The GypsyNesters

Photography Tour Offers a Creative Reset

Photography tours combine travel, learning, exploration, and connection in a way that can leave you feeling mentally clearer, physically energized, and creatively renewed… CONTINUE READING >>

When was the last time you came home from a trip feeling not just rested, but genuinely re-inspired?

For empty nesters, baby boomers, full-time travelers, and anyone who has ever looked around and thought, What’s next?, a US photography tour can be much more than another holiday. It’s part adventure, part creative challenge, part community experience – and, quite possibly, the perfect excuse to see the world with fresh eyes.

As Vanessa Rogers explains, photography tours combine travel, learning, exploration, and connection in a way that can leave you feeling mentally clearer, physically energized, and creatively renewed.

Here are three reasons to consider making a photography tour your next big adventure.

It’s a mental reset that actually lasts

Most vacations help you unwind for a while. A photography tour helps you re-engage with the world.

Instead of simply looking at the sights, you start really seeing them. You notice the way morning light hits an old stone wall. You spot patterns in a busy market. You wait for that one fleeting expression, that perfect reflection, or that dramatic sunset sky.

Photography naturally pulls you into the present moment. You’re not thinking about the inbox you left behind, the endless to-do list, or whether the kids remembered how to file their own taxes. You’re focused on light, texture, timing, and story.

This kind of creative focus can be deeply calming. When you’re adjusting your settings or waiting for the right natural light, your mind has something meaningful to do. You enter that wonderful state of flow, where time seems to disappear and the only thing that matters is what’s right in front of you.

Unlike a typical “sit by the pool and recover” vacation, a photography tour gives you something that comes home with you: a sharper eye, a fresh perspective, and a creative spark that can keep burning long after the bags are unpacked.

It gets you moving with purpose

One of the great things about photography tours is that they get you out into the world without making exercise feel like a military camp.

You may be walking through colorful city streets, wandering along rugged coastlines, exploring mountain trails, or rising early to catch sunrise over a quiet landscape. You’re active, but not because someone told you to count steps. You’re moving because there’s something worth seeing, and maybe even worth framing.

That “let’s go get the shot” motivation can turn a simple walk into an adventure.

Spending time outdoors also adds to the restorative effect. Fresh air, changing light, open spaces, and natural beauty all work together to slow things down. A misty morning, a glowing canyon, a lively local market, or the architectural details of a historic street can all invite you to pause and pay closer attention.

And yes, there can be something quietly spiritual about that. US photography workshops encourage you to slow down and connect – with the place, the people, the moment, and yourself.

Traveling with other curious, creative people can deepen that experience even more. Shared sunrises, group critiques, problem-solving in the field, and celebrating one another’s best images can create a real sense of camaraderie. For travelers who enjoy meeting kindred spirits on the road, that community can become one of the best parts of the journey.

You come home a better photographer

A photography tour is not just a trip with a camera. It’s immersive learning in real time.

Instead of watching tutorials from your couch, you’re learning in the field, surrounded by inspiring scenery and guided by experienced photographers. You can ask questions on the spot, get feedback as you shoot, and experiment with new techniques in actual travel conditions.

You may learn how to better use natural light, improve composition, capture movement, frame a stronger story, or move beyond the “I was here” snapshot into images with more depth and emotion.

Most importantly, you begin to develop your eye.

You start anticipating light. You notice small details. You think more intentionally about what belongs in the frame and what doesn’t. You learn when to move closer, when to step back, and when to simply wait.

When you return home, you don’t just have a memory card full of beautiful photos. You have new skills, more confidence, and a renewed passion for documenting the world around you.

For travelers, that’s a pretty wonderful souvenir.

A holiday that gives something back

A photography tour offers more than time away. It can be an investment in creativity, wellbeing, and personal growth.

You step out of your routine, immerse yourself in meaningful experiences, move your body, quiet your mind, connect with other travelers, and return creatively recharged.

For empty nesters, retirees, long-term travelers, and anyone ready for the next chapter, this kind of trip can feel especially powerful. It’s a reminder that adventure doesn’t end when the kids leave home, the career slows down, or the house gets quiet. Sometimes, that’s exactly when the world starts opening up in a whole new way.

So if you’re looking for a holiday that restores, inspires, and gives you a new way to tell your travel stories, a photography tour may be just the thing.

