Category Archives: Leaps (travel-related stories)

Utah is Unique

by Joe
There is no place on earth, let alone the USA, that looks and feels like Southern Utah. It’s extremely hot and dry in summer and cold and snowy in the winter. But the warm breezes in the summer and cooler mornings keeps everything in balance for an enjoyable summer experience. The sky during the day ranges from turquoise to navy blue and as black as coal at night which allows the stars to pop like top grade diamonds. The green trees against the dark blue skies and red rocks paints a picture like no other place. The dryness of the warm mid-day breezes and the cool ones in the evening wrap around you and embrace you. It’s almost spiritual in nature and in this vast piece of nature you can see, smell, and feel the wonder of the west as so many have before us. But it is at times, stark. It is dry and the land in many places dies of thirst. It is rocky and at times desolate. It can be brutally hot in the summer and I wondered how did so many people, for thousands of years, come to inhabit and thrive in this land. But humans have lived in this area for over 10,000 years. Even if you look back only a couple of hundred years ago, how did they do it? Continue reading

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

by Sunny

Most 8 year old girls are easily won over by the following: mermaids, kittens, dolphins, and unicorns.  MJ recently discovered the movie Dolphin Tale, which tells the true story of a young dolphin named Winter who was found caught in a crab trap and rescued. Her tail was later amputated due to the amount of damage from being tangled in the trap.  She learns to swim without it and is also given a prosthetic tail so she could once again swim like a dolphin. MJ has seen it at least 20 times. And counting.  I had remembered seeing it years ago when it was first released, but hadn’t really sat down to watch it with MJ, yet.

Continue reading

I Survived the Zipline

by Cindy
On a recent family trip to Utah, we stayed at a really cool ranch resort that offered many fun activities. I knew I would enjoy the pool (even did the water slide), tennis courts, miniature golf and ping pong, but I wasn’t into the horseback riding, rock wall climbing, trampoline bungee or ATVs.

For some unknown reason though, I took an interest in the zipline. My eight year old granddaughter definitely wanted to ride, so I said I would go with her. Continue reading

Utah Rocks

by Cindy
In 2009, my husband Joe and I did a trip to Utah to visit five National Parks: Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion. We also visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on that trip. We were blown away by what we saw and have talked about that trip a lot!

Well, our children were listening and decided they would like to see that part of the country for themselves. So when it was time to discuss the summer vacation, the yearly beach trip was changed to a Utah trip. The grandchildren were older now and ready for this great adventure. Nine of us visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Zion. Six of us visited Bryce.

I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit that area again, much less with my children and grandchildren. It was equally amazing seeing it again for myself and now through the eyes of my children and grandchildren. We did some wonderful hikes together. I hope their memories of these awesome places will stay in their minds and hearts as it has mine.

UTAH ROCKS!

Utah Four Times

by Wendy
During the past six months, I traveled to Utah four times. Once for skiing, twice for work, and most recently for an epic vacation with my husband Jack, parents Cindy and Joe, sister April, nephew J, sister Sunny, brother-in-law Jimmy, and niece MJ. Continue reading

American Literary History in Concord

by Wendy
Louisa May Alcott was one of my favorite writers as a child. Like many girls, I adored the novel Little Women and idolized the character Jo March. I read any book I could find by Alcott and then moved on to biographies about her fascinating life and family members.

Alcott was dethroned by other literary obsessions as I grew older, and I hadn’t thought about her much in recent years. Then I watched the new PBS Masterpiece adaptation of Little Women a few weeks before a Boston trip. A quick online search confirmed that Louisa May Alcott’s family home, “Orchard House”, is in nearby Concord and can be toured. I remembered wanting to go as a kid, and now I had the opportunity thanks to Jack and our pal Steve, eternal good sport, who was up for spending a Saturday afternoon chasing literary history. Continue reading

Interlude at Invalides

by Wendy
We decided to go to Les Invalides because of rain in the Paris forecast. A museum day seems like a good idea, and none of us have been here before. It’s open on Tuesday, unlike The Louvre, and easy to access via Metro.

MJ, Sunny and Jimmy and I walk down a long tree-lined boulevard toward the entrance, as the sky wavers from blue to grey, bright to cloudy. Continue reading

Philadelphia in Five Photos, 500 Words

by Wendy
Jack and I were happy to spend part of Spring Break in Philadelphia with my sister April and nephew J.

We begin a morning road trip, taking turns playing favorite U2 songs. Despite staying up the previous night to watch old episodes of The Simpsons, we are wide awake in America. The air is cool and as we get closer to Philadelphia, the day turns beautifully sunny. Continue reading

Spain Wine Country

By Jack
In March of last year I was treated to an extensive trip through several of the wine producing regions of Spain. Few things are as impactful when trying to communicate the character of a wine as a hands-on visit to the source, so it’s common for producers to sponsor travel to their vineyards for those of us who work in the industry.

The trip really opened my eyes to the diversity of Spain’s geography, and their wine culture. For nine days we travelled almost 3000 miles by bus and plane (mostly bus) from the arid southern Mediterranean coast of Jerez to the cool verdant hills of Galicia. I was struck by the variety and scale of the viticulture and the country, from the venerable traditionalists of Rioja and Jerez, to the innovators of Toro and Soria. Continue reading