Sassi Di Matera

After our night among the
Trulli of Alberobello, we headed to the city of Matera to see another type of housing, the Sassi. Matera is a picturesque city with an ancient feel to it that is more middle eastern than Italian, a fact apparently noted by Mel Gibson, as this is where he chose to film the Passion of the Christ. In no small part thanks to that filming, this city has seen an increase in tourism lately and has been thus revitalized from a slum of 50 years ago to a vacation city today.

The city is built of many small buildings piled one atop another and wall to wall up a jagged rocky point, and many are actually built into that rock. Towards the top of the point stands a tiny church built mostly into the wall. Another, larger, church stands at the base of the point, separated from the jumble by a narrow cobbled street and wedged against the edge of a river's ravine that winds by the city. The town is all of one color and one stone, a pale tan tufa.

These houses, and their more primitive relatives on the hills across the ravine are the Sassi. From prehistoric times, man has been carving caves into these hills to live in. Over time, some had walls built in front of them, and the interiors developed into complex systems of living in small spaces, with all the conveniences of a bedroom, kitchen, living space, and even a barn all wrapped up into 1 room.

In the 1950's, many people were
thrown out, as the area had become depressed and something of a slum. You would never guess it from today's rustic splendor. We spent our small amount of time wandering the street and paying a cheap fee for entry to one of the Sassi, which, through a prerecorded message discussed many of the features of the sassi as they would have been used about 100 years ago.

While there are options to stay in one of these homes, and also many more individual places to visit here, our schedule dictated that we move on, but I was sad to leave so soon such a beautiful and interesting place.

Dollywood

For my 2008 birthday, I was treated to my first trip to Dollywood, a theme park near Pigeon Forge and the Smokey Mountains National Park, in eastern Tennessee. While I've been to the area several times, I had never been to the amusement park. Dollywood, as you may guess, is operated by Tennessee's own, Dolly Parton. For those who may have had the good fortune to visit Opryland in Nashville while it was still operating, Dollywood is very similarly themed. Throughout the park are sound stages for musical performances, and there is a stage show featuring birds of prey, and an eagle sanctuary. But as with any theme park the main attractions are the rides. We arrived late in the day, as late admission allows you to return the next day.

The first ride we rode was a fire house ride called Blazing Fury, which tries to emulate Splash Mountain of Disneyland, but isn't quit as fun. After that we went to ride the Tennessee Tornado. This roller coaster is short but fun, and is one we rode on repeatedly. Unfortunately, for the duration of our stay, both the Mystery Mine Roller coaster and the Timber Tower were closed. When we arrived on the first day, Daredevil Falls, the log ride that ends with a splash, was also closed, but did open on the second day. Among the other rides are River Battle which is less of a ride than a mobile water sprayer, and the Mountain Slidewinder, a fun take on a water slide ride. Another water ride is the Smoky Mountain River Rampage, which, is fun, but depending on your seat may not get you as wet as you would like. One of the highlights, and another favorite was the Thunderhead, an exhilarating wooden roller coaster.

While those are the main attractions, there are quit a few more rides directed towards children, the only one of which I rode was the Rockin' Roadway, which lets you "drive" a miniature classic car around a track, which I enjoyed for nostalgia's sake. Others are themed on carnival rides, and there is a whimsical tree house and a splash fountain to play in on hot days.

Overall, Dollywood can be a lot of fun, for me in particular if all the rides had been operational. For those who enjoy country music, or have children, the experience would be even better. Overall, I think I prefer six flags with its stronger emphasis on rides, and in my experience a better record for having them all operational. Still, Dollywood is worth visiting at least once.

Cape Canaveral: Lift Off!

On the last weekend in may of 2008, we headed off to Florida with tickets in hand to watch the launch of the shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center. We used Thursday night and Friday morning to make the drive down, taking our time to stop off at Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach as well. In New Smyrna we stopped for some great burgers at Breakers, right on the beach. After filling up, we headed a little further south to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. Most of the areas were closed due to the next days launch, but we were able to park in a parking lot just off the main Turtlemound Road.

Walking over the dunes to the beach, we were excited to get into the water. The beach was shaped into quite a steep slope, and the power of the water was immense. Each wave lifted us into the air, and, quite often hurled us a bit up the beach. Jake was having the time of his life. I, however, was quickly tired, and was further discouraged by the seaweed in the water, and before long, inside my suit. Finally I was too exhausted to be sporting any longer, and we returned to our belongings on the beach. As we headed back towards one of the dune crossings, we noticed several men down the beach, who, though a little too far away to tell for sure, appeared to believe it was a nude beach. Apparently this happens sometimes in this area when the beaches are not crowded. After showering and changing, we were ready to continue on.

Having our fill of the beach life, we continued south hoping to spot some manatees at a viewing platform located at the Haulover Canal, carved through the isthmus north of the land mass occupied primarily by the NASA launching and landing facilities. When we arrived, the sun was near to setting and the water was inky and impenetrable. We had all but given up when we did witness a manatee spouting, but it was gone before we could really fix our eyes on it. A little disappointed, we returned to the car and, finding the road to the south blocked due to the next days shuttle launch, took the long way around to Titusville. In Titusville we hunted out a spot for dinner, being across the water from the very brightly lit shuttle, waiting patiently on its launch pad. The place we found was Paul's Smokehouse, where Jake tried a swordfish steak, and I stuck to the regular kind. The food was OK, but not fantastic.

The next morning, we woke early and returned to the viewing platform to continue our hunt for a manatee. We spent long minutes waiting and searching the murky green water, and had just given up when a dolphin swam into the channel. He entertained us in the way dolphins will, and we spotted a large moon jelly swimming/floating in the channel. The dolphin continued to circle in the area, and then, suddenly right beneath the railing of the platform we saw a manatee! She was moving along the bank, stirring up its muddy edge as she grazed on what water plants were growing there, She moved up and down the bank, creating distinctive pairs of smooth spots in the water above her whenever she moved close to the surface. They were like a shadow of flatness above her, created by the gentle down current as she flicked her tail and sank lower again. As she moved away from the bank, we watched her come to the surface briefly a few times to breath. Finally, and she and her dolphin herald moved on.

