It’s OK to be little at the zoo…

First of all, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is always upgrading its exhibits. No cages full of pacing animals here – they have natural habitat areas for most of their animals, with lots of interesting things for the animals to do. They just opened a new Africa exhibit, so now the elephants and rhino have wide-open areas to roam, with a waterfall and lots of vegetation. And they even have a zebra-sized ball for their zebras to play with.

Giraffes are always hungry!

They also have the best giraffe exhibit! If you get there at the right time, you can buy crackers or lettuce to feed the giraffes. The giraffes are friendly (sometimes too friendly, since they have long, slobbery tongues) and really interested in getting to know you so they can separate you from your crackers and lettuce.

Blue Cat had a great time at the zoo, and is looking forward to visiting there again soon. His family has a membership, so they can go as often as they want, and Blue Cat always gets in free because he’s so cool. Maybe he’ll see you there next time!

© William P Doyle, Jr  2013  All Rights Reserved.

Click Photograph to See Website!

On Friday afternoon on a very warm day in Colorado Springs my Girlfriend and I decided to take our hand climbing up the Incline, this 50 degree climb was a total butt kicker but the views did make it worth while. When we made it to the top of the Incline we cut our way over the Barr Trail which was a nice and easy 3 mile hike back down the Mountain. The Barr trail is also the one that anyone wanting to hike to the top of Pike Peak 14,115′ this is the trail that will take you to the top, and this is a 13.2 mile hike which will take you high above the tree line. To see more sweet pictures around Colorado just click here.

This was before we had our bbqing privileges taken away from us. It wasn’t our fault. The guy who dropped the meat off had his soju glow on and, unbeknownst to us, cranked the heat. Whatever, we got someone to come to our table, cook it for us and we got bonus meat out of the deal and some fried eggs because (for once) it wasn’t our fault!

So happy, so frazzled and slightly dehydrated…we had found Provence and fallen in love with Paju and had the most amazing adventure whilst getting lost.

What else do you do when you find two really big chairs, facing each other?…climb them! This was a lot of fun but climbing down was difficult and I ripped a giant hole in my stockings. Will we were climbing up two little guys being pulled in a wagon got upset at their grandmother for not letting them have a go.

I got introduced to bing su (빙수). It’s shaved ice with a variety of toppings. This one was berry and it was amazing!

our last rainy morning in nyc we stopped in at le pain quotidien so delicious. i got toast & soldiers which may have become my new favorite breakfast.

home we go.

xoxo,
-let them eat kate

Of course, this nothing to be upset about. I get to check another state off my  “Aunt Barb’s Travel Challenge.”   Sweet!

I’m not convinced that Dad missed our exit, but rather knew where we were and drove across the state line just for fun. Thanks Dad!

*Note: Charlotte is only a matter of a few exits from the South Carolina/North Carolina border.

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Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fin Whales are the second largest mammal on Earth after the Blue Whale and we were lucky enough to see a small group of them.  They can grow up to an incredible 27 metres long and when they’re only about 100 metres away from you that’s not far in whale body lengths!  A glimpse of a huge jaw and an eye peered at us.  And if the biologist on the boat was right we only saw a third of him.  He was gone in a flash, hiding his bulk beneath the waves.  They seem like shy creatures… In 1916 RC Andrews called them “the greyhound of the sea…for its’ beautiful slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship.” (Wikipedia)

From the sedate grace of the Fin Whales, the Orcas were just there to have fun or so it seemed.  They leapt and rolled and dived along with the boat.  They examined us from all angles; they peered at us from underneath the boat and examine the engine up close.  Born entertainers – beautiful to see their characters in the wild.  The crew was incredibly excited to see them – apparently they are rare visitors to the area.  A lone male appeared in the distance and the females left their play time with us to go and join him.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was a magical performance in the middle of the ocean.

Our trip was booked through Sunvil Holidays – www.sunvil.co.uk.  Whale watching trips can be pre-booked.

Old-fashioned rocket launcher

Launching Bang Fai is not a military exercise but rather a local version of rain dance. The origin of the festival predates Buddha and it is held annually in Laos and in some parts of northeastern Thailand. The general idea was to shoot rockets up in the sky to wake up the rain god (Phaya Thaen) and kick-start the rainy season to bring much-needed water to the rice fields just as the rice planting starts. Well. some merry-making before the hard work were also a part of the plan.

