Six places in the United States I hear calling my name. My Travel Wish List

Visitors to Volcanos National Park on The Big Island of Hawaii pose for photos in the eerie glow of the lava flow.
Photo: copyright Jerome Shaw 2013 / www.JeromeShaw.com 

I have set foot in 47 of the 50 states during my lifetime of travel.  Admittedly, some of the visits were quick hits like the time I made a dash from Connecticut into New Hampshire in search of a patch of snow big enough to shoot an overdue magazine cover.  Vermont had an equally short visit during a trip to Maine to shoot photographs for a travel article. New Hampshire and Vermont deserve better than a quick border crossings. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to explore Vermont & New Hampshire more fully but they don’t make this years US travel wish list.  

The two of the three states I have yet to visit do though. Along with a couple of perennial favorites and one state I have visited but haven’t been to its most famous city.  

In part one of My Travel Wish List I shared the background of my travel lists over the years.  In part two I listed my thirteen top international travel destinations and then 6 islands I want to visit in the next twelve months.  

Here are the six places in the US that are calling my name.

1. North Carolina

Mayberry and Mount Pilot are two famous places in North Carolina and I am not sure they are real. Even so, I want to see where Andy Taylor, Opie and Aunt Bea brought small town living to the small screen.  The Cape Hatteras Sea Shore and coastal North Carolina are another draw for me.  At the other end of the state are the Great Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains. I want to see the historic barrier to westward expansion in colonial times.  History is the biggest reason I want to see NC.      

2  South Carolina

I admit to being almost entirely ignorant about South Carolina. The most recent addition to my knowledge base about SC is that they beat my beloved Cornhuskers in last year’s bowl game.  I need to know more.  Charleston has made its way onto my list of cities I want to experience.  Myrtle Beach is about the only other place in South Carolina that I can name without a map.  I’d like my readers to educate me. What are some other places I should see in SC?

  

4. Washington

There are several places in Washington State that have garnered my interest in recent years. One has a very personal slant.  My great Uncle Clarence Shaw lived in Gig Harbor.  Uncle Clarence lived life out loud in the front half of the twentieth-century.  He was a champion of Gig Harbor and certainly its chief tourism promoter.  Legend has it he established a contest for the roundest rock pulled from the Puget Sound each summer season.  He originated Roosterville and rooster races that became known across the US.  He was also a photographer as was his son Frank O.Shaw. A true renaissance man Clarence ran a sign painting business and drew cartoon for Colliers magazine.  I want to go visit place he called home for most of his life. While I am in the neighborhood I’d like to see Seattle again for the first time.

5. Louisiana

I have been to Louisiana. I have never visited its most famous city, New Orleans.  I plan to rectify that omission in 2013.  I likely won’t make it in time for Mardi Gras but I hear there is a pretty good party most nights on Bourbon Street. I am late to the party for sure and I should’ve found a way to get to N.O.long before this.  It is well past time for me to hear the music and taste gumbo in one of the most unique of American cities.

6. Hawaii

Hawaii could have easily made my list of Six Islands I’d Swim To if I hadn’t already given it a place here on my USA list.  I have made many visits to Hawaii. Oahu & Maui were my first big photography job when I was getting my start in travel journalism.  Yet, I still have never visited Kauai, Lanai or Molokai. And if that were’t enough reason to crave a return trip to Hawaii, I haven’t been to Oahu, Maui or Hawaii in over 15 years.  I have plenty to see and do in Hawaii, it may take two trips to catch up. 

Honorable Mentions: Alaska, Montana, Texas 

I have made two trips to Alaska, one for nearly a month, but I have barely grazed the banquet that is travel in the 49th state. Something above the Arctic Circle or out in the Aleutians are on my list. I have made many trips to Montana and enjoyed everyone, I expect I’ll enjoy the next one just as much.  There are two place in Texas I want to see; Austin and San Antonio.

Future posts

My Travel Wish Lists are composed of places I have yet to visit so in another post I’ll name the 6 places I have already visited that I want to return to.  The cherry on top of the wish list pie is a list of  my favorite places in Colorado and the neighboring states.    

