We walked today through the same tunnel once used by Roman gladiators on their way to ancient games in an ancient Athens stadium. The tunnel ended with this exhibit about the modern Olympics. The motto pictured below was too good to pass up … because OUR WANDERING IS NOT YET...
The Mix
posted by J
This photo is a great example of THE MIX — the elusive combination of history, education, family, fun, beauty, and exercise that S and I are often trying to nail on this adventure. It’s tough to make out all the details … but there’s the family, of course, then the...
We Are What We Are
posted by S
I am learning to embrace my Inner Tourist. Or rather, my true Tourist Self is showing more and more on the outside. And I am learning to accept it. One of our sons is sometimes (often!) mortified at our family’s touristic appearance, loathing to travel as a fivesome in public...
Wahid to Ashra
posted by J
S and I sat next to Abu Hussain today on a flight from Tunis to Istanbul (on our way to Athens). The older man was on the first leg of a long business trip — to Turkey, Germany, Spain, then back home to Doha, Qatar. He was kind to take an interest in our year-long adventure … and...
Dude, Perfect
posted by J
With apologies to those YouTube sensation guys who do amazing things with frisbees and basketballs … here is a healthy share of video sandboard dudeness, straight from the sweet sands of the...
Listening, Living
posted by J
Please humor us for a moment — we want to share a goodly amount of photos from a two-and-a-half-day journey in to the heart of Morocco. As Ismail our translator unspooled the country’s people and places, we drank it in — the faces, the language, the smells, the colors, the...
Singing of Home
posted by J
The men in this picture are singing Gnaoua music. Their ancestors were West African slaves, taken from an area once known as Ancient Ghana. They created their music to heal their pain, to exalt the memory of their ancestors — and to simply live in a hard place far home. Here is a song...
Revolution Running
posted by J
I ran through revolution with my oldest son this evening. We are all in Tunis for one night … on our way to Greece and Turkey … so we imposed some forced family exercise before retiring for the evening. While S, H, and E rotated through stations in the hotel fitness room, W and I...
A New, Deep Place
posted by J
Morocco. Morocco. Morocco. This country now has a place — a deep place — in our hearts. We leave in the next few hours (too soon!) after cris-crossing the country, soaking in the people, their languages, and their story. We leave you with a few images from our journey … and...
البطل of the Sahara...
posted by J
Today, our journey went from this … … to this … … to this: We have come south in Morocco to THE SAHARA where, in a few hours, we will wake up early to see the sun rise over the dunes. It was an epic, nine-hour drive … that refreshed us, oddly, as we barreled...
What Is Solid
posted by J
I brought E to this courtyard a few days ago to see its MASSIVE silk tree. We talked about things he can truly RELY on that are SOLID in his life and heart — like that tree! — when life seems complicated or difficult or frustrating or scary, like the seeming craziness of the...
Unexpected
posted by S
Land of the unexpected… This evening in Morocco, the five of us are marvelling at a brilliant red sunset smear while careening down a mountain in a Volkswagen Golf. Along the roadside are dozens of troughs of stacked rocks, filled with the onion harvest and covered with straw and orange...