Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Atlas Expedition”
CHAPTER 39 ~THE FINAL CHAPTER~ What better way to cap off a drawn-out trip to Europe than with a stop in Munich for a bit of beer chugging and sausage gnarling at Oktoberfest. Our party consisted of us, and J and J of course, and then a few of their expat coworkers. This being our second dive into Oktoberfest, we …
CHAPTER 38 After leaving Capri, we took the train to Rome, where Val and Steve caught a flight back to Colorado, and we jumped on a plane to London- our European home away from home. We only spent a few days there, but packed in quite a list of sites: Parliament, the Churchill War Rooms, the Shard, Tower Bridge, City …
CHAPTER 37 Well, it should come as no surprise that I have come up short in my attempt to catch up on this blog prior to leaving on our next adventure- at least if you have any incline of our current state of affairs, or my previous track record of falling far short of my goals in this particular department. …
CHAPTER 36 Our next stop on our tour of Italy was a quick one, though memorable. Leaving south from Agnone, we headed for the steep scree slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. Its eruption in 79 AD was nothing to forget, but its next eruption will be particularly remarkable, for my late grandfather at least- for I spread some of his ashes …
CHAPTER 35 We don’t have anything against touristy sites, aside from perhaps all the tourists, but we do appreciate stumbling upon underappreciated places. Sometimes its due to sheer luck, sometimes from word of mouth, but in this case, I am going to chalk it up to genealogy. It turns out that one branch of Kacey’s family tree can trace it’s …
CHAPTER 34 We drank in Tuscany like a nice bottle of wine, and just as nice bottles always do, our time there ran out far too soon. No matter though, we were all looking forward to our next destination, the small village of Agnone, far to the south, nestled in the complex peaks and valleys of the central Apennines. But …
CHAPTER 33 Aside from the noted architecture, however beguilingly slanted it may be, Pisa holds a special place in my heart because of a fortuitous encounter with the city I had, nearly two decades ago… It was the summer after our freshman year in college, and we were five naïve, but confident, wide eyed Colorado boys exploring Europe with overloaded …
CHAPTER 32 You could easily write a book about the virtues of Florence, but since we only spent an afternoon there, I will leave that to a person who has enjoyed more time in this amazing city than us. As it is, we spent our time there ogling at the formidable architecture of Il Duomo, climbing the 414 steps up …
CHAPTER 31 We used Siena as our home base for exploring Tuscany. One rather overcast day we headed out into the rolling hills of vineyards to see what we could find. The answer: A pretty good little winery, the Tenuta di Lilliano; the small hilltop village and fortress of Monteriggioni; and the unforgettable city of towers, San Gimignano. *Note: Photos …
CHAPTER 30 They say all roads lead to Rome, but that means all roads lead away from Rome as well- and we wanted to see where they went. As is our modus operandi, we rented a small car, played a bit of luggage tetris, and hit the autostrada headed north. Our destination was Tuscany, Sienna to be specific, but we …
CHAPTER 29 Following our party with the Pope, we spent the rest of the day strolling through the ruins of the Roman Forum, and exploring the tunnels of the Coliseum. Say what you will about the Romans, but they sure knew how to lay a brick or two! *Note: Photos with a “VS” suffix are credited to Val and Steve …
CHAPTER 28 As if we hadn’t had our fill of the Vatican yet, we had one more little thing to take care of there- just a little meeting with the man in charge, the Pope. Steve, being a devout Catholic, had preemptively arranged for tickets to see the Vicar of Christ in action, which we had to pick up the …
CHAPTER 27 The Vatican is a lot to take in, certainly more than can be done comfortably in a single day- thus we found ourselves there a second day in a row, this time to tour the Vatican Museum. Hall after hall of ancient statues and art ultimately lead to the coup de grâce, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. I guess it’s …
CHAPTER 26 Day two in Rome saw us wandering around the echoing halls of St. Peter’s- even with a thousand people in there it still feels empty. On top of the architecture and all the history, I love the Vatican because it is its own little country- for some reason that idea just intrigues me. *Note: Photos with a “VS” …
CHAPTER 25 Rome has to be at the top, or at least near the top of everyone’s bucketlist. There’s just no place like it. And even if you have seen it all before, which Kacey and I both had, separately, it still strikes you as implausibly impressive, as if you are seeing it fresh for the first time. Despite a …
