Author: Rebecca J Hogue

  • Where did the water go?

    Sitting at an old wooden table on second floor of a cottage with the window open listening to the birds and overlooking the Minas Basin. There is over a mile of ocean bottom naked and exposed to the sun, brown-red mud with cracks, lines that meander towards the ocean. It is low tide, and the…

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    The Minas Basin at low tide. You can see the ocean floor of red-brown mud running into the horizon. You cannot see the where the ocean water begins.
  • Wild Camping

    I worry about where we’ll sleep tonight. I worry about our budget. We had planned to camp more in Italy, but most campgrounds are closed for the season. Aside from one night in Nicotera Marina, when a generous Couchsurfing host let us stay in his beach house, we’ve relied on hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. It’s been…

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  • Songkran

    It’s stifling. A hot humid heat that makes the air feel heavy. Sweat isn’t dripping from me so much as it is pooling on me, sticking to my skin and failing to cool me down. I consider using some of the water in my water bottle to cool my head, but that water is precious.…

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    A group of people, dressed in colourful floral shirts, are joyfully engaging in the water-splashing festivities outdoors. The central figure, a man in a blue Hawaiian-style shirt, raises his hands in excitement while his face is partially covered in white powder, a traditional Songkran practice. Surrounding him, others laugh and play, some holding water bottles and hoses. The lush greenery and wet clothing indicate the playful and refreshing spirit of the event.
  • South Korean Love Hotels

    This is an excerpt from the Going East book that I’m working on. The descriptions are not of a specific hotel, but rather a composite of from our experiences staying in several love hotels over a week in May 2009 as we were riding across South Korea. As I work on the Going East Book,…

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    Cars parked with signs covering the license plates.
  • Going East Part 7: Syria and Jordan

    We are pleased to announce that the first part of our Going East book – which is actually Part 7 of our trip – is now available on Amazon as an eBook. Our plan is to publish various sections of the longer story as they are ready as smaller mini-books to make up a complete…

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  • Walking in the woods

    Cali loves to walk in the woods. She isn’t all that excited about walking on the streets – so we are always looking for places close to home where we can take her for a walk that doesn’t involve a large number of other dogs – she is too young to be around other dogs.…

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  • Rissers Beach Provincial Park

    With all the rain early this week, walking on most of the trails was apt to be gushy. Instead I decided to head to the beach and doing some walking there. Risser’s Beach Provincial Park is less than a 30 minute drive away. I have driven by it several times. I often could see people…

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  • Skating on a pond near the ocean – check

    One more check mark on my bucket list. In this area, the ponds near the ocean freeze in the winter time, and that if the conditions are just right, they become perfect ice rinks. When I first learned of this, I added skating on a pond near the ocean to my bucket list. Fortunately today,…

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