Category: Uncategorized

La Brea Tar Pits – Los Angeles, CA

Posted in California, Great Fun For The Kids, Uncategorized, United StatesTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

If you have a dinosaur fanatic living with you in your home then you know how intense this fascination with all things ancient can be. While there are no actual dinosaurs here there are the remains of huge sloths, mammoths, and camels left over from the Ice Age. So while you will not see a T-Rex these other massive creatures are sure to suffice for your dino crazy kid.

DSC00278

The tar pits have been around since the Ice Age. If you are a historian you will discover that the Tongva and Chumash Native people lived in this area. They were unique boatbuilders as they used the tar naturally found in the area to seal the large cracks in their canoes.

The first written account of the tar pits come from the Portola Expedition from Father Crespi describing them as “tar volcanoes” and giving them the name Los Volcanes de Brea.

La Brea is a unique on-site museum and lab in which fossils are consistently being excavated.  You may even be lucky enough to see one being pulled from the muck. After retrieval  you can watch the bones being identified, cleaned and then displayed in the museum’s working glass-encased laboratory. With hands-on exhibits, 3-d films and lectures this is a place for people of all ages. The museum really does an amazing job of presenting fossils in creative ways to educate and keep their visitors entertained.

DSC00280

Yet, one of the most interesting things to do is to just stroll around the grounds. There you will see the tar bubbling up from the ground. The kids spent an inordinate amount of time just watching the slow rise/fall and listening to the POP of the shiny balls/bubbles of tar. Life-sized models of the long-forgotten creatures that once roamed this area can also be spied on the park-like grounds. So pack your lunch and make a day of it. Your family will be glad you did!

DSC00292

 

DSC00324

La Brea Tar Pits are located at 5801 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. They are open 7 days a week from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. There is an entrance fee.

 

 

Kharola Glacier- Tibet

Posted in Tibet, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

I just arrived home from Tibet last month and I am still trying to process the whole global warming “thing” in light of what I saw in this beautiful country. While I once thought of Tibet as the snow-bound land of the Yeti, Miche or Migoi (depending on who you ask); I now think it looks like the road between Cedar City, Utan and Las Vegas, Nevada. It is desolate, rocky, and barren. Even Mt. Everest, which we visited, looks bare in places.

The Kharola Glacier is found along the scenic road between Lhasa and Shigatse. With splendid views of Mt. Kalurong and Mt. Nojin Kangsang it is a great place to stop and stretch a bit. The glacier sits at the 17,060 ft level in a place that used to be covered in snow pretty much year round. It isn’t anymore. In fact, the glacier has receded 30-50% depending on who you ask in the past 10 years.

DSC01660

The day of our visit was beautiful. The sun reflecting off the glacier threw multiple shades of white and gray blue along its ridges. The air felt crisp and clean. Prayer flags whispered and shouted into the air depending upon where you stood.

One of the things I learned while at Kharola was that the Tibetan Buddhists believe that the flapping of the flags are in fact a chant or prayer that will be blown by the wind spreading compassion and good will. Traditional prayer flags are arranged left to right in a precise order: blue, white, red, green and yellow. These five colors represent the five elements of our world. Blue symbolizes the sky, white the wind and air, red represents fire, green is associated with water and yellow symbolizes the earth. The Tibetans believe that when these five elements are in balance that health and harmony are the result. Obviously, balance has not been achieved.

DSC01663

The sad part of it all is that we can see global warming with our two eyes just by looking at the Tibetan landscape and it now mimics the arid high desert of the Southwest in the United States. Yet, with all the changes that are glaringly obvious we do little to try and stop them. I guess people forget that in this area of the world that without snow there is less water in the rivers. Less water for irrigation equals less food that is available which means more chemicals are used to try to boost production. Less water for the people results in mass migration. It is a concern for all of us…except the yak. I expect when the glacier soon disappears he will still be standing there…the only thing that is left of interest on the pass.

DSC01657

IMG_3639

 

 

 

 

 

Rhonda Spain

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

When I think of Spain the first city that comes to mind is Rhonda. I love this mountaintop place and its vistas. The food, the weather, the town itself and the scrappy hills beyond. Everything about it is amazing and it holds fond yet distinct memories.

Julius Caesar kindly designated Rhonda a city  in late 4 A.D. The village of about 35,000 sits atop a gorge so high that when you cross the Puente Nuevo bridge you hold your breath for fear that the weight of that one breath could send it tumbling down into the ravine. The bridge, begun in 1793, is one of the most dramatic byways I have ever seen with a 352 foot drop. Stunning and spectacular it is something that must be seen to believed if not tiptoed across.

images-8
Parador de Rhonda Cliffside on left

We stayed at the historic Parador de Rhonda a clifftop hotel which overlooks the town. Housed in the old former town hall our two-level room was magnificent with parents upstairs and children sleeping below. Both the views and the building took my breath away. The pool was pretty great too.

While it has been a while since I have been to the Parador, I remember being pampered, my wish list honored, the warm sun on my face and great food. Food that took hours to consume with whispers of “other” languages filling the air as people took the time to chat, sip and let the hours slip by. That is one of the things I love about Europe…how people take the time with their food …to savor and really enjoy it. To make eating an art instead of a necessary chore and by doing so honor those who so lovingly take the time to prepare it perfectly.

I remember tapas cooked to perfection…not soggy…but with the perfect bit of moistness that hit your tongue before the steamy, rich food itself. Morcilla sausage with texture and body and a smooth taste (yes, sausage!) Sangria that sucked the parch straight out of you with its first breath upon yours. Food that was regional, good for you and left you wanting to try everything on the local menus so you would’t feel like you had missed out on a thing.

And unlike many European cities the square was beautiful and so clean you could almost lick that spilled Rojas off the ground.

Scan

Next Time: The Bullfighting Ring and Pileta Caves

 

 

 

Who I Am…Where I Have Been… And How You Can Get There Too!

Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

Travel is like a dream. It opens you to possibilities that have never existed to you before and realities that change your perception of yourself and the world. Travel frees you from your own confines and allows you to understand more about the people who surround you everyday of your life. Travel opens doors, travel teaches, and travel brings you closer to those you love. There is nothing about travel that is prohibitive except its high cost.

In this blog I will give you ideas about where to travel, when to go and how to save money so that you can visit more places and have a better time while doing it. I will give you the secrets to unlock your wallet and your world so that you can take off on your own adventures while creating memories that will last a life time.

I am lucky. I had parents who liked to travel and saw the value in it. Off we would head in our blue Rambler station wagon to places near and far. When I left home my curiosity grew and I too began to search for places that were interesting, fun and cheap. To date I have visited all 50 states and cl0se to 50 countries. I honeymooned throughout Europe and have traveled throughout many places in Asia. South America has beckoned and Scandinavia has called.

1966_0017

My attempt with this blog is not to give you a complete overview of an area but rather a bite-sized taste. Just a broad idea of what the place is like and what you might be able to do there. I will leave the several pages descriptions to the guidebooks and the internet.

So follow me while I take you on some adventures, show you how to travel with children, and explore ways to make travel fun, cheap, and exciting. Lets go…