Visit Travex.com to explore which region, landscape, or photography experience catches your eye first.

The Best Thing to Have Ready When the Grandkids Come to Visit (Or When You Visit Them)

The most common complaint we hear from grandparents in our bracket is that the grandkids spend the visit on their devices. A scavenger hunt is one of the few activities that competes with the phone — because it’s active, it has stakes, and it has a story…. CONTINUE READING >>

We learned this one the hard way. Three grandkids, four hours of “what are we doing now,” and a house that suddenly seemed to have nothing in it that anyone under ten wanted to touch.

The fix wasn’t expensive toys or a trip to a museum. It was a $15 PDF and a printer.

The grandparent activity problem

If you’re an empty nester who occasionally hosts grandkids — or travels to see them — you know the rhythm. First hour: hugs and “show me your room.” Second hour: whatever screen-based thing the parents have permitted. By the third, attention is gone and you’re rummaging through closets looking for the puzzles you bought in 2014.

What we’ve started doing instead: before the visit, we print a scavenger hunt.

The kids arrive. We tell them there’s a mystery in the house. They drop everything. Two hours later they’ve decoded riddles, run from room to room, climbed under furniture we forgot we owned, and ended up at a small wrapped “treasure” we hid on the back porch. The grandparents in our circle who’ve tried this all say the same thing: it’s the activity grandkids actually ask about on the next visit.

Why printable hunts work for our age group

We don’t have the patience to write clue cards from scratch anymore. We don’t have the eyesight, frankly. And we definitely don’t have the energy to invent a new theme every time the grandkids come over.

What we’ve landed on is buying ready-made printable scavenger hunts and keeping a folder of them. The folder has a pirate one, a detective one, a magic forest one, and a unicorn one — different themes for different ages and moods. When a visit is confirmed, we pick whichever fits and print it the night before. Total prep including hiding the clue cards is about half an hour.

The hunts are age-banded — you pick the right one for a 5-year-old versus a 10-year-old, and the riddles, reading level, and physical challenges are tuned to that band. We’ve never had to dumb one down on the fly.

The travel version

We’ve started bringing them on visits, too. If we’re staying at our daughter’s for a long weekend, we’ll pack a printed Pirate Treasure Hunt in our suitcase. Saturday afternoon, when the parents need a break and we’re feeling our age, we set it up in their backyard. The kids think Nana and Pop are wizards. The parents get a two-hour nap. Everyone wins.

The hunts also travel well to rental houses — beach houses, cabins, anywhere with enough rooms or yard to hide ten or so clue cards. They’re paper, so they weigh nothing, and you can run them again the next year with the next set of grandkids.

The unexpected benefit

The grandkids talk to us during the hunt. They ask us to read the clues. They explain their theories. They get excited about whatever themed plot they’re solving and they pull us into it.

This isn’t trivial. The most common complaint we hear from grandparents in our bracket is that the grandkids spend the visit on their devices. A scavenger hunt is one of the few activities that competes with the phone — because it’s active, it has stakes, and it has a story. For two solid hours, nobody’s checking Instagram.

Where to start

Start with a pirate or unicorn hunt — the themes are universal and the riddles tend to be the most accessible. Match the age band carefully. Don’t skip the setup guide; the hiding suggestions are written by people who’ve watched real kids miss real clues, and they save you a lot of grief. First time you do it, you’ll feel a little ridiculous hiding pieces of paper around your house. Second time, when the grandkids beg for another one, you won’t.

Alaskan Urban Mountaineering

Alaska is not known for its urban adventures. But what if I told you that you can hike up to aa alpine lake and never leave the official boundaries of the state’s largest city…
CONTINUE READING >>

Alaska is not known for its urban adventures. It is definitely an outdoors lover’s paradise. So what if I told you that a few days after our fishing adventure with our Alaskan son, he took us on a hike up to a truly pristine lake nestled in the bowl of a glacial cirque and we never left the official boundaries of the state’s largest city?

It’s true, we did that!

The fact that you can fish, climb mountains, see wildlife, and even climb up to an alpine lake without ever leaving the city limits is just one of the great things about Anchorage.

Part of the reason this is possible is the fact that the city has incorporated many miles of land surrounding the actual developed area. But that is not to discount how close some very cool stuff is to town.

