Travelling Lore

Last month I had the opportunity to visit Jackson, Wyoming (also known as Jackson Hole) for work.  We had long hours and minimal time for exploring, but I was able to capture a few moments on my camera phone.  Jackson Hole is known as a popular vacation destination for those visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks as well as for those looking to visit the nearby ski resorts. Dinner and flights at Snake River Brewing after flying into town. Mural outside of Snake River Brewing. Found a fossil on our first day of work. Snapshot of the Grand Tetons. Double rainbow after a downpour on the way to dinner. Piglets in the farm animal petting zoo before entering the rodeo. Opening of the rodeo, my first time attending one ever! With our work finally complete, we took some time to enjoy Kelly Warm Springs .

Shifting to some local tourism, in June some friends, my boyfriend, and I stopped by Crooked Run Brewing .  They're a farmhouse nano brewery located in Leesburg, Virgnia.  They've carved a small niche for themselves in northern VA, but even though they don't have a dozen beers on tap like some of the other local breweries, the beers that they do have pack a punch on your palate. When we visited a couple months ago they had five beers on tap: Supernatural, an imperial hibiscus saison; Summer Night, a raspberry dark saison; Nitro Red Kolsch, an Irish red/German kolsch; We Stand Together, a grapefruit zest saison; and Valhalla, an imperial golden stout. I genuinely enjoyed all five of their beers on tap and I think it's become one of my favorite breweries, if not my favorite.  Valhalla, which was aged on coffee beans packed some impressive flavors.  At the time it was an experimental small batch brew, so growler fills weren't allowed.  However, it was so popu

Once we'd had our fill of Motovun  we drove down to Plitvice Lakes National Park , a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Plitvice (PLEET-veet-seh) is one of Europe's breathtaking natural wonders.  It's a lush valley with 16 terraced lakes, countless waterfalls, boat rides, and hiking.  If you'd like to nerd out a little more, the UNESCO website has a great description about the geology of the park. Since it takes a while to drive inland to Plitvice, I recommend spending the night in or near the park.  We stayed in the park at Hotel Bellevue .  It's not the most modern or attractive hotel, but the front desk associates were pleasant and there's a breakfast buffet that caters to early risers who want to explore the park right when it opens. We followed Rick Steves's suggestion of starting at the Lower Lakes (Donja Jezera), which are accessible at Entrance 1.  Starting here takes you down to the Big Waterfall (Veliki Slap) seen above in this photo.  It's

Wow, it's been a while since I last shared my adventures in Croatia! Sorry about that! But never fear, there's plenty more where that came from. I left off in Rovinj last time, one of Croatia's lovely coastal towns in Istria. After our relaxing stay in Rovinj, we started to make our way to Plitvice Lakes National Park . But first, a pit stop in one of Croatia's best-known Istrian hilltop town: Motovun (moh-toh-voon). If you're lucky and it's not too crowded, you'll be able to drive most of the way up and park near the top. However, chances are you'll only be able to drive part way up and will have to pay a small fee and park in a lot. There's an additional fee to take the shuttle bus to the top. We opted to skip the shuttle bus and instead walked up the old Roman road to the top of Motovun. When you get to the top you'll be able to see vineyards as well as a ton of wine and truffle shops everywhere you look.  There's no