Traveling Tomboy has Relaunched!

Earlier this week I launched the first of my blog redesigns/relocations: Traveling Tomboy

I am mostly finished with my reenacting blog, Historically Speaking, as well, and will probably launch it sometime next week. This weekend’s task is to get a start on my photography blog which is tentatively called DriftingFocus Photography, for launch sometime toward the end of the month. The conversion/redesign process has gone more smoothly than I predicted and as a result I should be finished with the whole process by mid-January, despite the setbacks I had at the beginning.

I will be keeping my old content here, but since the content is now also mirrored at the new site, I will not be updating this site any further with new content. If you want to follow my travel content, please change your links and subscriptions to:

Traveling Tomboy: No Heels, No Makeup, Just Adventure

Friday Photo: Stafford Hotel

Today’s Friday Photo is from a few weeks ago, when Marc, our friend Will, and I took a trip up to Baltimore, Maryland to visit the area’s only anarchist/communist bookstore, Red Emma’s. It’s a great bookstore/coffee shop, and it’s in the beautiful Mount Vernon area of Baltimore. This great old building was right around the corner and I couldn’t resist taking a shot.

Having trouble with gifts this season? What about a gift of France?

Every year I hold a print sale during the holidays, and this year I have decided to do something different. Instead of just having a general sale on all of my photos, I’m going to put up a specialized collection: selected pieces from the work I did in France this summer. I’ve priced them at 30% off of their normal prices, with the sale ending at the end of this month.

I am doing this sale for two reasons: First of all, I don’t make a lot of money with my regular work, so having some extra cash flow around the holidays is always helpful. Secondly, I am a bit believer in art being accessible to people, and if I can make art ownership easier by having a sale, then that makes me happy too.

You can find the photos here:


France for the Holidays

Travel Tuesday Photo: The Ceiling of Notre Dame

Today’s photo is from my recent trip to France. I only spent a few days in Paris, but I stopped by a few of the major sites that I had not visited before, one of which was Notre Dame. Since I had the unfortunate situation of being in Paris in August (the most-visited city in the world during its busiest tourist month), the line to get in was at least 25 minutes long and the cathedral itself was packed, but I still managed to get some good shots.

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Through the Clever Use of Flags

Today’s #FriFotos theme is “Flags”, and I thought I would share a few of my flag-related photos. Plus, this has given me a chance to use a line from one of my favourite Eddie Izzard shows as a title, which is a good enough reason to make this post in itself. I’m going to include not only photos of flags from overseas, but also those taken here at home in the states, and even a few amusing ones from reenactments!

Enjoy the photos!

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Friday Photo: Schweizer Kreuz auf dem Thunersee

Today’s Friday Photo is one of my favourite shots, and it fits the #FriFotos theme of “Flags”!

I took this shot while on a boat cruise of the Thunersee/Lake Thun in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland. I was returning to Gimmelwald after spending the morning watching a military parade and tank demonstration (one of my I can’t resist military stuff when I travel), and I decided to take a boat back to Interlaken from Thun, rather than a train. It was a great decision and resulted in many of my best shots from the entire trip, including this one.

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Exploring Herault: A Post Series

While I was in France I had the good fortune to spend a substantial amount of time in three different departments which are all often ignored on vacation itineraries for France: Ardeche, Auvergne, and Herault. I will be doing an “Exploring _____” post series for each of the departments, starting with the last: Herault.

My friend Rosemary lives in the tiny village of Lagamas in France’s Herault department. When I visited her for two and a half weeks this past summer, she did a lovely job driving me around the region, taking me to beautiful natural sites, vibrant market towns, and giving me glimpses of just how much more the department had to offer to travelers. This post series will discuss various topics about visiting Herault. As the posts go live, they will be collected here.

  • Exploring Herault: Gignac
  • Exploring Herault: Montpeyroux
  • Exploring Herault: Lagamas
  • Exploring Herault: St. Guilhem de Desert
  • Exploring Herault: The Herault River
  • Exploring Herault: Le Pont de Diable
  • Exploring Herault: Les Grottes
  • Exploring Herault: Montpellier
  • Exploring Herault: Beziers
  • Exploring Herault: Palavas Les Flots
  • Exploring Herault: St. Jean de Fos
  • Exploring Herault: La Grande Motte
  • Exploring Herault: Lac Salagou
  • Exploring Herault: Getting Around
  • Driving around vineyards in a vintage Citroen 2CV. It doesn’t get more French than this.

    Travel Tuesday Photo: Canadian Rockies on the Wing

    In the summer of 2006, my father and I flew our family plane, a small, single-engine Grumman Tiger, from Houston, Texas to Fort Yukon, Alaska. The voyage took a week and a half in each direction, and we had many adventures along the way. However, what was most amazing was the scenery that we were able to see and experience up close, thanks to the low-altitude flying that small planes require.

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