Browsing Archive: August, 2009
Posted by Jason Hussong on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
It's really quite bizarre reading about things in books for years and seeing so many countless pictures of them as well and then seeing them actually in person. I was really quite thunderstruck when I first set foot inside the Athenian Acropolis as a high school student. 
A teacher at my school chaperoned students annually, with the help of parents, to different international destinations for a few weeks in the summer months. This was something she did on the side and not really affiliate... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Sunday, August 23, 2009,
Traveling as a child we roadtripped everywhere from Minnesota. Each summer the five of us piled into our conversion van and hit the road on some great adventure. Many times we were only off to see the grandparents, but it was a vacation nonetheless.
I only have one clear memory of flying on vacation, which was to Florida, before I was an adult. There may've been another time or two, but rest assured we took full advantage of our country's great interstate system. One trip even lasted thr... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Landscapes, except where marred by some human maltreatment, show perfect harmony in all their parts, and I submit Kansas, without lofty mountains or awe-inspiring canyons, as a thing of beauty composed of placid forms. It was created less violently than some other parts of the world but by forces just as relentless and just as exciting. ~ John Mark Jewett, Kansan  So often I've seen the signs for little museums and other interesting, or not, tourist stops along major freeways but have never st... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
In 1968 the Monument Rocks of Kansas were designated the first National Natural Landmark, and it's easy to see why. These stunning chalk pillars, which some call pyramids, rise 70 feet above the surrounding fields. They were formed approximately 80 million years ago in what was  once a huge inland see. Now they sit on private land and are generously free of charge. Of course I knew none of this as I drove there from Scott Lake State Park. All I had was a name and a picture in a magazine ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Driving through the vast plains and farm fields of  western Kansas it's difficult to believe such a place exists. It seems totally and completely and in every other way inconceivable that a 100 acre lake, created from a dam in the 1930s, could sit here amongst the wooded bluffs. It...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I had anticipated spectacular views as I hiked along the mesas, likely an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I  thought it'd offer great wildlife viewing and opportunities to relax and appreciate a great day in Oklahoma. I had expected so much from a spot that is actually lower in elevation than Denver at a whoppin...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
New Mexico's Clayton Lake State Park, just east of the Capulin Volcano, is well worth the visit south of state lines. But, I had very low expectations to start, thinking it'd just be a r  eservoir for boating and fishing. I must admit though, I was pleasantly surprised. To start with, boating and fishing is offered at the 170 surface-acre lake. It's considered a popular spot for such activities in the northeast part of the state. And I can't say I blame anyone going there for such things. ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I'm a big fan of small town museums. I think it's great that they tell of such a colored past in a very small town; Everything  about it is so personal and inviting. I get an inviting feeling of being offered to sit down for a cup of coffee or maybe some dinner at the table. As we pulled out from the Capulin Volcano National Monument I instantly knew I wanted to go right, instead of left, to see the small town of Folsom and its museum. Folsom was once a bustling down, like most towns along the S... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Some of the brochures and trailside information list it as dormant and others as extinct. It's estimated that the last eruption occurred around 60,000 years ago. And now the lava fields  surrounding the base from that eruption offer great opportunities for hiking...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
This past weekend I was back home in the Twin Cities visiting family. It was a busy few days, but there's always time made to play some board games with my sister's two sons. They love playing me in strategy games like chess and Risk, both of which are favorites of mine as well. As we played Risk into the wee hours of Saturday morning one of the topics of conversation that came up was traveling. The boys like to ask where I'm going to next and I like to ask them where they'd go if they ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Judo traveling is none like any other that I've ever experienced. It really is in a blur. And there's no one that I've heard from in the judo community that has told me otherwise.  I hear of all of these great places that judo folks have been, but so often they never see the differing and interesting culture. Many times it's a fly in and a fly out situation. And after the last couple of days, I understand it better. I had wondered so many times before about why they did that to themselves, bu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I spent this past weekend in the Los Angeles area visiting my girlfriend and seeing the sights. It was my second time in L.A., but my first being able to get out an do anything since my first trip was for a day for a judo competition. This time I wanted to be able to see a bit of what the town was about and what it was like out there.
On our first day we went to Disneyland. As a Disney employee, Amy was able to get us into the park for free, which was a big bonus considering I was trying...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My European vacation with my father last year took us through Luxembourg, a speck of a country on the European continent.
I was excited to get to Luxembourg as we we drove across northern France and into Belgium, but wasn't totally sure why. I had no idea of what there was to do or see there, but was still excited to get there and see it.
We paged through an old travel guide my father had in order to get an idea of something that we could stop off at to see or tour, particularly sinc...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
New York City was amazing and I think I did as much of it as possible in a week with my friend turned tour guide Lisa.
 I had some time Friday morning, before the wedding rehearsal and dinner that night, so I took  the hour long train ride into Penn Station where we met up to head uptown a bit to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We only had a few hours to run through the hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of art, but I'm really happy we did it and can definitely put it down as one of my favori...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My friend Briand took a trip to the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) with his wife, Erin, a few years ago and talked it up big. They really enjoyed their time there, particularly in Belgium, so I was excited to get there and see a bit of the country myself.