Later. Buddhist merit-making was added (Bun) thus making the festival “relevant” even as the religious base of the agrarian society changed away from its animist origin.

Rocket float

In Thailand, the biggest rocket firing takes place in Yasothon every second weekend in May. The festival starts Friday evening with concerts of “mor lam sing”, the local folk singing. The city’s main road is blocked for traffic and about a dozen stages are built to host the shows – music, raunchy skits, comedy, and traditional dance all at maximum decibel and plenty of alcohol.

Saturday, the main street is taken over by parades with floats and dancers with the different groups starting / ending their walk in temples.

Getting ready

Then Sunday, it is time for the rockets to be fired. Apart from the serious business of rain-making, there is a competition to be the local rocket champ. The team whose rocket goes the highest is declared the winner. Points are also given for beauty of the vapor trail.

Two teams prepare to launch – in foreground, black powder canisters

For any team whose rocket doesn’t get off the launch pad, it’s tradition that other teams or spectators dump them in the mud.

Left rocket launches, while rocket to the right fails.

At Yasothon, the competition rockets come in three sizes, Meun (10,000), Saen (100,000), and Lan (1,000,000), but this year, there were no lan rockets.

Waiting to be moved to launch site

*Bang Fai Lan* are nine metres long and charged with 120 kg of black powder. These may reach altitudes reckoned in kilometers, and travel dozens of kilometers down range (they can go in any direction) while Saen merely disappear into the clouds. Many rockets have parachutes, but most fall where they may.

Rocket Workshop – bamboo sticks are rammed into the PVC tube to compress the black powder.

I have arrived to Osaka to launch Monki in Japan and it is going to be EPIC and  Let’s start with Osaka. (More later). And if you wonder what Monki is? Here:www.monki.com  And same time when you browse website and order some amazingh clothes, listen Monki playlists. My favorite is G.NA       ( dear friend) and LCMDF ( Music monsters from Finland). http://www.monki.com/Monki_World  

Street view. Note that Monki and Weekday share’s same building!! How cool is that! http://shop.weekday.com/

If you find this magazine.. GET IT NOW!!! These are rare in Europe!!! Becouse that Mag is Rad!!!

                               Also small article about Monki in Nylon (Japan). I’ll post more.

German Sailboat at Dusk

We decided to do a tour of the Naval Academy because on previous visits we ended up wandering aimlessly through the expansive campus, overwhelmed by the immensity of the stately buildings.  Our tour guide, a chipper transplant from the Northeast, gave us a blend of historical information with interesting tidbits about the life of “Mids”, as the students are known at the Naval Academy.  The tour was well worth the cost ($10.00 for Adults/ $8.00 for Seniors) as we were able to see the impressive athletic facilities, residential buildings, and ceremonial space.

Naval Academy

The above pictured Bancroft Hall was designed by architect Ernest Flagg, who was influenced by his time in Paris and bankrolled by Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The Hall houses all the Midshipmen that reside at the Naval Academy in a series of wings that radiate from the front entrance.  Residential rooms are off limits to visitors; however, there is a display of the room setup showing the requirements for the white glove/black sock inspections.

Dahlgren Hall

Also designed by Flagg, we were impressed by Dahlgren Hall, which provides event facilities and houses a plane that was designed to demonstrate the role of aircraft in the Navy.  Originally designed as an armory, the building has also since been used as ice skating rink.  Our guide shared with us that the funding for the current lounge area was donated by Ross Perot, one of the many prestigious graduates of the Academy.  Finally, we visited the tomb of revolutionary war hero John Paul Jones in the chapel.  I found the story fascinating of the hunt for his body, which eventually led to a forgotten Paris cemetery.  To identify the body, researchers intended to use the science of the time to measure skull dimensions compared to existing busts that were made; however, the body was so well preserved that the technique was unnecessary.

Woodwind Sailboat

After checking into the Maryland Inn, we boarded the Woodwind Sailboat, which gives guided tours around Annapolis and docks outside the Waterfront Marriott.  The ride was joy, gliding on the open water and partaking in hoisting sails, taking the helm, and watching the Captain navigate by  shifting course known as ”tacking” to capture the wind.  Our route took us through a sailboat race where we saw a Spinnaker sail, which is a lightweight colored balloon like sail that extends out to capture additional wind.  We also managed to get into a good-natured spat with another sailboat that the Captain knew as we fired a “cannon” and sailed off.