A big chunk of that area is to the south of the city and includes Chugach State Park. This is also where we climbed Flattop Mountain a few years ago. In fact, one of the trails up Flattop starts right by the trail head for our trek up to Rabbit Lake, and all of this is only a little more than five miles from Anchorage.

Lucky for us, most of the people around took the left turn up to Flattop. We continued straight ahead along the four-and-a-half-mile trail up to the lake. Along the way we were warned about moose ahead by three different groups of hikers heading back.

We never saw a single moose. It was enough to make us start wondering if maybe there might be some truth to Veronica’s moose doubting phase a few years ago. But we did see a herd of Dall sheep.

As we topped a little ridge, there they were spread out before us. About twenty of the white highland dwellers that look like a cross between a bighorn Sheep and a mountain goat were standing between us and the lake.

We stayed back so as not to frighten them off, and they were definitely wary of us. We stood very still and took some photos, then after a little bit of looking at each other they headed down the valley to Rabbit Creek for a drink and some fresh grazing.

Once they moved on, we made our way to the Rabbit Lake and stood transfixed by the scene for a few moments. It is quite a sight. A gorgeous crystal-clear lake resting right at the foot of twin jagged pinnacles known as the North and South Suicide Peaks.

The lake sits about three thousand feet above sea level, which means we had climbed about thirteen hundred feet from the trailhead, and the Suicide summits rise another two thousand feet above the water.

From what we could learn, the odd and slightly disturbing name of the mountains goes back to early railroad workers. They called several of the nearby peaks Suicide, but for some reason only these twin peaks kept the name.

We also learned that Rabbit Lake is stocked with rainbow trout, but we didn’t have any way of removing any of them.

The lake looked so inviting that what we really wanted to do was jump right in. After hiking several miles our feet were burning in our shoes so we shucked our footwear and tested the water. We instantly knew we were going no further in than below the knees.

Wow! That’s cold! Seriously, our feet were numb in no time but it felt so good.

Right about the time we thought we might lose a toe or two a couple other hikers came along, so we asked them to snap a picture and quickly got out to warm up the little piggies.

As always, the hike back down was much easier and took way less time than the way up, but it did give us a chance to contemplate, while looking down the valley at the city below, just how cool it is that we could have a day like this without ever leaving a major metropolitan area.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Street Food Eating our Way Through Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula

Across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, we set out to sample as many street delicacies as possible and got off to a jumping start at a weekend street fair in Cancun.

In the Yucatán, many of the favorite foods can be traced back to Mayan times. In addition to building incredible cities, the Maya people grew… CONTINUE READING >>

The inclination to grab a bite to eat on the street is not something new.

Most likely the first time two roads crossed, some enterprising chef set up a cart at the new intersection to provide passersby a mobile snack.

The idea of fast food is not a recent development; it’s the culmination of centuries of selling food on the fly. We saw it in Pompeii, where corner cafes had counters right on the curb.

Across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, we set out to sample as many street delicacies as possible and got off to a jumping start at a weekend street fair in Cancun.

Before we made it to the mass of vendors in the Parque de las Palapas, we encountered a young man with two buckets. One was obviously filled with spiced peanuts; the other looked to be brimming with bugs.

“Crickets,” he informed us. Known as chapulines, these buggers are traditionally found in the nearby state of Oaxaca.

In summer and early fall, the insects are harvested out of the corn and alfalfa fields, cleaned, boiled, and then baked or fried with plenty of spices. Never ones to back away from trying something strange or new, when offered a sample we both popped one in our mouths.

Not bad, the chili overshadowed any bug-like flavor. Not a new favorite or anything, but way better than a silkworm.

WATCH: We eat our way through the Yucatan – calorie count not included, for your guilt-free viewing pleasure!

In the Yucatán, many of the favorite foods can be traced back to Mayan times. In addition to building incredible cities, the Maya people grew corn.

The grain was a staple of their diet, just as it is for their descendants today. Good old corn on the cob, called elote, is one of the most popular street foods all across Mexico.

Elote in a cup in Cancun — Esquites in Cancun

Dressed up with cheese and chili pepper it is a tasty treat, but down in the southern sections of the country we came across a variation we had never seen before.

