Weekend Wanderings - Playing on Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Lake is the largest alpine (7000+ feet above sea level) in North America, and one of my favorite places to escape from the world. With 110 miles of shoreline and a deepest point of over 400 feet, it is no small or calm space - it takes at least an hour to cross in a pretty quick boat, and it's not uncommon to see whitecaps and 3-4 foot swells (or larger!) when an afternoon storms rolls off the mountains. Many of those miles of shoreline abut some of the most remote wilderness in North America, rivaled only by Alaska in it's distance from the nearest road. So, can you think of a better place to take a really adorable little guy out for his 1st birthday? As his mom is a former guide on the Lake and mom and dad were married on an island in the middle of it, I certainly can't!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - I should have read the book first!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In a rare moment of potential insanity, I am going to say it...I liked the movie better!

Please do not think that I did not enjoy the book, as I really did. Also, it should receive a good deal of credit for the very reason that I enjoyed the movie better - the book was a more realistic picture of both how the Marigold residents would come to be in India in the first place, and also of the country itself, whereas the movie definitely portrayed it in a more romanticized light. Both have their merits, and the book itself is actually well written and enjoyable. Quite frankly, I must admit that I may have given the novel a higher ranking had I never seen the movie. I know this is quite unfair to the author, but at the same time I can't help but think she had a role of some kind in the creation of the movie (please forgive me and accept my apologies if I am incorrect) so should have realized there would be such comparisons.

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Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My first instincts are that this book is beyond description to me, so I'll have to settle for "amazing", "awe-inspiring" and "phenomenal". And settling is putting in mildly. Aside from in being a well written and captivating book, the subject matter got to me at a deep and personal level that I don't even know how to describe. I live just 75 miles from Bozeman, MT, where the Central Asia Institute is located, and I quickly lost count of the number of times this book made me want to get in the car and drive to "town", begging on hands a knees for a job within this amazing organization.

Books, not Bombs. Education for girls in a society so commonly stereotyped as being anti-female. An American man having tea with the Taliban and becoming a most trusted adviser, ally and colleague within Islamic nations that so many have been led to believe are driven by terrorism and hatred, and proving to all who will listen that that stereotypes are just that...stereotypes taught and accepted by those who are either uneducated, unwilling to listen or unwilling to open their minds. Through this amazing story of humanitarianism, courage, loyalty, passion and strong will, Greg Mortenson has crossed borders and boundaries that so many have tried and failed at. The difference seems to fall entirely within the truth of his heart and convictions to do the right thing by the people he has grown to respect and love, rather than the desire to promote his own beliefs.

I could go on and on, but right now it's time for bed....it may be an early morning if I don't talk myself out of skipping work and driving to Bozeman in the morning. I'll be proud and honored to send pictures of myself groveling on the sidewalk :o)



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The Lost Continent: Travels In Small Town America

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There were definitely parts of this book that rubbed me the wrong way, and it was not my favorite of Bryson's books, but overall I really did enjoy it.



Yes, Bryson have be a bit over the top in his negativity, and can be quite a jerk. However, he easily admits this throughout, and mocks not just those around him, but himself as well. While his mockings and generalizations do sometimes show a bit more personal stereotype than I'm sure he even realizes, he does not single out any one group; rather, he shoots his negativity at everything he touches in a quite humorous way.

And frankly, I would probably be just as negative in a such a circumstance. Many would not like to accept that many of the negative experiences and places he recalled are the way they are, or that so many of them have gone downhill in past decades. The sad truth, though, is that many areas in the U.S. have given in to the very things he complains about, and lost much of the charm that a road-tripping family would have experienced in the 1950s and 60s.



Yes, a bit harsh at times. Yes, maybe a few to many generalizations. Overall though, a good read(especially if you live somewhere he found favorable, as I do :o)



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