Finally, it was time to head to the space center, to enjoy the complex and watch the launch. We joined the long line of cars moving into the parking lot, and used our tickets to get through the gates. We arrived just minutes to late to take the last bus leaving on a tour of the facilities, which was a real shame, because it represented out only chance to get fairly close to the shuttle before launch. This made me a little angry, since we had waited to arrive at the time that our parking ticket said we should, and therefore missed out on this opportunity. Still, there were plenty of other things to see and do at the complex. We watched an 3d IMAX movie filmed in space which was my first ever, and was really very moving. We visited an interactive show where a few mad scientists educated the kids. It was perhaps a little too childish, even for us. We went on a simulation of blast off, which was fun, and another "ride" where we walked through hallways from one animatronic scene to the next. We also took some time to go into the shuttle they have set up, and examined some of the rockets placed around the area. Overall, the Kennedy space center is most worth visiting when there is a launch going on. It the day were not ended by that massive roar, I would have been rather disappointed by the experience.

Eventually the time did come, and from out location, which was not the best available due to my forgetfulness with regards to buying the tickets the day they went on sale, we could not see the shuttle where it sat on the platform, but there was a large outdoor monitor set up. As the clock ticked down, we waited in silence, then as the shuttle lifted off on screen, it became visible above it, almost as if the digital version had become reality. As the NASA chatter continued, the rocket climbed silently into the sky. Then came a dull vibration, the preliminary shock waves, which were felt rather than heard. Finally the sound reached out ears as the shuttle shot high into the air. We all continued to wait until the shuttle itself had made the separation, then cheered as a group with childish delight. STS 124 had successfully launched. You can find out more about the mission HERE. There aren't too many things which inspire a sense of patriotic pride in me, but this is definitely one of them. The shuttles only have a little more time left before they are replaced by a new launch system, so see it while you can.

The next day, we returned to the space center, as our tickets provided a 2 day pass. This time we took the bus tour, and witnessed the now empty launch pad and the now crushed stone that had shouldered the weight of the shuttle as it was moved from the
assembly building to the launch pad. Here we also checked out a Saturn V rocket, massive when compared to what is used to launch today. Then we continued on to see the landing strips for the shuttles, before returning to the space center. As a bonus, along the way we saw roseate spoonbills, ibis, and wood storks. After the bus tour, we stopped by the Astronaut Hall of Fame, a separate facility, included in the Kennedy Space Center admission. As we waited to enter, we were asked to join a tour, since they had room. We did, at first thinking it was a free tour provided by the museum, then realizing it was a commercial tour group. I can only wonder how those who had paid for the tour must have felt. The leader did provide some good info, but was mostly looking to entertain. And he kept referring to himself as the bad boy of dolphin tours. That was a little strange. Eventually we had to go, and returning to the car began the long drive home.

Overall, the wildlife and beaches here are beautiful, and the space center is the go to place for a hands on feel for the history that has happened here. But nothing beats timing a visit here to coincide with a launch.

Metropolis: Superman, Super cheap

Early in September we made a visit to the Harrah's Casino in Metropolis. Now, I have never been to a casino before, but when we went to the Wilson County Fair (the best in the State of Tennessee) we won $50 worth of casino credit, and picked up a couple free passes for a bus ride from Nashville to Metropolis, so we decided to give it a try.

When we arrived at the bus station, we discovered that the bus ride entitled us to a free meal at the casino, so lunch would be covered as well. The buses were pleasant and comfortable, and the ride went by quickly. When we arrived, we signed up, got our little passes, then headed down to eat. We had a decent meal: hot dogs, chips, cookies and a coke. Good. Even better because it was free. We then headed to the cashier's counter to find out what the deal with the cards was. Turns out they are directly exchangeable for cash. We explored the casino, and I think it can best be described as annoying. The machines are incredibly loud, and covered in flashing lights. It was difficult to think straight; maybe that is the point. I've since been to some Australian Casinos, and they are much more quiet, but the one in Metropolis was barely tolerable. Pepsi was doing some sort of promotion, and we got a free 2 liter each, which we picked up before we returned to the bus that night. We continued to wander the casino, checking out the card games, spent some time out on the decks of the boat, then wandered inside to try out some machines.

Because we are essentially cheap people, we opted to play the penny slots, and we each spent $10 playing, which did a good job of eating up time, but weren't particularly interesting. Finally, full of the sugar of far too many free cokes, we decided to take the money and run to see the rest of town. Leaving the Casino, we headed up the street of the sleepy little town, down to the square, where there is a giant superman statue in front of the cute little courthouse. Just off the square is a superman museum/store, full of superhero memorabilia. Unfortunately, it was closed. We idled around town a bit and finally returned to the casino, or rather the cooler calmer area that connects the casino to the hotel, where there is a small gift shop we explored, and the rooms where they hold the shows. We picked up our Pepsi's, and eventually boarded the bus home.

I had a pretty fun time, despite being disappointed by the gambling itself. If they have a booth at the fair next year, we will still sign up, but just cash in and hit the town right away.

Virgin Falls

South of Highway 70, halfway between Sparta and Crossville TN is the Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness, a protected region of forest in logging country. Here is a trail which, at four miles long ( eight round trip) provides a challenging and beautiful day of hiking, or a more leisurely overnight hike. The trail begins by winding smoothly across a region of flat forest floor, picking up and following along a small brook, which is surrounded by ferns in summer. The trail weaves in and among rhododendrons, which replace the ferns as the brook gathers water and becomes a small stream. After crossing this brook, the trail departs it and begins a moderate down slope, your footsteps cushioned by the spongy humus held together by the web-like roots of the rhododendrons. This leads into a drier forest area, with several fallen trees, before reaching another stream and crossing it, possibly assisted by a cable strung there

Turning left, the first of the camp sites is immediately ahead. The trail continues to follow the water downstream. Not much farther along the trail you come to the picturesque Big Branch Falls. After Big Branch Falls, you will pass a split where you can head to the right to visit a lookout. I have personally never followed this route, but this option will reconnect to the trail further on. The stream continues to go down the valley, while the trail remains level along one side of it. This area is characterized by the classic Tennessee limestone cliffs, and depending on the season, different wildflowers and plants can be seen in this area including trillium, sorrel, and even yellow lady slippers.