#NorthCarolina #SouthCarolina #Washington #Louisiana #Hawaii #Alaska #Montana #Texas 

What is your favorite place in the United States?  Give me some advice on where my next trip in the US should take me.  Please share your Travel Wish List with me here in the comments and tell me why your choices should make my next list.

My #TravelWishList posts:
Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates 
Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See 
Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To 
Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name 
Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again
Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

Six Islands I’d Swim To - My Travel Wish List

The "island" view from my desk.  The post card above is Malolo Island in Fiji and the map is of French Polynesia, home to two of the islands on my #TravelWishList. Remember - Photography is not a crime.

It may be a bit of cheat to create a #TravelWishList especially for islands, but, if you haven't noticed yet, islands are different.

I have a unique affinity with islands.  This may seem strange for a guy that grew up in Southwest Nebraska about as far from an ocean as you can get anywhere on the planet.  Still, my little town of Hayes Center has many similarities to an island.  It is a sheltering place in a sea of vacancy, anchored in the middle of Hayes County.  Rather than be being surrounded and separated by water it is rimmed by a sea of grass and wheat fields. Hayes Center is the largest town in the county (a 26 x 27 mile rectangle), the county seat, and, at 280 people, the largest town in the county.  Well the only town in the county to be precise. Hamlet, the only other “population center” in Hayes County revoked their incorporated chart some years ago.

That is one reason for my fascination with islands.  Another is, I feel a sense of peace on an island that I don't experience on a continent.  While I doubt I could live for protracted periods on an island, (I did live in New Zealand for a year) I love to visit and explore them.

My #TravelWishList posts:
Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates
Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See
Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To
Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name 
Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again
Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

Here are the islands on my Travel Wish List.

Six Islands I’d Swim To.

1.  Bora Bora & Moorea
I have been to French Polynesia and spent two days on Tahiti. I could see Moorea in the misty distance from the pool at the Sofitel in Papeete. It seemed almost criminal to have come so far and not visit  Moorea but that is lot of a travel writer traveling at someone else’s request.  Bora Bora and Moorea are two of the best know names in island-mania.  People may not have a clue where they are but they've heard of them.  My reasons for including these South Pacific islands are many but right at the top are the photographic possibilities.

2.  Iceland
Long before Icelandair start flying between Denver and Reykjavik I wanted to visit Iceland. It may have been when Sports Illustrated shot their swimsuit issue in Iceland (Okay I’m making that up.)  Anyway, I remember photographs of beautiful girls in bikinis, brilliantly blue pools of water with steam rising into the air.  It looked like a place I wanted to be.  Another lure of Iceland is its rural nature and austere landscapes. These attributes appeal to me as well as the inhabitants self-reliance. Besides, it is right on the way to number 4 on my list.

3.  The Azores 

My reasons for putting a location on my TWL are starting to be redundant but the Azores do have some marvelous seascapes.  From the photos I have seen of these islands nearly 1000 miles/1600 km from the coast of Portugal, the Azores have some of the most dramatic views in the world where the sea meets the land.  Correct me if I am wrong, please.  The Azores are a potential location for a travel photography workshop so I want to get to know these islands well.

4.  Ireland

I am part Irish. I know — everyone in the Untied States is part Irish, at least on St. Patrick's Day.  But I really am Irish by heritage.  One branch of my lineage hails from County Cork.  I want to see from whence I came.  This is another of the “I almost went to there on a photo assignment places.”  The list of places that some magazine editor or film producer talked of sending on assignment is far longer than my present TWL or for that matter the list of places I have visited. I am determined to shorten my “I almost went there once” list this year, too.

5. The Maldives
Many people have The Maldives on their list of places to see before they disappear under the water.  I think there are better reasons to travel to these out-of-the way islands.  Beauty, serenity and isolation are the reasons that come to my mind.  I’ll let you know when I get there.  The Maldives and Seychelles alternate on my wish list.  I am eager to remove one or both to make way for other deserving islands get on my list.

6. Trinidad & Tobago
There as so many islands in the Caribbean that I haven’t visited I should just take a cruise and knock off a dozen.  Instead I picked this tandem to get a twofer.  I have a good friend from Venezuela that lives in Trinidad and where does she go on her days off?  You guessed it Tobago.  Her recommendation is good enough for me. 

