travel

Galveston, Port of Storms

 in Snowbirding / Texas  tagged Galveston / Galveston Hurricane of 1900 / high water marks / history / island / sculpted trees / sea wall / storms / survivors / travel by

Galveston history makes for a strong role model in challenging times.  The Galveston hurricane of 1900 is still counted the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States.   After a night of battering wind and waves, survivors found much of their thriving city demolished if not washed away.  Islanders had no contact with the mainland, no water, lights, fuel, or water.  Many had no shelter.  Food and clothing were scarce.  The task of disposing of over 6,000 bodies was so gruesome that men had to be forced at gunpoint to take part, and whiskey was allotted to ease their anguish.  After dumping the bulk […]

Suffering Sweetness

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Peru / Wildlife/animals  tagged blackflies / bloodsuckers / butterfly / butterfly garden / Florida / Minnesota / mosquitoes / New Foundland / Peru / Thanksgiving / ticks / travel by

After a walk in a Minnesota park I glanced at my shoes and started tearing my clothes off.  Ticks were swarming my laces, storming my socks, and breaking ground on my shins.  The battle was epic.  In Florida, mosquitoes ravaged my legs right through my leggings until I looked like I’d been kick-boxing cactus.  In Newfoundland, heavy clothes helped, but blackflies left knots all over my neck.  Then a Peruvian butterfly garden specimen perched on my arm and begin shoving its proboscis at my skin…drinking my sweat? Steve may be right about my being a bug magnet.  My parents used to call me “Sweetness” which sounds nice, but I’m beginning to suspect it […]

Bridging 4

 in Gratitude / New Mexico / Snowbirding / Travel media  tagged American Indians / Bennet Spring State Park / bridges / Foundation for Alcoholic Research / New Mexico / Rio Grande Gorge / Royal Gorge / suicide / Sydney Harbor / Taos Pueblo / The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian / travel / wish list by

I’m a bridge walker which is nothing like a street walker.  I just love bridges. I’ve walked the Brooklyn, Sydney Harbor, Royal Gorge, Multnomah Falls, London (in Lake Havasu) and pretty much every other bridge I could get my feet on. But until Steve and I walked the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge outside Taos, New Mexico, I’d never seen a bridge equipped with a phone offering on-the-spot suicide counseling. Ten of those hotlines were spaced along the Rio Grande Gorge’s span. Why is suicide such an issue there?  A Taos Pueblo tour guide told us that young American Indians are two to three times more […]

Dog Gone 2

 in Snowbirding / Travel tips / Wildlife/animals  tagged Blue Grass music / Cherokee Alabama / coon dog cemetery / Deep South / Labor Day festival / Liars Contest / travel by

In search of attractions to add to our Deep South itinerary, I came across a coon dog cemetery.  I like dogs and cemetery strolls, but I think it’s enough to know that this coon dog cemetery exists. If you’re thinking of adding it to your list, Labor Day might be the time to go.  An annual festival includes Bluegrass music, hickory smoked barbecue, decorated graves, and a Liars Contest telling tall tales.  No, really, it’s true!

High Tide Horror? 2

 in Canada  tagged Bay of Fundy / highest tide change / Maitland / Nova Scotia / rafting the tidal bore / travel by

  The Bay of Fundy claims the world’s highest tidal change, and in Maitland, Nova Scotia that water runs unsettlingly red. Our tidal bore guide rafted us out to a sandbar, invited us out of the raft, and insisted that we go watch the tide cover the sandbar. None of us seemed too keen on the idea of walking the length of a drowning sandbar, but the experience turned out to be my favorite of the trip. As the floodwater’s shallow leading edge lapped over sand ripples, it made a cheerful, almost tinkly, sound. The pink wavelets seemed to be whispering and chuckling like cute horror show “innocents” […]

House Haunter on the Loose

 in Louisiana / Snowbirding  tagged amputations / Avenue Plaza Resort / Civil War / ghosts / graffiti / haunted house / Louisiana / New Orleans / piano / toys / travel by

The Avenue Plaza Resort in New Orleans offers a pool, rooftop sundeck, fitness center…and a haunted house? Yes, a Civil War era house occupies the resort’s back corner, and on certain evenings, hotel employees offer free tours. Our guide was new and had only heard rumors of ghostly goings-on.  She’d been told that twelve ghosts inhabit the house which was used as a hospital (amputation factory) during the war.  One of the ghosts objected to visitors playing her piano.  Another sometimes rearranged the toys on one of the beds. If our hosts were in, they apparently were not feeling it.  Vigilant as we […]

Celebrity Sauce

 in Louisiana / Snowbirding  tagged Avery Island / Bird City / ecology / factory tour / fermentation / hot sauce / Louisiana / McIlhenny family / Mr. Ned / salt mine / snowy egret / Spanish moss / spreading oaks / Tabasco / travel by

The Avery Island, Louisiana Tabasco Factory tour is about what you’d expect and not at all.  Inside, the factory is the typical sterile, automated, conveyor belt, assembly line.  Not the sort of thing you usually find in the midst of a jungle island.  The McIlhenny family has taken pains to preserve the beauty and habitat for generations.  Back in 1895, before ecology was even a thing, “Mr. Ned” founded Bird City, a refuge to foster a colony of the then endangered snowy egrets. Having spent my life in a prairie, I treasure trees, and massive oaks draped in Spanish moss are especially enchanting.  It was good that I was more than happy just hanging […]

Want a Hug?

 in Wildlife/animals  tagged animal behavior / Denver aquarium / hugs / sea urchin / travel by

Believe it or not most visitors to the touch pool at the Denver Aquarium  take me up on the offer and get a thrill out of their hug.  Why do these sea urchins gently squeeze our finger between their spines when we give them a chance?  I’d tell you, but I’m afraid that if I look it up I’ll find out that the “hug” is  an unfriendly reflex of some kind, and that would spoil everything.

Weird Job

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged archer fish / Denvery aquarium / dolphin research / L'Anse aux Meadows / Pueblo Chieftain / Rookery Bay / sea urchin / shark tagging / travel / University of Miami / Viking lodge / whale watching by

When our local paper asked for wacky, wonderful job stories, I had to share mine: “Can I squirt him in the eye?”  I felt weird being so blunt with the brave little geek in braids, but having graduated from high school in the seventies, I knew I’d feel weirder negotiating with five teens over shark tagging tasks.  So when the grad students got our shark situated under their bodies, I got to test his reflex, and his eye membrane nictated nicely which meant that he wasn’t too stressed.  On the next round I clipped a bit of tissue off another […]

Sea Quest: Florida

 in Florida / Our Quest / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Dolphin Research Center / Dolphins / Dry Tortugas / Florida / manatee / Miami Beach / Rookery Bay / sea llife / sea turtle / sharks / snorkeling / travel / turtle skull / University of Miami by