Chick and Ruth’s Delly

The next morning we were nourished by the colossal size portions at Chick and Ruth’s Delly, yet managed to bypass a numerous eating challenges visited by the show Man Vs. Food, including a six pound milkshake.  The cozy atmosphere inside contains the busy clanging sound of silverware while you climb over people to reach your table and squeeze into a booth that seems in no way proportional to the size of the food.

Annapolis Statehouse

Before leaving, we were able to fit in a trip to the Maryland Statehouse that temporarily served as the United States Capitol.  The building hosted the historic event of George Washington’s resignation from the post of Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army and symbolized the democratic principles of the founding of the Country.  This action was so significant it was chosen as one of the four revolutionary scenes to be included in John Trumbull’s paintings in the Capitol building in Washington, DC.  Although the room is currently under restoration, on display is the final draft of the speech showing the last edits that Washington made before delivering the speech.

Everything was fine until the United Airlines robot called the evening before the 8am flight and informed us the first leg to Denver was going to leave 3 hours late, missing our connecting flight. An emergency call to United yielded a surprisingly polite, sympathetic and totally helpful lady in Hawaii. In about half an hour we had eliminated about 4 lesser options and settled on Boston to Cleveland to Denver to Santa Fe. With our “no change or refund” Hotwire car rental awaiting us at Santa Fe airport, it was the best we could do.

The major drawback was the new 6am flight time. Since my son was driving us to Logan, we now had to awaken at 3am to be at his place by 4:20am to make the flight. Thank you Douglas!

Twelve hours after we woke up, we finally arrived in Santa Fe, got the rental Dodge Avenger and started the 65 mile drive to Taos. We shut off the GPS and left the highway in search of the famed “High Road” to Taos. After riding through back country somehow reminiscent of the poorer parts of rural Spain, we stumbled across the road we sought.

The “High Road” outside Truchas, NM. Note the town spelled out in rocks on the hillside.

A church in Las Trampas from 1700.

Las Trampas home.

Lots of agricultural ruins, typical of rural areas everywhere, but with a distinct southwest feel. I am a ruins fan. You can visit Disney, just gimme the abandoned stuff.

Ditto.

It was a fun drive through the mountains for about three hours. The whole Santa Fe-Taos region is high desert with mostly scrubby trees and bushes. Lots of trailers with abandoned cars and pickups, tumbledown barns and sheds and also some ancient adobe churches.

NM is beautiful in its way, but has a lot of poverty. The road signs announce you are entering the territory of this reservation or that while the landscape makes you wonder how anyone could scrape a living out of the parched rocky soil. There must be four Indian casinos just on the main road from SF to Taos.

We also saw dozens of little roadside shrines, evidently to loved ones killed on the highways. They were greatly outnumbered by the discarded beer bottles along most all of these rural roads. Perhaps the two phenomena are related. Whatever, they could use a bottle bill.

And everywhere you looked were museums, art galleries, historical buildings (mostly adobe or faux adobe) supporting the regions tourist reputation as an art haven.

We checked in at the Worldmark, a wooden timeshare complex with the inevitable Southwest theme. Our room was a bit disappointing, (with a Murphy bed!) being small and cramped. There are nice suites here, for the Wyndham folk evidently, but the RCI guests get steerage. The location is superb, however, in the heart of downtown, surrounded by restaurants and galleries and other tourist magnets. We’re good here.

A Murphy bed

Everything else in the room.

So we went out for provisions. One interesting note, all the liquor bottles at the supermarket worth more than $10 had electronic anti-theft devices over their caps. Hmmmmm.

Anti-theft caps in action.

Well, it’s time to pull down the ol’ Murphy bed and get some shuteye. It’s been a long day and we are looking forward to a walking tour of Taos tomorrow.

Shots from the Lotus Lantern Festival, in Seoul, last weekend. This marked the start of the week long celebration for Buddha’s birthday.