Continuing on you come to the Big Laurel Falls, which falls over a rock ledge, and disappears into the sandy ground. Behind the falls is a very large rock house. The scale of this falls is often lost in photographs, as the boulders, falls and trees fail to provide a point of reference for the size. The trail descends rather steeply at this point, so that you may explore the area behind the falls, and there is evidence of camping in the area beyond the falls, though whether this is a designated camping location I am not sure.

To continue the trail, you will once again be following along the edge of this valley, then crossing over a ridge and heading towards Virgin Falls. In this area the trail will split, with the right hand split being a longer trek, but in my opinion travels through a more beautiful section of the trail and has the added bonus of passing by Sheep Cave Falls, a unique feature which you can explore, at your own risk. From here you will cross over another ridge, at which point the falls should become audible. The trail will then come to the campground, and from there you can easily reach the falls, only a few dozen feet away.

The falls are fairly high, but the most interesting characteristic is the way the stream comes out of the ground, falls over the waterfall, and immediately goes back underground again. While the falls is beautiful and impressive from the flat camping area immediately in front of it, do not forget to walk around the far side and up to the top. Along the was you will see jack in the pulpit growing among the rocks, and at the top, wild iris may be in bloom. The easy climb is worth it for the clean cold air emanating from the cave the water emerges from. This is also a great place to fill up on water.

For those wanting to camp, it is probably better to skip Sheep Cave Falls in favor of the shorter hike in, and take that route on the return trip, so you have something new to see that day, and since you will likely have more time on the second day to explore. For those doing the hike in a single day, I recommend the opposite, mostly because it's better to build up to Virgin Falls.

East Glacier, Uml Pishkun, & Mint Dinner

After spending the entire previous day along the Going to the Sun Road and exploring some of the relatively crowded trails there, we were excited to spend the first part of this day on the eastern side of Glacier, which is far less touristy.

Early in the morning, we headed up to Many Glacier to hike the trail to Apikuni Falls. Along the way we paused under a tree, which made a squirrel very angry. He came down to a low branch to scream and chatter at us. When we looked around we saw shells of many nuts, and realized we stopped to rest in what was probably his favorite picnic spot. As we moved up the side of the mountain we broke out of the trees onto a rocky slope, where there were Pikas among the rocks. Pikas are like tiny chipmunk/rabbits. They are incredibly cute, but difficult to photograph, especially when you don't have a good zoom. We wound our way around some mounds of broken rock, before coming into view of the falls, which was tall and narrow. There was another Little Dipper in the stream at the base, and we stayed a while to watch him play, before starting the trip down to the car. Once in the car we headed south to Two Medicine, and made the very short walk to Running Eagle Falls. This was a smallish waterfall, with the water rushing out from underground. We spent a long time trying to identify a colorful bird there, but could never agree on what it was. We left when others finally arrived, and made our way to our next destination: Ulm Pishkun, a real live buffalo jump.

We arrived at Ulm Pishkun in the afternoon, a little to late to spend any time at the visitor's center, which looked like it had been recently updated. The visitors center is below the cliff, so we then drove around to the top. The top of the cliff is heavily populated by a prairie dog village. We walked out into it and just sat for a while, taking some pictures and watching the babies play, while the adults barked at us. We then walked to the edge of the cliffs and read the interpretive signs there. According to the signs, the hunt went a little something like this: One lucky young Indian dawned a buffalo skin, and prepared to lead the herd. The rest of the group would harass the buffalo, and drive them towards the cliff. At some point the lucky Indian would get to run briefly in front of the herd, and jump off the cliff, onto a small ledge just below. The buffalo, with a poor ability to gauge distance or see well, would plummet over the edge to their deaths, while people below would finish off wounded survivors. It is just a cliff in the middle of a broad plain. It is surrounded by wheat fields, and there are enormous white windmills in the distance.

From Ulm Pishkun we headed towards Billings, where we would be visiting the pictograph caves the next day. Along the way we arrived in a sleepy little town called Lewiston. It had a nice shaded main street, and a nice courthouse. The only restaurant we saw in town was just off the main drag, emblazoned by a large neon sign: The Mint bar & grill. From the outside, it looked more like a bar than a restaurant, but we were starving, so we parked and went inside. Inside was a fine dining atmosphere that was totally unexpected. We had a wonderful dinner. I had steak with cream sauce and new potatoes, and Jake had duck. We left, full and happy, and as we were driving out of town, I noticed some deer by a hay bail. I was happy to see them and pointed them out. As we continued to drive, and it grew darker, we saw more and more of them along the road. We saw so many we lost count. I turned my head away from the glare of the headlights and looked out into the fields, and saw many, many more. I saw more deer that night than all previous deer seen in my life. At one point we came to a little town, and there were deer in people's front yards. A dear even ambled across the street, at the only intersection with a stop light, and actually stopped to look at us as if we were the intruders.

When we were finally to exhausted to drive any more, seeing deer in every rock, tree, and sign near the road, we pulled over to sleep. When we turned off the headlights we saw something they had been hiding from us. Stretched across the sky was a bright swath of stars such as I had never seen before, except in pictures. It was the Milky Way. We do not have that kind of darkness here in Tennessee. To make a perfect moment even more so, a shooting star chose that moment to blaze across the sky. This was the end of the 4Th day.

Atlanta: Little 5 Points

In Atlanta there is an area known as little 5 points, which is a fun place to spend the day visiting shops, watch street performers, and grab a good bite to eat.

The shops range from places selling hemp and tie die, to world home decor goods, to records and Cd's, to the Junk Man's Daughter, which sells a collection of goods from vintage or vintage styled clothes, posters, magnets, books incense and much more.

Out on the street, depending on the day, you might see a comedic juggler or a street musician, and even if there are no performers, the crowd this street draws is can be something of an attraction in itself.

