“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day” There’s something about the change of seasons that makes us take stock of our lives. So since the… Continue Reading
The image of kids loping off to the community fishing hole, bait in one hand, fishing poles in the other, brings to mind the long, lazy days of summer. It’s such a classic image that it’s practically sepia toned, enshrined… Continue Reading
The longest trail in the United States starts (or ends, depending on your interpretation) in North Dakota. But unless you’re a hiker, it remains one of the state’s (and the country’s) best kept secrets. When completed, the North Country Trail… Continue Reading
“In the arts, we don’t think about time,” said sculptor Bruce Howdle, his flip flops slapping softly on the floor of his studio in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. “Sometimes it takes a lot of time, sometimes it doesn’t. Time doesn’t mean… Continue Reading
If you’re into art, you’ll love the Milwaukee Art Museum. This sprawling museum and architectural wonder rises from the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin like a majestic white ship. In addition to being one of the most visually… Continue Reading
Why aren’t you traveling? What’s stopping you from booking the trip of your dreams? The most common question readers ask me is how they can travel more. I reply that the answer depends entirely on why they’re not traveling more… Continue Reading
When you practice yoga outdoors in the deep freeze of a Minnesota winter, the usual prompts to “feel your breath” and “visualize your breath” take on a whole new meaning. In a cozy yoga studio, they sound like soothing spiritual… Continue Reading
European explorers came north to Minnesota to learn what the indigenous people of the Northwoods had known for thousands of years — that the source of the Misi-ziibi (the great river of life in Ojibwe) is a glacial lake in… Continue Reading
Bars are one of those staples of Midwestern baking that are surprisingly difficult to explain to people from outside the region. “They’re kind of like a cake, but flat,” I explained a few weeks ago, simplifying my English slightly to… Continue Reading
I remember the exact moment I realized that being a traveler was a choice. Travel didn’t need be a fluke, a happy accident, a thing that just happened to me. It wouldn’t be a thing I waited and hoped for.… Continue Reading