Author: Tara Taft

Where Were You on April 15th?

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Where were you on Patriot’s Day? The day of the Boston Marathon, the day of the bombings?

After checking into a hotel in Baltimore, I waited for the elevator, glancing up at the big screen TV hung on the wall. I don’t remember the exact words – just Boston Marathon and explosions, those words enough to grab my attention, to shock and to scare me.

Far from Boston, we ventured out for dinner. The Inner Harbor of Baltimore was eerie, the mood tense and ominous as more and more police appeared, on bike, in boat, in cars, in helicopters.

Police cars lined up near harbor

Back home, only 30 miles west of Boston, my daughter texted me to assure me she was safe. Back in our hotel room, we watched the news.

I know people who were on bikes at the Prudential Center, just a block away. I know of people who were delayed as they ran the course, realizing that the delay prevented them from crossing the finish line at 2:50 p.m. I’ve heard stories of people in my town and in neighboring towns who were dining nearby, volunteering in the medical tents; people who walked into one of the explosions.

We awoke Friday morning at home to the news and Boston’s shut down, spending the day glued to the TV, relieved when Suspect No. 2 was cornered and later apprehended.

An American flag undulated on the back of a pickup truck in front of us as my daughter and I drove into Boston on Saturday. A man walked down Newbury Street with another flag draped around his shoulders. The streets were full of red, white, and blue: families wore Boston Bruins and Boston Red Sox shirts, people wore college sweatshirts –from Boston University and Boston College.

Barriers prevented us from walking down the cross streets of Exeter and Dartmouth towards Boylston Street where police and FBI gathered evidence.

Police and FBI at Exeter Street

In front of the Nike store, we joined others writing and drawing sentiments with chalk on the sidewalk.

Writing sentiments on chalk on sidewalk

We saw flowers and stuffed animals and therapy dogs at the eastern end of the Boylston Street makeshift memorial.

Flowers and people at barricade on Boylston Street

We read signs in front of cafes and stores offering free coffee and discounts to responders. We spoke to a man who lost his daughter on 9/11.

On Sunday, I ordered Boston Strong t-shirts for each member of our family. I’ve watched videos and read articles of people across the country and around the world routing for Boston, singing “Sweet Caroline,” and raising money for The One Fund Boston.

I was in Baltimore when Boston was bombed. Where were you?

Trip taken April 2013.

Picking Strawberries in August

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Green containers in hand, we probed carefully, searching for the reddest, the ripest and juiciest strawberries. In spite of the many berries which stained our lips and our tongues, it wasn’t long before the buckets were over flowing and it was time to pay.

We were at Swanton Berry Farmstand, an organic growing and union working farm located on Highway 1 near Pescadero, California.

truck sign at entrance to farm

Inside the farm store, we weighed our berries, calculated our cost, and paid on the honor system before sampling the many jams (blackberry, strawberry, loganberry, etc.) and purchasing berry truffles, a pie, and even berry lemonade.

counter and cash register

We ate our own lunch on picnic tables inside the store, perused the many old photos and articles on farming and union labor decorating the walls, and played a few of the old wooden games (you know the one with the small silver ball and the maze and all the holes?).

In August we picked strawberries, but if you come another time of year, you can pick ollalaberries (June), blackberries (July), and kiwis (December).

Trip taken August 2012.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

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My love of color is evidenced by the colors of the home in which I live. My house is red, my car is green, my bedroom is lilac, my bath is aqua.

As I travel, my eye is drawn to color. I found red in a hibiscus in Central Park, in the comb of a rooster in South Africa, in the shirt of a man on the 4th of July in Boston, in the strawberries and radishes at a farmers’ market in California. I found orange in the flames of a campfire in New England, in the wings of a butterfly on Cape Cod, in a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, in a handpainted sign on the Brooklyn Bridge.

I found yellow in a meadow in the Sierras, on a New York taxi cab, in a candle in Frankfurt, and in bubbling macaroni and cheese. I found green in the leaves and on the wings of a bird, and on a girl’s sunglasses on the beach.

I found purple in the lilacs in front of Louisa May Alcott’s house and inside a hot air balloon. I found blue in the skies everywhere I went.

Hibiscus in Central Park
Above Stow
S’Mac in New York
Emigrant Wilderness
Red Admiral butterfly on the Cape
Hot Air Balloon

A NorCal Beach Along Highway 1

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“Nine, ten, eleven. . .” We counted the dark ticks clinging to the pale grasses along the path. We stepped carefully as we walked to the beach near Costanoa, an eco resort along Highway 1 in Northern California.

Beach Path

Over and down the hill, we dropped our towels and nestled behind a large rock, seeking refuge from the cool wind.

