Vegas Baby!

Vegas Baby! Now what about that statement doesn't spell FUN in capital letters? That's right nothing. FUN, fun, FUN.

The best website for one stop shopping for all your Las Vegas Deals. Not sure where to stay, no problem 100 hotels available with a check availability calendar at your finger tips. Las Vegas Hotels starting at $22.00 a night. Maybe you're not "into" gambling and visiting the casinos just isn't your cup of tea. Plug in a date for availability and pick a show or two. Las Vegas Shows, with plenty of discounts available. Promo codes, discount coupons. Some shows listed at 50% off. Now that's a deal you don't want to miss out on.

So whats so special about Las Vegas? You're not a gambler, you're not into the shows. There's still plenty to do. Take advantage of the many Las Vegas Specials, rent a car, take a tour, go shopping; or use the hand search tool available and find the best possible pool to relax or play in and simply sit back and enjoy yourself. With these prices you can afford to take the whole family.

Yes, there's plenty to do in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Like ART.......
Like to site see?

Or......maybe the Night Lights are your scene.

Preparing for Summer Travel with Children

Summer is officially here, kids are out of school in most areas or soon will be. Families are beginning to think and plan for family vacations, and family outings. Vacations in these economic times might be a bit more varied then in other years. Think of day trips, things to see and do that don't involve the cost of a hotel room. Pack picnic lunches and take snacks and save the money you might otherwise spend at various fast foods.

Think outdoors, think fun, think educational, think Family, think Children. Everyone loves to go to the Zoo. Most metropolitan areas have a zoo. Check on line for discounts that maybe available for "special days". Can you gather the neighborhood, the kids of your co-workers and obtain a group discount?

Grab your sunscreen and make a day of it. Remember small children tire and need breaks, they need to be able to keep moving and not wait in lines, they need bathroom breaks, they need good walking shoes for protection and comfort. No one wants to carry a hot sticky child. If one area is especially busy, pass it by and find something else of interest. Engage the children in the conversation. What do you know about animal x y z? Have you seen one before? How big do you think they are? Take pictures, but keep them at a minimum. Children tire of that very quickly. Use sunscreen and find shade when you can. The happier the child or children are the better time everyone will have.

Prepare them ahead of time....if you're traveling to get to the zoo (or other attraction), do a writing exercise about what they'll see when they get there. Children do better when they know what to expect. Older children can write a journal about their day which can include the traveling to and from, as well as what they saw and did while there.

Follow Beco and his mother to visit with their friends on Animal Talk

**if you missed traveling to The Mission with me, see my previous post
****I'll be writing as a quest blogger Sat 13th on Animal Talk, be sure and check it out

Mission San Carlos Borrome'o de Carmel, Traveling in California

Spain wished to colonize The California Lands, the Catholic Franciscan order wished to bring Christianity to the Natives, and thus The Mission period (1769-1835) along The El Camino Road was born. El Camino Real, the road to connect the 21 missions along the California coast made traveling from one to the other possible.

Mission San Carlos Borrome'o de Carmel, the 2nd oldest of these missions was named for Saint Charles Borromeo. It is considered to be the most beautiful of all the missions and was the headquarters. Father Junipero Serra built the mission, his favorite and is infact buried beneath the alter. This is a must see, and is just south of the city of Carmel.

There is much to see while traveling throughout the grounds, diorama's depicted it's early history, original bibles, pictures showing the various stages of The Mission, a grave yard, beautiful gardens with statues, and of course an impressive gift shop.












Secularization occurred in 1834 putting an end to the missions. They were all sold to private parties, except the church which fell into terrible disrepair. It stood empty, with a collapsed roof for 30 years. The first attempt at repair/rehab took place in 1884, and the 2nd in 1930.

If you're traveling with children make a point to spend ample time in front of these diorama's. There are several and detail is fabulous. Would also be a great way to introduce your children to making a diorama of vacation once they return home.



Touring this mission is very educational for people of all ages, I highly recommend it. What a peaceful thing to do with the family after a hectic hot day at the beach, or perhaps on a rainy day while on vacation. Encourage the kids to write about their visits to interesting places while you travel.

Traveling The Historic Apache Trail, Arizona

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Here I am, your friendly tour guide.

Come travel with me as we tour and enjoy our trek into some rugged country in Arizona along The Historic Apache Trail. There's much to see, it's a full day. Most of my reading about this trail before hand indicated the trail took 5 hours, is 41.5 miles in length, and begins 15 miles outside of Phoenix at Apache Junction. The information I read did not indicate how truly rugged the roads were, that bathrooms were limited, and food even more scarce. The scenery though is well worth it. Beautiful outcroppings, sheer mountains, remote desert areas with cactus and lizards, a ghost town, mountains, hiking, camping, and Ancient Ruins. We spent the entire day...well beyond the 5 hours noted.. You'll experience hairpin turns as your drive through the Sonora Desert and see two common cactus -- Saguaro and Fero.