When you've worked up an appetite, there's no better place to get a burger than the phantasmagorically fronted Vortex, or if it's pizza you're after, try a white slice at Little 5 Points Pizza.

Glacier National Peace Park

We left for Glacier after our visit to Craters of the Moon. Somewhere south of Flathead Lake, the road narrowed to a two lane highway that was under construction. Despite the remote location, there was a long line of traffic, and progress was slow. It was at this point that I realized I had to go to the bathroom, which was made more urgent by the in-progress road, which had many sections of bumpy gravel. After trying to hold out for half an hour I spotted an office building complex in the night, and I was more than willing to go behind it to relieve myself. Unfortunately, there were some active lawn sprinklers to dodge, and in the wet grass I twisted my ankle, but it was worth it. Later on, we saw fire blazing up in the mountains, like rivulet of lava on the mountain's side. We finally arrived at the southern edge of Flathead Lake, where we stopped for the night.

We woke up early on the third day, and drove north along Flathead Lake, entering the park around 8:00 am at West Glacier. Here we turned our tires onto the Going to the Sun Road, the only road that runs through the park, and an engineering feat of its time. Our first stop was at the Avalanche Lake/Trail of Cedars trail. Half of the Trail of Cedars loop was closed, but we were able to access the Avalanche Lake trail at the back of the loop. Because we were up early, this trail wasn't too busy (it is one of the most popular trails in the park) and was pretty peaceful. The forest is cool and dark, and the sunlight coming through the trees made the whole place something out of a fairy tale. There were squirrels and chipmunks everywhere, and spider webs strung between the trees. The trail follows a perfectly clear stream to the lake. We were running a little bit behind due to my injured ankle, and we made a decision to stop short of actually reaching Avalanche Lake to make sure that we could stay on track for all the other trails we had planned to hike that day. After leaving that trail we headed to Logan Pass visitors center to hike the Hidden Lake Trail. When we arrived, the parking lot was very full, and it took us some time to find a parking spot, which required us to use all the people stalking skills we learned from tying to park on campus in college. Once we were parked, we took a little walk through the gift shop, and then headed out the back, taking a boardwalk up the hill.

The hill was steeper than it looked, but it was a beautiful, sound of music kind of place. There were little streams trickling down from the mountain, surround by beautiful, thick beds of flowers. As we reached the top of this rise, some evergreen trees came into view. We saw some ptarmigans nestled against some rocks, taking very good advantage of their summer brown feathers to blend in almost completely. Just a little ways further up we saw our first mountain goats, a mother with her baby. From that point on, along the trail we saw a few here and there resting in the shade. Finally, we reached the crest of the rise, and could see the Hidden Lake below. It was the most beautiful deep blue. The photographs we have do not even come close to doing it justice. While we were enthralled with the lake, squirrels were moving in. We caught them in the act of trying to chew into some one's backpack that they had foolishly left on the ground. While there is a trail leading down to the lake, it looked very long and steep, and we had miles to go… so we turned back for the car, and the next trail, but there was one more surprise for us. From around the bend ahead, and just a little higher up the mountain, came a small herd of big horn sheep. It was 3 females being herded by a male, who chased down one stray and forced her back with the group by giving her a love tap in the rear with his thick skull. They weren't interested in hanging around though, and were quickly out of sight. We passed back by the mother goat and her baby, the mother having left her baby far behind as she headed for the tree line, the baby followed, bleating plaintively. The trip down was a lot easier than the trip up.

We arrived back in the parking lot, which was filling up with the classic red convertible sedans which do driving tours along the famous Going to the Sun road. Greeting new arrivals was a big brown bear. Despite the crowd of people hugging him, and getting their photos taken with him, we were able to get a shot of the only bear we saw here.

After the hike to see hidden lake, we had a lineup of several waterfalls. The first trail took us to St. Mary Falls, actually passing a snake along the way. The falls are beautiful, having carved out its own bowl into the rock. Continuing beyond this is Virginia Falls. Along the way there we encountered a fat toad, right in the middle of the path, who lazily walked his way off into the mossy undergrowth. We reached the falls and found them to be very narrow and high. We then returned back along the trail, and once again the fat toad was in our path. He lazily walked himself out of the way again, and we were free to return to the car, excited as much to have seen 2 reptiles on this trail, which we saw no where else in the park, as we were to have seen the falls. From there it was just a skip to the parking lot for access to Baring falls and Sunrift Gorge. The stream flows through sunrift gorge, a deep and narrow passage way, then curves under the road and over the falls. The trail winds out and back, bringing us finally to the foot of the falls. We spent a significant amount of time resting, and watching an American dipper at the base of this rather small but picturesque fall. The dipper is a small, finch sized bird, which stands on rocks in the rushing stream, and dives into the water, hunting for food. While standing on the rocks, he continually does deep knee bends, bobbing up and down. He was a plain grey/brown color, but provided great entertainment.

After returning to the car, we were finally done hiking for the day, having covered over 9 miles. We then continued east along the going to the sun road, coming into St. Mary, where a forest fire had raged just weeks before. Vast stands of trees were reduced to nothing but blackened posts, but the grass was already spring up green among the wasteland. We stopped briefly to investigate a restaurant, but, though we hadn't eaten much but a few rolls and some nuts all day, we just weren't interested in their menu, or their prices. So we headed on to the tiny town of Babb. Babb consists of a hotel, general store, and cheap diner, all owned by the same people. It also has a dinner club steakhouse, which looked rather frightful: concrete and no windows. We had reservations at the hotel, so we checked in, then quickly decided to head a few miles north over the border to see what food could be had in Carway in Alberta. We had to stop in at the border station, and answer some questions about our intentions, and then we were free to drive on. Once in town, we discovered that there was nothing to eat, as every single restaurant was closed; it was Sunday. We returned dejectedly to Babb, and decided to risk the diner club, which we had been told had good steak, despite its frightening appearance.

