Guest Blogging at We Travel 2 this month

Ben Francis at We Travel 2 has graciously allowed me to be the guest blogger at We Travel 2. You can find my post about Aquitaine, French Beaches, and Bordeaux wine on the cheap on their site.

Thanks Ben! You rock?

Adventure Hoteling at The Hotel Chelsea - guest blogging

I am guest blogging at All About Travel this month and my post can be found at Ashwani Kaushik's site All About Travel. If you are a writer, or musician you definitely want to add this experience to your visits to New York City. It adds inspiration, or so it did for me.

Adventure Hoteling at The Hotel Chelsea at All About Travel

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#39 - Gargoyles and Street Performers in Paris

I love Gargoyles.  The real ones.  On cathedrals.  So there are really only three words needed for this.

Paris.  Notre Dame.

I like gargoyles so much I wrote a gargoyle song.

A true gargoyle (which name comes from the French word for gurgling) is a strange creature carved of stone and used as a water spout for rain to run off on a building.  This is why they were called "gargoyles."  Today we generically use the term to refer to other carved monsters, called "grotesques" found on cathedrals and other Gothic public buildings.

Of course, there are other locations than the cathedral at Notre Dame in Paris for viewing gargoyles, but Notre Dame is a magnificently fun place.  A grand wonder of architecture with a courtyard filled with street performers, and good places to eat within viewing distance.  There are also budget hotels in Paris city centre to be found.

So, when you are in planning a trip to Paris, don't forget to make Notre Dame a good long stop, because there is a lot to see.  My trip to Notre Dame was a clear, warm summer day with a cool breeze blowing through the trees.  A flamenco guitarist was playing in the square in front of the cathedral.  There were circus performers juggling and balancing in the square, and art was openly exhibited.  There was a skateboarding exhibition happening on the wide walkway coming up to the Cathedral.

Between the fun on the way up to the cathedral, and the awesome wonder of the cathedral it should be on your bucket list.  It made my list.  I have been there done that, and can check it off my list of 1,000 things to do before I die.

Burning Man update - #7 completed!

Yes, Burning Man is a crazy experiment in radical self-reliance, and radical self-expression - sometimes too much so, but an absolute blast to be sure.  I joined a theme camp, and because we were setting up to serve expresso, and do dream interpretation during the days, we arrived a day before the opening of the gates to set up our "Spirit Dream Interpretation Camp."

I helped pull a 12 foot tall shopping cart mutant vehicle (built by Scott Veatch) from Ohio to Nevada, and back again.  Consequently my adventure was extended to two full weeks.

If you have always been wanting to go to Burning Man, all I can say is - oh yeah, do it if you can.  Yes, it is true that newbies to the event (called "virgins") are asked to roll in the fine playa dust at entrance to the gate, and (unlike some of my friends) I did not shirk my dust eating duty and initiation into the Burner world.  Hopefully I will be able to link to the video of the initiation soon. :-)

Here are a few highlights for me:  The temple and all the emotion being poured out as people wrote their dreams, fears, sorrows, and joys on the temple walls.  The Burning of the Man on Saturday night - even though there was a dust storm hindering the full experience of the burn, it was a great show of fireworks, fire spinners, and the biggest bonfire you've ever seen.  Reciting limericks in a pub which gave a free pint of Guinness to everyone who recited a limerick (our team came with 14 of them, and we turned the place upside down - as chief limerick writer I had my hand on most of those limericks actually).  Interpreting dreams and encouraging people with words of wisdom, and watching them fall apart (in a good way) in openness to the working of the Spirit.  Traveling around in the shopping cart by night, and meeting the same people we served in the Dream Camp.

Burning Man may be miles away from nowhere near Gerlach, NV in the Black Rock desert, but it seems right in the heart of our culture, and it is no wonder that has become a type of church for the 50,000 people who attend each year.

2011?  Return to Burning Man?  Maybe, I would certainly love to, but as for now I can scratch it off my list of things to do.

#38 - visiting Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Ireland

The history of Ireland's struggle for independence is to a great degree housed in Europe's largest unused prison. Kilmainham Gaol was closed by the new Irish Free State shortly after independence was reached.  For 128 years it housed prisoners.  It was an unsegregated prison with men, women and even children (the youngest thought to be 7 years old) in 92 square ft. cells with 5 people per cell.

