On Thanksgiving Day in 2006, Patrick Powers was at the beach in Orange County, California feeling thankful for the weather that allowed him to surf. The movement of the surfer embodies a surefooted pleasure and determination as the water arcs above his head. Very well done!

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving brings you a sure footed pleasure whether you're catching waves somewhere or sitting in a easy chair waiting for your food to digest.

If you have a shot to share, send it our way at Gadling's Flickr photo pool. It might be chosen for a Photo of the Day. Powers' photo is one of the four in our pool tagged "thankful." It also appeared under "thanks."

Photo of the Day (11-14-09) originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the Day (11.24.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the day 11.23.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• I didn't realize there were so many travel contests going on during the holiday season! That would obviously make sense, but this great list gives us the 411 on how you can enter and win. [via About.com]
• Photography is my weak suit when it comes to traveling. Here are some really helpful tips on how to improve your photo-taking skills. [via Journey Etc]
• When the weather gets warmer, I am hoping to make it to eastern Europe -- and I'll be taking this guide to eastern European food with me. [via Travel Fusion]
• Talk about a different way to travel! How about travel by color? [via Open Travel]

Gadlinks for Monday 11.23.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Haunting, thought provoking and gorgeous are some of the adjectives that come to mind when looking through the photographs of Ed Alior at CNNTravel. Alior has retraced the route that William Least Heat-Moon made famous when he traveled along the back roads of the U.S. and wrote about it in his book "Blue Highways." Alior's photographs attest to how things can change over the years and what has remained the same.

Along with presenting ten of Alior's lush photographs of back-road scenery, CNN's feature, "Back-road adventurer on America's 'Blue Highways'" includes an interview with Heat-Moon.

In the interview, Heat-Moon talks about how he has seen the U.S. back-roads' landscape change over the years, both for the good and the bad. There's a tone of melancholy for what has changed--most noticeably the Mom and Pop establishments that have given way to hard times or the competition of chain restaurants.

Heat-Moon has also noticed the sprawl of cities into suburbia and on out into rural areas. As he puts it, a "'quarter of a century ago, towns that still had limits -- discernible edges -- now can look like they're getting swallowed by an inoperable cancer. . .'"

The repercussions, he feels, have altered the genuineness of place and that we haven't done much as a country to see what all this sprawl has cost us. On the other hand, he does point out positive change. It's change that is heart-warming.

As Heat-Moon traveled in the last ten years, he's noticed that there's more racial harmony and the racial slurs he used to hear pepper conversations are not being said.

Read the rest of the interview here. I was particularly interested in his take on how travel has been altered. One thing Heat-Moon has found, if you're looking for a cheap place to stay off the beaten path these days, lots of luck.

Thanks to Jaunted for pointing me in the direction of this read.

Photo essay of Blue Highways and what's changed over the years originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the Day (11.21.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sosauce, a self-proclaimed "travel geek blog," is looking for the most unique, engaging, and breathtaking postcards that celebrate the saucy side of travel. If you have a favorite travel photo, turn it into a postcard and help them decorate their boring white walls and turn the office into a travel haven.

Continue reading Enter to win Sosauce's "Decorate Our New Digs" postcard contest!

Enter to win Sosauce's "Decorate Our New Digs" postcard contest! originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the day 11.16.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the Day (11.14.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Tahiti Graffiti

Tahiti Graffiti originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Through the Gadling Lens: inspiration, courtesy of the Gadlingers

Through the Gadling Lens: inspiration, courtesy of the Gadlingers originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On the other end of the badass animal spectrum that Annie described on Monday for is the cow. The happy guy in this bucolic scene was snapped by Bernard-SD in Big Sur, California. If cows in Ohio, where I live, could see where this one munches, they'd be jealous. What a view!

If you have a shot to share, send it our way at Gadling's Flickr photo pool. It might be picked as a Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (11-11-09) originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In addition to being a traveler and a blogger, I am also, in my spare time, a full-time law student. (Should it be the other way around? Oh well.) As a future lawyer interested in criminal law, I've had a couple of opportunities to see the inside of American prisons, and they were just as you probably imagine them-- sterile without being clean, well-lit without being remotely pleasant, and overall just depressing as hell.

Because of my twin interests in criminal law and travel, I was especially interested to stumble across a post full of photographs from inside a Colombian prison, a place that most of us (let's hope) will only ever see in photographs. The shots themselves were mostly taken by the inmates at the prison, and they are the culmination of a one-week documentary photography class taught by Vance Jacobs, a photojournalist invited by an English language school in Medellin to teach eight inmates photography.

The Colombian prison system bears a lot of resemblance to the American one, with a couple notable exceptions:

• Not all inmates receive a cell. Because of overcrowding, prisoners who want a cell are expected to rent or purchase them. Those without cells are called "pirates."
• Despite popular misconceptions, many American prisons do not allow conjugal visits. In Colombia, however, about 3,500 women arrive at the prison every Sunday to "visit" with their husbands and boyfriends.
• Inmates with money may hire other inmates to cook for them, clean their cells, and do their laundry.

For the entire fascinating (to me, anyway) post, head right here.

The view from inside a Colombian prison originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the Day (11.10.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the day 11.09.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the Day (11.7.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A close-up view of a building's features is one way to show it off its beauty This Buddhist temple's door is a perfect example. LadyExpat, who took this photo in Daejeon, South Korea, moved in for an intimate look so that the textures and nuances of the blue paint, the worn wood and the metal are a study of contrasts. Plus, think of the story they tell of the people who have passed through these doors over the years.

If you have a photo of contrasts and textures you'd love to show off, send it our way at Gadling's Flickr photo pool. It may be chosen as a Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (11-4-09) originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Dim Sum Dialogues: Kowloon Walled City

Dim Sum Dialogues: Kowloon Walled City originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity" - Charles Mingus

Photo of the Day (11.3.09) originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Photo of the day 11.02.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.