Best Cookies and my new most favorite hiking trail for the moment....

It is hard to pick which ones I want!

OK first the most important part: BEST COOKIES! 

1.  Sugar Mamas Bakery in Binghamton, NY owned by baking goddesses Marie Lupo Lawton and Susan Lupo Schofield (hoping this free plug will get some cookies sent our way)

2. Jacob Lake Inn's Bakery on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - it is a must stop.

3. The ones Janet Kummer is making for Gene's birthday this weekend!
Now on to how we earn our cookies - by going for a hike!  Recently we hosted a group at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  (If you haven't been to the North Rim you must go!  It is nothing like the South Rim, very quiet, very peaceful)  This is our third year that we have gathered a group together on "the other side".  Always looking for something new we decided to hike a trail that we had not done before -  The Ken Patrick Trail.  It is a 10 mile trail one way, but I only had plans to go as far as I felt like and then turn around.

I love this trail!  And I always love doing a trail that I have never hiked before.  Nobody else was on it besides us. (Thank you Kevin, Kathy, Sam, Wendy and Suzi for joining me)  It went up and down and up and down, rambling through pine forest then opening up to the new green growth of old burn areas. Fields of ferns topped by my favorite treat from nature -  wildflowers.  Purples and pinks, orange and yellows all embellished with lacy whites. Wildflowers make me smile... And then at the 3 and a half mile point the ground opened up before us, as GRAND as could be.  Silence.

Now back to cookies...nothing like sitting at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon watching the sun set after a full day of hiking savoring a Ginger Snap from Jacob Lake with a cup of tea.  Ahhhh...TITL (This Is The Life)

Safari Time

Maasai Mara, Kenya

If you have been to Africa once, you will understand...Africa gets in your blood. You long to go back. Images of the tawny landscape stretching deep into the hazy distance draw you in.  You crave the anticipation of what gift from nature a new day will bring. Elephants wallowing in the mud around a reed-fringed waterhole as a warning cry echoes across the water. A herd of waterbuck crash through the shallows at the sight of a wandering lion. You have to go back...

The Walking Connection has traveled to Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the past. This time we want to do something different... BOTSWANA! 

Botswana is one of Africa's success stories. It is a stable country with a booming economy. After their independence in 1966, its forward thinking leaders secured Botswana's borders from poachers.  The game concentrations multiplied and flourished.  Since then the country abandoned mass tourism and focused on high quality / low volume tourism as the best way to create a sustainable industry that would employ a large percentage of its people, while still preserving the environment.

Low volume tourism = a more intimate and personal experience.  Sounds perfect for the Walking Connection!  We are working on an itinerary for June 2012.  Are you interested?  e-mail me!

Why We Go Where We Go!

I am asked all of the time where am I going next and why am I going there?  Well the short answer is... next I am going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon because it is cool, quiet and I find it very peaceful.  After that, possibly Australia to take a look at some new Walking Connection Adventures. In November it is off to the Galapagos Islands with Walking Connection friends followed by more of an exploration of Ecuador in search of another volcano to conquer! (See Conquer the Volcano)

In regards to what trips I plan for The Walking Connection and why, it's simple:

Jo Ann & Gene at the North Rim 2010

timing, gut, my dream, you asked for it, new discovery, friendship with locals, up and coming destination, contacts, curiosity, media article that is intriguing, currency fluctuation in the right direction, something different and unique, a cool/interesting/special place to walk or hike and occasionally I ask Gene's opinion.

Do you have a destination on your bucket list that you think would be a great Walking Connection Adventure? If so e-mail me.  The World Is Our Limit! (At least for now...)

Celebrating Mandela Day - July 18

We traveled to South Africa for the first time in July of 2007.  In preparing for the trip I read a lot about Nelson Mandela, one of the world's greatest and most inspirational leaders.  He gave 67 years of his life in the struggle for justice.

"We can change the world and make of it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference." ~ Nelson Mandela

Mandela is celebrated globally each year on July 18th in hopes to inspire others to embrace the values that he shared: freedom, equality, reconciliation, respect and peace.  It is a call to action for people everywhere to take responsibility for making the world a better place, one step at a time.

In his honor I  thought I would share his favorite poem:

Invictus by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

What I learned on a 4 hour plane ride.

