In cities of central Ecuador, you may have a surprise in store when it's time to discard some trash: you can do it with real panache. The cans for throwing things away are not olive green or gun-metal gray but decked with images of a circus almost to the point they irk us. Clowns and … Continue reading Ode to Ecuador’s Circus Trash Cans
Ecuador, of course, is named after the equator, which passes more or less through the middle of it. So there was no way we could visit Quito, the closest major city to the equator, without paying our respects to this imaginary line that splits the globe in half. And that meant visiting Mitad del Mundo … Continue reading Straddling the Equator at Mitad del Mundo
Puyo, Ecuador turned out to be a bit of a disappointment -- at least as far as the city itself. We didn't see why anyone would recommend going there except for nearby attractions. Like the Amazon -- Puyo is the closest jumping off place to tour the jungle; even the tours leaving from Baños go through … Continue reading Monkeying Around in Puyo
After our session of Performing and Poetry in the park, we jumped in an Uber and headed over to the bus terminal on the east side of Ambato. Destination: Return to Baños de Agua Santa Sunrise in Ambato, Volcan Tungurahua in the distance Our return trip to Baños involved two little lessons about the importance … Continue reading Baños to Puyo
https://youtu.be/RDkiePf44LY A short video of our friendly "neigh"bors in Silver Springs, NV Do rocks talk? Yes, but the problem is nobody knows exactly what they're saying. Petroglyphs, left by Native Americans many centuries ago, are etchings on rock that seem to be conveying some kind of important message for future generations. Unfortunately, they forgot to … Continue reading Wild Horses and Talking Rocks
Goats, hinnys and zeedonks, oh my!
Driving across the country to our next engagements and appointments, we have been passing through Texas. And passing. And passing. To relieve the monotony of tumbleweeds and cattle aroma, we stop at whatever interesting pit stops we find along the way. In Abilene, we checked out the Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden, a little garden of sculptures … Continue reading Abilene, Midland and Odessa: Storybooks, Cartoons and Meteors
https://youtu.be/6IYMAFrcPnQ In our second Act!vated Between Adventures, we begin in Smithfield, RI, where we stumble upon a colorful old family cemetery. Coincidentally, the family buried there is named Smith. Then on to Johnston, RI, where we stumble upon a whole park full of old Corvettes and other curious antique automobiles, assembled by the New England … Continue reading Between Adventures: Smithfield, RI to Hudson, MA
https://youtu.be/SYMYivZmxHU Finding Gold at the very same spot gold was 1st discovered in America in 1799 Finding Gold Everyone has heard about the California Gold Rush that began in 1848, but did you know that there was a gold rush in North Carolina half a century before that? In 1799, the son of farmer John … Continue reading Finding Gold
https://youtu.be/ZV_QohyO3fE Click play to watch or subscribe to Activated Adventures on YouTube Wheat fields, grain silos and thunderstorms. These are all a part of the great Heartland, epitomized by Kansas, and that's what we drove through this week. We even encountered our share of those thunderstorms (no tornadoes, thanks just the same) and saw some … Continue reading From Dala Horses to Buffalo
travel with a theatrical flair 