Excerpt Making of Toro

by Erik Olsen on

I just stumbled across this hilarious story about
writer Mark Sundeen’s effort to write a book about bullfighting, something he knew nothing about…and indeed he doesn’t
even speak Spanish.

It is hilarious and a great read for a quick afternoon break. To compensate for his own shortcomings as an author,
Sundeen invents the imporbably-named alter ego, Travis LaFrance, a Hemingway-like adventure writer, and comes up with
an absurd tale of learning the ins and outs of the the life of toreodors.

If you’re interested in audio, there is also an interview with
Sundeen on To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Hotels Let the Bed Bugs Bite

by Erik Olsen on

File this under “YUCK!”

An
infestation
of bed bugs across the country has got hotel chains in a bind. A resurgence of the disgusting pests in US hotels
has got etymologists and hotel owners perplexed. Why are they thriving? The bugs were once thought wiped out of US
hotels, especially high end hotels, but they seem to be back, perhaps because they have developed an immunity to
pesticides meant to keep them dead. The story mentions one law suit against hotels as exclusive as the Helmsley Park
Lane Hotel in New York where one man says he was bitten by bed bugs during his stay.

Watcing the Lava Flow

by Erik Olsen on

There are few places in the world where you can got from snowy peaks to a raging lava
flow…in fact, other than Hawaii, I can’t really think of any. I’ve been to two active volcanoes in my life and both
were tremendous experiences. In Chile, I stood over a crater and gaped down into the red guts of the earth. Blew me
away.

Rob Woodbrun checks out Hawaii’s biggest island
in this peice and gets the full range of
the Hawaii experience, from (very) hot to cold.

The People’s Republic of Boulder

by Erik Olsen on


Just going to throw

another New York Times piece out there because it’s about one of my favorite cities. I lived in Boulder years ago,
and while I know it’s changed a bit since then, I know many of my old haunting grounds are still there: Pearl Street,
Chatauqua Park, Boulder Creek Path, etc. And of course, the Flatirons still loom over the city like citadels. I miss it
just writing about it.

Anyway, time Times gives the town some justice, naming quaint little spots like the
Boulder Tea House, not to mention the incredible assortment of outdoors
stuff to do there. But I have to admit the article left me a little flat. Can’t say exactly why. I think I feel like it
didn’t quite capture the vibe of the place, and just provided a laundry list of places to go.

Deep Sea Detectives

by Erik Olsen on

I posted about this over at divester, but it is something for dive fans to add to their calendars.

Wreck diving fans are in store for a whole new season of

Deep Sea Detectives. The show is hosted by two guys who if mentioned here before: John Chatterton and Richie
Kohler. I actually had the pleasure of meeting these guys
a while back at the Adventure Travel Expo. The show is superb, and features them diving wrecks and exploring how they
ended up on the bottom of the sea. The next episode is May 16.