Flight delayed... Walked around airport (my Day 571 of walking). Finally in my seat. For some reason I thought flying from Houston to Boston was much shorter. Wishful thinking? At least I scored an aisle seat! The very well-dressed elderly woman sitting in the middle seat was eyeing me. Oh no I thought. I just know she wants to talk. Shall I close my eyes and pretend to sleep? Pick up something to read? I need to be focused on the four days ahead and meeting the group for our Walking Weekend in Boston. 

Too late. She smiled at me, I smiled back...and that was the beginning of a wonderful, interesting and very short 4 hours... 

After a bit of introductory chit chat, my seat mate says to me "My darling we only have this moment." Just a simple statement, but for some reason it resonated. Turns out my 88 year old friend, Helen Colin is a Holocaust survivor. She was imprisoned at age 16 and released on her 21st birthday. Since then it has been her mission to speak out about the effects of what she calls “unchecked hate and intolerance.”

"There is no way we can go on and sit silent and allow any prejudice to carry on,” she said. “We must be extremely, extremely vigilant. I learned to have a heart, compassion, respect and love. There is so much in all of us to give, and by giving, you will always receive 10 times more in return. You have to give respect to get respect.”

The time flew as we shared philosophies. We bonded...

I told Helen that I traveled for a living, but it was more than just taking people on vacation. I expressed to her that my vision of crossing borders and connecting face-to-face has always been to reinforce my belief in our shared humanity. When you are invited in to someone's home for a cup of yak butter tea in the mountains of Shangri-la, or singing songs with the children at a primitive school on the banks of the Amazon River, we open our hearts to the fullness of life. Sharing in daily lives of the people we meet as we walk the world creates an understanding, and in some ways that understanding promotes tolerance.

The plane landed. We hugged good bye.

Though I doubt our paths will ever cross again, I know it is a forever friendship.  Each day when I go for my walk, my kind and wise friend with the twinkle in her eye always comes to mind.  I can almost hear her reminding me, "After all my darling, we only have this moment." 

                                                                       photo credit: Ena Nielsen

I am not a very good tourist...

I am not a very good "tourist".  I don't like doing the same old, same old.  I can feel claustrophobic if  I am being herded with a large group of people.  I  just want to break out and walk a different trail, turn right instead of left, go up instead of down and open that door to see what is really behind it. And so it is with that sense of independence that I go in search of something new or unusual as I plan itineraries for the Walking Connection.

I was on the same old, same old path when I began to plan the Galapagos.  I had checked out what all of the "others" were doing and was in the final planning stages when low and behold I came across something new and different.  A safari camp in the highlands of the Galapagos?  We (and I know many of you) have loved the safaris we have done in various countries of Africa.  I had to look at it more closely. 

After many phone calls to Ecuador, I knew we were on to something exceptional.  So I scrapped everything I was doing and started all over again.  NOW this "feels' right. NOW I am really excited.  NOW I can't wait to go!  And NOW I hope you will join me on this unique adventure to the "Enchanted Islands" of Galapagos! 

When was the last time you saw something for the first time?

The Difference Is Us!

I was asked a great question recently that got me thinking....
The question was, "What differentiates going Heli-hiking with you than booking directly?"

Hmmm...had to think for only a brief moment.  My answer applies to more than just heli-hiking. And more than just price comparison.  There is the value of your experience, wherever we are! 

So consider this analogy: You are thinking about making reservations for dinner at an exclusive restaurant that you have heard great things about and have been wanting to try.  You have a friend that you know has been dining there for years and has gotten to know the owner and management team well.  You call your friend and he says, "Let me make your reservation for you, I have an "in".  Or better yet, I am going on Friday, come with me!"

As you arrive you are all greeted as old friends and made to feel right at home.  You are seated at a premier table (preferred lodge room) with the best wait staff (personally selected guides for you) and your meal is specially prepared to your specific tastes (assured to hike the terrain you like at your pace). Then a little extra something is delivered to your table, compliments of the chef (little extras compliments of the Walking Connection). Though the restaurant is very busy the owner that now seems like an old friend, stops by your table giving special attention that everything is beyond your expectations! (Whether you are on a heli-hiking trip with me or booked through me I make sure the management takes special care of Walking Connection guests) Ends up being one of the best dining experiences ever.(A vacation you will remember for a lifetime!)

So there you have it! Very simple.  The difference is us!