Best of the Rest (Weekly Links Ending 11/27/11)

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If you go to Pikes Place in Seattle... you HAVE to get a meat filled pastry at Peroski Peroski!

This past week Tony and I spent our Thanksgiving week on an amazing roadtrip up the west coast driving from San Francisco to Seattle on highway 101.  We thought this trip (a month before our RTW adventure begins) was a great way to kick off our travel awesomeness.  We were having a little TOO much fun though because we completely dropped off the face of the earth from Twitter, our blog, and barely read any articles from our favorite travel bloggers for the week.  But I did come back to some excellent reads in my Google Reader inbox when I returned.  Here are this past week’s Best of the Rest:

• Tony and I spent this past week visiting my sister and brother in-law in Seattle.  It is a beautiful city but I am curious when Nomadic Matt visited Seattle and took this great picture of the skyline…Because it rained non-stop ALL four days we were there.
• More Seattle goodness!  In this article, MJ lists all the festive holiday events that take place in this great city.   As someone who is obsessed with spreading holiday cheer (And yes, I love the movie Elf and will quote it for the entire month of December), I am so sad I left the city before hitting a few of these up!
• This article from Canada’s Adventure Couple shares a beautiful photo album of various tropical islands they have travelled to.  It is a painful article to read in winter, but I loved it nonetheless!
• Tony and I are currently investigating travel insurance options for our trip.  The more and more we research, the more important we realize it is to be covered for any unexpected accidents or illnesses on our RTW trip. The Professional Hobo shares some great articles on travel insurance – including tips for insurance you might already have without knowing it.
• During our time in South America, Tony and I plan to hike Machu Picchu but haven’t given thought to any other treks around the world that we would like to tackle.  However, after reading As We Travel’s list of Beautiful Treks Around The World, we might be adding some to our itinerary.  Do you have any additional recommendations?
• After Thanksgiving, I am all turkey’ed out… and probably 5 lbs heavier.  Nevertheless, this list of Turducken, Tofurky And 11 More Extreme Turkey Variations was a hilarious read. And the Deep Fried Buffalo Turkey sounds ORGASMIC!
• When we are travelling the world next year, we really want to put ourselves out there and build networks and friendships within the backpacking community.  It is always fun to read and hear success stories of travelers who have made lifelong friends on the road.  This story from Elise on her new friend (via Twitter) is one of these great examples
• I feel like such a granny for saying this, but I felt utterly disappointed for my country when I saw clips on news channels this past Friday showing all the Black Friday mayhem at the superstores across the states.  I am a firm believer that material things do not buy happiness, and people will often be more happy and grounded with less in their life.  Reading this article from 1Dad, 1 Kid helped solidify this belief.