Honorable Mentions: Madagascar, Bali, Mauritius

Anyone of these would be a great addition to the above list.  I hope to make room for all of them next year.  

Upcoming Posts:

The list parade continues with Six places in the United States that I hear calling me. 

My Travel Wish Lists are comprised of places I have yet to visit so in another post I’ll name the  Six places I have already visited that I want to return to again.

. 

The cherry on top of the wish list pie is a list of my favorite places in Colorado and the neighboring states.

Also, I can be bribed, so make your case for why I should visit your favorites.  Make sure to include an envelop filled with cash and a roundtrip ticket to your designation of choice.

#BoraBora #Moorea #Iceland #Azores #Ireland #Maldives #Trinidad & #Tobago #Madagascar #Bali #Mauritius

Please share your Travel Wish List with me here in the comments and tell me why your choices should make my next list.

My #TravelWishList posts: 

Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The  

Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See In  

Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim to

Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling  

Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again

Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

Jerome on Twitter = @JeromeShaw and @TwavelTweeter  

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Thirteen places I'd like to travel to - My Travel Wish List

My Travel Wish List

The working copy of my 2013 Travel Wish List looks very much like the ones from 25 years ago that  I secreted away in my desk drawer like an un-mailed letter to Santa Claus.  The main difference being I am sharing the 2013 #TravelWishList with the world. 

Why create a #TravelWishList? One of my main reasons: it is fun. The best part of travel is in its anticipation. The longer I live the more accurate this adage becomes. As a travel journalist my relationship with travel is enigmatic. I have come to dislike the act of transportation but I love to discover new places. I love being there. I dislike getting there. The cost of travel, the annoyance of air travel, the continued homogenization of the world, all serve to make actual travel more and more unpalatable. While virtual travel and more precisely, dreaming of new sights to see and places to be, is perhaps even better than it was 50 years ago. Certainly with all the travel bloggers canvassing the far reaches of every continent we are not lacking for information about the places we dream of being.

My reason for publishing my once "secret" travel wish list is more mystical. You can read about that in part one where I share background on my travel wish lists' from years past and list the candidates from which I selected my 13-4-'13.

My #TravelWishList posts: 

• Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates
• Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See
• Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To
• Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name
• Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again
• Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States 

Now it is time to reveal the thirteen places I'd like to explore, photograph, experience and write about in the next year.

My Thirteen

1. Antarctica 

This continent will likely remain on my travel wish list until I get there or finally despair of ever setting foot on the ice of Antarctica. Suffice to say it is a travel photographer's dream destination and on the list of most travel writers as well. Antarctica holds the number one spot on my list and remains the key to completing the Big Seven. Maybe by the time I reach the southern polar cap I will have learned how to spell Antarctica right on my first attempt without the aid of spellcheck.

2  South Africa

Africa is another perennial travel list designate. But South Africa is a first timer. SA has risen in my esteem greatly over the last couple of years both for the variety of the topography and the great adventures that are available at the southern tip of the dark continent. I have always enjoyed the South African people I have met, both in the United Sates and while living in New Zealand. They make good transplants and excellent ambassadors for their native country.

3. Kenya  

It is just time. It is time to see the animals before any more time passes.  

4. Bhutan

Bhutan is on most every travel writer's wish list ever created.  Bhutan was a staple of my wish lists early on but I eventual dropped it in favor of more attainable goals.  A few years ago while reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner Bhutan leaped back into my consciousness.  In the last few years I have had great conversations with travel people from this isolated kingdom that have revived my hope of one day seeing this very unique corner of the earth. 

5. Italy 

Italy is country that I put on my wish list every so often.  It is hard to believe I have not been there yet.  Sometimes I even think I have been to Italy because I read so much about Italy. Everyone tells me how wonderful it is while exhorting me with a dismissive, disbelieving jab "you haven't been to Italy! You simply must go."  So Italy this is your chance - help me live down my shame and allow me to eat laugh and love on your Mediterranean soil. They may pull my travel journalist ticket if I don't eat a meal on Italian soil soon.

6. Chile

A new country on my TWL this year is Chile.  When I have thought of going to Chile, I have wanted to go to ski.  Lately though I have noticed myself interested in visiting this slice of South America for other reasons, like wine, wilderness and adventure.  Chile has supplanted Argentina as my top wish list choice in South America.