Let this be a reminder to never judge a book by its cover. Just inside the entrance was an old fashioned bar, with lots of dark wood, and plush red upholstered swivel bar seats (with back and arm rest). Beyond the bar was a grand spiral staircase, all of wood, winding around the trunk of a tree. Seated at our table above, I couldn't help but admire the huge sculpture that hung out over the room below. It depicted a herd of buffalo being run off a cliff, and appeared to be made of stone. We ordered our somewhat expensive steaks, but were rewarded with some of the largest, and best cuts I've ever had. I had a NY strip that hung off the edges of my plate. The steaks were fantastic and so huge I could only eat half of mine, and I was starving.

Full and happy, we got our left overs to go, hoping for a microwave in the hotel room, which we had not actually been into yet. When we got to the hotel, we didn't find a microwave, but we were too tired to care, and fell into bed.

Craters of the Moon, without all that pesky space travel

The second day of our Rocky Mountain vacation was spent at Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho. The park is large, and consists of massive lava flows, and just about every mountain that can be seen on the horizon is an ancient volcano. It is aptly named, as the craters of the moon are ancient lava flows as well.

The morning was spent warming up and watching ground squirrels play in the mound of lava rock around the campgrounds. It was cold. Our first act in the park was to climb to the top of the Inferno cone, which appeared completely barren, but which had some low bushes and scrub growing on the exposed top, which was completely hidden until you topped the crest. We ran back down, and snapped a professional quality photo of our strange little rental car, a Dodge Caliber. We the drove just a bit up the road to the spatter cones, where had magma piled up around the openings in the earth.

We then drove to the tree molds area trail head, and hiked a couple miles out to see these strange impressions in the lava, where ancient trees were encapsulated by almost cool lave, in some cases leaving clear imprints of their alligator skin like bark in the rock. Along the trail were some beautiful flowers, lots more ground squirrels, and a mountain chickadee that was just as curious about us as we were about him, who came right down to us, perched not a foot away from us at face level, and looked us over while he sang us a pretty song.

After our walk, we headed to see the caves of the park. These are lava tubes, which lava continued to flow through, even as lava has hardened on the surface, forming a roof, and leaving the large, well insulated cave behind. The spiky pumice like kind of lava rock called ah-ah is an exceptionally good insulator, such that, even in late august, icicles form in the damp back reaches of the caves. We saw something similar in a place called the land of fire and ice in New Mexico: an ice "pond" at the bottom of a cave, that even the Indians had made use of. We wandered through several of these, and then found our way back to the narrow paved trail by following piles of rocks on the otherwise monotonous surface of the lava flows.

Finally, we hiked the loop trail of broken top, which is a cone that has literally split in half. Along this trail we saw some very good examples of pahoe-hoe lava (the ropey liquid looking kind) and we saw a hairy woodpecker. Finally, it was time for us to leave the park, and make a long drive to the next day's destination: Glacier National Park.

Overall, the park has the appearance of being largely featureless and monotonous, but along each trail, we discovered something different. Different formations and types rock, certainly, but also different types of plants and animals. The park is large, but it is easily adapted to a single days visit, and is well deserving of its National Park status.

Nashvilles Frist Museum

In late 2006, we visited The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt at the Frist Museum. As far as I can tell, the last time this exhibit was shown was in early 2007. This was a display of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The exhibit consisted of a large and impressive collection of statues, gold, sarcophagi, furniture and more. There was a large scale model boat, complete with figurines, which was very interesting. The cornerstone of the exhibit was a recreation of a funeral chamber. Our audio guides explained the meaning of the drawings that circled the room, a depiction of the story of death. If the collection is still on tour, I would highly recommend it.

We went on a Frist Friday, which is advertised as having drinks and snacks, and a live band, as well as allowing admission to the exhibits, I thought this would be a fun way to spend an evening. However, the band was terrible, and while there was a plethora of free SALTY snacks, drinks were not free. I have to say it was something of a disappointment, and not worth the additional entrance cost. On exhibit in addition to the Egypt showcase was Bedazzled: an exhibit of jewelry. While this is not inside my normal scope of interest, the pieces, and the history were quite interesting. The museum also has a permanent hands on exhibit on art, where I played with everything, and had a good time. But, like most hands on exhibits geared towards children, 25% of everything was broken.

Earlier this year, we also visited to Frist to see Monet to Dali. This time we visited during regular hours, without the music and snacks, and I found the experience much more enjoyable. Secondarily, there was a display of Tiffany glass lamps which, much like Bedazzled a few years ago, was very interesting, and the pieces on display quite beautiful.

Overall, I think the Frist does a good job of attracting interesting and notable traveling exhibits.

Trulli: A romantic place

In the small Italian town of Alberobello, located at the top of the heel of the boot, there are small white round stone homes called trulli. The trulli, while built using ancient techniques, without mortar, have only been constructed within relatively recent times, and over the years, the town has become a popular tourist destination. We arrived at dusk, and drove the crowded streets, full of well dressed Italian and Asian tourists. We had booked a night in one of the trulli, and after locating the hotel offices, two girls who spoke very good English drove us to our parked car, and then to our room. Our room had just enough space for a full sized bed and a small bathroom with a shower. The interior roof is domed to support the exterior stone slates, and had wood bean supports. Like the outside, the inside walls were of stone, painted white. Once we had settled, we ventured out into the town.

First we headed among the businesses set up among the trulli, separate from the trulli used for housing where we were staying. We found a nice looking restaurant in one, and had a very good dinner there, in a back room, where our only company was a table full of old regulars, talking over beer and wine. After we had our fill, we wandered across the street and up some steps into the newer part of town, where everything seemed to be of white marble, and one beautiful church was somewhat marred by a neon cross decoration.

We stopped into a gelateria and each got a scoop of the cheapest gelato we found in Italy. We found a bench on the plaza and listened to the cacophony of all the birds that were crammed into the few trees there, and laughed a bit over the police station, which was connected to what was essentially a donut shop.

We left early the next morning, for Matera. The small town left me with the impression of an ideal vacation retreat. It reminds me of other small towns which flourish on tourism, without being spoiled by it, like Eureka Springs in Arkansas, or Rothenburg ob de Tauber in Germany.