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A seal (or sea lion?) ventured close, his head bobbing in the surf, his curiosity bringing him closer and closer as the kids did cartwheels along the shore.

Seal at Costanoa

Cartwheels

After a couple of hours in the sun and wind, we headed back to the car, avoiding the tall grasses and hopefully, any unwelcome hitchhikers on our way.

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Trip taken August 2012.

Camping Without the Hassle

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What do you do when you want the camping experience without all the gear and hassle? If you’re in Northern California, you can stay at Costanoa, a campground and resort located near Pescadero, about an hour south of San Francisco. After a week of backpacking last summer, my daughter and I decided we’d had enough real camping and decided to do just that.

Ignoring the spa resort accommodations at this ecofriendly lodge, we chose to “camp” with her cousins in family tent bungalows where two adjacent tent cabins share a fire pit and a picnic table.

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The kids unrolled their sleeping bags on the bunks in their sparse cabin while the adults slept in sheets in a queen size bed with pillows, a lamp, and bedside table in the cabin right next door. With waterproof canvas walls and a wooden floor, both bungalows were heated and included electricity, sliding windows, and a locking door.

After a simple supper cooked on our own camp stove, we chatted with our next door neighbors, another family from Boston, and played games and roasted marshmallows in one of the resort’s many communal outdoor fireplaces. We brushed our teeth in a “comfort station,” just a short walk from our cabin, where the toilets flushed, the concrete floors were heated and the hot sauna inviting.

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The morning’s dense coastal fog demanded a trip to the lodge’s restaurant for hot chocolate and coffee in front of a warm fire.

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Behind the lodge, the kids climbed a tree and other visitors played chess on a life size chess board. The kids pet the local cat while the adults checked out the store full of gourmet camping supplies and local art.

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We walked along the beach in the sunny afternoon, rode horses with a Costanoa guide, and picked strawberries at a nearby farm.

If you’d prefer a slightly more luxurious experience, you can stay in the lodge or in one of the cabins where you’ll be able to enjoy the resort’s outdoor hot tub.

Roller Coaster by the Sea

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Arms up, we lurched and creaked, climbing to the top of the hill, bracing ourselves for the fall. We were on one of the oldest roller coasters still in operation, not just in the U.S., but in the world. We were on the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California.

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Giant Dipper

Since May 1924 when the public paid 15 cents to ride the red and white roller coaster, the Giant Dipper has excited over 60 million roller coaster enthusiasts who now must spend $6 for its thrills.

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Riding the Giant Dipper is only one of several things to do on the Boardwalk. With kids aged 8 to 14, my friend and I spent an afternoon exploring a few of the options. We were splashed on Logger’s Revenge, lost our stomach on the Giant Dipper as well as on the Hurricane, and enjoyed the view from the Sky Glider.

View

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100_3967We tried our luck at one of the games, sampled ice cream but avoided the deep fried Twinkies and Oreos.

Fried Twinkies

Before our last ride, we left the Boardwalk and tested the Pacific’s temperature with our toes.

Sky Glider

Trip taken August 2012.

 

Visiting Colleges in Beantown

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You’ve heard that Boston is a college town. You know that there are several colleges in Boston. Did you know there are 31 colleges in Boston proper? And over 50 colleges in the Boston area? With all those colleges, it’s not surprising that there are over 240,000 students living in the Boston area.

We visited only four of those colleges in February: Boston University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, and Boston College. We listened to admission counselors give hints on how to write the impending essay and watched our tour guides walk backward. Here’s what we learned.

Boston University, located near Kenmore Square, Fenway Park, and the Citgo sign, is very much an urban campus with its old and new buildings scattered along Commonwealth Avenue, just a block from the Charles River. The campus is long and linear, its 33,000 students melding with other pedestrians as they run from class to class. The school offers more than 250 programs of study, and many of BU’s 18,000 undergraduate students graduate with a dual degree. The university ranks ninth in the nation for its large contingency of international students from more than 140 countries.

Only a few blocks away, Northeastern University is in the museum district, just down the street from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. Another urban college, Northeastern’s strategically placed buildings hide the city around it, creating more of a campus feel. Northeastern focuses on “global experiential learning,” where its 16,000 undergraduate students participate in two to three co-ops or internships in the U.S. or abroad to gain real world experience before they graduate.

Brick buildings comprise the hilltop Tufts University (founded in 1852) in Medford where you can see the Boston skyline without actually being in it. Cambridge is just a few minutes walk down the road; hop on the subway, and in less than half an hour, you’re walking along the Freedom Trail. We learned that Tuft’s 5200 undergraduate students are engaged in the search for knowledge, that they are leaders and take action in the world around them.

