I grew up in Oregon, California, and Colorado and subsequently received my undergraduate education at Kenyon College of Ohio. I also studied at Indiana University as well Nanjing University, Beijing University, and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China between 1986 and 1988. I then attended graduate school at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where I received an M.A. and Ph.D. in modern Chinese history. During most of the 1990s I was a farmer and cheesemaker at Chicory Farm in Mt. Hermon, Louisiana and co-owner of the Chicory Farm Cafe in New Orleans. In 1998, I moved to Nova Scotia, Canada to help establish a cheese dairy and tourism enterprise. Trout Point Lodge is a small eco-friendly wilderness resort within the Southern Nova Scotia Biosphere Reserve. It has won a 5 Green Key rating from the Hotel Association of Canada ECOmmodation program and the Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award. In 2004, my partners and I opened a 2nd eco-lodge in Costa Rica, the Inn at Coyote Mountain (www.cerrocoyote.com) and in 2006 an eco-friendly vacation rental in Granada, Spain (www.alhambravistas.com).

Re-inventing a geotourism destination in Nova Scotia, Canada From Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place - Sustaining the Future of Destinations Saved July 14, 2009 - 10:55 PM EST