ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
The smell gets to you after a while. Not only is it an assault on the nostrils but, if you're trying to recover from a cold (like we were), it leaves you wheezy and congested. Rotorua reeks of hydrogen sulfide spewed out by the area's mud pools and hot springs. The city literally sits on... Continue Reading →
After spending the night in Whitianga, we headed south to Rotorua. Along the eastern edge of the Coromandel Peninsula is Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve which was set aside by the government in order to protect a rich variety of sea animals and their habitats. Curiously, the sea creatures here grow bigger and are more plentiful than... Continue Reading →
On our previous trip to New Zealand, we skipped a stopover in the North Island altogether. On this trip, we decided to stay for an entire week. We'd rent a car and drive through the upper portion of the island, making stops in the Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorua, Waitomo Caves and, of course, Auckland. We arrived... Continue Reading →
Project Re:START in Christchurch is an attempt to revitalize a portion of the Central Business District by erecting a mall consisting of stacked shipping containers that have been modified for commercial purposes. It opened late last year to a lot of fanfare. This seems like an ingenious idea and one that has an eco-twist to... Continue Reading →
It's been over 30 years since we'd been to the Grand Canyon, much too long to stay away from perhaps Earth's greatest geologic wonder. We made a last-minute decision to come here, only three days before, after we altered our itinerary to go back home in order to avoid dust storms in central Arizona. Granted,... Continue Reading →
Fifty thousand years ago, a meteor slammed into what is now Arizona. The size of the meteor is estimated to have been 50m across and released energy equal to a 10-megaton bomb. Today, the crater is about 550 feet deep and 2.5 miles in circumference. We visited the impact site, called Meteor Crater, scientifically known... Continue Reading →
Along Highway 28 south of Las Cruces stretch miles and miles of pecan trees. The groves alongside the road seem to provide a beautiful arched gateway to the Stahmann Farms store. The farm, nestled among cotton fields, now numbers 4,000 acres and 96,000 trees. There are no guided tours here but the country store shows... Continue Reading →
Our final night of camping on this road trip was spent at City of Rocks State Park, north of Deming in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert, a unique, surreally beautiful area where every campsite is nestled among huge boulders. City of Rocks features a wide field of boulders created 35 million years ago when... Continue Reading →
Neither of us has ever been to Carlsbad Caverns. We set aside three whole days to explore it since its remoteness in the southeast corner of New Mexico makes it unlikely we'd ever have an opportunity to return. This remoteness is the reason that, although its wonders are many, far fewer visitors show up than... Continue Reading →
We were surprised to learn that New Mexico grows quite a lot of pistachios. One normally associates the nut with California. The state has the largest pistachio growing area in the country, though not by volume. The San Joaquin Valley of California enjoys that distinction. Arizona also grows it. Hot and dry conditions are required... Continue Reading →
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