CHAPTER 24 Our time in Morocco was quickly coming to an end. Our last day in Fez we dropped off Dusty at the car agency, packed up all of our trinkets and souvenirs from our trip thus far into a giant box, crossed our fingers, and gave it to DHL (only about half the stuff inside arrived to Colorado broken, …
CHAPTER 23 Fez was by far and away one of the cooler places I’ve ever seen. Of course it is steeped in history and exudes gritty intrigue around every corner of the winding alleys of the medina, but the most unique aspect of the ancient city was the Chouara Leather Tannery. The biggest and oldest in Fez, they’ve been tanning …
CHAPTER 22 The day following our foray into the Sahara, we said au revoir to the desert, and Rich, and headed north to Fez, one of Morocco’s four Imperial cities, a jewel in the crown of the kingdom. It’s been called the Athens of Africa. It’s been called the Mecca of the West. It should be called the tassel on …
CHAPTER 21 There comes a day in every man’s life when he fulfills his dream of riding a camel in the Sahara. And for me, it was this day. We jumped in our trusty Dusty, and hit off south from Rich, bound for the exotic sounding Merzouga, which sits on the very shore of the vast sea of sand that …
CHAPTER 20 When you join the Peace Corps, you don’t really have much say as to where you are deployed. As the volunteer, I am not sure if that is an exciting or a stressful prospect. But as the friend of the volunteer, I can say it was very exciting for me! I was waiting with bated breath to find …
CHAPTER 19 We all enjoyed our brief time in Marrakesh, and probably could have stayed there for a few more days drinking sweet tea and kissing snakes, but alas, our time was up. The desert beckoned. We were headed east, to the far side of the Atlas, to the small village of Rich, where the Peace Corps had decided to …
CHAPTER 18 Marrakech begins and ends with the Jemaa el-Fnaa. Early in the morning it is empty, and all you can hear is the sound of the muezzin’s call echoing off the paving stones as the dawn breaks over the thousand minarets of the city. By noon it is crawling with snakes and their charmers, blowing magical notes from their …
CHAPTER 17 Owing to its desolate location, and cheap labor I assume, the oasis of Ourzazate has been used as a desert proxy by Hollywood for decades. From Star Wars, to the Gladiator, to Cleopatra, to the Game of Thrones (which we saw being filmed off in the distance), to my personal favorite, the Jewel of the Nile (do you …
CHAPTER 16 We left Casablanca and headed south. Marrakech was directly in our way, but we bypassed it knowing we would return to meet Jake and Jackie there in a few days’ time. Instead, we felt our way further south into the ragged peaks and valleys of the Atlas. Our first stop was the Kasbah de Telouet, a jumble of …
CHAPTER 15 I knew of Casablanca from the Humphrey Bogart movie of course, and I also knew of an entertaining, but ultimately debunked, rumor that in WWII Roosevelt and Churchill held a secret conference there, which is true, and that the Nazi’s found out about it, but misunderstood the translated intercept and thought the world leaders were actually getting together …
CHAPTER 14 After leaving the Blue City of Chefchaouen behind, we headed south-west to Casablanca. Looking at the map, I noticed an archeological site that was somewhat on our route. If I was traveling on my own, you can be sure that I would be ping-ponging across the map, soaking these places up like a hearty piece of bread to …
CHAPTER 13 Turns out we weren’t very good at leaving Tangier. Our first attempt, by rail to Asilah, saw us back in Tangier within 48 hours. Our second attempt was even worse: we took the afternoon bus to Tetouan, a few hours east- only to find that the King of Morocco happened to be in town. Apparently, where the King …
CHAPTER 12 Our reason for coming to Morocco was simple: our buddy Taylor got it into his head that he wanted to save the world, and forthwith joined the Peace Corp. On the outset, he didn’t know he would be deployed to Morocco, indeed, I am not sure it was even one of his top picks, but Morocco picked him …
CHAPTER 11 Arriving by boat to a new country always amazes me, not just by how easy it is compared to flying in, with all the headaches of air travel, but also by the impression it leaves on my memory- if you are a sensible passenger, which we try to be, you go up on deck, or find a window …
Considering our sailing plans have been put on hold due to Teddy’s unfortunate run-in with botulism, I thought it might be prudent to use this lull in our adventure making to try and catch up our website with some old stories that deserve to be told, namely our epic tour through Europe and Morocco that we dubbed the Atlas Expedition, …