My father and I were keeping a pretty open schedule on our trip, but needed to get to Saarbrucken, Germany in a few days time to meet some distant relatives. This meant we had a bit of driving ahead of us to do this since w...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
It's about one year to-the-day since I was in France on holiday with my father. It is a trip of which I have such fond memories. One of them occurred within our first few days in Paris.
We had just landed and were standing on the bus on the tarmac, waiting to be shuttled to the terminal to get our bags, when this man walks on and stands, holding on to the pole, right in front of me.
He surely looked familiar, but I wasn't positive at first so I waited for him to turn around again. An...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I really now do understand why there are huge guidebooks that are printed just for travel to Hawaii. We saw so much on O'ahu that I can honestly say it'd be easy to take a week or more for each of the islands. There's just so much to do and see it's really quite insane.
The first day Stephen and I arrived in Hawaii we decided to skip all of that though, instead opting to hit the grocery store and have a major cook out feast at our friend Dan's place in Kaneohe (overlook pic of the city i...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Australia, my last continent, was someting I was never quite sure I'd ever see. It's not like I lounged around day dreaming about it all of my days, but it just seemed so far away that I was never quite sure if it'd be possible.
 After a bit of finagling I found a way by getting frequent flier miles through different business promotions, credit card miles and gifts from friends. It was a bit expensive to do it that way, but I did it nonetheless and was on my way to Oz in style...business...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Out of all of the drives I've done in the mountains, and even some on the wrong side of the road on international trips, I've never been nervous about the road...that is until now. U.S. Highway 212 runs into Yellowstone National Park from Montana, starting just west of Billings,  via Beartooth Pass. Beartooth Pass, at just a touch under 11,000 feet elevation, is the scariest drive I've ever done in my life. It was snowing so hard at the top of the pass, and around it, that I really couldn't tell... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
After driving through the extremely scenery deprived east side of North Dakota, I finally came upon a rest stop called Painted Canyon. It also said it was an overlook for the badlands of Teddy Roosevelt National Park. 
To back track a bit, I should say the park was really nothing I had ever heard of before until I thought that this roadtrip would be a good opportunity for me to hit a state that I would never really have a desire to see, North Dakota, unless I had the time and the remotest...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
China was a place I always dreamed digging to as a child while I played with my plastic army figures in my sand box in the backyard. I don't know why, maybe because it seemed so far away and the people so different, I always had such a fascination to go there.
As I watch the Olympics on television I chuckle at some of the places they show as they come in and out of commercial or in different special reports about the country. I laugh because it's so funny to think that, "yeah, I've be... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I had a hard time thinking on where to go after Antarctica since I knew anywhere it'd be would most certainly be a let down. Only three places came to mind as I debated. They were China, Peru and...
 Egypt was a really interesting country and not totally what I had expected. But, when only seeing Discovery Channel specials and reading about it in magazines and books, I had a very narrow view of the country and wasn't totally sure as to what I should expect.
I knew I'd see amazing things like t...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
I was already planning my Antarctic trip when I was in Ireland, and actually already looking ahead to it. Ireland was a blast, but this one, Argentina and Antarctica, was gonna be a biggie.
But really, when it came down to it, I had no interest in going to Argentina. To me it was just a country I had to get through on my way to Antarctica, the place I really wanted to go.
I tried studying the history of Argentina, as I do with every country I visit, but couldn't really get into it. E...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
On my third trip across the pond I visited the emerald island of Ireland with my friends Brian and Erin Frederick.
We planned about a week to see some highlights in the c  ountry, and that's pretty much what we did as we drove most of the perimeter of the island. My story comes from one of the last of the places we really stopped to visit, which was Cork, in the southern part of the country.
Cork is a good sized town that's most often visited for Blarney Castle to the north a...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
My second international trip brought me to my third country: Germany.  I'll never forget this trip for so many reasons. From almost breaking out in nervous tears at the Minneapolis airport as my brother dropped me off to head out on my own on this all expenses paid fellowship from the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) to running into a room late, while still tying my tie, for a meeting with former chancellor Helmut Kohl, I certainly have some interesting stories to tell. But, t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
...but, alas, no. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to like the food in Italy either. Like I said, I lead a rather sheltered life when it came to food as a child and was never forced to eat anything I didn't care to try. But, this Italian tale is about something other than food. 
Bari, Solerno, Sorrento, Naples, Capri...we visited several cities in the southern part of Italy and they all have their separate interesting tales to tell. But, this one comes directly from Rome, right...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Greece. This is definitely not the first country outside of the United States that I had anticipated visiting, but when the opportunity presented itself in the winter of 1993, I figured why not.
I attended the Academy of the Holy Angles High School in Richfield, Minnesota and at that time I was taking history classes with a marvelous teacher. Out of all of the teachers I've ever had I would say that Dr. Giesen was the best. She was intelligent, sarcastic and inspired her students to want to le...
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