7. Nepal

It has been a dream of mine to trek in Nepal since well before I filled out my first Travel Wish List over twenty years ago.  I used to read accounts of climbers braving the elements and altitude to reach the highest places on the planet.  I never fancied myself to be such an adventurer, even in my youth, but still the desire to reach above my present altitude record of 15K propels me to vista Nepal.  That and a culture I greatly admire and some of the most breath taking scenery in the world.

8. Portugal

Another new TWL country is Portugal.  To some degree Portugal like Chile has supplanted a neighbor on my list.  Portugal replaced its Iberian neighbor, Spain in my top 13.  The wine, the women, the food, the value and the fact that not many other people are talking about Portugal have piqued my interest. 

9. Turkey

I don't have precise or articulate reasons for putting Turkey in the top 13 - I just did.  A photo student of mine showed me their images from a trip to Turkey and since then I have wanted go make my own portfolio of Turkey.

10. Venezuela

The third new member of my TWL is Venezuela.  I want to see it before it changes too much.  And, I think it may be on the cusp of change.  Venezuela and Cuba have more in common other than capricious leaders. 

11. Kamchatka Peninsula 

Along with Nepal my desire to see this far eastern landscape predates my creating travel wish lists.  I read tales of hiking and climbing in the Kamchatka back in my days in Aspen, Colorado before I had ever left the boundaries of the Untied States. The Kamchatka is one of the many place in the world that I almost visited but in a stroke of misfortune my assignment to the Kamchatka was canceled. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

12. Panama

The only part of Central America I have had the privilege to visit is Costa Rica.  I need to get a broader perspective on the bridge between North & South America before I make any decisions about this region as a travel destination.  Panama would provide that.

13. And  finally, Switzerland is my last designate for my #TravelWishList.

Why Switzerland?  It is tough to chose that final spot.  Many places were flitting in and out of my head. The space next to #13 on my legal pad notes is quite scuffed from erasures.  But, Switzerland it is.  Switzerland is my choice for the skiing, the chocolate, the precision, the mountains, the cities, the lakes … did I miss anything?  Part and parcel in choosing Switzerland are Austria and France.  Because when I go skiing I plan to zigzag around the Alps to compare the three locales.

So there you have my thirteen choice for places I hope to visit in the next year.  There were lots of tough choice and some great places that dropped off my list from past years and some new blood too. Now comes the hard part, making these wishes come true.

Did I hit any of your favorites?  Did I ignore some places that are on your personal TWL?  December will roll around all too soon and it will be time to pull the wish list out of my desk drawer and see how many spots I hit and missed.  Then it will be time to do it all over. The good news is I get one more slot next year, 14-4-'14.

I'll be posting the other sections of my TravelWishList over the next few days with breakouts for the 6 islands I want to explore and the 6 places in the United States I hear calling me.  I confined my travel wish lists to places I had yet to visit so I'll single out the 6 places I have already visited that I want to return to in another post.  The cherry on top of the wish list pie is I'll share some of my favorite places in Colorado and the neighboring states.  I hope you'll share your #TravelWishList with me here in the comments. 

#Antarctica #SouthAfrica #Kenya #Bhutan #Italy #Chile #Nepal #Portugal #Turkey #Venezuela #Kamchatka Peninsula #Panama #Switzerland

"Most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality has more to do with losing your luggage." - Regina Nadelson

My #TravelWishList posts:

• Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates
• Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See
• Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To
• Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name
• Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again
• Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

The History of My Travel Wish List

Brazil is one of the candidates for my 2013 Travel Wish List.  I'd love to go
and visit Jennifer and Beatriz in Jardim Redentor near Rio de Janeiro.
I'd also like to visit Belem, Fortalezza, Salvador and Florianopolis.

A couple decades or more ago during the work-lull between Christmas and New Year's Day I began making up a travel wish list. It was most often scribbled on a scrap of paper that I tucked in my desk drawer. In most years I never looked at it again until the next year when it was time make up a new wish list. It was my adult version of a letter to Santa Claus, dutifully filled out but never mailed. Even so, in most years, I'd always get to cross at least one destination off my wish list.