The million dollar steps at Boston College help keep this college’s student body in shape as they climb the hill to attend classes in the old stone buildings. BC is located in Newton, another short subway ride from Boston. At BC, students hold doors open for each other, community is important, and most of the 9100 undergraduate students go to the sports events. According to the students we spoke to, service is so important to BC students that participating in a service project can be very competitive.

Next stop, more colleges on the East Coast.

Trip taken February 2013.

All photos used under Creative Commons.

The Next Big Thing

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When I’m not traveling and not blogging, I’m writing and editing a book about travel. In “The Next Big Thing Blog Hop,” writers tag other writers with blogs to answer 10 questions about their work, then they tag more writers and so on. Readers can then discover what will be coming their way. I was tagged to participate in the blog hop by the poet, Donna Johnson, whose first collection of poetry, “Selvage,” was recently published by Carnegie Mellon Press. So, here are my answers to the 10 questions.

What is the working title of your book? 

The Tucker Tyler Adventure.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea came from a trip my mother, Marialyce Tyler, and her friend, Katherine Tucker, took in their early 20s. In 1954, the two women traveled by ship, train, ferry, and car throughout Europe, visiting 14 countries and staying in 42 cities in 3 months. On little more, and sometimes less, than $5 a day, they stayed in hotels, bed and breakfasts, and private homes, met Americans and Europeans, toured museums, and ate the local cuisine.

PostcardsWhat genre does your book fall under?

Travel memoir.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

From the 1950s: Deborah Kerr and Grace Kelly. Current day: Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A glimpse into the lives of two young women and the 1954 world in which they traveled.

Will your book be self-published or by a press?

Self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About 2 years. As Kit’s daughter, Nancy, and I wrote the book, we cut and pasted the best or most interesting descriptions and tidbits from over 60 letters, plus postcards, a journal, and many slides.

Rusty's letters

What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

I don’t know of any nonfiction book quite like it. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Besides the fact that the letters were kept by both women and their families for over 50 years, I love reading them. The two young women both wrote with such enthusiasm and personality. In 2010, we decided to put the letters into a book. 

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Marialyce and Kit sailed on the Queen Mary, bought a car in Paris, broke a window near Stratford, ran out of gas near Oxford, were robbed in Luxembourg, and were sung to in Venice.  They were young and impressionable and their writing reflects their wonder at the sights they see.

Queen Mary

How to Survive a New England Winter

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No matter how long I have lived in New England, I will always be a California girl. Born and raised in the San Francisco area, my body much prefers temperate climates. So, after living in New England for the last several years where the winters are cold and long, instead of hibernating, I embrace the cold.

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I ski, cross country ski, snow shoe, and ice skate. The result is a much happier me. When it snows, I am excited. I put on my appropriate gear and out the door I go.

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The unbearable cold becomes exhilarating; it flushes my cheeks and encourages me to move.

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And when I’m tired, I retreat inside where I warm my fingers in front of the fire.

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In March, when the temperatures soar to above 45, the snow and the ice melt, and the air feels balmy, it is only then that I become impatient for spring.

Adventure in an Armchair

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My heart raced and my fingers tingled as I cross country skied across Antartica, white water kayaked in New Zealand, and rock climbed up Yosemite’s El Capitan with and without all four limbs last week at the Somerville Theater in Massachusetts.

Chunky Monkey Productions brings the best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival to the Boston area every February, which also happens to be school vacation week. For that reason alone, I have not gone every year. But this February, when we decided to stay local, I knew what I wanted to do: travel in an armchair (or movie theater seat) and vicariously experience a few adventures around the world.

The best films from the Banff Mountain Film Festival, held annually in Banff, Canada, are chosen for the World Tour where they are viewed in 32 countries and across the U.S. Local organizers choose which films to screen in their home town. In Somerville, 19 films were shown over three nights. On Thursday night, February 21, I watched nine of those films, including “Industrial Revolutions,” the “Gimp Monkeys” and “Crossing the Ice,” for a total of 131 wilderness inspiring and adrenaline rushing minutes.

Chunky Monkey Productions describes the variety of the films on its website: “Rocks and Rockers, Boards and Boulders, Bikes, Boyz, and the Last Great Unknown. Afghans, Brits, Australians, Norwegians, Canadians, Switzerlanders, Frenchlanders, and American Flatlanders leavin’ the urbs for that nourishing taste of up high. Skiers, Paragliders, Paraclimbers, Highliners, Steep Water, Fast Water, Huckers, Flyers, Mountains, Highways, Canyons, Big Crazy Adventure, the Moon, and Lily. . .”

Though the film festival has already left New England, it will be screened in other states in March and April. Check out the festival’s website to watch video clips and to see when and where it’s playing and be sure to sign up for an email reminder so you can experience the films next year.