Esquites is same ingredients, only served in a cup. The corn is cut off of the cob and a wild array of condiments is offered as toppings, and then eaten with a spoon. Not as fun, but definitely not as messy.

Tamale cart in Valladolid Mexico — Tamale cart in Valladolid

While exploring the inland town of Valladolid, one of the more intriguing offerings we encountered curbside were the charred, leaf-wrapped packets we kept seeing in the Mayan neighborhood.

They looked a lot like the dim sum sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves served in China, but were obviously cooked over fire. Our guess was — even though they were much larger than we had ever seen before — that they were most likely tamales.

Made sense since the Maya people invented tamales, and have continued making them for thousands of years.

Unlike the corn husk wrapping we are used to seeing (or the scary grease soaked paper of the canned versions), these tamales are cooked in banana leaves, which does wonders for the flavor.

The sweetness, mixed with the smoky flavor from fire roasting and the spicy filling, made for the best we’ve ever had. Much of that unique goodness is a result of the cooking over coals in underground ovens known as pibs.

That is so much a part of the process that pib has become the slang term for tamales across the Yucatán.

Conchinita pibil street food stand in Valladolid Mexico — Conchinita cart in Valladolid

Another regional dish that can be traced back to the ancient Mayans, and is also cooked underground, is conchinita pibil.

Cochinita means baby pig, and pibil is the Mayan word for buried, which perfectly describes the dish.

While it has become less common to roast a whole suckling pig, the method remains the same; marinate pork in the juice of bitter oranges and achiote, wrap the meat in banana leaves, and slow cook it over coals underground.

Panuchos conchinita pibil in Piste Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula — Panuchos conchinita pibil in Pisté

Conchinita pibil sandwich in Valladolid Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula — Conchinita pibil as a sandwich

The end result is tender, flavorful pulled pork that instantly became our new favorite.

Not a day went by that we didn’t have some conchinita, several times at breakfast!

It is almost always served with pickled onions, and often on bread, but we also had it on tortillas and even saw it advertised as a pizza topping.

Lime soup or Sopa de lima in Piste, Mexico — Sopa de lima in Pisté

At a sidewalk café in Pisté, the small town that serves as the gateway to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, we were introduced to one of the most popular dishes of the region, sopa de lima.

Being soup, it is not generally served on the street, but lime soup is available pretty much everywhere else in the Yucatán. As the name implies, lime is a key ingredient, but this is more of a traditional chicken soup, with tortilla strips taking the place of noodles. Freakin’ YUM.

Speaking of tortillas, we certainly cannot overlook the importance, and abundance, of tacos to the street food scene in Mexico.

There are variations common to the different parts of the country, but they have all permeated the entire land and beyond.

The name taco is thought to come from silver miners in the 1800s, who thought that the explosive charges of gunpowder wrapped in paper they used to blow holes in rock looked similar to their lunch. The food had been common for centuries before that, but no one seems to know what it was called.

Nameless or not, tacos were around well before the Spanish arrived.

In fact, in his 1568 book, A True History of the Conquest of New Spain, Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote a first-hand account of a 1520 dinner party where conquistador Hernán Cortés ate tacos with the Aztecs.

He went on to repay their hospitality by double crossing them.

Ground corn, cooked into tortillas, is still the delivery system of choice for almost any filling imaginable.

We may not know what the Aztecs or Mayans called them, but they go by many names now.

From the basic tacos al carbon, where the meat is grilled over live coals, to tacos dorados meaning golden tacos, because they are deep fried to a golden brown.

One of the most popular taco types in all of Mexico is not descendent from the ancient natives at all, but from Lebanon.

In the first half of the twentieth century many Lebanese immigrants came to Mexico to escape the Ottoman Empire and brought with them their traditional foods.

However, some of the ingredients were not readily available in their new home and dishes had to adapt. Tacos al pastor is a perfect example.

The lamb used for shawarma, the spit-grilled meat common throughout the Middle East, just wasn’t around in the Yucatán, so pork replaced it.

New seasonings, including pineapple were incorporated, and when served on tortillas instead of pita… presto, tacos al pastor.

Tacos Rigos in Cancun specializes in tacos de cabeza or head tacos — Tacos Rigos in Cancun specializes in head tacos; David needs a moment to adjust to the idea.

