Quilt Cruise on the Delta Queen

by Adrienne Wilson on
Does cruising down the Mississippi while crafting a beautiful quilt in the company of close knit friends and family get your emotional threads all tied up? Perhaps you never knew such
tours existed, but yes they do. This quilting on the steamboat is combined with the chance to explore some of the most
elaborate and gorgeous handmade quilts being made today at the American Quilt Society’s Quilt Show in Paducah, KY. The Delta Queen offers
this particular theme vacation starting April 23, 2006 out of Memphis and one other on August 21, 2006 out of St.
Louis with Judy Simmons. This particular tour is new in the Delta Queen brochure’s and if you book before the end of the year I believe there is a
special where one can join the tour at the 2005 rates. If I’m not mistaken Hurricane Katrina has caused some
tour rates to go up just a little in price.

 

Sand Castle Art

by Erik Olsen on

Not entirely travel-related, unless you’re thinking of heading to the beach this week. But I couldn’t
pass up what I thought was a site with some pretty amazing
photos of sandcastles and sand sculptures. Dunno. I used to make sand castles at the beach many years ago,
but I never much thought about doing Buddha out of sand. This stuff is amazing.

I mean, if ever you had
doubts about the bondless creativity of the human species, all you have to do is click around this gallery at the
bizarre and spectacular assortment of images people make out of sound, and all hope will be restored. From Renaissance art to patriotic iconography to Christmasy stuff to well, I’m
even sure what this is, these sand artists will blow you away.

One for the Road: Francis of Assisi

by Kelly Amabile on

This November release by Linda Bird Francke,
On the Road with Francis of Assisi:
A Timeless Journey through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond, follows the 13th century saint as he traveled through
Italy and on to Muslim Egypt performing his missionary work. It is a unique travelogue tells the parallel journeys of
Francis of Assisi on his way to sainthood, and that of the author, as she follows his path through the “green heart” of
Italy. Francke and her husband do not call this a spiritual journey, but rather, one based on admiration for a
legendary man who continues to inspire worshipers years after his death. In the book, the author and her husband travel
from Assisi in Umbria, through towns like Siena, Bologna, Venice and Gubbio. They retell stories of the saint’s
miracles, while also partaking in the luscious culinary traditions offered by the land that surrounds them, weaving a
beautiful tale of a man and the region he traveled.

One for the Road: The River of Doubt

by Kelly Amabile on


This new book by former National Geographic staff writer Candice Millard, peices together archival material
to tell the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s journey through Brazil with his son Kermit, who lived in South America at the
time. They embarked on this trip in 1912, soon after Teddy’s defeat for a third term as president. In splendid detail,

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey chronicles the disasterous events that turned an
adventurous holiday into a dangerous trek through the Amazon jungle. The father and son team were accompanied by other
explorers on their 400-mile expedition along an unknown river they called Rio da Duvida. The group, which included
Brazil’s most famous explorer, Candido Rondon, faced raging rapids, cannibal tribes, anacondas, piranhas, hunger and
disease. This series of setbacks has been weaved into an incredible travelogue that is essentially a tale of survival.
Here is an excerpt and interview with the
author.

Thinking Tajikistan

by Adrienne Wilson on

My wanting to do another Global Village build with Habitat for Humanity is really starting to make me itch. In fact it’s an itch so bad, poison ivy would be extremely green with envy. The first problem is being able to take off and volunteer (good for the heart, hard on the pockets) and picking the destination. I know I’d catch a huge amount of flack from a lot of people by attempting to do a global effort when there are several homes that need to be rebuilt (New Orleans) here in the states. When I went to look the list of builds recently I was pretty set on doing Ethiopia, though the timing might be a tight squeeze for me, so after starring real hard at the screen I started thinking Tajikistan.

This is going to sound even more silly, because I don’t know much about the country, but I like the name. I’m actually drawn to several countries ending with ‘stan.’ For the most part you’re not supposed to venture anywhere near them it seems, yet there is a world of undiscovered culture there. In my quick research I came across this Travel Tajikistan site with some basic travel information on getting to the country, visas, health, language, etc and then dashed over to Lonely Planet to see some of their suggestions. Looking pretty good so far and I’ll let you know what I come up with. Any of our readers been to Tajikistan? Would love to hear from you guys!