Boldly Go Solo
How to set out solo, but not travel alone: Trips, tips and ideas for the active traveler.
Category: –Biking, Hiking
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The Washington Post devoted an entire travel section to how to "travel wisely." It was directed at a Washington audience, naturally. But even if you’re not from the local area, the info on "specialty" travel could be of great value. The "specialties" range from single/solo to volunteer to African American to gay and lesbian. Any…
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I used to think that package tours were for retired people, the elderly and the infirm. That buses took them right up to, say, the rim of the Grand Canyon. Then they could peer out the window and ooh and aah without ever having to leave their seats. Then I discovered active tours. The biking,…
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I’m not big on spending a week or more alone, as is obvious if you’ve read much of this blog. While I often love to explore museums and sights without others by my side, I can get lonely if I go for too long without connecting with someone. I happen to like the social life…
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After a stellar mountain biking and rafting trip on the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, I couldn’t help going on and on about it to a friend. Of course, she then wanted to join me on my next river trip. I panicked, and tried to come up with a polite way to tell her…
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Due to high waters in the nearby canyons, we do loops around the hotel instead of going out to do a breakfast hike. We end up eating near a waterfall. Since this whole trip is about healthy eating, breakfast "on the trail" consists of fruit, peanut butter, cottage cheese, fruit, whole grain tortillas, nuts, fruit…
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I wish it hadn't taken me slamming into a prickly pear cactus to make a great point about traveling solo, but it did. Here's the sad tale. In heavy hiking boots, on a trail marked "difficult," I tripped and pitched forward. Under normal circumstances I think I would have been able to right myself. But…
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Bridget, a fellow hiker, had some of us laughing all morning, after she showed us the "Michigan mitten" at breakfast. Someone asked her where she grew up and she held up her right hand and pointed to one side of her palm. "Right here." Huh? Apparently, Michigan children learn that their state is shaped like…
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Yesterday’s hail dusted the mountaintops here in Tucson, changing the desert palette. By this morning it was raining. If I had been out West hiking on my own, I might have spent a lonely day in my room, or hanging around the hotel, today. Maybe I would have gone shopping or to a movie. But…
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Tucson in December has its surprises for an East Coast girl: A loud, heavy hail storm has left quarter-inch balls of white ice on the hotel's lawns and sidewalks. An old water tank for cattle, which are no longer allowed where we're hiking, is filled with plump, healthy goldfish. Goldfish! In the Sonoran Desert in…
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9:30 am, Houston. Having one of those "poor me" moments while rushing to make the connection to Tucson. Why was I going to all this trouble, flying to join a bunch of strangers at a spa? All alone. I think about home and it seems so cozy and inviting. Typical day one for me. Just…
Boldly Go Solo 