Living La Vida Loca

A Global Adventure

  • A Beach Day

    Andrew and I have agreed that if it weren’t for dear family, friends, and our pup Donovan, we’d just miss our home bound flights in a few weeks and stay here.  Not sure New Zealand would be too happy with us – there is that small thing called a visa overstay…sigh.  A girl can dream. … Read more

  • Yes…It’s a long way to New Zealand.  Yes…flying Economy sucks a bit. (Not the worst thing I have ever done but when the bucks roll in I’m going business class – at least!). No…I did not sleep most of the way.  Ever try to sleep sitting up, smushed between two sweet but also-tired travelers?  Bet… Read more

  • Wow! Time really does fly…and it accelerates just like Mom told me it would as the years go by.  I realize that “getting older” and “getting OLD” are two different things, but in either case, time seems to have a faster and faster clock speed as the years go by.  This past year had a… Read more

  • Redirecting My Energy

    I am so glad that Andrew and I are now much closer in geographic proximity to many of our loved ones…not all, but many.  We will continue to be “digital nomads” of a sort – travel is a shared passion I doubt will ever be quelled in our life together. But I feel so blessed… Read more

  • By the time we got to our last stop in Ecuador we agreed we were ready to head home.  Not that we didn’t thoroughly enjoy our time in country – we did. We both felt that we’d seen and done so many different things –  encountered amazing wildlife in the Galapagos, experienced city life in… Read more

  • I am so proud and excited that our daughter, Ruthie, and her good buddies (Alex and Elizabeth) have launched a fabulous new travel website this week – called Travelogue.  These three amazing and powerful young women have channeled their combined skills into creating a wonderful “one-stop-shop” for anyone wanting to gather first-hand tips on where… Read more

  • While anyone who knows any conversational Spanish knows that when you “gotta go” you ask where the “baños” are.  But in Ecuador, Baños is also the name of a city that is now famous for attracting anyone into extreme sports – anything you can do to fly without a plane, zipline over a deep canyon,… Read more

  • Our hike up Cotopaxi was challenging, and there was a thrilling sensation of having climbed above the clouds to a height I’d have never imagined possible for us.  What I didn’t realize was that the very next day would be as literally and figuratively breathtaking – if not more so. Once again we chose to… Read more

  • One of the day trips we took from the pueblo of Isinlivi was to the majestic volcano – Cotopaxi.  We were so fortunate to have our driver, Byron, take us to the base of the volcano where we registered and engaged with a guide who knows the park and mountain well.  If you ever make… Read more

  • One of the highlights of our stay in Isinlivi – a teeny, tiny pueblo in the Andes along the Quilotoa Loop (a hiking route that provides days of wandering through incredible green valleys) – was learning how to milk a cow.  Andrew and I accompanied Rosarita – a local farmer – to her pasture where her… Read more