A view of Danbury, CT from Mootry Peak at Tarrywile Park
Tarrywile Park is a gorgeous, 722-acre park in Danbury, CT that is a popular spot for hiking, picnics, bird watching, and camping. I visited for the first time on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with the Western CT Outdoor Adventures meetup group and had a fantastic time with new friends, fresh air, and my newly purchased microspikes for winter hiking.
A flower pot in the sunken garden at Weir Farm
Weir Farm is an artists’ haven located on the border of Ridgefield and Wilton in Fairfield County, Connecticut. J. Alden Weir moved to the farm in 1882 and fell in love with the rural landscape surrounding him. He, along with many of his peers including Childe Hassam and Albert Pinkham, immortalized the scenery in dozens of paintings and drawings.
Today, the farm serves as a prominent walking and painting spot and during the peak season (April through November) offers painting events and classes for budding artists of all ages. The area is separated into two areas: the historic grounds including the the Weir House and Studio and the Weir Pond, and the 110-acre Weir Preserve. The well-marked trails in the preserve offer leisurely hiking opportunities.
Toxicomano is a street art collective that created the character of Eddie to represent a generation of Bogotanos who are not served by capitalism
Graffiti is not illegal in Bogota, which accounts for the abundance of tags, stencils, and murals that adorn the walls throughout the city. The benefit of having legal street art, which may seem counter intuitive to Westerners who oppose the practice, is that since artists have more time to spend on their work without fear of being arrested, the outcome is usually a much more impressive, colorful, and well-thought-out piece than they would create otherwise.
El Reloj Publico at one of the main entrances to the walled city.
This past September I spent an incredible four days in Cartagena. You can have fresh fish on the beach while the salty air embraces your lungs, and the architecture is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The walled city has an abundance of plazas, cute boutiques, ice cream shops, and awesome restaurants. You can get a refreshing jugo de zapote at one of the fruit stands just outside the walls, and a trip up to the summit of La Popa allows you to take in the scope of the city and its liquid borders. Here I’ve collected a few of the photos I took that exemplify the beauty and character of the city.
Colombia, and Bogota in particular, is not known for having particularly flavorful or diverse foods. Bread is too sweet, cheese is too bland, meat is too… smashed. You will soon tire of the 5,000 peso corrientes that are so popular among locals for lunch and you will seek out better fare. Luckily, Bogota does have a growing food scene and there are a handful of restaurants that could rival some of the better meals I’ve had in New York. Here’s a list of my top 10 favorite restaurants that I visited.
A Yank without a Chain 