Jan

10

The World’s First Travel Blog

Posted by Larry Habegger

With the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of travel blogs active in 2014, it’s hard for many people to remember a time before they existed. But that wasn’t so long ago. Twenty years, in fact. On January 6, 1994, Jeff Greenwald uploaded the first from-the-field travel post to the Global Network Navigator (GNN) developed by O’Reilly Media (O’Reilly & Associates at the time).

And the rest is history, as they say.

Check out Jeff’s account of that time in a recent Wired piece, and track down a copy of The Size of the World, his excellent book about the around-the-world journey that prompted the book and his 19 “blog” dispatches.

Technologically, we’ve come a long way since then.

Leave a Comment | Filed Under Adventure Travel, Books, Travel

Jan

9

Sugar Pine to Sochi

Posted by Darya Mead

With the Sochi Winter Olympics just weeks away, interest is heating up for some of the lesser known winter sports. On a recent trip to Lake Tahoe, California for some winter fun, I was thrilled to find a cross country skiing venue with an Olympic pedigree.

Despite the disturbing lack of snow this year, Sugar Pine Point State Park, on Tahoe’s West Shore and home to the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympic Nordic Ski courses, was a great option to find pristine trails. More than 50 years ago, when the Olympics were less of a circus, the land that is now Sugar Pine Point State Park welcomed athletes from around the world, promoting international goodwill and the majesty of the sport.

Athletes raced over 35.4 miles of trail through the General and McKinney Creek areas.  The stadium was a temporary facility and was removed soon after the closing ceremony, restoring the land to its natural state. But the Olympic sign still stands at the entrance to what is now a picnic area and campground.
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Leave a Comment | Filed Under Adventure Travel, California, California, Cross Country Skiing, Lake Tahoe, Northern California, Olympics, Skiing, State Parks, Winter Fun