Monument Valley, Arizona

In mid-October 2007, we took our first multi-day ride together. It was not my first long ride, but it was Kori's. We spent one night at my uncle's (then) apartment in Phoenix before taking off for a few days on his motorcycle. He may be the most generous man I know, or will ever know. Below is a link to photos from throughout that trip with captions.

A particularly notable part of this trip was our venture into Monument Valley. If you ever visit the area, you can pay for a helicopter tour or pay a few extra bucks to drive through on the Scenic Valley Drive. It's a very rough road so you may choose to pay for a ride in a 4x4 pickup truck. Because we were on my uncle's dual sport motorcycle, we chose to take the bike. I strongly advise against this. Aside from a later adventure, that was the most terrifying ride of my life. I'll write about Apache Trail another day.

My heart was pounding like a race horse. Three minutes into the scenic drive, I was certain I was going to crash the bike, hurt my girl, and damage the bike beyond repair. I had to stop several times on the short ride to rest, breathe, and shake my hands to stop the tingling. The sand that drifted onto the gravel road was so fine that the bike tires would slip, like I was riding on ice. There was so much of that dust and no way to ride around it. On top of that difficulty, the bike is top-heavy. Maneuvering the bike, me, and a passenger at low speeds is immensely challenging. It was a miracle we did not crash. You can imagine my relief and excitement when we reached the paved parking lot again. Never will I repeat that mistake.

Photos

-Ben

Leiden & Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands

I came across an old email a few days ago that I wrote when we were in the Netherlands which was our first stop on our 2007 Europe trip. In keeping the promise of sharing things old and new, I decided to post it here. The photos are of the plaza outside our hotel in Leiden and one of my favorite photos from Keukenhof Gardens.

Sending you a quick note from Amsterdam where we arrived this afternoon and are staying at the Hotel Bema for two nights. Last night we stayed in Leiden, Netherlands which is a great "college" town outside of Amsterdam. We arrived with no hotel and no real plan and ended up staying at the Hotel DaVinci, which was right on a main plaza and outside our 3rd floor window we could see the plaza and the canal. We explored on foot, never actually finding a bike to rent, but they are everywhere! A lot of scooters and mopeds, too. We went to Keukenhof today. It's a gigantic garden and it's definitely tulip season. I can't wait to share all of the photos with you. Anyway, we're off to the museum and to explore Amsterdam...

a few Boston pics

facebook album

A Little Background

Ben and I have been traveling for about two and half years now. I think we both agree that the start to our traveling life together began with a trip to Europe in April 2007. Although, truly our first trip was to DC a month before. Since then, we have traveled quite a bit and will probably write about some of our past trips along with shared stories and photos from our latest travels. The list of places I'd like to visit is endless and Ben has proven to be a willing cohort in exploration. There will be no shortage in travel tales or photos. Happy reading...

We may wander, but we ain't lost

Although, sometimes, arguably it looks like we might be. Combine Ben's resourcefulness with Kori's sense of direction and we've managed to find our way in, around, and out of cities towns and communities across a fraction of the globe. Relying on the tales and photos of others in planning our trips, we decided it was time to share some of our own experiences, stories, tips and of course photos!