July 2008 Archives

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A magnitude-5.4 earthquake hit the Los Angeles metropolitan area midday yesterday, the strongest to strike the region in an urban area since the 1994 Northridge quake. The epicenter was southeast of LA, two miles from the city of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Chino Hills lies near the San Andreas Fault, which runs from the San Francisco bay area to south of Temecula, CA. Earthquakes strike often along the system of faults that lies under the state, due to the movement of tectonic plates. Yesterday’s quake was caused by pressure at the intersection of the Chino and Whittier fault lines. Luckily, Chino Hill’s infrastructure was constructed with earthquake-resistant technology, so no serious damage or injury was reported in the area, but skyscrapers swayed in downtown Los Angeles for several seconds and many buildings were evacuated. Other minor inconveniences occurred as objects were knocked from shelves, as depicted in this scene at a Chino Hills grocery store (below).

Image courtesy Washington Post

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Rainer Jenss, National Geographic Kids magazine Vice President and Publisher, recently embarked on the journey of a lifetime with his family: a year-long trip around the world. The Jenss family has been on the road in North America for two weeks so far, and they have already offered reflections and photos of their adventures in Massachusetts, Maine, Quebec, Illinois, Michigan, and South Dakota. Mom, Dad, 11-year-old Tyler, and 8-year-old Stefan are all blogging regularly from the road, offering their different perspectives on the people, places, and things they encounter (and your daily dose of geography in action!) along the way. Rainer’s posts can be found at the National Geographic Traveler magazine’s Intelligent Travel blog, while his sons Tyler and Stefan blog for National Geographic Kids magazine in a series called “Global Bros.”

The Jenss Family
Photo courtesy of Intelligent Travel

Walmart’s new back-to-school commercial features Hannah Montana, a catchy theme song, and… geography! The store has a new ad campaign promoting the Hannah Montana brand to tween girls, encouraging them to be “rock stars” like Miley Cyrus (who, in case you’ve been living under a rock, plays Hannah Montana in the smash TV hit by the same name). The one academic subject mentioned in the ad is indeed our favorite, and apparently it’s Hannah’s favorite too. Check it out!

Sara R. for My Wonderful World

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If any of you have seen the movie “Sideways,” or watched an episode of “the Bachelor” when Andrew Firestone was the show’s eligible star (and heir to a vintner’s empire), you may know that Napa and Sonoma are not the only wine regions California has to offer. Santa Ynez Valley and its smaller neighbor, Santa Rita Hills, nestled inland from Santa Barbara on California’s Central Coast, are home to dozens of outstanding wineries. I was lucky enough to spend two days out among the grapevines last week, touring six wineries in the heart of the Santa Ynez winemaking region.

Santa Ynez Valley in Maroon, Santa Rita Hills in Purple
Image Courtesy of Cal Wineries

Having turned 21 just two months ago, I haven’t yet developed a very distinguished palate for wine. But even for a novice wine taster like me, it was fascinating to learn about the specific wines produced in the Valley’s different micro-climates, soils, and altitudes – physical geography, it turns out, determines the characteristics of the wine as much as the type of grape itself. Everything from the chemical composition of the soil (sandy, gravelly, rocky, clay, salty, etc.) to the nuances of the topography (terraced mesas, exposed hills, sheltered valleys, etc.) affects the grapes, and thus, the flavors that emerge when tasting the finished product.

Melville Vineyards and Winery, Santa Rita Hills
Image Courtesy of Melville Vineyards

According to the Firestone Vineyards website, “Vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley benefit from the unique east-to-west orientation of the surrounding mountain ranges. These transverse ranges open to the Pacific Ocean at their western extreme, inviting a cooling maritime influence that extends the growing season and encourages the development of exquisitely balanced and flavorful grapes.” The climate of the Santa Ynez Valley varies from 100˚F days to 50˚F nights during the summer growing season (Trust me, you’ll want to dress in layers!). These extreme temperature swings prolong the growing season and give the grapes more “hang time” on the vine. It turns out that winemakers actually want a low yield from their crop, and purposely limit the amount of grapes on each vine for quality, balance, and intense flavor.

