Nature / Off-the-beaten-path / USA / Wandering
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published July 20, 2018 · Last modified July 5, 2018
Until I came through Idaho and eastern Oregon, what I knew about the Snake River Canyon was that Evil Kneivel tried to jump over it on a rocket-powered motorcycle in the 1970s. Having now ridden my own motorcycle along some 100 miles of the Snake River, I can say
Those who have known me for even 10 minutes know that I am no fan of the cold. I don’t use air conditioning and only rarely use fans. I don’t love extreme heat but can tolerate it better than most. On the other hand, I hate being cold. So it...
Bucket List / Nature / Off-the-beaten-path / USA
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published July 3, 2018 · Last modified July 2, 2018
On my way across the country, I rode 3,100 miles and passed through 14 states and four time zones. Ever since I saw photos of it in a magazine back in the 1980s, I have been dying to visit Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Before white settlement, the Lakota...
The farm I’ve been babysitting for the past month has a very small man-made pond in back. The pond is roughly the size and shape of a swimming pool yet is home to an incredible number of frogs. They sing pretty much 24 hours a day. Frogs in France sound...
Facts & Trivia / Nature / South America / Tropics
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published March 28, 2018 · Last modified March 19, 2018
Quito, Ecuador lies nestled in a mountain valley in the Andes Mountains. Because it lies almost exactly on the equator,
Active / Bucket List / Nature / South America / Tropics
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published March 20, 2018 · Last modified March 19, 2018
The expense of visiting the Galápagos aside, it really is quite a unique place and the trip of a lifetime. Being as isolated as it is, 600 miles from the nearest mainland shore, means it has unique flora and fauna that is seen nowhere else on earth. It also means...
Nature / Off-the-beaten-path / South America / Tropics / Wandering
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published March 2, 2018 · Last modified February 25, 2018
By the side of a busy road in Guayaquil, where basically no one pays attention or appreciates them, stand a bunch of very large cacti. I was fortunate enough to see them in full flower. The flowers on these cacti last only 3-4 days. So when I returned the next...
Guayaquil is teeming with lizards. They mostly try very hard to stay away from humans. I have seen lizards of many different sizes. From longer than my leg to shorter than my thumb. This little guy is so tiny he can actually walk around underneath the glass top of this...
Nature / Off-the-beaten-path / South America / Tropics
by Jeffrey Kontur · Published February 28, 2018 · Last modified February 23, 2018
About two blocks in from Malecon 2000, is a small city park. This park isn’t really advertised and isn’t a tourist destination. It’s only about one block square but is home to perhaps 100 free-roaming iguanas. They are literally everywhere! Check out the photos and video.
