The Distracted Wanderer

From luxury tented pavilions and modernized American motor lodges to Georgian splendor, America is home to no shortage of beautiful high-end hotels . In addition to gorgeous architecture that reflects the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, America’s luxury hotels also offer the benefit of a myriad of amenities for you to take advantage of. This holiday season, luxury travel is on the cards for at least 47% of Americans, who are spending around $510 more on average  than they did last year. Luxury travel needn’t involve great distances, either – 60% of Americans plan to take a trip within their home state.   Camp Sarika, Canyon Point, Utah  Camp Sarika is a luxury desert retreat comprising ten large canvas-topped pavilions right in the heart of Utah’s awe-inspiring, slotted-canyon desert. Designed to provide guests with optimal privacy, along with uninterrupted panoramic desert views, the pavilions are made from stretched canvas covers made from recycl...

Update: It is with great sadness that I have to add to this post that the beautiful Sycamore tree that stood in the gap was felled sometime during the overnight on Thursday, September 28th, 2023. Needless to say there has been an outpouring of both sadness and rage all over the world at the senseless and cruel loss of this iconic tree and I am right there with them. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to visit it when I did. Nestled within a gap along the Great Whin Sill, Sycamore Gap is a natural amphitheater located on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England between Milecastle 39 and Crag Lough, about 2 miles west of Housesteads Roman Fort . This section of the 73-mile wall follows the edge of a cliff and has several sharp dips in it caused by melting glacial waters - the tree occupies one of those dips. The wall and adjacent land, including the site of the tree, is owned by the National Trust and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area not just f...

Lying midway on Hadrian's Wall atop a steep escarpment of the Great Whin Sill , Housesteads Roman Fort once played a vital role in defending the Roman province of Britannia from attack along the northern border of their empire. One of the best excavated and preserved Roman forts in Britain, the fort is well worth a visit if you’re interested in the history of the Roman army and their way of life. If, by chance, you really couldn't give two hoots about the Roman army and their history, Housesteads is still well worth a visit as it's located in one of the most dramatic spots in Northumberland!   Hadrian's Wall , also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Hadriani in Latin, is a former  73-mile (80 Roman miles) long defensive fortification that ran east to west across northern England from the Solway Firth to the River Tyne.  Built by the Romans beginning in about AD 122 under the orders of then-Emperor Hadrian, the wall took at least six years to compl...