Rolling hills of a Santa Ynez Valley vineyard
Image Courtesy of Northern Lights Wine

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1. All Roads Film Project Blog

The All Roads Film Project was created by National Geographic to raise awareness of and access to various indigenous and underrepresented cultures around the world. Through film and photography, the program aims to showcase just how diverse perspectives and experiences from different places and groups of people can truly be. As the project makes its final preparations for its 5^th Annual All Roads Film Festival, you can find daily updates on their work, as well as commentaries and summaries of recent news stories, at the All Roads blog.

Pay close attention to this very geographically relevant recent entry, in which they explain the possibility of the Chinese government establishing a “Cultural Protection Zone” for the Qiang, an ethnic minority in the Sichuan Province whose people were severely affected during the massive earthquake that struck there this past May.

2. Gapminder

In today’s world of state-of-the-art technology and ever-present information systems, we are constantly bombarded with statistics and data about how the world is on the brink of destruction. Don’t tell me you’ve never turned on the television or booted up the computer, only to find that someone has now determined that eating a single snack size bag of potato chips kills fourteen goats, uses three gallons of petroleum, and makes it impossible for children in Nepal to go to school (Note: I might have made those statistics up for dramatic effect, but you get the picture.). Anyway, the point is that Gapminder, a non-profit venture promoting sustainable development and achievement of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals allows you to understand what that information and those figures actually mean. Plus it does so using videos that are short, clear, and straightforward.

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In her first piece, Silvia Tolisano described a global studies program combining geography, technology, and a traveling Teddy Bear named José  at the San José Episcopal Day School in Jacksonville, Florida. In her second guest entry, Silvia explains how José's adventures inspired the creation of a Teddy Bear cross-cultural communication and education network. Who needs avatars when you have a bevy of globe-trotting teddies?

Out of the Travel Bear's trips to China and Egypt another project seemed to grow naturally:

Teddy Bears around the World

The site provides a space to wander around, read and communicate with different teddy bears around the world. Our students hear about their lives and adventures in different parts of the globe. It allows them to see each other's countries, customs and traditions through the eyes of our "teddy bears" and open their horizons to a more global perspective.

Each time a new Teddy Bear joins the conversation, their image is added to the "Teddies of the World Gallery" and a bookmark is placed on the "Where in the World Map."

We love to welcome new Teddy Bears. Please consider joining with your class.

Adding a Clustr Map to the Teddy Bears Around the World blog, which logs visitors and their geographic location, has also provided a great visual and opportunity for conversations with our students.

Twenty-first century skills not only include being able to make connections, but also stress communication as well as collaboration. Through our Teddy Bear Project, we are seeing these skills developing in our students.

For example: The Teddy Bear "Eddy" from England asked for help:

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Those of you who have been following our campaign for a while probably remember the My Wonderful World Challenge we created last fall. Basically, we selected a series of geographic proposals submitted by teachers on the Donors Choose website, and asked readers to help out with donations. We raised $1000 dollars to help fund ten proposals in total. Louise Monroe, a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Frazier Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina, submitted a project entitled "Geocaching: Geo-Spatial Technology," which called for  GIS equipment to explore the exciting world of geocaching. "Geocaching" is a type of modern-day treasure hunt that requires mathematical and geospatial knowledge to uncover clues and find hidden treasures.

 
One of the best parts about the Donors Choose program is that they provide donors with substantive feedback from the teachers and students whose specific projects they helped fund. Recently, we received a package from Ms. Monroe's class. For us, this was the most valuable part of the whole experience! We were thrilled to hear how students were using geocaching to develop a broad range of practical skills and learn about their surrounding community. As one student said, geocaching not only helped expand her geographical understandings, but also helped her to learn "the benefits of geocaching and the beauty and the mysteries of the outdoors." And if that's not enough, she went on to explain that "Many of us also get a good P.E. workout." How about that: a workout that is fun AND educational!

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Astrolabe images courtesy Wikimedia Commons and cas.muohio.edu.

