Travel – i am sarah kohl

Vacation Destination: Alabama

When you think of a vacation dream destination, Alabama is probably doesn’t make the list. However, about 3 years ago my sisters and I planned a trip to Alabama with some excitement. The idea was that our sister stationed at the Navy base in Pensacola, FL could join us easily and we could all cross another state off our list to visit. We had mapped out tons of places we wanted to visit, but the trip fell through at the last minute.

Fast-forward to 2019, it was apparently a busy year for all of us as we approached Fall realizing we hadn’t even started to plan our annual Sister Trip. [More]

A Taste of New York Chips from Western New York

New York Chips vs Saratoga Chips for Best New York State Chip
It’s been some time since I posted and while I’ve thought of a number of different things I wanted to write about I haven’t found a lot of time to do so. I recently bought a house, moved back from California, started working on a startup, and in my spare time I’ve learned to code. Needless to say, busy.

That being said, I can’t ignore anything related to small businesses in New York. If you don’t know, New York Chips are the potato chip that’s 100% made in New York. The potatoes are grown, processed, and packaged right here in Western New York. [More]

Developer Week 2017 in San Francisco

sarah-kohl-silicon-valley-SF-developer-week-2917

This was my first time attending the Developer Week Conference and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I attended a handful of talks and walked around the show floor and was overall pleasantly surprised.

I should start off saying that I’ve always found virtual reality (VR) to be a bit too gimmicky. Often applications that are released are focused around video games. While that may be fun I’ve never understood why Silicon Valley has been so in love with the technology until now.

Two specific events at this show helped me to make the jump from VR skeptic to VR advocate. [More]

The Ringing Rocks of Pennsylvania

ringing rocks campground Pennsylvania

It’s important to try and get your outdoor activities in before winter when you live someplace like New York. Naturally, this means camping in the beginning of fall! My youngest sister had pointed out that just outside Philadelphia there was a cool phenomenon known as The Ringing Rocks. In typical Kohl-sister fashion, we decided that planning a last minute trip over the weekend was do-able so we packed our things and headed out for the keystone state.

We decided to tent camp at a campground called, The Ringing Rocks Campground, mostly because it was close to our destination. [More]

Schedel Arboretum and Gardens in Ohio

I planned out my trip with some great mid-point stops. I had never heard of the Schedel Arboretum and Gardens, but it was the perfect distance for my lunch break so I thought I would check it out.

The gardens were beautiful and I appreciated the labels identifying all the trees, shrubs, and flowers. I’ve been trying to keep a log of all the birds, bugs, and wildlife I have seen this year and having labels is much easier than trying to search the internet for photos.

The Japanese garden was beautiful and it was fascinating to see the collection of bonsai trees. [More]

Panama Rocks in Chautauqua, NY

I had seen this place on the map a few times and thought about visiting, but it was always too close for a real trip and too far for a day trip. That horrible middle ground made it an unattractive destination to me despite the beautiful photos I’d seen.

That’s another thing with visiting natural attractions like Panama Rocks. If you see too many photos of the destination you start to convince yourself that you’ve seen the best parts and there’s no need to go. Or at least I do. So when I got to Panama Rocks I was pleasantly surprised. [More]

A Random Rendezvous in New Orleans

New Orleans is one of those cities that’s likely to be on everyone’s bucket list, or at least, it was on mine. I’ve been putting off visiting for a while but took my friend up on his invite to come visit recently, and had a fantastic time.

The (Sea)Food

I love to try local food when I’m visiting somewhere and was not disappointed by anything I tried while in Louisiana. My first night in New Orleans we stopped at Draggo’s for their famous charbroiled oysters. Naturally, I got myself an Abita Strawberry beer to go with it. [More]

My Truck Camper Project

sarah-kohl-would-you-live-out-of-a-truck-ford-ranger-truck-camper-micro-home

I’ve been working on this for a little while now, but I’ve only shown a couple people the work in progress. For those who don’t know, I drive a Ford Ranger. Actually, I’ve always driven a Ford Ranger. I can’t really picture driving anything else at this point despite being capable of buying pretty much anything else.

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This is what my truck has looked like since I got it. When I got my first Ranger I remember telling my father that I didn’t want to keep the cap on the back because caps are for old men. I ditched the cap and got a roll-up tonneau cover. [More]

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You have to strive every minute to get rid of the life that you have planned in order to have the life that’s waiting to be yours. Move, move, move….

— Joseph Campbell

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So You’re Going to PAX in Boston

173H

Boston is a great city filled with history, great food, and huge events. This weekend the Boston Marathon and PAX will be going on in the city, but that doesn’t mean people going to either event shouldn’t take a few extra days to explore.

I’ll admit, the last time I spent a significant amount of time in Boston was for my school’s 6^th grade whale watch. It was an insanely fun time though we did end up on a bit of a Gilligan’s Island whale watching tour. (The boat got caught in a storm, but instead of shipwrecking us we just lost our dinner reservations and had to eat from to-go boxes on the bus.) [More]

Not All Trips Have to be Far Away

sarah kohl take day trips because they are cheap and fun

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I traveled internationally. My family went on one vacation my whole life. Even still, we took a lot of day trips locally for various events so it did feel like I was traveling a lot.

Day trips are a great way for those who are restless to fulfill their need to travel without breaking the bank. So take day trips, and take them often! And I know what people say, “there’s nothing to do around here,” but I highly doubt it. I grew up in a county where the biggest city was constantly claiming to be a “micropolitan.” [More]

There’s No Luxury on a Cruise Ship

why you should never go on a cruise and why cruise lines are evil

Let me start off by saying I’ve never been on a cruise ship. I’ve heard stories, seen pictures, and understand the appeal, but I have no desire to be on a cruise ship. It seems that, unlike everyone else, I can’t see the luxury others find in a cruise.

The idea of a cruise is great. I love boats, meeting people, and being lazy. To make it all better, a cruise is generally cheap. At face value, you can’t really go wrong. In fact, most people who tell me about their cruise vacations come back ecstatic and rave about the fantastic time they had. [More]