Category Archive Travel

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Biscoitos Beach

This rocky beach facing the Atlantic on the north side of Terceira Island looked pretty threatening when I visited it in November. But Biscoitos is a favorite swimming spot in the summertime. Summer temperatures in Terceira aren’t much different from winter temperatures, but maybe the wind and waves are friendlier in the summer. In Portuguese, Biscoitos means cookies (or biscuits, if you’re English). That seems a friendly name for a beach, albeit a bit unusual. Perhaps in summer people lie on the rocks and bake their biscuits?

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Bird of Paradise

I saw this bird of paradise plant in the Azores, a place which seems like paradise to me. It’s too cool where I live for tropical plants like these to have much success. But they thrive in the Azores, which are not much warmer than the Pacific Northwest. But the temperate plants I’m used to also thrive in the paradisiacal Azores.

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Icelandic Traffic Jam

I had heard Icelanders complain about traffic, and just rolled my eyes. More than once I’ve taken longer than an hour to get to McCaw Hall from my house in Seattle (it’s 11 minutes from parking spot to parking lot when there’s no traffic). But on the drive from Reykjavik to Neskaupstadur for the Eistnaflug festival, I found myself idling on the road. Just as if I was stuck in traffic at home, I sat unmoving for nearly fifteen minutes waiting for the road to clear.

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Northern Wildflowers

The first time I visited Iceland in July, the entire landscape was covered with these cottony little blooms. Once I got home, I spent hours researching to find out what they were called. But I’ve since forgotten, and I can’t find the answer again. I’d be so grateful to anyone who could tell me about these Icelandic wildflowers. (The purple one is cool, too.)