You may have noticed that we’ve been talking up maps quite a bit these last couple weeks, as “card carrying geography advocates” like us are wont to do. On Monday, July 7, guest blogger Silvia Tolisano showed how students at San José Episcopal Day School in Jacksonville, FL, use traditional wall maps and new technologies like Google Earth to chart the journey of José the Bear and learn about places around the world (look for Silvia’s second guest blog piece later this week). Friday of that same week, Jeremy included an interactive map of the Tour de France in his “Five for Friday” list of links. Last Tuesday, Sara R. described an exciting 4-H community mapping exhibit at the Richland County Fair in Illinois. Thursday, she served up the mapping goodness yet again with the debut of MWW’s “handy-dandy” blog map, powered by MetaCarta. It seems to me all this babbling about maps begs the question:

How are maps made?

Which reminds me of another, related query posed a couple months ago by one of our blog readers:

“Today we have satellites in space as well as airplanes to make map making easy and accurate. How were maps made before we had space views?”

So here it is, the answer to all (well, some of) your cartographic curiosities:

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 Image courtesy U.S. Botanic Garden

1. Al Gore Offers Bold Energy Challenge to Congress
Yesterday, Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore gave a speech to Washingtonians titled: "A Generational Challenge to Repower America." The “challenge:” for the U.S. to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years. Pretty ambitious! Read a transcript of the speech here, and check out this article for an example of press coverage of the event.

2. New Documentary Compares Teens from the  U.S., China, and India
Okay, you’ve heard this statement before and you’ll most likely hear it again; “American students are falling behind the rest of the world.” If you have an opinion either way on the matter, you’ll probably be interested to watch the new documentary called Two Million Minutes. You can see the trailer here, or read an about it here.

3. Man Proves It’s Never Too Late to Study Geography
Michael Cobb, a 91 year old World War II veteran, has become one of the oldest people to receive a Ph.D. Cobb’s doctoral work consists of an atlas that charts railroads constructed in Britain between 1807 and 1994. He began work on the project at age 62, and has been carrying on ever since. Find out more in this article.

4. Geography and…Snake Venom?
According to a soon-to-be-published scientific report, geography can help us better understand the serpent world. Scientists have discovered that snake venom from different areas of the planet have distinct chemical structures. Intrigued? Get a preview of the report here.

5. Botanic Garden Exhibit
If you get the chance to visit our nation’s capital this summer, “One Planet-Ours” is an exhibit that I highly recommend checking out. It showcases a number of huge, three-dimensional “Cool Globes” that have been made unique by a variety of hands (everyone from artists to students to organizations around the world). You can even get a glimpse of the creative initiative to promote sustainability online by checking out the Garden’s homepage.

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Image courtesy nationalgeographic.com/store

Over the past couple years we’ve covered Brazil, Beirut, Baltimore and everywhere in between on the blog (well, we’re working on it). Now, it’s easy to track the places we’ve written about with our handy-dandy blog map, debuting today! Created using a program called Metacarta, the blog map allows you to scan the globe for locations mentioned in the My Wonderful World blog, zoom into specific regions, and pick out individual places and blog posts. The map will appear every Friday with the “Five for Friday” post, updated with each week’s locations. Let us know what you think about this new geo-tool!

Sara R. for My Wonderful World

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Guest Blogger Chris Shearer examines the state of federal support for Geography education.

Photo by Theodor Horydczak, courtesy Library of Congress.

You may be wondering to yourself, "If the world is becoming flat, or post-American, or potentially close to collapse, how is it that Geography--THE subject in school that addresses these issues so well--is given such short shrift?" Okay, maybe you weren't wondering this but I, as a card-carrying geography education advocate, was wondering it for you.

Well, here's one possible answer: federal policy.

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As some of you may know, 4-H is a member of our My Wonderful World coalition. The national organization offers youth opportunities for hands-on learning in leadership, citizenship, and life skills. Every summer, 4-H has a strong presence at county and state fairs across the country, exhibiting everything from livestock to saddles to… community maps created with GIS technology! It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of 4-H, which stands for “Head, Hands, Heart, and Health,” but dozens of local chapters are incorporating geographic skills and technology into their existing programs. Some are even creating GIS and GPS teams. Barbara Roberts, of Richmond County, Illinois, shared her fair experience with us.

Read about it and see a map of the Richland County Fairgrounds made by kids at Barbara's 4-H booth after the jump!

