by Steven Higgs | May 29, 2026 | Uncategorized
Alta on the Norwegian Sea was the penultimate destination for our 10-day journey to the Top of the World in the Arctic Lapland. I chose Alta for its status as the northernmost city in the world with 15,000 residents and the 24-mile seaside photo drive it offered along...
by Steven Higgs | May 29, 2026 | Uncategorized
Kautokeino, Norway, earned its place as a Lapland Photo Stop due to its status as the capital of Europe’s only indigenous people, the Sami, and its strategic location between the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finland and the Altafjord on the Norwegian Sea....
by Steven Higgs | May 28, 2026 | Uncategorized
The first Photo Stop on our journey to the Top of the World was the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, where we took a short hike through Finland’s third largest nature preserve and reputed home to the world’s cleanest air. As we were on our way from...
by Steven Higgs | May 28, 2026 | Uncategorized
The last leg of my Retirement Travel Trifecta stepped over the Arctic Circle as our Finnair jet made its final descent from Helsinki to the Rovaniemi Airport in Finland. The Lapland Capital of 66,000 sits a couple miles south of the circle’s boundary line...
by Steven Higgs | May 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
After checking out from our cabana in El Saler in Valencia, Patricia and I wheeled our luggage onto the bus and into a cab for a morning preview of the seaside Hotel SolPlaya, where two nights later I would spend my last few hours in Europe. SolPlaya, which translates...
by Steven Higgs | May 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
On our second day in Valencia, we explored the Old City, in search of Europe’s biggest produce market, world-class street art, a Medieval city gate and the world’s once-second narrowest building. Mercado Central has more than 1,200 stalls and eateries offering fresh...
by Steven Higgs | May 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
My creative heart started thumping as we passed the City of Arts and Sciences in the taxi on our way from airport the Valencia Spain to our cabana. We spent our first full day there, and to be honest, my chest still pounds when I think of it. I can say with 100%...
by Steven Higgs | May 20, 2026 | Uncategorized
For our last Amazonian adventure, our Ticuna guide Ramiro led our family entourage to a Huitoto village a half an hour or so north and west into the jungle, designated by a roadside sign as Indígenas Huitoto. We toured the village’s agricultural plots, where...
by Steven Higgs | May 13, 2026 | Uncategorized
I’ve been hiking what AllTrails calls the Monroe Trail for more than three decades but have never followed it to the lake of the same name. I’ve always taken a side path to the now-history Waldrip Cabin when the old road-turned-trail heads 230 feet downhill...
by Steven Higgs | May 1, 2026 | Uncategorized
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following are snippets drawn from a 30-minute conversation with Jeff Stant on a hike through the Charles C. Deam Wilderness to a stand of old-growth hickories, which were as magnificent as he said they would be. This was the second of a series...
