“-est”… That's how I'd describe Alaska. It's the United States’ furthest northwest state, with the Aleutian Islands reaching further west than Hawaii. It has North America’s highest mountain – Mount McKinley - the largest national park, the largest national forest,...
“…the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn...” Jack Kerouac. We grab a cab to take us to the...
Friday, May 2, 2008 My first full day in Chicago starts with gray rain and a cold shower, but I won’t let it color my mood. The Whitehall Hotel's boiler is on the fritz, so the front desk comps our breakfast while Steph waits for hot water. We order our meal brought...
Thursday, May 1, 2008 Stephanie has never cut out on her husband for two weeks before. My husband told me, “It’s okay, I’m getting used to it.” I recently returned from a three-week book-research trip to China, stayed home for two weeks, then split again today to...
I woke in terror and opened my eyes to green tubular objects floating toward me — string beans, or slow-motion bullets. I yelled, startling my husband. When I snapped out of it I reassured Dale, “It’s only what always happens.” Meaning: “It’s only because night...
Being open when we travel is like standing atop a cliff, enlivening but risky. One year ago tonight, friends and I celebrated my memoir with a release party. To mark that anniversary, I'm sharing with you a story that never made it into They Only Eat Their Husbands: A...
I prefer hiking Colorado's thirteeners (13,000-foot-peaks) to its fourteeners, because they're less crowded with peak baggers, yet equally beautiful and often just as challenging. The Herman Gulch trail to The Citadel kicked my butt, and I loved every moment. I was...
Do you have a thing for waterfalls? If you've read my memoir, you know that my favorite hikes embrace "many waters and signs of water." Bridal Veil Falls fits that description, and it's as romantic a sight as the name promises. It's more like many veils, trailing one...
When I don't have time for a long drive or stamina for an all-day hike, but I still want to get away somewhere pretty and enjoy a little workout, I almost always end up on a trail in Boulder. The three-mile Mount Sanitas Loop is close to downtown, but its lovely views...
A couple of weeks ago, my husband Dale and I went on my favorite Colorado hike. It's an 8.4 mile roundtrip up the South Boulder Creek Trail to the creek's headwaters at Rogers Pass Lake, and then on over a small saddle to Heart Lake. Thanks to record snowfall this...
Cara Lopez Lee is the author of the novel, Candlelight Bridge, and the memoir, They Only Eat Their Husbands. She’s a winner of The Moth StorySLAM and is featured in many personal storytelling shows. Her writing appears in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Manifest-Station, and Rivet. Cara and her husband love traveling, but their home is coastal Ventura, California, where they enjoy tending their Certified Wildlife Habitat full of birds, bees, and butterflies.
