Latest Stories: 

 

Pikes Peak & America the Beautiful: It was a beautiful day as I drove up Pikes Peak with my friends Brian and Keith. The two are brothers that I've known since my college days at the University of Minnesota. They were out visiting...

 

American Shaolin: Shortly after walking into the store I spotted a book called American Shaolin. What attracted my attention was a monk on the cover walking away with a Burger King bag held behind his back. Many of my friends will...

 

Photo from Vintage 11 Studio 

 

Welcome to Jason's Travels, a story about my travels around Colorado and the world. Feel free to leave your comments and let me know what you think! Be sure to check out another great travel site I write for, The Circumference, too!

Listed on ABROADENING.com's "101 Most Awesome Adventure & Travel Twitterers You Should Be Following" list

 

Going to the Top of the Rock: The last time I was in New York City I made my way to the top of the iconic Empire State Building - all 102 floors. With the World Trade Center gone, it's without a doubt the most well known building in New York. Heck, it may've even been that way when the towers still stood. But on this trip to the city, I was most interested in getting to the Top of the Rock, or Rockefeller Center.

 

Other Updates:

Judo Memories at the Olympic Training Center: I practiced judo for six years with Denver Judo, and never once made it to the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs. Tournaments were held there at least annually, and I was never able to make it for one reason or another. One happened to be that I wasn't much for competing, but generally there were time conflicts. The biggest conflict of all now is that I'm no longer able to practice due to a shift in schedules at work. Part of me is disappointed by this because I found judo a lot of fun, but another part is happy that I don't hurt every day any longer. It's nice to wake up in the morning and not ache.

In a Sunburned Country: When I planned my trip to Australia I was pretty much a newbie when it came to reading travel books. I was headed to my final of the seven continents, and already held a great appreciation for traveling, but hadn't read much in the way of travel literature. I was hesitant to pick up a book talking about another person's trip somewhere since I didn't want it to influence my own adventure, but I had heard so many good things about this Bill Bryson fellow and his book, In a Sunburned Country.

Rwanda ~ Hotel Reviews: I don't normally tend to review hotels, but am going to begin doing so after my travel blog writing press trip to Rwanda. In the past I had always seen hotels as just a place to keep my bags, put my head down at night, and take a shower in the morning before going out and exploring, but now I realize they are something totally different as they can make or break a trip - particularly one like this.