#FiveYearsProject
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jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
After 12 years of traveling really intentionally, I finally made visiting Canada a priority. Why on Earth did I wait so long??? We all make mistakes, what can I say? @calgary.ca @timhortonsofficial.bsky.social #Canada #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/o-ca...
O Canada
Before I hit the "Publish" button on this post today, I had written exactly one piece in the last 12 years about time that I had spent in Ca...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
July 11, 2025 at 10:48 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
We finally scheduled a vacation in Canada. First stop: Banff National Park. Let's see what all the fuss about this Lake Louise is, shall we? #Canada #Banff @altparkscanada.bsky.social #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/blue...
Blue Canadian Rockies
So we finally made it to Canada.  A four day workweek, an early Friday morning flight out of Dulles and we were on the ground in Calgary at ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
July 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Snorkeling in Belize post time! This post was destined to be called "Under The Sea, Part Four" but Belize had other ideas. #Belize #snorkeling #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/03/octo...
Octopus's Garden
WHAMMMMM!!!!! It's late January 2025 in Belize and we are in about the tiniest boat possible racing for the shore of Ambergris Caye (pronoun...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
March 4, 2025 at 3:09 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Here’s a blog post about looking for toucans. Again. 2025 version. #Belize #FiveYearsProject fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/02/five...
Five Cans
Most of the travel I've done over the past 11 plus years has been what most website surveys would classify as "couples" travel. You know...m...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
February 1, 2025 at 1:02 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
It always is…

#FiveYearsProject #Canada
July 15, 2025 at 11:50 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
We visited both a glacier in Canada and Canada's Glacier National Park this summer. But we didn't visit a glacier in Glacier. #Canada #FiveYearsProject #ColumbiaIcefield @altparkscanada.bsky.social

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/08/i-me...
I Melt With You
We visited six Parks Canada National Parks in our week or so west of Calgary at the beginning of summer this year: Banff , Yoho, Kootenay , ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
August 25, 2025 at 5:22 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
We hit six Parks Canada National Parks in five days in late June and early July. Number five didn't start out so promising...

#FiveYearsProject @altparkscanada.bsky.social #ShareTheChair #Canada #Revelstoke

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/09/top-...
Top Of The World
Through our first four full days in the Canadian Rockies in late June and early July we had visited or traveled through four Parks Canada Na...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
September 5, 2025 at 12:50 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
In my downtime in Japan earlier this month, I spent time experimenting with haikus. #FiveYearsProject #haiku #sakura

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/haik...
Haiku
When we visited Ireland in 2019, we passed a sign directing us to the town of Limerick , the ground zero of the short form poems that seemed...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
April 18, 2025 at 7:54 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Highly recommend birding in Belize. If you need a place to go, Black Rock Lodge is pretty darned good. #whatbird #Belize #FiveYearsProject fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/02/blac...
Black Rock
In my first post about our Belize trip last month, I wrote that we went to Belize to see Mayan ruins and toucans . That was true, but that ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
February 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
One more year in the books. On to year 58. Here's what the last year has been like travel-wise. #birthday #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/06/57.h...
57
Today is my 57th birthday. It's been one of the most challenging years of my life and I mean that in a number of ways. Family-wise, my 57t...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
June 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Japan is a culinary wonderland and we didn't take advantage on this trip. But we did deep dive ramen a little bit. #ramen #FiveYearsProject #Tokyo #Yokohama

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/rame...
Ramen
The last time I spent a week or more in Japan, I came home and wrote an almost unconscionably long post about all the food we ate: gyoza,...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
April 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
I was super excited to go to Canada and paddle a canoe for the first time. Or maybe not. #Canada #kayak #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/that...
That's A Paddlin'
As of my 57th birthday (late June of this year), I had never, ever set foot or sat butt in a canoe in my life. At least I don't think I had....
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:38 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Name a Canadian food. ANY Canadian food. I know you said poutine. #Canada #FiveYearsProject #yahoostampede @calgarystampede.bsky.social

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/08/pout...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
August 29, 2025 at 1:36 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Tracking down ruins of the very thing that opened up the Canadian Rockies to tourists like me.

Last blog post about Canada (for this year). South Africa up next. #FiveYearsProject #Canada @altparkscanada.bsky.social

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/09/trai...
Train Kept A-Rollin
How great an idea are national parks? Whether it's in the United States or Canada or anywhere else around the world, what could be more insp...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
We visited six National Parks in Canada in late June and early July. Best park? Kootenay. Here's why. @altparkscanada.bsky.social #Canada #FiveYearsProject #bear

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/08/dand...
Dandelion
No those aren't dandelions. They are buffalo berries. In Kootenay National Park. This post eventually will discuss a dandelion or two. Just ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
August 8, 2025 at 1:05 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Belize birds. #Belize #FiveYearsProject
January 22, 2025 at 5:42 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Yoho was almost our lost Parks Canada national park. But then it wasn't. #Yoho #ParksStories #FiveYearsProject @altparkscanada.bsky.social

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/even...
Even The Losers
Our plan for the six Parks Canada National Parks that we visited this summer just west of Calgary was pretty simple. New day, new park. We p...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
July 26, 2025 at 12:54 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Our trip to Belize in January was supposed to be a group tour. Then I had a better idea. #Belize #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/03/intr...
Intrepid vs. DIY
When I first started writing this blog, there is no way I could have conceived of participating in anything like an organized tour for a vac...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
March 8, 2025 at 2:57 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Last Japan post (for 2025). Think gumboil machines are great in the US? Check out Japan's gashapon!!!! #Japan #gashapon #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/06/gash...
Gashapon
This is my last Japan post from our 2025 Tokyo trip. Here's hoping it won't be another seven years before we make it back over there. But th...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
June 5, 2025 at 12:16 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
For the first time in my life (and probably the last time), I rented a golf cart. No, I wasn't golfing. #Belize #LaIslaBonita #FiveYearsProject

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/03/golf...
Golf Cart Day
Our trip to Belize was set up with a perfect balance for a Central American, Caribbean Sea-facing nation: four days in the jungle on the wes...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
March 16, 2025 at 12:24 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Our 2025 Japan trip was spent mostly in Tokyo. But mostly is not all. We had to get out of town for at least a half a day. Hello, sweet potato town!!! #FiveYearsProject #Japan #sweetpotatoes

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/05/swee...
Sweet Potato Town
The planning for our 2025 Japan trip started way back in March of 2024 with a hotel reservation for eight nights in Tokyo. That hotel bookin...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
May 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Every so often I travel to a place that absolutely amazes me. This January, Guatemala’s ancient Mayan city of Tikal did that for me. #Tikal #Guatemala #FiveYearsProject fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/02/yavi...
Yavin 4
We went to the Belize jungle in search of Mayan ruins and toucans . Yes, I know, I started the last post on this blog with those exact same ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
February 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
Visited Japan and came home with a hanko. Don't know what a hanko is? Read this:

#hanko #Tokyo #Japan #FiveYearsProject #HankoLand

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/inka...
Inkan / Hanko
Sometimes when I am getting prepared to travel, I read books about wherever I am headed to get myself psyched up or in the mood or whatever ...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
April 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
jonathanhopwood.bsky.social
A visit to Japan means a few more goshuin in our gosuhin-cho. This time with twists. #Japan #goshuin #FiveYearsProject @visitjapan.bsky.social

fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com/2025/05/gosh...
Goshuin-Cho Update
Warning: complaining coming. For as long as I can remember in my life, I have been a collector. Football cards. Comic books. Stamps. Star Wa...
fiveyearsproject.blogspot.com
May 21, 2025 at 1:49 AM