After a few days of taco tasting we were feeling pretty adventurous, so we decided to try the possibly disgust… rather, shall we say, somewhat exotic tacos de cabeza, or head tacos.

The process involves steaming a whole cow’s head and removing certain parts to use inside of tacos.

The most common portions are Sesos (brains), Trompa (lips), Cachete (cheek), Lengua (tongue), and Ojo (eyes).

We went for the cheek, tongue, and eyeballs, after all, there’s only so much cabeza a person can take… and we wanted to save some to try later… yeah, right.

The cheek was fairly normal meat, perfectly good, and the tongue was not too unusual either. We had tried it through the years on sandwiches and other dishes. But the eyes… let’s just say it was not a pretty sight.

Eyeball taco in Cancun Mexico! GypsyNester.com — Are you looking at ME?!

The eyes are chopped up after steaming, and then braised on a grill, which helped slightly.

In fact, had we not known what we were eating we may have thought it was just a really fatty, grisly cut of meat.

But we did know, which brought new meaning to the saying watch what you eat.

We were diligent though, and managed to consume a fair amount of the bovine peepers, until it hit us… what if they were watching us back?!?!

It was easier to get past eating a bug than thinking about that.

Gory taco in Cancun, Mexico — We were, however, somewhat petrified to try our luck in this place!

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Thanks to the folks at Ensure we felt secure that we could venture into this epicurean episode without risking any nutritional repercussions. They were kind enough to sponsor our video, and provided a supply of their new Ensure Active, which kept us hydrated throughout our escapades. All opinions are our own.

See all of our adventures in Mexico!

YOUR TURN: Fire away! What looks good and what wouldn’t you eat in a million years (we would never ask that you are as crazy as we are!)?

An Eerie Day in Halifax

Join us on an eerie, foggy day as we experience the seafaring ways of the Canadian Maritime Provinces in their biggest city, Halifax.

Take a stroll with us as we pay our respects in the cemetery of the unknown victims of the Titanic disaster and though the amazing Victorian Public Gardens.

See the boardwalk with its weird and wonderful art installations, view the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic with its Titanic and Halifax Explosion exhibits, and Pier 21 – Canada’s Ellis Island. Get a sample of the Canadian street foods poutine and donair. And watch ghost ships in the mist… CONTINUE READING >>

It would hardly be fitting to tour the Canadian Maritime Provinces and not make a stop in its biggest city, Halifax.

The site, on one of the world’s best natural harbours, was picked by the British as a strategic foothold during their struggle with the Acadian French for control of Nova Scotia. Once that was settled, the town grew in both military and maritime standing as the English became the dominant force in North America.

Even on a typically misty, grey day the summit of Citadel Hill offered us a panoramic overview of that outstanding harbor.

The high ground also provides a natural defence, so a fortress named for King George II was built on the spot in 1749. It was then fortified in 1776 when Nova Scotia, the 14th American colony, chose to stay loyal to the crown. Unlike any intruders from the south back then, we were welcomed and allowed to poke around.

This current fort is much different than what we would have found during the revolution, what stands now is a reconstruction of the Victorian Era version from the mid 1800s, ceremonially guarded by re-enactors of the famous 78th Highlanders Regiment.

View of Halifax from Citadel Hill — The view from Citadel Hill

A Garden Fit for a Queen, a Victorian One

Speaking of Queen Victoria’s reign, the nearby Public Gardens also harken back to that era. Typical of a Victorian garden, flowers and plants from many varied climates and exotic locales line the walkways.

We found all sorts of plant life thriving in this unlikely climate, from desert cactus and yucca, to towering trees from all over the globe, to roses that smelled so sweet it was like walking in a cake.

Gazebos, fountains, archways and seating are also fundamental to a Victorian garden, and they are well represented here. So while the term Victorian may get overused, this park, and in fact a great deal of Halifax, certainly deserves the title.

See more of Halifax’s Public Gardens

The Titanic and Paying our Respects at the Fairview Lawn

Halifax also has a deep connection to the sea, including history’s worst maritime tragedy ever, the sinking of The Titanic.

When news of the disaster reached the mainland, three ships were sent out from here to recover as many of the victims as possible.

