run-Num-Nay” which means “Lake…

Rocky Mountaineer–Day Two

Kamloops to Lake Louise It was another early morning, but when we got to the train about 6:30 coffee…

The Rocky Mountaineer–Day One

Vancouver to Kamloops The Rocky Mountaineer is a beautiful train.  The car we were in had…

Seattle to Vancouver

In August, we embarked on our Canadian Rocky trip at King Street Station in…

Colonial America–Charleston and Cape Canavaral

Charleston was established in 1670 as Charles Town, named after King Charles II or…

St Lucia

The Motto of St. Lucia is “The Land, The People, the Light” and the flag represents…

Bermuda

The third leg went from Miami to Bermuda; Charleston, SC; Port Canaveral, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; and…

Mexico and Central America

This leg of the trip is a week long and will go to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Roatán, Honduras; Costa…

St. Barthélemy

The first thing that caught my eye when we entered the port was the beautiful, huge yachts in the…

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.  It was a British…

Grenada

Grenada, nestled in the heart of the Caribbean, holds something for everyone.  Grenada was…

Caribbean Holiday

Miami to St. Barts and Back We thought we would spend a month cruising the Caribbean and Eastern…

Crete

Today we went to Crete, arriving at 7 a.m. at Souda Bay.  It is one of the deepest natural…

Rhodes

From Ephesus, we sailed to the Island of Rhodes.  This was another interesting site.  We arrived at…

Mount Athos and Ephesus

Today was a peaceful day, starting out with time spent circling Mount Athos.  Mount Athos…

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki:  Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians comes to mind.  While this is…

The Acropolis and Parthenon

This was our day to spend at the Acropolis and Parthenon.  It was the highlight of this…

Delphi

Today we headed to Delphi.  There are so many literary and mythological references to Delphi that I…

Volos

Volos is half-way to Thessaloniki on the Aegean Sea.  It is in the province of Thessaly…

Athens–Ancient Agora

Today we set out for Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaestus.  There was a strike today, so…

Who Am I?

I am a mother of two, grandmother of six, wife, teacher, octogenarian, and traveler. 

My first trip abroad was after I graduated from college. I went with my mother and grandfather to Sweden to meet framily there, then attended a summer school in Stratford-Upon-Avon, then proceeded to my western European trek.  I drifted from Denmark to see Hamlet’s castle among other things, to Amsterdam to cruise the canals and see Van Gogh’s work, to Belgium to bask in the Flemish greats, and on to Paris.  There I met up with a classmate as we toured the City of Light.  From Paris I took the train to Rome where I met up with my parents.  Then it was home and to grad school.  That trip was the seed in me to travel more, but it took nearly 50 years for that seed to blossom.  Having raised our sons and retired from full-time teaching, I finally had the time and money to travel.

My first trip was to Bejing and Shanghai thirteen years ago, followed by Russia the next year.  Then I have been to Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, several parts of Italy, Paris again, Egypt, Greece, several Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and New Zealand.  I plan to share my experiences in these parts of the world. 

I am starting with my most recent trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada. I hope you will find my reminiscences interesting and informative.  Please comment and share with your friends.  I would love to hear about your experiences too.  Most of all, keep going.  At 80, I have several more trips planned and hope to see much more of our world.

Kristin Carver

Teacher, Mother, Wife, Grandmother, Octogenarian Traveler