The jail was restored as a museum starting in the 60's and is now run by an Irish Government Agency.  It now houses the history of the fight for independence, and the sad history of famous executions.  It was here that 14 leaders of the Easter uprising in 1916 were executed, and black crosses mark the location of the executions. 


Dublin hotels in the city centre of Dublin are within a few minutes of Kilmainham Gaol.  Items such as the death mask of Robert Emmet, and the history of the Irish rebellion and struggle make this a must visit in Ireland.  This makes my bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die.

The last prisoner of Kilmainham Gaol, Eamonn De Valera later became the Prime Minister of Ireland and then the President of Ireland.  Your stop at the gaol may encourage you to more honorable goals.

Update #7 - Headed for Burning Man

Today I leave Scott Veatch's house helping to pull a trailer with this contraption on it.  This big shopping cart is called the blue light special.  Scott and his friend Jeff built this thing, and it will be one of the mutant vehicles at the Burning man event, and a part of the Spirit Cafe's outreach to the Burner's.

Visiting Old Dark London - #37

Some years ago, my friend Mike took me on a tour of London, which included among other things some of the famous occultist Aleister Crowley's haunts.  Always up for a little mystery, and coming from the significantly more occultly pregnant city of Salem, Massachusetts, I was excited to be led on a short tour of this sort in downtown London, by my good friend the Neo-Shaman.

The UK is the birthplace of modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism as we know it today, and London of course is going to be "the spot" for learning much of this history.

Atlantis Bookshop was one of the strange old man's frequented places, and it still stands, and is still active today.  This is also true for Watkin's Books, which has been around for over a hundred years.

Locations such as 67-69 Chancery Lane where the strange old occultist once lived, and practiced his arts can be seen, and The Plough - a Pub and another hangout on Museum Street should be stopped at.  These dark and peculiar places in London bring you back to the turn of the century over a hundred years ago, and can give you a significantly creepy sense - unless of course, like me, you are comfortable learning about our wild, weird and wonderfully diverse world.

This is on my list of 1,000 things to do before I die.  I haven't died yet, and I've accomplished it - and it didn't kill me.

When you make this a part of you trip to London you will want to find hotels in London City Centre with parking.

For more info a Crowleys Haunts you can check this page describing a Crowley tour.

Las Vegas without the Lost Wages - #36

I am not a gambler.  I am not the kind of person who likes to go into the big cities when I travel - at least not for long, but I have gone for quite a few Holidays to Las Vegas.

Now, I have been there quite a lot because it was my halfway stop from Southern California to Utah each summer.  Yes, it is a gambler's paradise, but it has become more than that.  Shows, concerts, sporting events fill the schedule of the city's event list, but this is not the thing which captures my attention in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is a great place for wandering around at night simply to look.  It is an architect's paradise with wildly designed hotel casinos in every possible theme.  Fountains dance, roller coasters fly through the air, lights beam through the sky, and ships attack one another and the Brittania sinks on the Strip at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.  Wandering Las Vegas during the night is certainly worth putting on a list of one thousand things to do before you die - even if like me, you don't gamble.

St Stephen's: Canada's Chocolate Town

Just over the border crossing in Calais, ME you enter the heart of downtown St. Stephen's, New Brunswick.  A right hand turn takes you past the interactive chocolate museum, which tells the story of rise of the Ganong Brother's success in candy making starting in the late 19th century in St. Stephen's.  A block further brings you to the well run, and friendly visitor center.

St. Stephen's is a slightly out of the way stop on the way into Canada's eastern shores.  Route 1 in Canada has been re-developed and runs around the city now, but the old Main Street in Calais, ME still brings you to the old border crossing.

I stopped here on my way back from paddling the Bay of Fundy to visit some friends who work and run St. Stephen's University.  I had to stay longer to visit the chocolate museum, and buy some wonderful Canadian chocolate to bring home to friends.

Don't travel the east coast of Canada without stopping here.  Especially if you have kids.  The interactive chocolate museum is a wonderful hands on experience.  I like Canada's Atlantic Coast.  I'm hooked on the Bay of Fundy, and St. Stephen's will be a regular stop for me on my Holidays to Canada.

#35 - Anybody doing "Life in a Day?"

Along with that list of things I want to do before I die, there sometimes comes along a one-off event, which falls into the category of want to do, or perhaps even (if one should miss it) a 'I am really sorry I did not do that' event.

Filming my day, or parts of it for this production "Life in a Day" is one of those things, which will fall into the category of 'I am really sorry I did not do that' if I don't give it a shot.