I suggest beyond my usual note to wear sensible comfortable shoes (which do not include flip flops or sandals), a bottle or two of water, you bring a picnic. There is only 1 place to eat along The Historic Apache Trail, and the offerings there (Tortilla Flat), are very very limited. A another word to the wise, do NOT pass up any opportunity to use a bathroom........it's a long day with only a few places available and most of those are pit toilets. You might also be wise to carry tissues. The shoes are needed to avoid the dirt, dust, and cactus. You will be traveling twisting, wilderness type roads. Only a portion of the drive is on a paved road.



So many sites to see along the way. Beautiful vistas from the inside of the car; as well as multiple opportunities to get out, walk and explore. Theodore Roosevelt Lake and Dam among them.
One of the interesting and very educational sites when traveling the historic Apache Trail is Tonto Monument. There's a visitors center, with a nice gift shop.
A pretty good hike to the top of the ridge provides quite a view of Tonto Monument off in the distance, as well as the city below.

The Indian Ruins are reported to be over 1,000 years old.



Goldfield, a mining town in it's day has been reconstructed, this memorial plague so notes this. You can tour this little reconstructed town for a taste of old west. In it's hayday, this ghost town produced 3 Million Dollars in 4 short years between 1892-1896.



We're looking down on the rugged road, one of the most rugged in all of Arizona. Large RV's and other over-sized vehicles aren't permitted. Some rental agencies don't even permit their RV's to be on this road due to the ruggedness.



The road had recently been graded, scraped...notice the dirt ridge on the edge.

Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The building of this dam was the primary purpose of the road (the paved road), which was built in 1930.


At Days end, a beautiful site. A man made bridge against an awesome sky(not man made) before we start our trek back to the hotel.

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Special Thank You for my Traveling Companions

I've traveled lots of places and have been blogging about places to go, things to see when traveling. I've also posted a few things not to see and do, age appropriate and things of that nature.

Some people travel with children, some travel in groups, some travel with friends, and some travel with their families........some travel by plane, some travel by car, and yes some travel on buses and in trains........... DRUM ROLL......the cheapest and less taxxing way to travel in any of these forms in here on my blog. You can take a virtual vacation, it will cost you nothing, you don't have to plan for months, you don't have to do laundry or pack. I love having traveling companions and hope you'll all come frequently and leave me comments...it's nice to know whom I'm traveling with. lol

I've been blogging about travel since Feb of this year, and would like to thank my regular travelers/commentors. I love having you with me, sharing in my trips. My thanks is mentioning you here, and leaving links to your webpages. I'm working on adding a special area for my frequent travelers, but since I'm a bit tech challenged...it's still in the works.

No, not all these folks have travel blogs, venture out and see what they're blogging about.
Jan
EddieGarcia
FishHawk
Jude
SusanHelenGottfried
Ollie McKay

These 6 folks have traveled with me at least 4 times.

Stayed tuned for more travel tips. Out of town for a few days folks, so apologies ahead for not being able to visit, drop, comment etc. My daughter is getting her Masters! We're quite excited and proud.

****Errrrrrr, I typed this blog note before leaving town, I changed the date and it was suppose to run on the 23rd. I click today (the 26th) on scheduled posts while in edit mode and see it's still there and never got published. ???? How does one SCHEDULE s post? Would love someone to post how...THANKS in advance.

Please return soon, I'll have interesting things to share with you all.
Now, though must do laundry from the trip to Baltimore, mow the yard, and water the flowers

Lombard Street, Traveling in San Francisco, California

Lombard Street, famous (incorrectly so) for being the crookedest street in the world. In fact, it's not the steepest or crookedest even just in San Francisco. No matter, it is known and photographed as such. The steepest street in San Francisco is Filbert with a slope of 31 1/2 % grade, while Famous Lombard Street is only a 27% grade. Vermont Street in San Francisco claims to be more crooked, while Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa has yet sharper turns.

Lombard Street, San Francisco has 8 hairpin turns that attract tons of visitors every year. It's fun to ride the Hyde Street Cable Car to the top and walk down. From the top you get quite a view of San Francisco. Looking down the hill towards the bay you can see Fishermans Wharf, Alcatraz, and Ghirardelli Square.


Beautifully restored Victorian homes line the street, with well manicured flower beds give one colorful backgrounds for photo's.

