Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Takeshita Experience: Travel Goals Japan

    Explosions of sights, smells and sounds. People lining the streets in constant motion. Shops, food, pets…. On Takeshita street, you should expect the unexpected. Just steps from the Harajuki Station, Takeshita street is a few blocks of weird and wonderful Tokyo shopping. Perhaps this is not the place for serious shoppers. You will not find…

  • Tlaquepaque: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Somewhere in Sedona there is a shopping area that surprises. Tlaquepaque (tlock-ay-pick-ay) is a delightful and eclectic village of shops amid a historic looking adobe cluster of buildings. We decide to stop and check it out after hiking all day. We are not dressed for the clientele, but it is either now or never. We…

  • Red Rock Hike: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    I love to hike, but I am married to a reluctant hiker. Translation: he actually likes to hike once I can get him on a trail. This may involve suggesting, asking, cajoling, and/ or answering many questions and providing hypothetical solutions. There is ritual involved with often repeated refrains. For this trip, the suggestion…. “I…

  • Shibuya Surprises: Travel Goals Japan

    This morning I get up very early and get my work done. I am still stuck in another time zone and an early riser, which is convenient when you try to work remotely from the far ends of the Earth and still have time for play. Eventually, the number one son wakes up and tells…

  • Verde to Tonto: Rural Road Trip

    I wouldn’t call us aimless. But we have no plan other than to enjoy this beautiful weekend. The weather is perfect. Blue skies. Cool breeze. And we have a whole day ahead of us to enjoy whatever we can. Our first stop is historic Camp Verde. It was a U.S. army outpost in the American…

  • Animal Cafe Takes My Stress Away: Travel Goals Japan

    In Japan, for about $15.00 you can spend an hour having unlimited tea, coffee, and soft drinks while cozying up to wildlife of your choice. There are puppy cafes, cat cafes, pig cafes, capybara cafes….the choices are limitless. After passing dozens of these anima cafes, the number one son and I decided we needed to…

  • Meiji Morning: Travel Goals

    This morning I wake up with the sun. It is a mystery to me how my internal clock always knows sunrise. Even on the other side of the globe, I’m up at the first hint of dawn. Last night we arrived in Tokyo after nineteen hours of travel. Unsurprisingly, the boys are still fast asleep.…

  • Campground Halloween Fun: Rural Road Trips

    Part of the fun of camping is meeting other campers. It happens while taking a walk, doing laundry, or buy firewood. Conversations happen naturally between people who love the outdoors. But Halloween camping gives us a great opportunity to participate in a community ritual and connect with a whole new crowd. Here at Verde River…

  • Home Sweet Tokyo: Travel Goals

    We are off on another adventure. Today we spent fifteen hours in flight and six more in airports. We lost a whole day by crossing the international date line. I am tired and also excited as we land in Japan. I don’t speak the language and I can’t even read the alphabet (characters?). But I…

  • Gold King Ghost Town: Rural Road Trip

    Occasionally you regret almost immediately your choice of adventure. I’m sad to say, today was one of those days. I was enticed by advertising. Signs along the highway teased us with promises of the King gold mine. It was just up the road a bit higher on the mountain from Jerome. I love a good…