The Azores archipelago (including the islands of Flores, Corvo, Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico, Faial, Santa Maria and São Miguel). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The nine Portuguese islands are located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean between Portugal and America. Discovered during the 15th century, it’s hard to imagine what those first sailors saw. Black cliff faces, the crashing Atlantic seas and untamed vegetation. Even now the vegetation grows so densely that I can’t imagine what it was like if it was untamed – it would have represented a jungle. The first settlers must have had a battle on their hands hacking their way through to create habitable areas to grow crops. On Pico for example (not visited on this trip but have previously seen) the vines grow out of the volcanic rock in very little soil.

Strategically, the islands were a perfect stopping point for sailors and traders travelling between Europe and the New World and the main towns were well defended against pirates. In more recent times the Azores became a lifeline for the Allies in the First World War who used Horta and Ponta Delgada as safe harbours. In World War Two the Azores joined the Allies late in the conflict but built small airstrips on several of the islands for the British and American troops. The Azores proved vital in protecting trans-Atlantic crossings from German U-boats. And although the loss of ships was large the arrival of the airstrips evened out the numbers and then turned those numbers into the Allies’ favour. Post war Santa Maria’s airstrip became a stopping point for transatlantic flights until planes were able to do the journey non stop.

The small and unassuming islands have an incredible history and so few people have heard of them. They don’t lend themselves to being shouted about – they are relaxed, quiet and an explorer’s paradise. The natural beauty is outstanding and you can feel like the first person to discover a crater/lake/rocky inlet. Imagine what those first settlers felt when they saw these things…

Our trip was booked through Sunvil Holidays – http://www.sunvil.co.uk.

Our very strategically-placed hostel provided us easy access to the BTS Skytrain. It was funny that most people in the train were foreigners, and almost everyone alighted on the Mo Chit Station. From there, we just followed the crowd of people assuming that they were all headed to Chatuchak. They all were.

Chatuchak is huge. Initially, we entered the alleys of stores selling handicrafts. Not our thing. Then, there were the rows of seemingly second-hand clothes and shoes. Not our thing too. Then, finally, we saw the brand-new clothes! Yipee!

Pants of all colors!

Souvenir t-shirts, anyone?

A very cute shirt!

Though I knew that Chatuchak wasn’t exactly the cheapest when it comes to clothing (I’ve seen cheaper clothes in Pratunam a few years back), I have to say that those in Chatuchak were better-looking. Here, you’d see anywhere from plain cheap clothes, to export overruns, from souvenir t-shirts to imitation ones. You could also find shoes, sunglasses, pants, caps, etc. They have it all. I wasn’t intent on buying anything when I went there, but I already spent a thousand bahts before I knew it!

In between stores, you can savor some snacks — cold snacks perfect for a humid day, and fried ones good for a grumbling tummy.

Cooking while dancing! A Spanish chef did just that

Chocolate-covered banana with sprinkles

Ice drop for few bahts

Coconut Ice Cream, with real coconut and some peanuts

Fried food in skewers!

Fruit shakes

About four hours later, we were done shopping. We didn’t go to the other parts of the market anymore — which included art works, home decor, and gardening stuff. Good thing we’re all young and single!

Since it was already a bit past noon, we decided to have lunch on the side of the street. We ordered Pad Thai Goong (I still think it’s the best Thai dish ever!). Nom, nom, nom. It was very tasty, plus it surely was authentic. I’m sure my parents wouldn’t have eaten there. Oh, the perks of traveling with friends. Haha! 

First meal in Bangkok: Pad Thai Goong

More on Bangkok next time! Happy travels!

You may also like:

• Bangkok: A Getaway with Friends
• A Weekend in Baler
• Oh Borobudur!
• Chatuchak Market
• Top 5 Shopping Areas in Bangkok

Once we got food and COFFEE in our system, it was time to stroll around….

Sunset. Iloilo City river.

What’s nice about sunset? It’s more colorful than sunrise.

Saxon Garden

Fountain at the Saxon Garden

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Devastation of Warsaw post WW2

The view from my first lunch stop

Enjoying the sun

Central Warsaw overlooking the Polonia Palace

Lunch a la Warsaw

Water Tower Łazienki Park

Poppies overlooking the fountain

Overlooking the Palace on the water

The Palace on the Water

Squirrel Frolicking

Warsaw Uprising Museum

Inside the Museum

Out in Old Town

Night in Warsaw

Perogi