Featured Places – twoOregonians

Winding Down: Scandinave Spa and Whistler Wanderings

September 1, 2014

Summer in the Pacific Northwest is winding down. The final few hours of the Labor Day weekend are slipping away; August is yesterday, September is freshly here.

Lucie turns a year old in just a few weeks… The recollections of our summer travels are still dancing in my recent memory, but I know they’ll soon fade, too. So here are a few sweet favorites, highlights from windows and walks and wanderings in British Columbia.

(I hope you’ll enjoy the captured moments as much as I love cataloging our past adventures…)

Bridges of Vancouver to the Whistler Woods

We crossed into and out of the city of Vancouver on beautiful bridges: the medians splitting car lanes, the rails splitting sights, the urban skyline so perfectly juxtaposed with tall trees of Stanley Park. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Oregon, Photography, Where to Stay

Three Stories Up: A Lookout Tower Weekend in Central Oregon

April 5, 2014

A short time after Lucie was born last September, Ted called me from work and said, “Here are the dates for a four day weekend in February, I want you to have fun finding somewhere to go, just the three of us.”

Let me tell you, if there’s anything a house-bound postpartum traveler wants to hear, it’s “Cheer up, love! Let’s book our next adventure. Put a bit of fun on the horizon.”

– Photo collection & travel notes from our first vacation as a family of three –

It felt so good signing in to one of my favorite day-dream corners of the internet (Airbnb), and getting the trip-planning gears turning again. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Thailand

Creamy-Sweet and Salty-Hot Cooking Lessons in Chiang Mai

December 9, 2012

Q: What’s the next best thing to growing up in Thailand and learning to cook Thai food from your mom?

A: Taking cooking lessons in Chiang Mai from a local Thai chef, learning secrets she learned from her mom and tricks of the trade she’s picked up as a pro in Thailand…and around the world.

Celebrity Thai Chef “Yui” Siripen Sriyabhaya, at her home-based A Lot of Thai Cooking School

Here’s the thing. Much like any spot in the world open to eager tourists, Chiang Mai is chalk full of touted “authentic” experiences. Elephant rides and cooking schools, for example. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Landscape Architecture, Thailand

The Travelling Soul: In Search of the Northern Thai Spirit at Tamarind Village

December 7, 2012

The most beautiful glimpse into Lanna culture came from an unexpected turn down a lantern-lit walkway. After admiring handicrafts and tasting our way through local dishes during a warm evening wander through Chaing Mai’s Sunday Market street stalls, Ted pulled me aside.

“What’s down there?”

A bamboo grove lit by spotlights and floating lanterns beckoned us onward, away from the noise of the street and toward the promise of a grand discovery. The flags said something about Travelling Souls… Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Zanzibar

Tasting Zanzibar: Dinner in Stone Town at Emerson Spice Hotel

November 4, 2012

We found ourselves at sunset in Tanzania, making that upward, upward climb, not pursuing Kilimanjaro’s summit, mind you, but following the wooden stairways winding skyward to the rooftop restaurant at Emerson Spice Hotel in Zanzibar.

My hopes for spice revelations in Zanzibar briefly went up in smoke after our disheartening spice tour…but the flavors and atmosphere of a magical night at Emerson Spice high above Stone Town’s skyline effortlessly resurrected the romance of our East African dream. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Feature Trips, Featured Partners, Featured Places, South Africa, South Africa Tourism, twoOregonians Tour the Cape

Better than a Bicycle Built for Two: Canoeing in South Africa

September 18, 2012

The verdict after all day on the water? Ted and Bethany are way better at team-canoeing than riding a bicycle built for two. (Oh, Victoria, British Columbia! Cycling in Stanley Park really got the better of us…but that’s another story for another day.) This story finds us in South Africa on an August winter morning, unsure of whether we’d be in for a day of sprinkles or blue sky.

We wore our hiking clothes and packed the rain jackets. Canoeing on the mind, we headed for a classic Garden Route excursion with Eden Adventures.

Pulling up to the entry kiosk at the “Ebb & Flow Wilderness Section South Camp” point of the Garden Route National Park, we paid our 22 Rand each (a total of about $5.45 for the two of us) and drove just a bit further into the park. Down by the reeds and the river stood a brown building on stilts, hovering high enough to avoid seasonal floods and provide an overlook to the fifty or so canoes and kayaks waiting down below. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Partners, Featured Places, Food in Italy, Italy, Walks of Italy

Traditions of the Land: Food in Italy Part V

June 11, 2012

A Farmhouse Family Feast: Private Cooking Class and Farmhouse Visit with Walks of Italy

There’s an unmistakable aroma in the air when you visit a working farmhouse. Like a wild yeast grown from spirited spores dancing through the air, the scent is unique and recognizable all at once; a mystery capable of leavening age-old family traditions and responsible for flavoring a one-of-a-kind slice of life.

Golden farmstead-harvested-saffron infused risotto made during private cooking lessons with Walks of Italy at Il Fontanaro Agritourismo in rural Italy.

Chores of the seasons. Stories of family. Pride of a job well done. Joy of a meal shared around a huge table. Characteristics of farmhouse living recognizable from my own growing up years on a family farm, working the summer harvest alongside my siblings and cousins, cooking dinners with mom and dad, carrying the pride of eighth-generation-Oregon heritage.

To me, the ultimate treat in visiting another country is discovering true and beautiful strains of family living and farm production, making friends and celebrating the familiar and unique. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Partners, Featured Places, Italy, Lamborghini

Farmgrown Lamborghini Legends

May 9, 2012

It wasn’t a punchy sports car. I think my max speed on a downhill run was something like 16.8 mph. It wasn’t bright orange; it was Oregon Duck green and yellow, the height of a small house and the width of a single wide trailer.

My first experience driving a six-figure price tag vehicle came at the ripe age of eleven, behind the wheel of a combine on my family’s farm.

Fast forward seventeen years: sliding into a Lamborghini sports car, I clenched every muscle tight and whispered a prayer as the professional driver punched the accelerator to blow past 168 mph and on toward blurred vision. Ted chased behind us, solo at the wheel of a shiny Gallardo after a full day of precision control maneuvers and on-track training.

Pinch us, can this possibly be real?

Argentina, Buenos Aires, Destinations, Featured Places

Art and Dance in Buenos Aires

April 10, 2012

Visiting La Bomba del Tiempo, Hombres Vertientes, Ojos Cerrados, Museo Nacional de Bella Artes, & Malba: Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.
Making memories, seeking beauty.

During our month in Buenos Aires, we enjoyed a range of art and dance offerings from the city that prides itself on unique shows springing from a talented pool of artists and performers.

As in any city, there are the over-hyped events and true gems. Continue Reading…

Argentina, Destinations, Featured Places, Photography

Just Dance: Finding Authentic Tango in Buenos Aires

April 4, 2012

Long before we booked our tickets to South America, I had bookmarked this beautiful video, Milongas…The Seduction of Tango, by photographer Tewfic El-Sawy:

If you have the time, push play and experience a taste of the finer side of Tango in Buenos Aires.

I longed for this kind of visual experience once we landed in Argentina. On the other hand, Ted and I found ourselves wary at the thought of joining up with most Tango Tour operations in town for a variety of reasons:

A) We suck at dancing together. Maybe it was a case of sour grapes? Continue Reading…

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