In all, three hundred and twenty-eight bodies were found, and of those, two hundred and nine were brought to Halifax to be claimed by relatives, or buried should no one come forward.

Three quarters of those were never spoken for and are buried in three of the city’s cemeteries, most in Fairview Lawn.

See our entire journey through the Canadian Maritimes

The melancholy weather matched our somber hearts as we walked through the Fairview Lawn Cemetery to the gravesites of the one-hundred-twenty-one casualties and paid our respects.

Many of the headstones are marked only by numbers, as the identities of the victims remain unknown.

Perhaps the most poignant was the unknown grave of a two year old child brought back aboard The MacKay-Bennett, one of ships sent out from Halifax to retrieve the deceased from the site of the disaster.

Just recently the boy was identified through DNA samples, but his family prefers that his gravestone remain nameless as a remembrance for all of the other unknown victims.

See more information and photos of the Titanic Cemetery

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

Shipwrecks are a big part of Halifax history and our next stop, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, chronicles hundreds of them.

Salvaged artifacts from dozens of incidents are on display, including a few from the most famous, the Titanic. Once again we are reminded of the unknown child victim of the disaster when we come upon his little shoes in one of the cases.

See more Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

The museum also documents another catastrophe that struck the city just a few years after the sinking of the Titanic, the Halifax Explosion.

On December 6, 1917 the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship filled with wartime explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbor. The Mont-Blanc caught fire and the resulting blast was the largest ever until the atom bomb.

At least two thousand people perished, with thousands more injured or left homeless. Aid poured in from all around, but Boston stood out in the relief effort, sending many ship loads of supplies.

To this day, every year the city of Halifax sends a Christmas tree to Boston as a continuing thank you gift. The connection is so strong that people here generally refer to the New England area as “The Boston States.”

Read about Vincent Coleman, an amazing hero of the Halifax Explosion

The Ellis Island of Canada

Just down the waterfront from the museum we checked out Pier 21, sometimes called Canada’s Ellis Island.

Touring the facility we learned how over one million immigrants entered the country through this port.

Many were fleeing wars or oppression, others seeking economic opportunity, and still another group reuniting with spouses they met during World War II. These were known as war brides, and nearly 50,000 arrived here to enter their new home.

Street Food and Ghost Ships

Afterwards we were ready for a bite, and set out to find some quintessentially Canadian street food. Score! Good old poutine, the north of the border classic french fries covered with gravy and cheese curds.

It is more common inland, around Quebec and Ontario, and typically doesn’t include bacon, but bacon is always good.

Then we discovered a new item for us, donair, which is like a pita wrap of gyro meat served with a sweetened condensed milk sauce.

It is definitely a descendent of the Turkish döner kebab, but the sweet sauce (actually a tad too sweet for our tastes) is unique to the Halifax area.

See our entire journey through the Canadian Maritimes

We ate in the shadow of the CSS Acadia and watched the fog dance around the harbor. At times the mist was so thick we could only hear the boats even though they were only a few dozen feet away. It was quite a sight to watch them materialize out of the grey just in time to tie off at the dock.

An Impromptu (and necessary!) Art Walk

Poutine cannot be allowed to sit on the stomach, so a stroll down the waterfront boardwalk was in order. As we made our way it was getting difficult to distinguish objects until we were right up on them.

What in the world was going on with the street lights?

Drunken streetlight art entitled The Way Things Are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada — Drunken streetlight art entitled “The Way Things Are”

The surreal overcast had us doubting our own eyes, but then we realized they were real, and they were spectacular. In an artistic way.

In fact, we noticed there were many interesting works of art along the walkway.

A few of them looked to be major undertakings.

As the daylight dimmed we watched a few more ghost ships emerge to become tangible, while others receded into the vapor on their way to destinations unknown.

Our immediate destination was no mystery – some place dry.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Delve Deeper:
The Titanic Cemetery
The Victorian Public Gardens of Halifax
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
Having a Merry Time in the Maritimes (Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick)
The Cajun, Canadian, Acadian Connection

Thanks to Road Scholar for providing this lifelong learning adventure through the Canadian Maritimes! As always, all opinions are our own.

Train-ing Day

With the summer travel season fast approaching, once again we would like to sing the praises of riding the rails. Enjoying the scenery passing by our window, without the hassles of airports or worries of the road, makes train travel our favorite way of getting from here to there. CONTINUE READING >>

With the summer travel season fast approaching, once again we would like to sing the praises of riding the rails.

