Traveling the world one color at a time.
Need to escape? Looking to be whisked away? Itching for travel inspiration?
Look no further than the Four Corners in the United States. This marks the place where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado come together — the only place in the U.S. where this happens.
In 2009, Jay Shapiro and Alice Gugelev founded The Muskoka Foundation, an organization that inspires travelers to “use what you know, to do good as you go.” Volunteering and travel go hand-in-hand for Jay and Alice, and the mission of their organization is to transform the travel sector so that meaningful volunteering is a part of every travel experience. They are building a global network of travelers that are interested in donating their time and skills at partner organizations all over the world. All programs available through The Muskoka Foundation focus on building cross-cultural relationships, empowering youth and local staff through skill transfer workshops and providing market access for local products.
Though I don’t believe there is any right or wrong way to travel, I’m definitely a believer in travel that supports local communities and sustainable programs, so when I learned about The Muskoka Foundation, my interest was piqued. I haven’t worked with the organization, but I wanted to learn more about it, so I got in touch with Alice about how the organization works, what its goals are and what makes it different from other volunteer organizations.
1. Why did you start The Muskoka Foundation? Have you had volunteer experiences that shaped the way you created your organization?
When Jay and I embarked on an around-the-world trip a few years ago, we found it difficult to find the right volunteering opportunities that fit our experience, philosophy and mode of travel — hence The Muskoka Foundation was born. In the last three years, we have found that more and more people share a similar profile and intent. The Muskoka Foundation currently has 20 local partners around the world where volunteers can come for a short term to conduct training workshops based on local needs and on their skill sets.
In those months between the winter Las Vegas chill and the scorching Sin City summer, people seek any opportunity to be outdoors. There’s a catch-22 here, though, because the casinos want to keep people in while the very best place to be is in the open air.
Luckily, a few places in Las Vegas have addressed the desire to enjoy al fresco dining with balconies and terraces overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. It’s the perfect excuse to tip back a cocktail, especially after a long day of work when the sun is shining.
Enter Cabo Wabo, a Mexican cantina that combines chilling out with rock-n-roll. The first order of business is ordering a drink. One of the signature cocktails is the Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum Toasted Colada, which combines rum, coco lopez and pineapple juice. I tend to be a white wine girl because hard alcohol turns my tummy, but this is one beverage I can get behind. Others in my party found it a bit strong, but I thought it was the perfect combination of sweet, creamy and satisfying. The highlight of the drink is the garnish: Toasted coconut stuck around the rim of the cup with rich honey. There are, of course, plenty of margaritas on the menu as well in flavors ranging from coconut and red pepper to pineapple and cactus pear. People looking for beer and other cocktails have plenty of options to choose from, and the tequila selection is exhaustive.
Need to escape? Looking to be whisked away? Itching for travel inspiration?
Look no further than the Great Reno Balloon Race, an annual event held in Nevada where more than one-hundred colorful hot air balloons fill the sky.
The town is fairly inconspicuous. It has an ice cream parlor and a public library on the street corner. There are a of couple coffee shops and parking is limited to the street curbs.
But once you start reading about Concord, Massachusetts, and all the wildly historic events that have occurred there, this quaint little towns turns into a living diorama. The oldest European-settlement beyond tidewater, Concord has a small park that marks where the first shots of the American Revolution were shot on April 19, 1775. The city is teeming with houses that have seen the footsteps of American icons, and throughout the city, visitors can find little reminders — a plaque here, a framed photo there — of what this quiet New England town has witnessed.
One of the highlights of the city is found about a mile northeast of Monument Square. This is the home of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Authors Ridge, a collection of crumbling graves in a well-manicured and circuitous graveyard. There are dozens of notable grave sites throughout the cemetery belonging to people who played a role in the Revolutionary War and the years that followed, but it’s on Authors Ridge that several notable writers and thinkers are buried including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. Walking past the graves is like a ghostly stroll through a dusty library. Visitors tip their heads toward each other and whisper about books they’ve read by these figureheads. Some have left pencils and coins in remembrance.
The grave stones are weathered and imperfect. They’re also a beautiful reminder that even the most significant voices may physically be silenced but their words live on.
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Perhaps no vacation to Anaheim, California, is complete without a trip to Disneyland, but at the end of a day surrounded by the likes of energetic Disney characters, families decked out in Mickey Mouse ears and long lines for short rides, it’s nice to have a place where you can finally relax. During our stereotypical Spring Break, which was packed with fun (though touristy) activities, we were desperately in need of a place to call home for a few days, and we found it at the Lemon Tree Hotel.
We chose the Lemon Tree Hotel because of its proximity to Disneyland, but the price tag sealed the deal. Tucked just off the main drag, the Lemon Tree Hotel offers double rooms starting at $59 per night. At the price, I was a bit leery about the quality of the accommodations, but the hotel, though a bit aged, is clean, convenient and cute.