Are you going to participate in "Life in Day?"  I'll be filming my life.  How about you?



Wanna do it? Check out Life in a Day.

#34 - The Do Lectures in the Fforest of West Wales

The Do Lectures have been listed as one of the great "conferences" in the world.  4 days, 22 speakers, and only 80 attendees in a tent in the "Fforest" sounds like a perfect setting for learning and perhaps even unlearning.

Their website has the list of speakers from the last two years, and this September's lectures will be up after the event happens.

Of course, for a wild theologian like me to be a speaker would be a real hoot, but it looks like everyone becomes a teacher as well as a learner in the Fforest.

So, the Do Lectures make my bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die.  It obviously is making other people's list as well.

More on #26 - Kayaking the Bay of Fundy

My second day in the Banana car trip to New Brunswick brought me to the town of Alma on the north side of the Bay of Fundy Park.  I landed in town, and quickly found Fresh Air Adventure so I could ask about where to put in, and things to do in town.

At Fresh Air I met Daelan (Sp?) and Abby, who immediately were helpful and informed where to eat, and not to eat in town, and suggested it was good to put in right across the street in the Upper Salmon River when the tide was high.

If you stop at Fresh Air Adventure, Daelan is the guy with the tattoos, and Abby is the girl with the blond dreads.   They suggested a couple places to eat.  Being from Coastal New England I was not as enticed as other tourists by the proliferation of lobster and seafood places, but it was suggested that if I wanted that the best place in town was Tides which has both a Deck with take out, or a sit in fancy eating place in the hotel.

Instead I went to the Octopus Garden.  Any place named after a Ringo Starr song has got to be cool.  Octopus Garden is a combination blown glass art gallery, and cafe.  Rachel the owner is a drummer and she runs the cafe, and her husband is the glass blower.

I visited that first afternoon and met Vernon, who was extremely knowledgeable about places to paddle in the area.

Then next morning I returned.  I arrived a little earlier than the 7:30am opening, and decided to help, since Rachel was there and  had broken her big toe and was limping around.  So, I took down the chairs from the table tops, and set out the sandwich board sign.

Then I saw the guitar on the wall.  It said Play Me.  I obeyed.

This is my pick for the place to hang out in Alma.  Good food, great Panninis, a nice blend of loose leaf teas, and local stuff you can buy.  They even have a jam session night on Wednesdays.

I kayaked around the Upper Salmon River and bounced among the rocks going as far up it as I could.  Oh, the wonders of a plastic kayak!  You can hit hard things and just keep bouncing along without a dent.  The evening I stayed there I camped on the lawn at Fresh Air after spending time hanging with Daelan and Abby.  I like Alma.  I think I'd like to go back sometime.  I still have to paddle the coast of the Bay of Fundy Park.

#33 - Shopping at Midnight in Maine

I really don't care for shopping much, but musical instruments or certain sporting equipment can capture my fancy from time to time.  Shopping at L.L. Bean in Freeport, ME is actually fun for anyone at any age - especially if you go after midnight.  This is the store which is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Blizzards don't close it down, slow business doesn't distract it's goal of always being open.  It is the permanently open store.  I've been to L.L. Bean before, but I have never been there after midnight.

On my travels to New Brunswick to go paddling I needed a few things for the kayaking trip, and since I started late at might to drive north, I was able to stop in a L.L. Bean at 1:30am.  This is not my typical bucket list item, but I have wanted to stop in at L.L. Bean after midnight for a number of years now.

Check it off.  Done.  It really is worth the trip to Freeport, ME, which is a beautiful town, and a great place to visit.  If you like shopping, you even can go shopping at midnight, and you won't be the only person there - I wasn't.  If you are looking for deals to America and are planning on coming to New England, be sure to visit Freeport and the eternal adventure store.

I can scratch this one off my bucket list.

Kayaking The Bay of Fundy - #26 Revisited and Accomplished!

This last weekend I drove to Hopewell Rocks Park, New Brunswick, Canada.  The world's largest tides are only 9 hours drive from Boston, and so I took my $2,000 1994 BMW touring wagon, and my $200 14' sit-on-top ebay kayak and drove to Canada looking like I was riding a banana wagon.

Leaving Friday night I headed straight for Moncton, New Brunswick, and after a few other stops (see next post) arrived at the northern edge of the Bay of Fundy with my banana boat still attached to the car.

