Many years ago, when I was on an adventurous tour of northern Pakistan, an incident occurred that continues to trouble me. Our hardy band of 10 had been told by both our Pakistani guide and our U.S. guide that we should not take pictures of local women, as this was extremely disturbing to the Pakistanis. […]

As fall settles over Southcentral Alaska in a brief burst of gold, birches gleam against the dark spruce that cover the lower slopes of the Kenai Mountains. It’s a fleeting season, and I was fortunate to be rafting 17 miles of the Kenai River when the colors were at their peak. Flaming trees lined the […]

A few years ago, when I told people I was taking my kids to Scotland for spring break, I got one of two responses: “You’re going to freeze your butts off!” (we didn’t, for the record), or “Oh, I’ve always wanted to go to Scotland!” For such a small nation, Scotland has a lot of […]