Travel Tips & Adventures

For most people, a trip on an ocean liner is not something they would consider. It takes longer to get places that way and delays arrival at a destination.

Since The Queen Mary is now docked in Long Beach, California, the Queen Mary Hotel can provide an approximation of what it would have been like to travel the Atlantic in style.

Queen Mary from Long Beach

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We had been invited to spend time with the Queen, the ship the Queen Mary, that is.

Docked permanently in Long Beach, California, the cruise liner Queen Mary saw many years of active service until it reached its current permanent berth.

Queen Mary with Russian submarine

Now a hotel, tourist attraction and historical museum, the Queen is a venerable ship that first plied the waters in the time just before World War II. The passenger capacity was almost 2,000, with the crew representing a little more than half that number.

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Los Angeles is known for being the center of the movie world, covered with a layer of smog, and dense with cars on crowded highways. It is all of those things, but much more.

Traveling up the coast of California from San Diego, there are a number of glamorous beach towns and resorts and a clear view of the Pacific Ocean that makes it understandable why people would live in LA. From almost anywhere in California, you can be at the beach within a couple of hours. There is something calming and restorative about being near an ocean.

We chose a recent weekend to visit LA, not our first visit and certainly not our last. The climate was balmy with daytime temperatures in the 80 degree (Fahrenheit) range with a breeze blowing to keep it cool. For people who live in Arizona and endure 115 degrees in summer, it is heaven!

We crammed our weekend full of fun adventures that we’ll share, including our observations and suggestions. Some new experiences we’ll share include a visit to Griffith Park, including an observatory and a merry-go-round, an afternoon at the Getty Center, and a shopping trip to the LA Farmer’s Market.

Tomorrow: Some details about our visit to the Queen…the Queen Mary.

When people think of art museums, they think of stuffy places with art that is centuries old. At Phoenix Art Museum, they’ve have a collection of older works, but have expanded their exhibit space to include a light-filled new wing with an eye appealing collection of modern art.

(The centuries-old masters are there – even a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, for example.)

 
But, head to the back because the new wing features riveting and thought-provoking modern art.

Experimentation with mediums is the name of the game. Felt, resin, plexiglass, burnt wood, mirrors, metal buckets, lights, blown glass, books, plaster, pottery, ceramic, and the more conventional – oil or acrylic on canvas- are all on display.

Modern artists are anything but stuffy!

Feet as art - Seascape #14 by Tom Wesselman

 Who would think that a giant, plexiglass foot could be so appealing?  Tom Wesselman’s “Seascape #14” is three-dimensional and just jumps out at you.  Colorful, to say the least!

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Looking for an Old West experience that’s fun for the family? Then, head to Rawhide, if you’re in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

"Come and Get It" greets visitors at Rawhide's entrance

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A sense of wonder is truly important when exploring the natural world. When you visit Kartchner Caverns, you will be amazed at how nature performs.  A drive south of Tucson, Arizona leads you to an eye-opening display where colors and formations dazzle you underground.

Kartchner Caverns entrance

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Remember when all you had to do was call for an airline reservation and some friendly person would talk to you?

Cost: Free

Then, as technology advanced you were given the option to book online OR, call that friendly reservation agent.

Cost: Free (for either service)

Fast forward to the year 2009. The following keywords are now in full force: Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone loves a day at the zoo!  And one of the best zoos is the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.  Get on your comfortable walking shoes and plan to spend a day visiting the animals with your human animal family, because the zoo is even more fun with kids.

It’s All Happening at the Zoo

There is often a newborn – animal, that is – that creates quite a stir.  

The pandas are one of the prime attractions at the zoo.  With everyone jockeying for position, it may be hard to get some great photos.  It was fun watching the pandas, though, as they ate their bamboo and lumbered about.  They are so big and fluffy that you have to remind yourself that they are bears, so I was glad of the separation from them.

There are three pandas to view these days and they are playful and fun to watch, but sometimes, not totally active.  Hey, you wouldn’t want to move around a lot in the DC heat and humidity, either!

Playful Panda with Bamboo

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What better way to celebrate USA’S birthday than a visit to Washington, DC!

Imagine standing in bone-chillingly freezing weather near a large, manmade lake (The famous Tidal Pool) with two impressive monuments across from you, just waiting for sunrise.  That was the scenario for me several years ago in Washington, DC during the spring cherry blossom season.

Almost on a dare, I decided to try photography at sunrise since I’d always heard it was the best.  Well, it was, but the cold was so numbing that I almost couldn’t get my fingers to push the camera shutter.

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Jefferson Memorial at Sunrise

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When a group of upstart colonists decided they wanted self-governance back in the 1770s, there was a hotbed of activity in Boston, Massachusetts.

Names familiar to many American schoolchildren – Paul Revere, John Adams and others – resided in Boston or the nearby area.

Paul Revere statue

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