Then one year Sally McKinney, a writer I worked with as a photographer, casually asked me where I'd like go on assignment in the coming year. I did a mental review of the travel wish list tucked in my desk drawer and came up with Hawaii, Montana, Russia, Brazil and half dozen other places that consistently fascinated me. The reasons the locations made my list were varied and random. Montana was the only state in West I hadn't visited and Hawaii was a placed I'd been many times but knew it had much more to offer than I'd so far discovered.  I'd been drawn to Russia since my childhood because my brother had studied Russian in college and Russia's featured prominently in my childhood consciousness as our Cold War nemesis. Brazil was a new fascination, though the Amazon River caught my attention during a movie titled "The Pirates of Blood River" that featured prominently in my nightmares well into my adult life.

My #TravelWishList posts:

                    Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates 
                    Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See
                    Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To
                    Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name 
                    Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again
                    Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

I noticed that something amazing happened over the next 2-3 years. First Sally called to ask me if I''d like me to photograph for her in Hawaii for a food & wine article. Then 6 months later the annual trips Montana for newspaper articles began, the first about the Robert Redford movie "A River Runs Through It." Soon she asked me to collaborate on whitewater rafting story in Costa Rica. Costa Rica wasn't even on my wish list but I an not dogmatic about these things, I am pretty flexible about my list which is good because the company I worked with in Costa Rica hired me the next year to go Russia for them and another company saw my images from Russia and hired me to photograph their river cruise in Ukraine.  

Of course there were several assignments that weren't on my wish list but they should have been, places like Finland and South Beach, Florida that should have been on that list and return visits Alaska and New Mexico. There were many minor successes along the way. I crossed off all but 3 US states from my travel list and got the opportunity photograph the Sandhill Crane migration in my home state of Nebraska and to take a llama tour in my adopted home state of Colorado.

A couple years later Sally called with a 10-day assignment in Brazil. In one of the saddest, most regretted decisions if my travel life I turned this job over to an associate because I already had a better paying gig in Colorado. Be forewarned: don't mess with the TravelWishList gods because it took me nearly 10 years to get another opportunity to travel to Brazil. 

You might have thought I'd be bright enough to see the connection between sharing my wish list with Sally and higher incidence of hits in my list but I guess I am a liiiitttllle sssslllooooow. I put it down to Sally simply being aware of my preferences and nothing more. 

The Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia along
with Tahiti and Bora Bora are candidates for my
Travel Wish List.

I pretty much went back to putting my wish list in the desk drawer, keeping my travel dreams to myself. That was until Twitter caught my attention in 2009. For some unknown reason I began sharing snippets of my desk drawer list in tweets. But this time I saw the global significance of casting my #TravelWishList to the winds and waiting for the travel gods to hear my travel prayers. 

Now this year I am codifying it and sharing it far and wide. I am breaking it down into 13-4-'13 top travel destinations for this year. I'm also listing 6 islands and 6 places in the US that I have never visited. So that makes 25 places. As a bonus I'm listing 6 places I have already visited but long to visit again. Plus  a list of a few places in Colorado and neighboring states that are my favorites and one place in Colorado, that 35 years after moving here, I have yet to visit.  

Here is the list of candidates (in alphabetical order) that I came up with from which my Travel Wish List is selected. 

Are your favorites on the list? 

Alaska Antarctica Argentina Austria Azores Bali Bhutan Bora Bora Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Canada Canary Islands Chile Cuba Costa Rica Easter Island Egypt England Estonia France Fiji Islands  Galapagos Islands Greece Guam Iceland India Ireland Italy Jordan Kamchatka Peninsula Kenya Kyrgyzstan Madagascar Maldives Marquesas Islands Mauritius Mexico Mongolia Morocco Myanmar Nepal New Zealand Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Portugal Romania Russia Seychelles Islands South Africa Spain Sumatra Sweden Switzerland Tahiti Tanzania Trinidad and Tobago Thailand Tibet Togo Turkey Venezuela 

Curious facts:  There were no places on my list that started with D, H, L, O, Q, U, W, X, Y, or Z.  Do you have recommendations that begin with these letters?

The letter with the most destinations in "T" with seven.  "S" is second with six. 