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1. G8 Opposite Viewpoint on their environmental discussions

If you’ve been following the G8 Summit taking place this week in Tokyo, Japan, then you’re aware that discussion surrounding climate change was at the top of the agenda. In a previous post, we highlighted the agreement made by the group to cut carbon emissions fifty percent by the year 2050. Though many have hailed this as a milestone in international environmental policy, others, like UN Environment Programme Head Achim Steiner, remain skeptical that real change will occur in the near future. Check out some of Achim’s argument here.

2. Tour de France Interactive Map

For anyone who’s ever had dreams of one day slipping into a spandex uniform (not me) and racing amidst cheering fans in this month’s annual Tour de France bicycle race, a new Google Maps feature now allows you, in some degree, to live out your fantasy. The company has just launched a map of the race that is linked to virtual street views. In other words, with the click of a mouse, viewers around the world can access race-level views. Here’s the full article.

3. Homeless World Cup

Everyone needs to hear an inspirational story now and then, and this one definitely counts. A new documentary entitled “Kicking It” describes how the lives of hundreds of homeless individuals around the world are being transformed by an ordinary soccer ball. In 2006 an international soccer tournament called the Homeless World Cup was created, providing hope and a sense of purpose to many.

Image courtesy of the Kicking It website

4. Guinness Book of World Records Natty G Shoe line

It was rather tough for many of us here at National Geographic to make it to work last week, given the slew of shoes occupying the main courtyard in front of our headquarters in Washington D.C. It was a welcomed obstacle, however, given that the surplus of shoes (over 10,000 of them) was the result of a National Geographic Kids Magazine-shoe drive to benefit Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program. The used shoes, including two pairs from actress Cameron Diaz, will be recycled and made into playgrounds and sports surfaces. Find out more about the program here.

5. Urban Farming

What would you do with a large amount of deserted urban land and a community of hungry families nearby? For Detroit native Taja Sevelle, the answer lay with a seed and some water. With the help of some very kind individuals, as well as support from her city legislature, Sevelle created a charity called Urban Farming that turns abandoned city lots into gardens. The produce is then distributed and shared throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. Click here for the entire article.

Jeremy for My Wonderful World

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  Image courtesy of Jorge Barrios

If you were interested at all by the last blog about the G-8 and Geotourism environmental agreements, you’ll love this clock. In fact, I’m willing to bet you’ll love it even if you thought that entry was pointless and boring. After all, this is no ordinary clock. As hands quietly and methodically make their way around the unobtrusive sphere in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, ticking statistics mark everything from the world’s increasing population to the number of cows slaughtered in the last five minutes. You can even watch the U.S. national debt increase before your very eyes (at an alarmingly fast rate).

Yes, it is common knowledge that the human population has been, and remains, on the rise. Yet, it is one thing to hear such data, and another to actually see it change right in front of you. Between the time I first looked at the page, and when I just checked it, the world’s population increased by over 17,000 people. Think that’s a big number? It was only a three hour time period!

Jeremy for My Wonderful World

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For those of you out there who feel as though you’re the only ones confronting the pressures of global climate change (It’s not exactly easy getting used to those 110 degree heat bicycle rides just to save gas money, is it?), rest assured that you are not alone. Both the National Geographic Society (NGS) and the group of eight major industrialized countries known as the “G-8” are feeling it, too. This week, each has made major breakthroughs both in acknowledging the true impact of our human footprint, and taking steps to reduce it.

On Tuesday, NGS president and CEO John Fahey, along with representatives from five U.S. agencies, signed an agreement enacting new methods for promoting “Geotourism.”

“What the heck is Geotourism?” you may be wondering. Basically, it’s fancy terminology for tourism that tries to sustain or improve the geographical character of a place, including its unique environment and culture.

 Fahey put it best when he said, "Tourism in recent decades has exploded to become one of the most pervasive industries on Earth. By this collaborative, sensitive approach to tourism, the destructive pitfalls of mass tourism can be avoided in our country's great outdoors. Today's signing is a tremendous step forward for geotourism and sustainable tourism in the United States." Read more about the agreement in this press release.

Also on Tuesday, leaders at the 2008 G-8 Summit in Toyako, Japan, announced an agreement to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Prior to the summit, all members had agreed only to consider such a proposal.

