Category: North America
-
Top 5 bands in Austin, Texas
I’m a big fan of the Austin live music scene. What I like about Austin musicians is how down to earth they seem. They’ll chill with their audience after the show; they’ll invite everyone to hang with them at the Whataburger in Cedar Park; they’ll play an acoustic set for only four fans. They stay…
-
Build your own travel map
I’ve been using the site Roadtrippers, which allows users to build their own travel maps. The site has categories for accommodation; attractions and culture; food and drink; outdoors and recreation; points of interest; vacation rentals; camping and RV; entertainment and nightlife; services, shopping; sports and even motoring. It also shows how long you’ll be driving,…
-
Free Live Music in Austin, Texas
I read something that said people don’t live in Austin to work; they work to live in Austin. The Texas capital is known for its diverse groups of people, state parks and preserves, and of course, the live music scene.
-
Coming Home
I’ve visited a new place every year since I was 17. After constant movement through flights, bus rides and cross-country road trips, it’s curious to come home and be still. Every day I drive to an office, sit at a computer I can’t afford and process pieces of information for other people’s lives. I help…
-
American Roots: Annapolis and the African Slave Trade
While visiting my aunt, uncle and cousins in Maryland this past week, we took a day trip to Annapolis, a port town on the Chesapeake Bay that serves as the capital of Maryland. Although a basic Google search didn’t offer much precolonial history on the area, Maryland has had people living in it since the…
-
Go Outside
-
The mountains are calling…
“The mountains are calling, and I must go.” While visiting Shenandoah National Park, I saw a bumper sticker with the famous quote, “the mountains are calling, and I must go.” It comes from writer and mountaineer, John Muir, who first penned the words in a letter to his sister Sarah. While hiking portions of the…
-
Hiking the Appalachian Trail
One of my goals coming to Virginia was to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail through Shenandoah National Park. The AT begins in Georgia and ends in Maine, crossing 14 states and approximately 2,200 miles. To hike the entire length of the trail takes anywhere between five to seven months. Growing up in Texas,…
-
World without Words
“Until I feared I would lose it. I did not love to read. One does not love breathing.” -Harper Lee I remember the magic of being young, standing in the library holding a book about dragons and dancing princesses, imagining my own epic universes. Reading has always been a joy in life: a way to…
-
A visit to the White House
For a small-town kid from rural Texas, riding the Metro through the tubes of D.C. to visit the Eisenhower office of the White House is like something out of a super patriotic children’s story. When the closest Wal-Mart is 30 miles away and any city bigger than Waco is unbelievable, meeting with senators and…
-
Running Across Cultures
Most of our entertainment mediums: our social media accounts, cell phones and films are engineered to help us fool reality. They transport us to a virtual space where concrete answers are a Google search away, acceptance is traded through clicks of approval, and we can become anything we imagine. Running is different. Running grabs you…
-
Battlefields: Lee Drive Trail
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Fredericksburg, Virginia December 13, 1862