Travels

Arizona

  • Baja Arizona/Tucson: ASARCO Mine, Bisbee, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, San Xavier del Bac, Titan Missile Museum, Tombstone, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, Tucson, Tumacácori National Historic Park
  • Central Arizona/Phoenix: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Gila Bend, Lost Dutchman State Park, McFarland State Historic Park, Mesa, Phoenix, Taliesen West, Tempe (2), Wickenburg
  • Colorado Plateau: Flagstaff, Glen Canyon Dam, Grand Canyon National Park, Homolovi State Park, Lees Ferry, Meteor Crater, Navajo National Monument, Petrified Forest National Park, Sunset Crater National Monument, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
  • Rim Country: Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Fort Verde State Historic Park, Jerome, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Prescott, Red Rock State Park, Sedona, Tonto National Monument, Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, Tuzigoot National Monument, Verde Canyon Railroad
  • West Coast: Castle Dome, Dateland, Poston, Quartzsite, Yuma
  • Hikes: Keet Seel, Onyx Bridge, the Wave

International


Spain


United States

What others are reading:

5 Ways to Speak Spanish Like a Spaniard

Image
If you’re like me, you’ve probably learned Spanish as it’s spoken throughout Latin America. Now, I know there is no one single standard Latin American accent, but there are a few things I’ve noticed when listening to Spaniards speak that distinguish them from Spanish speakers in, for example, Nicaragua or Argentina. Since living here for the greater part of a year, I’ve both consciously resisted and unconsciously picked up on many features of the typical Spanish accent. After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided there are around five characteristics that most distinguish the Spanish of Spain from the Spanish of the Americas. These five sounds, when spoken in the Castilian way, will bring you much closer to sounding native.


1) Pronounce C before E & I and Z like TH In the Americas you’ll hear the words ciudad (“city”), cereza (“cherry”), and zorro (“fox”) pronounced as “see-oo-DAHD” [sjuˈðað], “say-RAY-sah” [seˈɾe.sa], and “SOE-rroe” [ˈso.ro]. However, in Spain, you’ll pick …
keep reading...

22 Fun Facts About the Galician Language

Image
Read my Galician crash course here to get up to speed in the language.
Galician is a Romance language (i.e., from Latin) spoken by about 3 million people in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia. Although it’s most closely related to Portuguese—which is spoken south of the border—it shares many similarities with Castilian Spanish, including sounds and spelling.


If you’re planning on spending any time traveling or living in this unique corner of Spain, or walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that ends here, even a tiny knowledge of Galician will help you get around and navigate menus, maps, etc. If you happen to speak Spanish, you’re already 80% of the way to understanding Galician, and I’m serious! Getting a grasp on the grammatical and phonological differences will turbo boost you up to 90%.

To whet your appetite (both literally and linguistically), here’s a little selection from the Galician Wikipedia’s article on empanada, or meat pie:
Unha empanada é unha preparación cu…
keep reading...

Culture Shock in a Spanish Home

Image
Back in November, I wrote a little blog post about some significant differences between American and Spanish supermarkets—culture shock at the supermercado is a frequent occurrence for foreigners living in Spain. But there’s an even more important place you might experience culture shock after setting foot in the country: the home.

Doors Let’s start outside. One major difference that can be a little disorienting is the fact that the handle on the main door to an apartment or house is often in the middle of the door, rather than on the right-hand side where the keyholes are. Most locks in Spain completely open the door rather than leaving another lock in the handle for you to turn; i.e., when you unlock the door, the door swings open, so the handle is there for you to push or pull, not to turn.

Even though intercoms might seem like a fancy feature for American residences, they’re standard on virtually all Spanish ones, from homes to apartments. To one side of the door, there’s a little…
keep reading...