Castel Del Monte

The Castel del Monte is a castle of octagons. It is

visible from some distance as you approach it, as it is perched at the very top of a hill. Parking can be found downhill from the entrance that leads up the hill, in a gravel lot. There are buses that run to the site, but we were unclear as to whether these were free, or possibly for tour groups, so we walked. It is not a difficult walk, and leads gently up the slope through an open forest canopy. At the top we approached the castle on the dry and windswept hilltop which was characteristic of southern Italy. The hue of the stone almost blending into it's surrounding. The castle is an octagon, with 8 octagonal towers, and a paved octagonal courtyard. It stands at only 2 stories, but each level has very high ceilings, lending the structure an imposing height. It was build during the 1200's by Frederick II and has since been stripped of its decorations, even the marble interiors are gone. what is left is the bare stone structure. However, the original beauty of the structure can still be inferred from the beautiful stairwells, windows, and other architectural details inside the rooms.

Burgess Falls

Burgess Falls is the easiest way to experience some of the terrain that makes Tennessee so beautiful. The relatively easy, short trail follows along the river, starting from the old damn. Along the way, it passes several waterfalls, which gradually increase in size until culminating in Burgess falls, which roars with spring rain. From here there is an overlook of the falls, and a trail down to the river just above the falls. For the most adventurous, there is a trail that leads down to the base of the falls, though when the falls is flowing strongly, the way can be cold and slick. There are many classic Tennessee wildflowers along the trail in the spring, and beautiful colors on the trees in the fall. It is close enough to Fall Creek Falls to be combined with it in a busy day trip.

One of the Lower Falls

Burgess Falls

Wildlife that can be found along the river

Land of Potato

We landed late on a Friday night in August of 2006, and drove towards Hagerman, Idaho. After a narrow miss with a family of raccoons in the road, we arrived at a cute little hotel, still some way out of town. We settled down for the night, ready for the next day's adventures.

In the morning, we visited Hagerman, taking a self guided auto tour, we stopped by a marsh early in the morning, and watched ducks skim through the tall reeds. We followed a road, viewing boulders from a massive prehistoric flood, crossed a lake with White Pelicans floating on it, and slowly wound up into the hills, to find a portion of the Oregon Trail. It was apparent as a wagon wide ditch that wound its way up beside the road. We walked around on the top of one hill, with interpretive signs, and got stuck with lots of tumbleweed.

We headed back into town, to the museum, a small little building, more fitting to a state, rather than national park. They have a full skeleton of the horse which shares its name with the town and the park. They also have quite a few other fossils, and the ranger there was very friendly and informative. After that we went to eat a good ole country breakfast at a little restaurant there. Then, we went across the street and bought some munchies for the duration of our road trip, and then headed out towards our next destination: City of Rocks.

At this point, we were well ahead of schedule, so we felt obliged to stop at a few detours along the way. One being Malad Gorge, the other being Shoshone falls. Malad gorge was, you guessed it, a gorge. Pretty, deep, with a rushing river in the bottom. Shoshone Falls is a broad falls, like Niagara, but much smaller. The water was low, it being late August, but it was still beautiful, and created 2 rainbows in its mist. Finally, we headed to City of Rocks. This place blows away any of the other places we've been with similar names. These aren't boulders; these are towering spires of rock, a true rock climber's dream. This area also was along a pioneer trail west, and there is a rock near the entrance to the park, where you can still read the names of early settlers who marked the rock with axle grease. There is another, similar park, down the road that is run by the state called Castle Rocks State Park, and while I was interested, it was just starting to rain and it was getting dark, so we opted to head for the camp grounds of Craters of the Moon NP. Along the way, we enjoyed one of the many beautiful sunsets that we saw almost every day of this trip, and puzzled over the strange, disjoint sections of fence, which we finally decided must be to prevent snow from drifting too much across the road. Finally, after nightfall, we entered the park, and pulled into one of the few remaining campsites. We pulled out the blankets, laid back the seats and went to sleep.

Santa Maria Capua Vetere: Il Coliseo's little brother

Little could be found on the vast internet about this site, but between what photographs and descriptions I could find, I knew it was somewhere I wanted to visit. To begin with, it is the second largest amphitheater the Romans built, second only to the Colosseum. This structure is in considerable more disrepair, and overgrown with trees, vines, and weeds. But, what truly sets this structure apart are the  accessible lower reaches. You can go down into the underbelly of the structure, unaccompanied, and explore the passageways beneath what was once the arena floor. Provided you exercised the proper caution when you took the stairs


It was difficult to find an exact address, but Google's satellite images showed us the way, and likely parking in front. We reached the amphitheater without difficulty, and purchased tickets, asking also about the mithraeum that we understood to be part of the admission. Later, we were told. Visit the amphitheater first.

We descended down the hillside to the looming structure, and were met, and accompanied by two amicable stray dogs. They followed us into the amphitheater, around the few portions above ground that can be reached, then down the stairs beneath. The stairs that lead down are near to where one enters into the amphitheater. There was some construction going on here, which blocked our view, but we did eventually find the way down.

Beneath was like a movie set. Ancient columns of stone reached up from the stone floor and arched overhead. Green branches and vines hung down from above. In the dirt that had collected in ditches and corners grew thick brambles. A deep channel was carved into the stone, that led from the longest end to end, and out both sides, through dark passageways, that were gated off. Where these used to fill the structure with water for boat shows in the arena? Other, shallower channels led through the other halls, that curve around the exterior walls, and were lined with stalls for people and animals. Piles of carved stone lay here and there. Mysterious stairways, blocked by gates, curved up into the superstructure.

The dogs padded contentedly alongside us. When we ventured back the passageway leading out from the farther end of the amphitheatre, all the way to the gate, one of the dogs slipped under the bars and continued on, looking back, encouraging us to follow. But, though it would have been easy to pass through, we held back, never wanting to get into trouble in a country where we did not speak the language. Though it was not the sort of place you would ever want to leave, cool and dark and mystical, there came a point when we had seen all there was to see, and so we returned to the stairs up, this time accompanied by only 1 dog, as the other had never come back to us from the tunnel.