Saturday afternoon I visited Hopewell Rocks Park, bought my admission ticket, and signed a waiver at the Interpretive Centre releasing them from any potential disaster.  Then I drove to the location where the kayak instructors and tour guides put in for the the tours.

High tide was on it's way.  If you want to kayak at Hopewell Rocks, you have to do so at high tide, because at low tide you can walk in the spots covered with as much as 20-25' of water at high tide.

The day was windy and choppy with 3' to 4' waves, and there was one group already out with the guides, but they quickly went in, and canceled the second group due to the choppy seas.  I paddled south toward Hopewell Rocks, and came to the sea stacks, and "flower pots."  This place is stunning, and it is serious natural wonder worth visiting.

I spent a few hours in the water.  I rode up and down the waves appearing and disappearing to the watching crowds on the sea cliffs, and then made my way to the protected little coves of sea stacks.  I backed into tight crevices, and paddled back out again.  I explored the rugged coast line and the flower pot formations.  I chatted with onlookers in the stairwell which at low tide takes people down to the beach, and became a photo op for the other tourists.  I avoided going under Lover's Arch, because the waves were too big, and I did not feel like getting smashed between the water and the top of the stone archway.

The water was far too turbulent for me to get out my camera, and take some photos, so my D-40 stayed in the little gortex bag.

The following morning I returned to Hopewell Rocks Park to walk where I had kayaked, and took a lot of photos.  I also learned that the park rangers were watching me the whole time to make sure I was safe.  They remembered the one solo kayaker out in the choppy waves going up and down.

The Park Rangers are knowledgeable and friendly.  One gave me tips on where to head to paddle the next day, Kevin showed me videos of the black ducks he rescued from abandonment at the park, and Shawna gave me some great information on the seaweed and tides.

I am going to be headed back without question.  This is a world class adventure location, and can be experienced with a little adventure, or with complete leisure.  This is a first stop on holidays to Canada as far as I am concerned, and as for now, I can check it of my Bucket List of 1,000 things to do before I die.  Paddling the Bay of Fundy, and going back to walk where you paddled is more fun than driving a banana car.  Yep, its true - I'm a Fundy now.

#31 & #32 - Join the Fringe Element in Edinbugh, Scotland

I can check a visit to Edinburgh, Scotland off of my Bucket list of 1,000 things, but I need to do again, and perhaps consider a repeat trip to be one of the 1,000 things to do before I die.

Edinburgh calls itself the Festival City.  What has typically been the month of August with a combination of theater, art, comedy, and music including the famous Fringe Festival has now stretched itself from April to December and even into January of the next year.

Currently there are 12 festivals listed as part of the festival events in Edinburgh with the great majority of events still happening in August.

My August experience brought me to mimes, jugglers, street thespians, bagpipe and drum corps, a klezmer band, and more fun than P.T. Barnum and Walt Disney could dream up.  Of course most of the street performance is used as a way to sell tickets to events happening in the over 300 venues across the city, and yet by themselves these street performances are completely entertaining.

When you go make sure to find one of the hotels in Edinburgh city centre so you can simply step outside and walk into the frivolity.

Now my repeat appearance will hopefully be as a performer, and that is why the Edinburgh Festivals is on my list for a second time.  I've checked it off once as part of the great audience, and plan to check it off a second time as a performer.  There truly is no place like it in the world for festival fun.  It's on my Bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die.  Add it to yours - perhaps to join me?

Update on #26 - Kayaking the Bay of Fundy

I have decided that during the week of July 18th I am going to drive the short 7 to 8 hours up to the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, and I am going to check off #26 in my bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die.

My business partner Gareth Gwyn Jones should be meeting me up there for the fun, and my son Elijah will probably be coming along as well.  For you silly people who always worry about my safety (considering that this is the world's largest tidal range - about 50"), Gareth is a trained kayak instructor, I have spent more time in the water in competition, and sport than most people spend watching TV (well, maybe that's not true, because some people watch more TV than log in work or sleep hours), and Elijah is a strong enough swimmer/surfer to help out as well.

All that said - I am gonna be a Fundy for in the third week of July!  Woo-hoo.  Watch out Fred Phelps!  Watch out Ken Silva!  Okay, maybe that's not the kind of Fundy I mean, but hey I will be a kayaking Fundy for a few days in the Bay of Fundy.

#29 - Walk on the Moon! (in Ireland)

If the lunar landscapes are interesting and appealing to you, if like me, you would like to walk a wild, barren and somewhat dangerous land, you might not have to spend a million dollars to be one of the first civilian tourists to the moon.

