Our last blog took you to the deserts and mountain towns in Morocco and now ----------- the Sounds, sights and smells of Marrakesh. We approached the outskirts of town with great anticipation. We were approaching the famous city of Marrakesh, which has a deep history and is also home to our guide, Mustafa. We’ve traversed quite a few miles in these last days and the next stop would surely prove to be all that we hoped. We’re both sitting in the car with the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song playing in our heads…….”do you know we are riding on the Marrakesh express….they’re taking me to Marrakesh”. Actually that song has been playing in our heads for about three days and we are ready to give it a rest. We’ve learned a few facts about Moroccan ... read more

We enjoy visiting Muslim nations for many reasons and one of them is lying in bed quite early in the morning listening to the call to prayer, the first of five times each day. In the quiet of the early morning the sounds of prayer bellow out of the silence of the night to awaken the dawn of a new day. The sounds are enthralling and calming. Our experiences have demonstrated that the Muslim people are kind, generous and peaceful no matter what you read in the press. A few bad people have made it difficult for many thousands of kind people whose mission in life is to work hard, love their fellow man, and to make a better life for their families. Fes is a complex city made up of an intricate labyrinth of twisting ... read more

It’s 4am, it’s dark as we drive into the wide open spaces of the field. We are being guided by lighted wands that look like light sabers from Star Wars. We are directed to park our car at the end of the line. It’s early, we are still waking up and we’re tramping down a dirt path following others, kindred spirits who seek the balloon lift-off at Rancho San Rafael Park. We are promised picture perfect weather this morning for the balloon launch. Our excitement builds as we enter the park, a place where there’s some light and booths set up to sell many things, including coffee for those of us who have braved the pre-dawn light to be here for the festivities. We immediately grab some coffee and head to a place on the hill, ... read more

Although American football is generally considered to be the national pastime, that moniker once belonged to the game of baseball. With the advent of television and the vision of then football commissioner Pete Rozelle in the 1960s and 1970s, American football is the sport that most Americans are crazy about. Baseball is still quite popular, but perhaps not in the storied way it once was. The boys of summer still exist, but they no longer have the fabled following that once had many an American lad’s ear glued to the radio in anticipation of Joe Dimagio’s next time at bat, or to hear how the Brooklyn Dodgers fared against their mortal enemies, the New York Giants. Baseball is a pastoral game, played without time limits and some historians would say was created from the British games ... read more

Travel Blog Get Togethers & Friends New and Old Most Americans are, by nature, the type who travel within their own borders and enjoy the company of a somewhat diverse culture. Or so they believe. America is a nation of immigrants and by and large, this is true. Only trouble is, the generations get a bit watered down and the ethnic diversity gives way to a collection of people who share a common language (bit of a stretch here) and the great influence of TV and the mega-corporations, which shape the society as a whole. Don’t get us wrong, we are American and by and large really like Americans, but the truth is, we really enjoy meeting people from other nations well as Americans who share our wanderlust. Travelblog has presented us an enormous opportunity, and ... read more