From there, we took a left, and wandered over to a small "museum" there. Just withing the entrance were life size wax sculptures of gladiators, fighting each other, and a rather questionable lion. At the push of a button, we were treated to a narrative in Italian, highlighting the various figures with colored lights, and punctuated with the sound effects of clashing metal and roaring crowds. Here there was also a model, showing the arena, half as it is today, half as it once was. In a side room was a collection of decorative pieces take from the site.

Returning to the ticket counter, we enquired about the Mithraeum. It was gesticulated that we were to follow a fellow in his car. He led us quickly into the heart of the little town, down a few winding narrow alleys, then parked and got out. We followed him to a wooden door which he unlocked, then down a dark and dank stairwell to the ancient place of worship.

From my understanding, Mithraism was a secretive, cultish religion. They venerated Mithras, a mystical bull slayer. This particular mithraeum was discovered quite by accident when some construction workers accidentally dug into it. While the constructed entrance is at the back of the temple, the point of discovery can still be seen as a roughly patched area on the right when facing the large mural of a man slaying a bull. While our guide did not speak English we did have a brief conversation of gestures and glances about how very old, sacred, and untouched this place was.

Finally, he led us to the surface, and returned to his car, leaving us to find our way to our next destination.

Short Springs

On the 30th of March, while the weather was cool

and overcast, we made our first visit to the Short Springs Natural Area. The trail is easy, and divided into several segments and loops which allows the hiker to easily to the entire trail, or gain access to just a few sections. On this occasion we hiked almost everything. Beginning the trail by heading left, we quickly reached the branching off point for the one section of the trail we did not do. Instead, we headed straight, which led us to a beautiful stream flowing through the forest. The area was cool and wet, and on some nearby rocks were were fascinated to find 5 separate types of moss growing intermingled in a small area. Moving on, we soon rejoined the main trail and beyond that reached the sudden descent of the trail at the falls.

In the perfectly flat bottomed area below was the short flower trail. As we worked our way down to that trail, we stopped to photograph some of the many flowers which were in bloom. When we finally reached the bottom we paused to identify a still blooming blood wart, when a gentleman who had been photographing introduced himself. Now, I am sorry to say I have already forgotten his name, but I have not forgotten that he told us he had worked on this wildflower book. He immediately established himself as our guide, and took us all around the trail, and off of it, to show us various trillium, Virginia blue bell, trout Lilly, blood wart, anemone, and many more. There really is a great deal of wonderful flowers to see here, even if you don't have your own personal guide.

Finally we bid our goodbyes, and we turned ourselves in the direction of the sound of falling water. Just around a bend in the creek, and across a few stones was the falls. Returning to the trail, we explored among the wild flowers some more, and discovered a tiny snail, on a stump newly gnawed by a beaver. Continuing on the trail we soon reached the point where it turned and looped back to the parking lot, but we decided to push further, along the back loop. Unfortunately, the falls at the end of this trail turned out to be completely dry despite the recent rain fall. The remainder of the walk back was less notable than the journey out, especially since the trees have not yet begun to have leaves. Remarkably, we saw no animals in the area, save some roosting vultures. All in all, it is a very nice trail, with interesting water features and flowers, all along an easy path.

CA 06: Home of a crazy woman, and the crazy homeless

We started the day in San Jose, at the Winchester house. We were there before the doors opened, and went on the first tour with a very small group. It was exactly what I expected. Tacky but fun. We only did the basic tour, not the behind the scenes part. My favorite part was the earthquake damaged part of the building. The juxtaposition of the walls with cracked or missing plaster, with still intact Tiffany glass windows was fantastic. For some reason the whole building reminded me of both the Turn of the Screw and the Haunting of Hill House.

After leaving the house, we went back up to San Francisco, and boarded a boat to Angel Island. our goal was the top of the hill, but we also wanted to take our time... the trail to the top switchbacks a million times. It wound through a forest with a floor covered in knee high plants with small blue blossoms. It was beautiful. finally the trail broke out through the trees and we thought we had a chance of reaching the summit before we had to turn back to make the return ferry. But the switchbacks deceived us yet again, and we had to turn around shy of the top. Then we had to wait 20 minutes on the ferry while they tried to find a man who had gone looking for his children, to round up for the ferry. The kids were on time.

After this we headed to the Barbary coast trail, excited at the prospect of spending the evening walking through the city. We parked at a parking garage, and headed out to find the first of the markers. Immediately upon leaving the garage, a guy came up and tried to stop me on the sidewalk. I put my eyes on my feet and dodged around him, but he caught up with Jake. "Hey Hey Hey, what's up?" he says, holding his arms out wide, palm up, non threatening, but still blocking Jake's way. Jake sidesteps and we hurry on our way. We reach a trolley, with a very long line waiting to ride, and opt to walk along beside it instead. Further up the street, a crazy man in a dress is hollering gibberish, and spinning, arms out, down the sidewalk. Another man grabs my arm to stop us, and ask for money. At this point, we are disliking more and more the idea of continuing the walk, so we stop at a booth in union square to see about a tour, but they are closed or full... we wander down an escalator at one point, and are accosted by a woman, standing directly at the bottom, holding out a jar, and preaching nonsense. we finally get back on track with the trail, and head into china town. China town has no homeless people, at least none that get right in your face, or grab onto you, and feels a lot safer, but the sun is setting, the shops seem to be closing up, and I was not relishing the thought of returning the way we'd come after dark. So, rather than continue the trail, we headed back to the car, a little dejected. Still, I liked the city, and I felt that earlier in the day, surely, there wouldn't have been as much concern. This is probably the largest U.S. city I've actually footed around, but I have never met with homeless people so brazen. People which are not just homeless, but truly beggars, offering nothing for the money they want, save one man, who was doing a very good mime atop a crate... anyway, so we didn't end on a totally bad not. We did stop in at a restaurant on the way back to the car, and had some pretty good steaks. Finally, we returned to the car, went to the hotel, and the next morning, after a fine breakfast at I-hop, we caught our plane home.