I was taken aback by the number of rude tourist who seemed to forget these were private homes. Stepping into their yards to get better photo's ...totally disregarding the signs that politely ask tourists to please stay on the walk. I would not want to be a resident there. People would stand right on top of flowers for the sake of a better photo. I'm always sadden by people's lack of respect for others property. Once when the same person had tromped more than one flower, I spoke outloud to my husband and said ...why are people so rude they ignore the signs and think it's ok to trespass, tromp flowers...wonder how they'd react to someone doing that in their front yard? I hoped people heard me.

Riding the various trolleys and cable cars is great fun, and a nice way to see what you later want to explore further. Plan to wait, be patient, be kind and wait your turn...
This should be a clue to people with small children not to add this activity to your travel plans. Waiting is not in shaded comfortable areas, there is not entertainment, nor refreshments. Do yourself a favor rent a stroller and do the walking tour, or hail a cab.


There's plenty to see while walking, and you can still see the trolley's and cable cars, see how steep and narrow the streets are.

Lots of fun places to dart in for a cool drink or have lunch, but again...be prepared to wait.

You've all seen this famous street in movies and TV shows. It was filmed in the move, "What's Up Doc" with Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neal and the famous movie "Vertigo".

The switchbacks were instituted in 1922-23 as a means to slow down traffic, and make travel there safer. Lombard Street begins in The Presidio, runs through the Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill Neighborhoods.

MUSTS when traveling in San Fransisco:
Wear comfortable walking shoes
Layer clothing
Be prepared to wait, everywhere you go

NEAR BY Attractions when traveling in San Francisco:
Alcatraz
Muir Woods
The Presidio

THE ROCK, Alcatraz Island, California

Alcatraz, The Rock, so much more than the movie! This site is the location of the first Lighthouse on the west coast, the first US Fort on the west coast, a bird santuary. A whole village/town existed at one time. Children played here, went to school here. Some of the memories and history written about Alcatraz comes from these folks. It was considered good duty to live and work on the Island. Nothing of the town or private houses is left; though one can see where they were.


Sunny California it is NOT! Notice my heavy gray sweatshirt that I purchased at Big Sur in an effort to get warm. Many of us on the ferry are huddled up, back to the wind, ears covered trying to stay warm. Bring a jacket...and a scarf would have been nice to cover the ears. Ferries to and from Alcatraz run almost constantly. It is wise to purchase your tickets for the ferry ahead. There are day and evening tours, though the evening tours sell out first. Plan ahead!


Look how foggy it was. You can see The Golden Gate Bridge...but not well.


Looking back through the fog towards the sky line of San Francisco, bet it would be a pretty site if you were leaving for a night tour with all the lights.


We're approaching The Rock here, somehow it seemed even more mysterious through the fog. Wonder how it looked to those inmates as they approached?


Alcatraz is historic on many different levels. One is for 18 month of Indian occupation. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. In the 1800's American Indians were prisoners at the military prison at Alcatraz. Then in 1964, one year after the closing of The Pen and again in 1969 when they claimed it Indian Land.


Alcatraz was the first United States Fort on the West Coast, and was fully garrisoned in 1859. Civil War history is alive at Alcatraz.


Can you imagine living in a cell this small? Dark, dingy, one horrible open john-privy. Seeing the world through the iron gates. Hearing San Francisco. Some of the more famous inmates told how on New Years Eve, they could actually hear parties from their cells.


Probably the two most famous prisoners held here at Alcatraz were Alphonse "Scarface" Capone. He was in for tax evasion. He was an inmate from 1934-1939. And let's not forget George "Machine Gun" Kelly, he spent time for kidnapping from 1934-1951


A thick heavy door to one of the solitary cells. Only a small window where food could be passed in.


The American Flag was really flapping with the wind the day we were there.
*An interesting and very educational tour, I highly recommend it
**Families traveling with small children should look into The Jr. Ranger Program before they go.
***Wear good walking shoes, wear a hat (birds fly and drop constantly...seems someone is always getting hit, so a hat would at least protect your head).
****Watch were you're walking...smelly bird poo........everywhere. Another reason to wear tennis shoes and not open sandals.
*****Eat before you go, there are snacks, but very limited. Eating is only permitted on the dock.
*******Do obtain the audio tour, it's facinating. Very well done, voices, sound effects...you really do feel like you're there when those cell blocks were shut!




Escapes:
Much romance and speculation, were there any "successful" escapes?
Some say it depends on your definition of the word successful, however...here's the stats. There were 36 men who attempted escapes (2 of those 36 men tried twice...so 34 actual men). There were 14 different escape attempts. 23 men were caught, 6 shot and killed while trying to escape, 2 drowned.
34-23-6=5

And what of the 5? There are to this day, 5 prisoners on records who were officially listed as "missing and presumed drowned". Recording it that way, the officials I guess can still say, there were no successful escapes.......but, I wonder.