Venezuela

On Vacation

Sorry for the lack of updates recently but we're on what you might call a vacation: visiting family in Venezuela. It is a vacation in that we're in a tropical country, seeing family and friends, eating delicious food and are getting eaten by mosquitoes on a

United States

Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

San Francisco was so much fun that we only get down to writing about it now, after we've left the city. The weather was perfect and we felt guilty for any moment spent inside so we ended up walking all over the city, saw parks and places that

United States

Smokey Bear Country

If I try to put our hike in Yosemite into words it's going to end up sounding like a sappy, revelatory religious experience, full of 'amazing', 'awe-inspiring', 'incredible' and the occasional 'breath-taking'. And still, it wouldn't do it

United States

In the Company of Giants

Do you remember the Ents from The Lord of the Rings books/movies? I don't think Tolkien ever travelled to California but he might have still taken the Sequoia sempervirens as inspiration. Not that these redwoods need to move or talk to become more impressive. Their size alone

United States

Sky to Sea Highway

Did you know that Mt. Saint Helen lost more than a 1000 feet of height when it blew its top off in 1980? That's quite a lot of mountain to be coughed up into the air. That's also why it looks slightly less impressive today. Unfortunately

United States

Sleeping in Seattle

We arrived in the United States just in time for its 235 birthday celebration. We even celebrated in the state named after the first president. Although we did have a thirst for beer these things are hard to find at this kind of celebration, so Nora had a hot dog

Canada

Maple Leaf Appreciation Day

Happy Birthday Canada, today is your day! Have some maple-syrup, play some hockey and go pet a bear. We're going to Vancouver Island to celebrate and spend a few days around Victoria. Canadians don't seem to make the same kind of hoopla around their national day

Canada

The Famous Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain - which unfortunately has nothing to do with The Famous Grouse - is one of the many mountains on Vancouver's doorstep. It's a big attraction thanks to almost year-round snow. We shared our gondola ride up with several snowboarders and a couple of enthusiastic

Canada

A Weekend in Whistler

This past weekend we celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary with a lovely trip to Whistler. It had all the fixings needed for a romantic weekend: an alpine setting, a fireplace in the room, tasty drinks and bears. Yup, real life bears: That was not the only one either. We passed

Canada

Violence in Vancouver

As nice as the Canadians are, they do have the crazy hidden somewhere deep down... The Canucks just lost to the Bruins in the Stanley cup final and things are going apeshit here in the city. There's a giant pile of trash being burned downtown, a couple of

World

Canada, it's Like New York City

Taxi! I know you thought june was meant to be an expose about Vancouver and Canadians and not New York City, but this is a sneak preview of the upcoming fall content here at Paws on the Road. The great irony of Canadian film locations is that they are affordable,

Canada

Vancouver, the Non-Hockey Edition

Lest you'd think that everything in Vancouver has to do with hockey, here are a few non-hockey impressions we gathered sight-seeing over the weekend. On Saturday we went to Granville Island with some friends from Caracas who are looking at moving to Vancouver. Calling the place an island

Canada

In the Land of the Canucks

In most cities you can tell the tourists apart from the locals because they carry a camera, a map and walk slowly. In Canada there are some extra challenges to blending in. First up: shirt shopping as soon as you land is obligatory. In all fairness it's currently

Spain

Tradicions Catalanes

The Catalans have a peculiar relationship with fireworks. They absolutely adore them but on the one night when the whole world erupts in fireworks and merriment - December 31 - the reign of Cataluña is eerily quiet and dark. To make up for that omission the Catalans burn enormous amounts

New Zealand

Hands on Deck, Back Team, Grind Forward. Hold!

Last time we visited New Zealand we got to see the America's cup boats being towed out of the harbor prior to racing in the final. We where in Auckland when the mast broke on Team New Zealand's boat dashing any hope of retaining the cup.

New Zealand

A Change of Plans

Because of all the nuclear uncertainty in Japan at the moment we have decided to cancel our trip to Kyoto next week. To say we're disappointed is a massive understatement since Kyoto was the first destination we agreed on when we started talking about going traveling over two

New Zealand

Not Our Fault

Really, we promise that we do not have electromagnetic powers or geothermal authority and this is all pure coincidence. Although when you start adding it up, we agree that it looks a little fishy: we leave Buenos Aires > floods hit the city; we're in Chile > a

New Zealand

There and Back Again: A Fan's Tale

Today we took a tour of the farm where the shire was built for the movie "Lord of the Rings". Due to lucky scheduling we happened to stop by as filming of the "The Hobbit", the prequel to "Lord of the Rings" was to

New Zealand

Of Worms and Other Animals

In the past week, we've seen a goat and donkey show, watched some gloworms get it on and had a grand idea for making a quick buck with a magnet. We didn't make it to the town shown above in the picture unfortunately but if you&

New Zealand

What a Difference a Day Makes

The last time we were here in New Zealand, 8 years ago, we travelled with a tribe of gap year backpackers on the Kiwi Experience bus. It was a great trip but very different from the one we're doing now which regularly features private bathrooms and few fancy

New Zealand

Two for the Road

Who would have thought we'd last this long? Not me, that's for sure. But there it is. Two whole years on the road. With some breaks here and there in familiar territories but otherwise it's been pretty much all road, all the time. Thanks

New Zealand

In the Land of Flightless Birds

Three months later, after thousands of kilometers driven, gallons of wine and beer drunk, mountains of wedges with sweet chili and sour cream devoured and many, many kangaroos sighted, we have finally turned our backs on Australia and made our way over to New Zealand. You'd think there

Australia

Oh Adelaide

There's no two ways about it and I'm sure most Adelaidens (Adelaiders?) are aware of this shortcoming but the city isn't very happening. It's pretty and has an unusually high measure of parkland in proportion to its size and number of inhabitants

Australia

Fly Me To The Moon

I promise this is not turning into a flying blog but we went ballooning over the Barossa valley the other day thanks to our friend Tom who 'smuggled' us into the basket. He's really a wine maker in the Barossa but he's recently started

Australia

Come Fly With Me

It was 42 degrees Celsius yesterday here in McLaren Vale. You'd really think we could come up with something cooler to do in that weather but no, we went flying. In an open top plane. A biplane to be exact, built in 1992 but after exact plans from