Eleven are in the Pacific and fourteen on the Pacific Rim.  North America had the fewest locations with 3 but if you count the Caribbean you get 6 and what continent is Iceland associated with anyway? Seventeen are in Europe. Seven are part of South America. Nine are in Asia.  Two are in Central America.  Eight are in Africa.  Twenty-two are islands.

My #TravelWishList posts: 

Part one - The History of My Travel Wish List and The Candidates   

Part two - 13-4-’13 - Thirteen Places To See

Part three - Six Islands I’d Swim To 

Part four - Six Places In The US That Are Calling My Name 

Part Five - Six Places I’ve Been But want to Go To Again 

Part Six  - My Favorite Places in Colorado And The Neighboring States

Please share your Travel Wish List in the comments.

#Alaska #Antarctica #Argentina #Austria #Azores #Bali  #Bhutan #BoraBora #Botswana #Brazil #BritishVirginIslands #Canada #CanaryIslands #Chile #Cuba #CostaRica #EasterIsland #Egypt #England #Estonia #France #Fiji #Islands #Galapagos Islands#  #Greece #Guam #Iceland #India #Ireland #Italy #Jordan #Kamchatka Peninsula #Kenya #Kyrgyzstan #Madagascar #Maldives #MarquesasIslands  #Mauritius #Mexico #Mongolia #Morocco #Myanmar #Nepal #NewZealand #Norway #Panama #PapuaNewGuinea #Peru #Portugal #Romania #Russia #Seychelles Islands #SouthAfrica #Spain #Sumatra #Sweden #Switzerland #Tahiti #Tanzania #Trinidad and #Tobago #Thailand #Tibet #Togo #Turkey #Venezuela

"Trekking to Machu Picchu" Peru

Machu Picchu, Peru

New Rules for visiting Machu Picchu Peru


The Hidden City of the Inca high in the Andes Mountains is one of the great travel destinations on the planet.  After rafting for 3 days on the Urubamba River we began hiking to Machu Picchu. In 4 days of trekking we arrived to see this mysterious mountain enclave that the Inca managed to keep hidden from the Spanish. Rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, it is one of the most mystical places on earth.

Machu Picchu is on just about everyone's travel bucket list. I had the good fortune to see it early in my travel career while working on a film for Sobeck/Mountain Travel that eventually became an episode in the Discovery Channel series, Sir Edmund Hillary's World of Adventure.

My first glimpse of the iconic terraces that sit 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes came from high above in the late afternoon, after a day of trekking.  We arrived late enough that most of the tourists had departed on the last buses back to Aguas Calientes on the valley floor. Only a few a people that were fortunate enough to have rooms at the hotel just outside Machu Picchu's grounds were still wandering among the stone walls. Most of the hotel guests had already headed for the bar and were sipping cocktails and telling traveler's tales.

I'll always treasure those haunting moments as we made our way among the stone houses that housed perhaps as few as 750 people.  Now each day brings 2000+ tourists to these verdant terraces and more would come if restrictions weren't in place.  By the time the we entered the Machu Picchu it was eerily --- wonderfully empty.

These images are copyrighted and may not be used, re-posted or reproduced without direct written permission.

More post on Peru here on Travel Boldly

New Rules for visiting Machu Picchu Peru

After Slow Travel in Tanzania - We Went Poco y Poco in Peru. You are never too old to travel. 

The King of the Incas. Inti Raymi / The Festival of the Sun at Sacsayhuamán in Cusco, Peru

Peru: Machu Picchu, Iquitos and the Amazon River. Unusual choices for a honeymoon? 

Peru: Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu. Unusual choices for a honeymoon? 

Inca Princess - Cusco, Peru  

Trekking Andes Mountains - Urubamba River Valley, Peru 

Me and My Llama - Peru 

Happy Guy - Wedding Guest in Urubamaba, Peru  

Trekking to Machu Picchu - Peru 

Inti Raymi Fireworks Celebration - Urabamba, Peru 

Contact me at @JeromeShaw  or  Facebook 


Fotolog- Postcards from Brazil / Jerome Shaw
Fotolog- Travels Along the Timeline/ Jerome Shaw
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Subject : The Lost City of the Incas - Machu Picchu - Peru

Origianlly Posted to MySpace 

Post Date: : Oct 25, 2006 10:16 AM