Family travel
Everglades National Park
No more almost-free senior lunch at U.S. National Parks: The price of a lifetime America the Beautiful Senior Pass rises sharply from $10 to $80 on August 28, 2017.
The Senior Pass, available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents age 62 and above, has cost just $10 since 1994, making it one of the great travel bargains in the world.
At $80, it will still be a good deal, just not the steal it is now. If you already have one of the $10 passes, it will be honored for your lifetime.
Senior Passes provide access to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by six federal agencies:
- National Park Service
- US Fish & Wildlife Service
- Bureau of Land Management
- Bureau of Reclamation
- US Forest Service
- US Army Corps of Engineers
Senior Pass Benefits
The Grand Canyon
The passes cover entrance and day-use recreation fees… Continue reading
Here’s Part 3 of guest contributor Myles Stone’s Viet Nam Diary, featuring his insightful narratives during a recent two-month stay with his family in Hoi An, Viet Nam, during which he received a visit from my son, Grael; daughter-in-law, Nona; and my 16-month-old (and already well-traveled) grandson, Conrad. (Myles’ wife, Aimee, and baby daughter, Mimi, rounded out the contingent of travelers.)
All were born after the Viet Nam War ended in 1975, and thus bring a fresh perspective to the country that so consumed the baby boom generation in the U.S. during the turbulent 1960’s and early 1970’s.
In this post and the next, Myles recounts a visit to Viet Nam’s old imperial capital of Hue during the late April holiday marking the reunification of the country. As with all his posts, photos are courtesy of the family photographer, wife Aimee.
By Myles Stone
Photos by… Continue reading
An Bang Beach, Hoi An, Viet Nam
This is the second in our series of guest posts from Myles Stone, a Tucson physician who recently spent two months in Hoi An, Viet Nam, with his wife, Aimee, and baby daughter, Mimi.
Our son, Grael, daughter in law, Nona, and our then-16-month-old grandson, Conrad, spent two weeks visiting the Stones there this spring.
These are slice-of-life pieces that provide insights into what Viet Nam — a country that played such a huge role in the baby boomer experience of the 1960s — is like today.
You can read about the usefulness of their local neighborhood “fixer” in Myles’ first post.
In this post, Myles treats us to a visit to one of the many tailoring shops in Hoi An, where you can get custom-made suits, shirts, and other items of clothing made from scratch for a tiny fraction of what… Continue reading
Today I’m delighted to introduce guest poster Myles Stone, a physician and friend of my son, Grael, and daughter-in-law, Nona.
Grael, Nona, and young Conrad P. Norton, who was 16 months old at the time (all pictured above arriving in Viet Nam), recently spent two weeks visiting Myles, his wife Aimee, and their baby daughter, Mimi, during their stay this spring in Hoi An, Viet Nam.
Though their experiences were those of a younger generation — none were alive during the Viet Nam War that so consumed the formative years of most baby boomers — Myles’ observations on their two months in Hoi An offer insightful and amusing glimpses of what life is like there today more than 40 years after the end of the war. (His complete blog can be found here.)
In this installment, one of a multi-part series, Myles describes the key role that the… Continue reading
Bison roam Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews
Cotopaxi, a company that makes backpacks, jackets and other outdoor gear — and donates a percentage of its earnings to worthy causes around the world — has come out with an infographic in celebration of this year’s 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service.
It shows the top five U.S. National Parks in terms of annual visitation, plus five “Hidden Gems” that are far less visited.
The top five visited National Parks, in order, are Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain, California’s Yosemite, and Yellowstone, which extends over parts of three states: mostly Wyoming, but also Montana and Idaho.
I’ve visited all of the most popular ones at one time or another, but have to admit I’ve never been to any of the Hidden Gens: Washington’s North Cascades, Florida’s Dry Tortugas, South Carolina’s… Continue reading
Research has shown that as we get older, we tend to become more altruistic
As “narcissistic and materialistic values wane in influence” (with age) writes Jim Gilmartin, CEO of the Chicago-based agency Coming of Age, which specializes in marketing to baby boomers and seniors,”concern for others increases.”
In the travel field, this trend has helped fuel the rapid rise of volunteer vacations, also known as “voluntourism”
The concept is simple: rather than go on a more traditional vacation, such as taking a cruise or staying at a resort, you sign up with a company or agency that sets you up to work on a project such as helping in wildlife conservation, building classrooms and homes, or improving local water systems, usually in the developing world.
Yes, you pay for the privilege of helping others, but it’s not necessarily all work and no play, and benefits accrue to the travelers… Continue reading
The view from the fortress above Nafplio is stunning. Photo by Clark Norton
Although I’d been to Greece twice before, I wasn’t familiar with the town of Nafplio (also spelled Nafplion) until four members of my family and I spent several days there recently to attend a baptismal ceremony and celebration for the baby daughter of some friends. (More on that in my next post.)
Nafplio is about a two-hour drive from the airport in Athens, and is located at the northern end of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, where the Peloponnesian War pitted the Athenians versus the Spartans in the 5th century BC.
The militaristic Spartans prevailed over the once-dominant but philosophically minded Athenians, dealing a fatal blow to the golden age of ancient Greek democracy.
It was kind of like the Michigan State Spartans football team taking on the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. Ouch.
Nafplio,… Continue reading
Fourth in a Series:
The entrance to one of our favorite tavernas on Milos, Merthismeni Politeia. Photo by Clark Norton
During my week on the Greek island of Milos, I saw no Mexican restaurants, no sushi bars, no French bistros, or even a Chinese take-out joint.
Yes, there were casual cafes that served pizza, burgers, or crepes as part of their offerings, but no dedicated ethnic eateries or American fast-food places.
All this was fine with me. My family and I ate Greek food three times a day — more if you count the occasional snack — and never got tired of it.
Not only was it almost invariably fresh and delicious, but the variety in selection and preparation far surpassed what you might expect to find in a Greek restaurant in the United States. Our diet went way beyond the familiar gyros,… Continue reading
Third in a Series:
Swimmers at Paliochori Beach, Milos. Photo by Clark Norton
During my recent week’s stay on Milos, one of the most beautiful of Greece’s Cyclades islands, I sampled several different beaches. And when I say different, I don’t mean merely separate — I mean distinctly different from each other.
Along with notable history, scenery, whitewashed villages, and food, Milos excels in its beaches.
Dozens of them are scattered around the island, some of them accessible only by boat, others by rough road, still others easy to reach by any vehicle, including bicycles. One long stretch of sand, along the inner harbor, is close to the island’s largest town, Adamas, and features calm waters, a beach bar, and even a touch of thermal warmth left over from Milos’ volcanic past.
Colorful cliffs form a dramatic backdrop to Paliochori beach on Milos. Photo by Clark Norton… Continue reading
An ancient Roman amphitheater on Milos comes with water view. Photo by Catharine Norton.
Second in a Series:
Driving on a Greek island is easy — if you let your spouse take the wheel.
I’m fortunate, in a way, that my wife, Catharine, gets a bit nauseous if she tries to read anything — such as a map — in a moving car. That means that in unfamiliar territory without a GPS, I get to navigate, and she has to drive.
Getting to our house on Milos — which we had rented for a week’s vacation with our son, daughter-in-law and six-month-old grandson — was something of an adventure.
Driving up from Adamas, the largest town in Milos and site of the ferry terminal and waterfront marina, required following a winding road up through the hills while cars zipped around us, passing on blind curves. Catharine stuck… Continue reading
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