To some, this may seem insignificant as agreements made by the G-8 are non-binding. But most believe that such commitments are at least indirectly binding because they garner so much publicity. Think about it: If six out of eight of the member nations cut their emissions in half by the 2050 and two do not, those two are going to receive a lot of pressure and criticism from the international community.

G8 Leaders take a break from meetings to "walk and talk"

Image courtesy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

If you are interested in reading more about the summit’s climate issue discussions, click here. If, like me, you’d like to find out more about the G-8 in general, check out this really useful FAQ.

Jeremy for My Wonderful World

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My Wonderful World is thrilled to introduce our second guest blogger, Silvia Tolisano. Silvia is the Technology Integration Facilitator at San José Episcopal Day School in Jacksonville, Florida, where she has established a Global Studies program. In this first of three posts, she describes how she uses Web 2.0 technology and a lovable teddy bear named José to bring the world--and 21st century learning--to her students.

Part I- Global Studies- Making Connections with the World Around Us
I am sure you have heard of the saying: Geography is all around us? When I first arrived in the United States, almost 20 years ago, I learned quickly that for many people that did not seem to be the case. I had the following kind of conversation more than once.

 “Where are you from? Argentina? Are there a lot kangaroos there? Ohh, that is Australia, Well I got the “A” right and it is down there, isn’t it?”

Becoming a teacher later on, I knew it would be important for me to instill in my students a sense of “Where in the World” are we, in relationship to other countries, people, cultures, customs, and traditions.

I was instrumental in establishing a Global Studies program at San José  Episcopal Day School, a private elementary school that serves students from pre-kindergarten through 6^th grade. Geography skills play a significant part in forming connections with a greater world: a world that is bigger than our own backyard in Jacksonville, Florida/USA. Our goal is to make geography real and tangible for the students by creating connections for and with them. Being or feeling isolated versus being connected to places around you makes a difference in the interest level of students.

Through a grant from the Jessie Ball duPond Fund, myself and another teacher were able to travel physically to China in 2006 (http://www.sjeds.com/blog/china)and Egypt in 2007 (http://www.sjeds.com/blog/egypt ).

Through the use of web 2.0 tools, we were able to take our students along virtually. Daily entries to the travel blogs kept the school and the travelers connected, while photos, video clips, audio files and video conferencing brought the experience to life. The school was transforming their traditional classroom, blurring the boundaries of space, time and closed walls. Opening these dimensions created opportunities for students and teachers alike to become engaged co-learners.

 We took the school mascot José, the Bear, on the trip and reported the travel adventure back from the bear’s perspective. Each grade level spent a day in school, before the trip, bonding with the stuffed animal and sent him off with a special trinket, accessory or outfit to take on his journey. The desired connection was evident for the children, when they would see José wearing “their” present in a photo or video from the Great Wall of China or in front of the Pyramids in Giza.

Students were eager to follow José and us, the teachers, on our adventure. We mapped our trip on Google Earth (http://www.googleearth.com ) and added screenshots to our blog entries.

Since our trip was in the winter holiday month of December, it was especially exciting for our elementary school students when they read on the blog (http://www.sjeds.com/blog/china/archives/40 ):

“The airplane flew an amazing route. Can you tell from the picture where we were flying over?

That is right…. THE NORTH POLE!!! WOW.

No, we could not see anything below, since it was dark. So we cannot claim a Santa Clause sighting. We are sorry…

The captain of the plane informed us that we flew over Newfoundland, Labrador, East of the North Pole, Siberia, Mongolia and then across China South to Hong Kong."

Once José had returned from his travels, it was not long before students started asking, if they could take the Bear on a family vacation. The school received a donation from Build-a-Bear (http://www.buildabear.com/) for 50 additional identical twin brothers, sisters and cousins of our school mascot. Students and their families are checking them out in record numbers and returning them with a souvenir from the country that they have visited, along with pictures of the student with the Bear or blog posts. The father of one of our school’s families has been deployed to Kuwait this past school year (http://sjeds.com/blog/teddybear/2008/03/jose-in-kuwait/). He took a Travel Bear with him and has been communicating through a blog with our students.

Once the Teddy Bears return to Florida, the stuffed animals are placed on a shelf under the name of the country it has visited, the photo is added to a wall collage and a teddy-face sticker is placed on the location of their travels on a giant world map.

