Ireland Golf - Wind and Rain on Doonbeg, County Clare
"...here is links golf - the reason you have crossed an ocean - in its purest and most joyous form."
James W. Finegan
This week Egidio challenges us to share places we go or things we do to have fun - how fun is that?! After a few false starts I decided to feature some of our travels and the fun we've had along the way. I've opened with a rainy, windy day of golf in Ireland. I have never been so drenched or laughed so hard!
For many of us, much of the fun of traveling comes from our love of photography. For me, China was especially amazing on that front. I've posted about our many experiences there, including seeing the famous Terracotta Army in Xian. Discovered completely by accident, over 2,000 warriors have been excavated with an estimated 6,000 still buried - along with horses, birds, musicians and other "companions" for the Emperor's afterlife. Completed sometime around 208 BC, they are life-sized and stand in row upon row, just as an army would. From the first minute I'd heard of them I wanted to see them, and they definitely did not disappoint!
Terra Cotta Warriors, Xian China
"...a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse."
Carlos Castaneda
Of course I couldn't think of fun travels without including our safaris in Africa. I've posted many times about them with images of the incredible wildlife. Today I've included an image from a funny moment during which we came upon a jeep filled with another safari group stuck in a deep puddle. It's only funny because they were soon rescued and no one was hurt, but we did have a chuckle at their expense.
Stuck in the Muck, Botswana
"Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. "
Brian Jackman
The subject of wildlife brings to mind another fun adventure, this time in Canada. There we spent a long, freezing cold afternoon on the water searching for orcas. Just as we were about to give up our guide got word they'd been spotted about 45 minutes further out. She gave us the choice to stay out and try to get to them, or to go back in. Of course we chose the former and were so glad we did! We came upon a large pod jumping, playing, spraying and (it seemed to us) just having fun.
Orca Ballet, Victoria, Canada
"We owe it to our children to be better stewards of the environment. The alternative? - a world without whales."
Pierce Brosnan
In today's world, sadly a visit to the Middle East might not be thought of as fun, but thankfully the timing of our visits to Israel and Jordan were both peaceful and fascinating. I've previously posted about our amazing visit to the ancient city of Petra, but when thinking of fun, Jordan's Wadi Rum comes to my mind. A few hours south of Petra, the vast desert was featured in several movies, including Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars 😊. Camels are everywhere (rides are offered but we passed on that!) as are jeep tours (our choice).
Camels Galore, Wadi Rum, Jordan
"The magic of the desert is hard to define."
Henno Martin
At the opposite end of the spectrum, we also loved our visit to South America, where in addition to Santiago and Buenos Aires, we spent weeks hiking in the mountains of Patagonia. Equally fun and challenging, our most memorable was the famous Laguna de Los Tres trail pictured below. Just as we reached the namesake lake at the end of the trail, a huge and dangerous wind storm hit. We hid behind a boulder, jumped up for 30 seconds to shoot a frame or two, and hurried off the mountain. When we reached the base we laughed so hard we cried. That hike remains one of my fondest memories, made more special by the company of a good friend. Amazingly the images worked out, one of which is included below.
Laguna de Los Tres, El Chalten, Argentina
"The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters."
Conrad Anker
Our longest adventure was actually our first as we explored Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti for just short of two months. We had so many fun adventures I can't begin to describe them but I've included an image of the famous Great Ocean Road because it was there that I first saw a koala, along with more sheep than I could count! Sadly there are only 8 of the original 12 Apostles remaining but they are still an amazing site. I do wish I had an image of the $1 golf course we saw, where kangaroos hopped around on the "greens" made of sand but alas I do not 😊.
The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia
"I stress the uniqueness of the Australian landscape and its metaphysical and mythic content."
Arthur Boyd
As always I could go on and on but I'll close with a final favorite, this time from Cambodia's Angkor Wat. Seeing examples of ancient sites only recently discovered like Petra or Angkor Wat is fascinating, and for that reason alone would fit today's challenge. However the reason I've included this one is because it serves as a reminder of our racing about like crazy people trying to capture some of the many monks we encountered. Not only was it completely out of the ordinary for me, but their red or orange robes made for some wonderful images. This is not one of them 😊but rather is an example of what happens when shooting while speed walking!
Angkor Wat, Cambodia - the Sublime and the Ridiculous
"it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
Marilyn Monroe
I thoroughly enjoyed my meander among some of our favorite fun travel moments and hope you did too. If you're interested in some other fun adventures as well as amazing photography be sure to visit Egidio's challenge here. We hope you'll join us this week as well. Remember to link to Egidio's challenge and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. We thank Egidio for leading us, as well as last week's host Ritva and all of the respondents to her Common Objects challenge. I'll be hosting next week and hope you'll join us right here on Travels and Trifles next Saturday at noon. Until then as always please stay safe, be kind and enjoy the adventure.
Looking for more information on joining our challenge? Click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment