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About Mel

Mel blogs at brokeGIRLrich where she explores topics like how to not panic over adulthood, working in the arts, and retirement strategies that don’t involve living in a cardboard box under an overpass. She used to travel the world on a boat, but that got boring so she joined the circus and wandered America for a year instead.

5 “Weird” Things to Do in Portland

January 28, 2016 By Mel 5 Comments

With its unofficial slogan of “Keep Portland Weird,” it's hard not to love Portland. Here are 5 of the best things to do in Portland!

Portland, Oregon is place after my own heart with its unofficial slogan of “Keep Portland Weird.” The third biggest city in the Northwest, Portland has the distinction of being one of the most environmentally friendly places in the world. That’s not a big surprise right? We all knew west coasters are tree hugging hippies, and Portland is probably the American leader in that cliché.

And please don’t misunderstand, I love me some tree hugging hippies. They’re awesome.

The weather in Portland is fantastic – with warm, dry summers and chilly, wet winters. This has created the perfect climate for growing roses and earned Portland the moniker “City of Roses.” So, you can head to Portland and expect to see some of America’s best.

Are you ready to keep it weird? Here are some of the best things to do in Portland! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Cities, U.S. Cities Tagged With: festivals, Oregon, Portland

Fun Great Wall of China Facts and Fictions

June 25, 2015 By Mel Leave a Comment

The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling

The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling (Photo Credit: Severin.stalder [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

One spot on my bucket list is definitely the Great Wall of China. Not only is it mentioned in one of my favorite books of all time, 50 Places to See Before You Die & 50 Places That Are a Lot More Fun (What, isn’t that everyone’s favorite book for making travel plans? Psht. Fine. Stick to Frodor’s, although, FYI, they mention the Wall too.), it is also at the epicenter of the plot of The Great Wall. The film still in development, but it will be the weirdest sci-fi thrillers ever made about one of the world wonders upon its release.

I also find it delightful that, for years, people actually believed one of the major components keeping the wall together was sticky rice soup mixed with slaked line and limestone.

Sorry, were you looking fun Great Wall of China facts? I keep giving you fictions. Let’s move on to some nifty facts about the only man-made object visible from space… just kidding, that’s a myth too. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Asia, International Tagged With: China, facts and fictions, folklore, Great Wall of China

Ouro Preto: City of Black Gold (and Baroque Architecture)

May 12, 2015 By Mel 1 Comment

Translated as "Black Gold," Ouro Preto, Brazil is a former mining town and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Come for Caraval, stay for the Baroque architecture!One of the best parts about being a former circus employee was getting to know all the different people from around the world who were also working on the show, and the show I worked on had a lot of Brazilians. I’d never thought much of Brazil before working with all of them, but it turns out it is a really amazing place with a lot more to see than just Rio.

One of these spots is Ouro Preto, a former mining town up in the mountains. Ouro Preto is a World Heritage site, and its name translates to Black Gold.

Ouro Preto is an excellent example of Baroque Portuguese colonial architecture. Why Portuguese? Because Brazil was actually under Portuguese rule for three and a half centuries, starting in 1500 A.D. An interesting tidbit of history is that in 1789, about 35 years before independence was achieved, a failed attempt to rise up against the Portuguese started in Ouro Preto. It didn’t work out, and the leader, Tiradentes, was beheaded as a warning.

All that gore aside, several of the churches in the city are built in the Baroque style and are equally famous for their religious art. Honestly, the churches are the highlight of the city. Two churches not to miss areMatriz NS daConceicao de Antonio Dias and the smallerCapela do Padre Faria. However, Brazil’s most important piece of colonial art, The Prophets in Congonhas, found in Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis, and the church of Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar are the area’s crown jewels.

Ouro Preto also has several mine tours. As the center of Brazil’s gold rush in the 18th Century, this isn’t surprising. The most popular of these tours in the Mina do Chico Rei near the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora de Conceicao. The tour there is self-guided and not for the faint of heart. You have to wind your way through several very tight passageways, but you’re rewarded with a stop in the mineral room where you can see what hides under the ground in Ouro Preto.

The mine is named after a local folk tale about a slave from the Congo, Chico Rei. He worked in the mine, trying to buy his freedom, and snuck gold out of the mine every day by hiding it in his hair. He would then go to the Church of Santa Iphigenia and wash his hair in the font, retrieving his gold and appearing extremely pious to the town folk. Supposedly, near the end of his life, he managed to save up enough money to buy his freedom but also to buy the mine. From that point on, the mine thrived.

Mining continues to be a way of life in Ouro Preto even today. Although the gold has largely been exhausted, the mines still hold impressive stores of minerals like marble, iron, pyrite, topaz and soapstone. Ouro Preto is also the only place in the world where you can find imperial topaz.

While most people think immediately of Rio for Carnaval, it’s actually a countrywide celebration. Ouro Preto is no exception. Starting the Saturday before Lent and ending on Ash Wednesday, the streets of Ouro Preto become overrun with costumes and music, featuring parades by two different groups: the samba schools and the blocos.

So head if Rio is a bit too crowded for you, head to Ouro Preto for Carnaval…and stick around to check out the fine examples of Baroque colonial architecture and their mines!

Filed Under: International, South America Tagged With: Baroque, Brazil, Carnaval, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Burger Queen: Best Burgers in Alaska

September 17, 2014 By Mel Leave a Comment

Burger Queen: Best Burgers Ever!

Photo Credit: By budandjackie via Flickr and Creative Commons

The next stop on our Alaskan culinary delights trail is a small house (a step up size wise from Tracy’s King Crab Shack) that is a treasure among the locals in Ketchikan, Alaska – Burger Queen.

Despite the very unassuming façade and being slightly off the beaten path, Burger Queen has the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever eaten. I’m not even a big fan of cheeseburgers as a whole, yet Burger Queen always cooks them to such perfection and offers such a wide array of burgers that I looked forward to visiting Ketchikan just to pick one up. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Restaurants, U.S. Restaurants Tagged With: alaska, Food, hamburgers

Having a Ball on Lake Cumberland, KY

September 9, 2014 By Mel 5 Comments

Having a Ball on Lake Cumberland, KY

Photo Credit: By Sealle (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Lake Cumberland, named by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750 for the Duke of Cumberland, son of the King, is the third largest lake in Kentucky. It officially became a lake when Wolf Creek Dam, the 25th largest in America, was constructed in 1950. To create the lake required moving the entire town of Burnside, Kentucky (the birthplace of the Boy Scouts of America, although the title is occasionally disputed by a few other towns) to higher ground and destroyed the town of Rowena entirely.

Where to stay

At the same time Wolf Creek Dam was built, the large parcel of land around Lake Cumberland was given to the state of Kentucky by the U.S. government to be turned into a state park. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Southeast, United States Tagged With: Kentucky, lakes, vacation

How Rome Became My Favorite Cruise Port

August 28, 2014 By Mel 4 Comments

How Rome Became My Favorite Cruise Port

Photo by Mel

I worked for a cruise line for five years, and while it always a lot of fun, it was also a lot of work. I usually only got a few hours off in port every couple of days, but one day was different.

On May 16, 2010 Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano in Iceland, erupted and really messed with European air travel. Our ship decided to stay docked an extra day, and I experienced my only day off ever on a cruise ship. I didn’t waste a single second of that day, and it still remains one of my favorite days ever. We were docked in Civitavecchia, about an hour train ride from Rome, so my friends and I got up at 6 AM and headed out. We were in Rome by 8 AM and managed to squeeze a LOT into one day. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Personal Stories, Travel Tips and Stories Tagged With: Ancient Rome, cruising, Italy, Mediterranean, Rome

Sacred Places: Bayon Temple, Cambodia

August 22, 2014 By Mel 1 Comment

Sacred Places: Bayon Temple, Cambodia

Photo Credit: By Charles J Sharp (Cannon EOS) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

If you’re headed to Cambodia anytime soon, Angkor Wat is probably already on your to-do list. Head a little north though and you can also check out the “Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia” at Bayon Temple.

Bayon Temple is at the heart of Angkor Thom (“Great City”), another Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It stands in the middle of the capital of King Jayavarman VII’s, the late 12th century Mahayana Buddhist king. The Hindu cosmology, as well as several Theravada carvings, was added after his death according to the spiritual preferences of future kings. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Asia, International Tagged With: Buddhism, Cambodia, religion, temples

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

August 12, 2014 By Mel Leave a Comment

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Photo Credit: By Sewtex (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

With National Park Service’s birthday coming up on August 25th (one of the days the National Park Service waives it’s entrance fees), this is a great time of year to plan a visit to any of our national parks! Summer also makes it a great time to check out Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, America’s largest national park and a United Nations World Heritage site, in the gorgeous state of Alaska. Larger than Switzerland and just slightly smaller than West Virginia, Wrangell-St Elias comes in at an impressive 13.2 million acres, boasting 9 of the 16 highest mountain peaks in the United States. One of the parks glaciers alone, Malaspina, is larger than Rhode Island. [Read more…]

Filed Under: United States, West Coast Tagged With: alaska, Mountains, National Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Tracy’s King Crab Shack: Best Legs in Town

July 30, 2014 By Mel 5 Comments

Tracy's King Crab Shack: Best Legs in Town

 

I spent five summers working on a cruise ship in Alaska. There are lots of things I think back on nostalgically now, but nothing makes me miss Alaska more than seeing pictures on Facebook of my friends eating at Tracy’s King Crab Shack.

My love for Tracy’s runs deep!

  • A co-worker of mine literally made up a song about how Thursdays are crab day at Tracy’s (Thursdays were when we would port in Juneau).
  • There were times when my mood the entire week was set by whether or not I was able to get off the ship and get crab at Tracy’s.
  • Honest to goodness, I am currently writing this article while wearing a Tracy’s Crab Shack shirt.

Seriously people. It is that darn good. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Restaurants, U.S. Restaurants Tagged With: alaska, crab, Juneau, seafood

Spending the Perfect Day in Sitka, Alaska

July 14, 2014 By Mel 5 Comments

Spending the Perfect Day in Sitka, Alaska

Fortress of the Bear (Photo Credit: By Mel)

Located on Baranof Island about 90 miles southeast of Juneau, Sitka is seriously one of the stranger parts of Alaska. Originally a Russian town, their influence still permeates the little downtown area – from the old Orthodox Church to the tons of Russian tchotchkes you can pick up in the numerous souvenir shops.

When I used to work on cruise ships, this was never my favorite stop. That was until a friend came onboard to cruise with me for a week and I realized Sitka was actually the easiest stop to decide what we were going to do for the day!

So, if you’re headed to Sitka for the day, here’s the perfect itinerary for your time there: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Cities, U.S. Cities Tagged With: alaska, drinks, wildlife

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