The moon is really only as far as Ireland.  The Burren is an area of County Clare with a landscape which has been described as lunar.  The barren limestone plateau is a patchwork of cracks and fissures, which make it a unique walking adventure.  Care needs to be exercised to avoid falling and getting hurt, but the walk is not steep as the limestone plateau is made of rolling limestone rock hills and patches of grasses.

Strangely, arctic, mediterranean and alpine plants grow together in this one region, and the alpine flower: the Spring Gentian is used as a symbol for the Burren.  This area also has over 70 ancient tombs, and account for over half of those in County Clare.

This is on my bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die, but I am sure I will need to fill my rental car tank before making my way to the Burren.  Be sure to check out car hire Cork Airport for your rental car.

#28 - Fenway, one the last of the great old ball parks

My first visit to Fenway Park was during a playoff game with the New York Yankees in the storied 2004 run to their World Series win.  Of course, I went to the third game.  This was the game where the Red Sox got clobbered 18-9 by the Yankees, and went down 3 games to none.  The next four games led to their improbable breaking of the Curse of the Bambino, and their first World Series in 86 years.

I stood by the famed Pesky Pole that night.  Somewhere I still have the picture of it.  It was a good night to see Fenway.  We had the seats, which are no seats: a standing only area underneath the stands on the first level.  Yet I ended up somewhere near first base on the second row by the 6 inning, because everyone starting leaving the slaughter.

A game at Fenway is a must see for people visiting Boston.  Even if you do not like baseball, it carries a sense of history like few places on earth.  Entering the ballpark and looking onto the field for the first time, you can imagine Ted Williams or Babe Ruth stepping to the plate.  The Green Monster, the highest outfield wall remaining in a major league park stands glaring at you from left field.  The place looks, feels, and smells of the gods of the diamond and takes you back 50 - 75 - almost a 100 years to the times romanced by young men for almost a century now.

Are you planning your holidays to Boston?  Fenway Park should find its way into the plans.  It will certainly find its way into your heart.

It was once on my bucket list of 1,000 things to do before I die, but I checked it off in 2004.  I could have gone again tonight if I had been available - tickets were offered, but oh well - I saw them loose in the most famous series they ever played.

#27 - Reading Thoreau at Walden Pond

Today I traveled to Walden Pond in Concord, MA just outside Boston.  $5 parking is the only cost, and this historic location where Henry David Thoreau spent two years living simply in a tiny one room house he built with his own hands a mile from the nearest neighbor in 1845-1847 has become revered as the home of the conservation movement.

It was on my bucket list of a thousand things to do before I die to read his book Walden on location.  Okay - I did not read the whole book today, but as you will see in the video below, I brought it with me to read a little while I was there.

Currently, the water level is especially high in this "kettle pond" which has no stream flowing in our out.  It is fed by the rain, and run-off from surrounding hills.  Because of the high water table the pond path is closed around most of the perimeter, but a walk around the pond is a gorgeous short - and not too strenuous hike.

Swimming, fishing, and hiking are all available at Walden Pond, and best of all there is a wonderful history, which can not do anything but inspire you.

I think it should be on your list of a thousand things to do before you die.  It was on mine, but I checked it off today.  So, if you are looking for a Boston city break, I am not sure you've really had the full break without visiting the beautiful home of Thoreau's simple living.

#26 - Kayaking the Bay of Fundy

The largest tidal range in the world is boasted by Canada's Bay of Fundy, and it is on my bucket list of places to go.  In sections of the bay the tidal range is as large as 53 feet!  So you can imagine there are things to see in this wild land, which you not find anywhere else in the world.

Chignecto Park is a great place to take this adventure.  Paddle out to the famous Three Sisters rock formation during high tide, and go back to walk among these sea stacks during low tide.  Nature is at it's wildest and most beautiful in the Bay of Fundy, but of course that's the way it often is - dangerous wildness and awe inspiring beauty are wrapped together in a paradoxical package.

I'm planning on kayaking the Bay of Fundy.  It is not enough to see the tide, I want to get right down into it, and feel it beneath me.

Do you want to add this to one of the thousand things to do before you decide to permanently visit heaven?  Hopefully we'll meet in a sea cave, or among the stacks of Three Sisters. 

Catch cheap flights to Canada, and make your way to the rugged south eastern coast.  Join me in Canada - get Fundy with me.