Are you able to write an entry for your own travel blog(imaginary or real)?

As the sun set through the gentle air into the sea, the scent of basil and toasted bread wafted down the cobbled street, inviting us to test the quality of bruschetta at the outdoor cafe. The auto less lanes allowed the sound of the concertina and the tenor to drift to our table under the stars, such was our first evening in Monterosso al Mare.

Vermont is full of small town charm, as well as mountains and lakes in abundance. August is a wonderful month to visit, because the weather is warm, but not too hot. Bennington has all the energy of a college town. The college features a Chamber Music Festival with world-class musicians performing for the public for free! Further north is the capital, Montpelier, another lovely town with a lively local theater, the Lost Nation Theater. It also features lots of funky and quite good restaurants.

About 25 miles north of Montpelier is a lovely spot called Lake Elmore. Nestled at the base of Mount Elmore (Home to an old fire tire, which is a short, but challenging climb with a view of the surrounding mountains that’s well worth it.), is a state park with a public beach right on the lake, which is lovely for swimming although a little cold even in August. Be sure and stop at the Lake Elmore store, which has a little bit of everything including the proprietor’s home-grown tomatoes and some locally baked artisan bread. Hosking Farm, right outside the town, features the farm owner’s homemade maple syrup for sale, and has a spectacular guest apartment for rent with an incredible view and balcony.

You know you’re not in Kansas anymore when you see the Moose Crossing signs along the highway.

Copyright marinelife. All rights reserved.

I want the URL to the actual blog she’s stealing these things for.

@Seek_Kolinahr I just wrote up my recent vacation. I do write for a living after all.

I kept a written log of my experiences in Acadia National Park this summer, in the form of emails to my family. I was there for seven weeks working on a big school project, but also had plenty of free time to do my own exploring. They were the most magical weeks of my life so far. Here’s an excerpt:

Hi guys,

Well after starting to feel a little down because of the lack of things to do in the wilderness when the weather is crummy for 5 straight days, the sun peeked out yesterday evening. We were downtown getting pizza when we got our first glimpse of sun since last Tuesday and my mood immediately skyrocketed. Josh and Matt and I have had our eyes on one particular trail for awhile but haven’t had the weather to do it. It was evening, but we were so stir crazy that we decided to go right away after dinner.

There are two small side-by-side mountains called the “bubbles,” I guess because they are near bubble pond. We had planned to do both but only ended up doing one because it got dark a little faster than we were expecting. It was only about a mile hike. It was so awesome, quite possibly my favorite memory I’ve made here so far. For awhile, it was a fairly flat run through the woods; the fog was incredibly thick. The trail took us by Jordan pond, which I guess is a pretty small pond, but there was no way of discerning that because we could only see a few yards across it. Then we started climbing. At first the rocks formed a bit of a staircase but then it got a little more random. We took it very slow because it was wet, slippery, kinda dark, and Matt has to get pretty inventive sometimes to get himself up things. Still some great exercise though. The three of us made a dream team, shining flashlights for each other and giving helping hands. We were all just feeling pretty euphoric and laughy the whole way up. It was so crazy to turn and look behind us and not be able to see the rocks we had just climbed through the fog. The way down was much more gradual, which was good because it had gotten pretty dark by then and because down is harder for Matt than up. I got a little freaked out hiking in the dark but all was well.

Matt cracked some joke about his leg and I guess I make sad noises every time he does that, because he said something about how he’s totally comfortable joking about it and it’s not anything we have to feel weird about. I said that I of all people should get that because I love colon humor and stuff too. I don’t know, it’s so much harder for me to laugh with someone else about their problems. But I’m glad he mentioned that.

Then eight of us got up early this morning to go kayaking. We got a great deal on a four hour rental for coming in a big group. The pond we were on is called Long pond and it lives up to its name. It’s four miles in length but narrow in width. Laura and I shared a tandem kayak. The weather was still foggy but there was some hazy sun and it wasn’t cold or raining. We were given maps of the pond and shown which parts of the surrounding land were private property and which parts belong to the park and therefore are fair game for exploration. But we ended up getting off only at one place, a tiny island called Rum Island. We ate lunch there and found a loon on its nesting site. They’re so much bigger than I realized, and have such beautiful intricate patterns on their feathers, especially their necks. Really cool. We saw at least two other loons in the water too, swimming and diving. Sadly I didn’t have the guts to bring my camera on board for fear of tipping the kayak; would have been able to get excellent photos because the loons were not shy. Oh well. We paddled all over about half of the pond, didn’t go the full four miles because we definitely couldn’t have made it back in the four hours. It was ridiculously strenuous work for my pathetic upper body and I am sore all over. Shoulders are aching, wrists are really aching, even my hands are aching just from gripping the paddle. So so so much fun though. It’s been an awesome weekend.

Have a bunch of meetings to attend tomorrow. If we get lucky with the weather we might be able to get some work done on Tuesday. Otherwise, Wednesday is definitely looking good. Hallelujah.

Sleepytime for me! Goodnight!
Rachel

Correction: fire tower.

March 21, 2010, took a crazy bus ride to Toroko park in the mountains of Taiwan, ( formerly known as Formosa ) about 100 miles from the southern coastal fishing town of Hualien after a 2 hour train ride from Taipei city.
I am getting really good at drinking Taiwanese beer and squating into the chinese toilet basins on moving trains. A skill perfected by few americans.
Toroko sports native peoples that were headhunters up until a mere 100 years ago.

Lush tropical forests, bamboo vipers, chinese cobras and marble mountains above jade filled, crystal clear rivers of a psychedelic aqua blue.
Hiking along the narrow ledges of Toroko gorge above the amazing Sanjhan river and tripping over a bamboo viper! Lucky me, or I would have died on that remote river bank.
Finished the hike with an awesome local dinner of steamed rice in bamboo tubes and other exotic fare. A day to remember!