travel

Legacy Longhorns

 in Snowbirding / Texas / Wildlife/animals  tagged cattle drive / Fort Worth Texas / longhorns / stockyards / travel by

Fort Worth’s stockyards as tourist attraction?  It didn’t sound like a bucket-list item, but we needed a road trip stopover, so we gave it a try.  The historic tour set in turn-of-the-century brick cattle pens, turned out to be a real find.  The prime rib and smoked catfish were also exceptional. The cattle drive wasn’t so much — for good reason.  Pushing a rambunctious herd of longhorns past a lineup of small children would be insanity.  Still a half-dozen deadheaded longhorns escorted by shushing cowhands makes for a laughably lackluster spectacle. Indeed, the saddled photo-op steer on a street corner put […]

Snub Boat? 2

 in Travel tips  tagged cruise ship etiquette / Cruising / dolphin presentation / sophisticated travelers / travel by

I hadn’t realized what cruising has done for me until a writer friend dithered over her clothes and etiquette while attending my dolphin presentation at the local country club.  Before my first cruise I was equally stressed that all those rich, sophisticated people would look down their noses at me.  Now that I’ve spent a couple months sailing with seriously wealthy cruisers, I say “no worries Mate.”  There are always people looking for ways to feel superior, but Steve and I found that most frequent-cruisers are looking for friendly conversations rather than one-up ops.  People who are into status games must have a tough time figuring out who to snub because multi-millionaires generally dress and act the way they want to.  A […]

Death Squirt

 in Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged archer fish / Colorado / Denver aquarium / mangrove swamp / travel / volunteer work by

A beetle picked his way along a branch above a mangrove swamp. Wham! A geyser of water smacked him right in the kisser, dropping him into the water where he was snatched down a hungry gullet. On the other side of the globe, in Denver’s Downtown Aquarium, an innocent child climbs a ladder to stretch his arm over an exhibit and offer the fish a cricket. Wham! A powerful spurt smacks his palm dead-center, jolting the little guy with backsplash. The exhibit and swamp are each populated by hand-sized archer fish which specialize in precision squirts ranging to six feet.  I’d been captivated by an article about archers sometime back and am thrilled to find that the Denver aquarium not only has archer fish, it […]

Sloth Blockage

 in Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Columbia / jungle / sloths / travel by

“Sloths look sweet but they can tear your jugular out with one swipe.” Our volunteer trainer at the Denver aquarium reminded me of a photo shoot I had with a sloth in Columbia.  As you can see below the little guy’s claws did put me on edge. The handler wrapped the sloth’s legs around me slowly as if its limbs required extra time to move, and they did feel stiff, almost creaky. Sloth is not a weakness in the sloth’s case.  It’s about surviving in a predatory jungle.  An animal that moves slowly and sparingly is hard to spot.  Sloths do have […]

Roadside Romeo

 in New Mexico / Signs / Snowbirding  tagged country woman / Lonesome Dove / Lordsburg / New Mexico / romance / travel by

Spotted on a magnetic sign on a pickup truck in desolation New Mexico: Lonesome Dove seeking country woman for dinner and dancing. Would you give roadside romance a chance?

Valdez Falls Fascination

 in Alaska  tagged Alaska / Bridal Veil Falls / Horsetail Falls / travel / Valdez / waterfalls by

The water cascades off in knots as if the drops wait for reinforcements. Courageous en masse, they loft, catch-air, then sheet down in the extended train dubbed Bridal Veil–or  Horsetail, depending on who you ask.  Horsetail Falls/Bridal Veil is a symphony of tens of thousands of tiny falls foaming over a tumbled rock face. The pictures don’t begin to do them justice. Waterfalls are a full-body experience, the spray, the rush, the power. An ultimate commune-with-nature place.

Talking Crap

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / bear scat / bears / hibernation / travel / travel guide by

Bear scat ought to be too icky to draw interest, but it’s so readable. It doesn’t even stink if the bear’s eating vegan. I was lured into the topic by an Alaskan guide who said that bears eat dirt, rocks, and moss to plug their systems for hibernation. It turns out not to be true. Bears do rid themselves of “plugs” after they hibernate, but hidden hibernation cameras reveal that dirt, leaves, and hair get lapped in as sleepy bears groom themselves through the winter. Much as I love guides, I need to remember they may not know squat.

If You Know What These Are…

 in Alaska  tagged Alaska / snow bent trees / snow loops / travel by

You might be an Alaskan. Why are the trees bent? Snow easing downhill puts pressure on young trunks and gives them saggy knees. I’m sure I recall a guide telling us that these bends are called “snow loops” but I can’t find any confirmation.  Anyone out there know?

Urban Alaska Adventure

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / Anchorage / camping / city park / moose / river trail / travel / urban wildlife by

Our Anchorage campground, bordering two noisy highways, was a dreary necessity, but it backed up to an alluring river trail.  The leafy woods had me so enamored that even the debris from a couple of squatter camps didn’t deter me.  Down the way, the trail led me meandering through a wide-open park.  After weeks in the wilds, the sprawling green seemed unrealistically civilized, and then unreality took an Alaskan turn.  Between the soccer fields and playgrounds and spandexed bikers, Daisy and I came across a moose grazing on a willow thicket, maybe six feet off the path.  With her homely head hidden in the willows, she might have passed for a large horse, but I saw enough to give her wide berth.  Messing with moose, I’m […]

Anti-Oops Checklist for Booking Flights

 in Travel tips  tagged airlines / avoiding ticket errors / flight booking checklist / layovers / purchasing airline tickets / travel / Travel tips by

The more we travel, the more Steve and I stress over booking plane tickets.  We know how easy it is to overlook an important detail and how much misery a little slip-up can inflict.  Strangely enough, checklists for avoiding such problems seem to be hard to find.  Here’s ours. Anti-Oops Checklist for Booking Flights Before you start, write down required departure and return dates, ground transportation hours, airport names and anything else you are unsure of, so you can easily check them. Before you click, check: –Arrival date for every flight –Are your departure and arrival times reasonable?  Is your 2 pm really 2 am? –Do your layovers allow enough time to make […]