Enjoying the scenery passing by our window, without the hassles of airports or worries of the road, makes train travel our favorite way of getting from here to there.

As a bonus, sometimes we find views that can only be seen from the railroad as the tracks pass through countryside far from the nearest roads.

Our globetrotting Gypsynester wanderings have afforded us the opportunity to explore by rail all over the world.

In Asia, we discovered that sometimes the train doesn’t really ride on rails at all, as is the case with the fastest train in the world.

The Maglev, in Shanghai, travels suspended on a magnetic field at speeds up to 300 miles per hour.

In Peru, we rode through the incredible Sacred Valley of the Incas aboard the famed Expedition Train.

The narrow gauge route along the Urubamba River travels on the second highest railroad in the world.

After passing through spectacular Andes mountain scenery, we arrived at Aguas Calientes, the town that serves as the basecamp for Machu Picchu.

For those of us past our backpacking prime, it sure beat four days of hiking on the Inca Trail.

Across Europe trains are our first choice for getting from here to there at ground level.

The famous Flåm railway, a scenic and engineering marvel.

We have seen sunny Spain, all the way to above the Arctic Circle, pass by as we relaxed aboard some of the finest trains anywhere in the world.

Read all about our journey from Amsterdam to the Arctic with Eurail.

Many times the routes have taken us to amazing destinations that are only reachable by rail.

Funicular railway a thousand feet above Bergen, Norway.

Norway may have been best for this as we were delivered to the top of a ski jump by cog railway, and a mountain top with the assistance of a cable funicular.

These specially designed trains can climb incredibly steep grades that no other mode of transportation could possibly handle.

In the good ole U.S. of A. we have been from coast to coast in spacious style aboard some of Amtrak‘s iconic long distance routes.

The Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight, and California Zephyr were all part of a fifteen day excursion we made from Chicago to the west coast and back several years ago.

That wild adventure had a huge impact on us, helping to give us the wanderlust, and the guts, to take on our life as Gypsynester vagabonds.

Read about our crazy two-week adventure across America.

One of our favorite things about train travel is the ability to enjoy real food.

Meals are prepared made to order, and served on real china with real silverware.

It’s like having a rolling restaurant at our beck and call.

When we want to feel particularly spoiled, meals can even be delivered to our room.

Amtrak has taken us to some of America’s most historic cities as we hopped from Washington DC, to Philadelphia, to New York, to Boston on a patriotic adventure exploring the origins of our country.

See our journey to America’s founding cities.

Or when we were feeling like getting away from it all, we took the Empire Builder through Glacier National Park.

For us, it is the only way to roll.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Picture This: Florida’s Coral Castle

This remarkable place is mysterious, romantic AND a feat of engineering. How a heartbroken man spent twenty-eight years building this monument to his lost love… SEE MORE > >

Before we crossed the first of the forty-two bridges we would encounter through The Florida Keys, we made a stop at the incredible Coral Castle.

The story of this remarkable place is both mysterious and romantic. According to legend, Edward Leedskalnin was jilted by his bride-to-be the day before his wedding.

Heartbroken, he came to America from his native Latvia in 1923 and spent the next twenty-eight years building this monument to his lost love.

The mystery comes into play with the fact that he made his masterpiece single handed, somehow moving and placing giant stones weighing up to thirty tons.

There was all kinds of speculation that he had harnessed some sort of power, most likely magnetic. But when he was asked about his feat his reply was that he had “discovered the secrets of the pyramids” and that he “understood the laws of weight and leverage well.”

However he did it, we found it quite impressive. Beginning at the nine ton, perfectly balanced front gate, we wandered among the coral creations, towers and rooms, all held in place only by gravity. Leedskalnin managed this by precise cutting, without the use of any mortar.

He also made furniture, including a heart-shaped table and one in the shape of Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, beds and a even a throne to preside over his castle, all carved in solid stone.

The more we examined his handiwork, the more amazed we became. Even more amazing, after thirteen years of secret construction at his home in Florida City, he decided to move the entire structure ten miles north to its present location in Homestead.

It took him three years to move it, and then he continued to add on to it until his death in 1951.