Students are mesmerized and linger for a long time in front of these items in our computer lab.This proved to us that personal connections, like a classmate’s picture, a story of a familiar character, or personal object will support sustained interest and enthusiasm in a subject.

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano
Technology Integration Facilitator
San Jose Episcopal Day School

Professional Blog- LANGWITCHES – The Magic of Learning through Technology http://www.langwitches.org/blog

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Why are we so fascinated with chronicling our travels? Ever since people began traveling for the sake of travel, the adventurous have made permanent records of their exploits. These precious accounts of adventure offered insights for the masses, filled with personal reflections, narratives, and sometimes exaggerated details of the foreign people, places, food, and cultures they encountered. The exotic tales enabled readers to live vicariously through the lucky few who were able to travel to the ends of the earth. Today, the advent of technology has ushered in a new format of travel writing: the blog. Blogging makes it easy for travelers to keep in touch with loved ones back home and, possibly, gain a following among interested strangers.

In some instances, such as the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler column, blog readers actually dictate where the traveler will go next in his or her journey. Matt Gross, the Times’ resident budget-travel blogger, is currently undertaking the traditional “Grand Tour of Europe,” updating it for the modern, savvy traveler and attempting to stay within a budget of 100 euros per day (which, I can attest, is harder than it seems). Matt just wrote about his stopover on the island nation of Malta. His next stop is Cyprus, but his itinerary for the following weeks is undecided. So log on and weigh in; your suggestion could be one of his future destinations!

Travel bloggers range from professionals on their mid-life crisis trip-of-a-lifetime, to college students on their term abroad. My personal experience studying in Italy last year actually led me away from blogging in favor of a more traditional direction. Before my departure for four months in Rome, I was unsure what my internet situation might be, and unable to forecast my level of commitment to updating a blog once I got to “The Eternal City.” I wanted to keep my friends and family back home in the loop, but the atmosphere of Rome was just too intoxicating; there was so much to experience on the crooked cobblestone streets and in the smoke-filled cafes that I was hesitant to bind myself to expensive and touristy internet outposts.

Image courtesy of Sara Rossi

I decided to take the old-fashioned route instead.  Like many travelers, I felt intimidated by the idea of describing a place so well-documented. As Mark Twain once said:

What is there in Rome for me to see that others have not seen before me? What is there for me to touch that others have not touched? What is there for me to feel, to learn, to hear, to know, that shall thrill me before it pass to others? What can I discover?

Despite the prolific precedent of Italian travel writing, I was intent to try my best to carve my own niche. I bought a beautiful, handmade journal in Florence and wrote in it religiously for four months. Every night, from my apartment overlooking the Tiber River, I would reflect on the day. Even if it seemed mundane, I felt I couldn’t afford to forget a single memory.

By the time December rolled around, I had visited Florence, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Siena, Greve, Orvieto, Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast.

Image courtesy of Ben Benson

Through my travels, I had also become a better writer. Exploring the hill towns and medieval villages was incredible, but I craved something tangible that could take me back to the olive grove or the Renaissance cathedral cloister anytime I wanted.

For lack of an infinite budget to spend on trinkets and souvenirs, I wrote instead: The old woman stringing her laundry across the balcony to dry - a practice, it seemed, she had performed every day of her life. The young boys kicking a soccer ball around the alley outside their father’s bakery – they didn't need a grassy field or uniforms to dream of being the next Totti. The ancient relics of saints’ bones (and in some cases, their tongues) - the pride of the city, prominently displayed and universally revered. 

Image Courtesy of Annie Schoenecker

Through all these small moments and character sketches, I felt that I was creating my own relic. Less sacred to be sure, and far less macabre, but I had my own timeless and irrefutable evidence that I had been there.

With the final product, I had created my own authentic, unique experience while traversing the well-charted territory of the “boot.” And while I may have been a bit selfish in keeping it to myself, rather than posting it online, I treasure the journal now as a testament to the personal nature of my journey and the unique perspective I had when writing it.

Image courtesy of Amber Ray

Have you ever written a travel journal, or a travel blog? Which do you prefer? Do you regularly read any travel blogs?

Sara R. for My Wonderful World

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