Remnants at Paestum

After were were too tired to walk any more at Pompeii, we got back to our car and headed to the city of Paestum. We arrived in the early evening at our destination, the ruined city of Paestum. Paestum began as a Greek city, and eventually came into roman hands. It was eventually abandoned, possibly due to malarial infection. The main attraction are the 3 well preserved temples, belonging to Hera, Apollo, and Athena. Amongst the temples are other excavated ruins of the city, including a small amphitheater and a roman amphitheater

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We spent some time wandering around the temples, reading what little I was able to find on the Internet of the cities history.

My own backyard of Nashville has a replica of the Parthenon in Greece, and these temples are after the same fashion. It is known as Doric, and can be distinguished from other Greek styles (Ionic and Corinthian) by the fat columns with unembellished capitols.

As the sun began to set, it was time for us to find out hotel.

Our Hotel for the night was Hotel Zi Carmela. The first problem we had was that we couldn't find the place. This was because the street name we had was not the name of the street anymore. It is, however, the only major cross street in the city. I don't wish to go into the details, but we wasted quite a bit of time trying to locate this place. Once there, we decided to eat at the hotel, which was serving a prix fix meal, rather than go out to a restaurant. A prix fix meal simply means that they will serve several pre determined courses. sometimes there is a choice between 2 or even 3 prix fix options, but often, there is only one, as was the case at this hotel. However, being that a) we didn't really speak Italian, and they really didn't speak English b) it was a sea side resort town and c) I have a hard time eating most sea food... It was a very poor decision on our part.

The first thing served was some sort of potato crab cake. These were good, and I didn't notice the seafood in it really. We were served with a bottle of dry white table wine (a type I hate) and sparkling water (which is bitter and not my favorite). Then they brought out fresh slices of tomato with slices of cheese. Jake liked this, but it wasn't for me. Then there was pasta with some sort of sea food. I picked at this and began to feel sick. Finally they brought out a plate of what I can only describe as raw fish pieces. There was definitely a tentacle in there. I gave up all pretense at this part and left the table to go back to our room, leaving Jake to finish the meal, and the bottle of wine, alone. What's more is I'm sure we made a very bad impression on them.

As a special bonus for reading all that, here's some photos I left out of my blog about Pompeii. 1 is of the colonnade at the boy's school, and the other is of the unusual amphitheater style with external steps.

Koln Cathedral

The Koln (English Cologne, Germany) Cathedral is the kind of place that could make an atheist believe in God. From the outside, the church is massive. It is built in the same Gothic style as the more familiar Notre Dame, but is considerably larger. The exterior is darkened with time and pollution, which only lends to its impressive character. During the time of our visit in July of 2005 There was some scaffolding up, masking parts of the 2 steeples at the front of the church. Don't miss the details of the buttresses and gargoyle shaped rain spouts on the exterior.

Stepping into this building literally took my breath away. The vaulted ceiling immediately draws your eyes up, and up some more. Far above, darkened arches meet the white ceiling. The interior is cool and air, and decorated with stained glass and stone. At the front of the church is the reason for all this grandeur; The relics of the 3 magi drew huge numbers of pilgrims. They are encased in a shimmering gold Sarcophagus, which itself is housed in a modern glass box with recessed lights and probably a modern security system.

The whole experience is very inspiring, even for someone who is not a catholic, nor even a proper christian. I would recommend this as one of Germany's top sights not to be missed.

CA 06: Point Reyes, Muir Woods, and the Rock

Point Reyes is a great place to explore some of California's beautiful shoreline. The first thing we did when we visited was drive to the farthest reaches, to visit McClures Beach, where we walked a narrow path down to the shore. The path wound between small hills covered in a dozen different kinds of flowers. Around a bend we finally came into view of the sea, white capped and dark blue. Once we were down on the sand beach, our only company was a family with some small children. It was very quiet and peaceful with only the sound of the ocean and a few birds. There was a small stream cutting through the sand and flowing into the ocean. I became distracted with digging trenches into the the pebbled stream bed, and well could have spent the whole day there, but Jake pulled me away, and we loaded back into the car and headed towards the light house. Along the way we spotted some of the Elk which are kept in a reserve here, with cattle inhabiting much of the rest of the point.

There's a visitor's center on the cliffs above the light house, that you have to walk a little way to get to. On the particular day we visited it was extremely windy, and it was something of a struggle to walk into it. By the time we reached the visitor's center, our cheeks were stinging. Outside the visitor's center is a whale skull on display, and I scanned the water for whales, but I fully realized I wouldn't be able to make them out with all the white caps, unless possibly if one decided to beach itself. The very nice lady inside the visitors center told us that we couldn't go down to the light house because the wind was too high, but she was more than willing to sell us the California Audubon book we'd been looking for all week, and finally found on the gift shop's shelves. It was a cold and cheek stinging walk back to the car after that. We drove a little way to the elephant seal overlook, and though it wasn't as impressive as what we had already seen on our first day, it did provide good viewing for these unique animals.

We were starved at this point, so we stopped and had some BBQ chicken pizza at an adorable little shop just outside the park. The building looked like it belonged on the New England coast, not thousands of miles away near the opposite shore. It was called Priscilla's Cafe. The website claims the food is organic, and I can attest that is was very fresh.

After our lunch, it was on to Muir Woods, a redwood forest north of San Francisco. The forest was dappled in shadow and light from the branches high over head, and we explored along long winding wooden board walks. Horsetails and sorrel grew among the thick trunks, and a small stream with trout flowed between the trees. From the gift shop, I was able to pick up gold plated redwood needles to add to my Christmas ornament leaf collection, and then it was time to head off for our evening cruise to the most infamous U.S. prison: Alcatraz.

At Fisherman's wharf, we had enough time to grab some ice cream before hopping in line for the cruise. As we arrived onto the island, the sun was surround by a pleasant glow as it began to set. There were enormous sea gulls everywhere on the island. The park rangers split us into smallish groups and escorted us up the hill to the doors of the prison, while explaining some of the history of the island and buildings. Once at the prison, were were given audio devices, and given our leisure to walk about and listen to history. after we had finished with the audio tour, we had a little time left to explore the facilities on our own. I guess one thing that surprised me was how beautiful the island is, and how beautiful the view of the city. Finally, we were herded back onto the boat, the city now lit, the sun gone, and the boat turned back towards the city's shores.