Starling Travel

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We took a break on the long drive to Billings and stopped at Prairie Dog Town. We were surprised to see that it’s nicely inhabited. The prairie dogs and bunnies were shy, but willing to hold still for many pictures.

I have no idea what they were eating. I was zooming in on them with a 10X zoom, so I wasn’t nearly as close to them as it appears.

I remember Prairie Dog Town being hot and too much walking when I visited it as a child. I remember not even being able to see the prairie dogs because every time I would see one, they would pop back into their holes. Now, I realize it was because I was a noisy kid, who screamed every time she saw one. Now that I’ve learned to be still and quiet, I am able to see the prairie dogs I was never able to see as a child.

For More Information:

Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park – Montana FWP

Here is another huge postcard from Chicago. It’s really cool, too, because it’s not just a rectangle. It’s shaped like the building.

Here’s the front:

Here’s the back:

The postcard reads:

Chicago
Printed in Canada

They write:

We went to Alinea Restaurant today.
This is the best restaurant in the nation. Anyone who can, should go!

Please send me a postcard from your travels or your hometown. If you do and it’s interesting, I will publish your postcard on Starling Travel.

Send your postcards to:

Starling Travel
Attention: Laura Moncur
P.O. Box 522032
Salt Lake City, Utah 84152

It’s like sending a postcard to the whole world when you go on vacation. It’s like bragging about your hometown to the everyone on the planet.

Imagine my surprise to find that instead of the usual space trip around the galaxy when we rode Space Mountain at Disneyland this year, we were treated to Higher Ground by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

After I got off the ride, I looked at my folded and mangled guide to Disneyland. There it was, right on the cover, but I hadn’t noticed it. I had just opened it to the map and headed on my way.

Part of me was pissed. Space Mountain is about SPACE, man! It’s about science and space and NASA and all that stuff! It ain’t about the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

The other part of me was sick of all that space stuff. Honestly, how much science did I ever learn from Space Mountain? None, nothing, zip. It REALLY was about the new Disney movie The Black Hole, when I was a kid, but even that movie was light on the science.

I rode Space Mountain again (it was a rainy day and the lines were pretty short) and I totally LOVED it. They somehow mixed the song to match the ride perfectly. When the music speeds up and gets manic, the coaster speeds up and starts whipping you around in a circle.

Then another part of me felt so proud and happy for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They are Orange County Boys. They probably went to Disneyland a hundred times in their childhood. They probably rode Space Mountain ever since the year it opened. They probably spit on the eye in Adventure Through Inner Space. I felt this huge surge of happiness. What better band than the Red Hot Chili Peppers to soundtrack rides at Disneyland?! WAY better than Michael Jackson’s 3D monstrosity.

I didn’t ride California Screamin’, the huge roller coaster in California Adventure, but I heard that ride was Rockin’ the Peppers as well. Everybody else who rode it weren’t able to tell me which song was playing. I think it was because that ride is just so intense that they didn’t have a chance to even think about the music.

Just based on the look on their faces, I think that’s the case…

Have you ridden any of the Rockin’ rides at Disneyland? What did you think about the changes?

Right now, the Orange County Fair is going on in California. Lan Bui and Bonny Pierzina attend every year. This year, Bonny was in search of all that is free at the Orange County Fair.

Click Here To Play

Lan and Bonny always do such a great job covering the Orange County Fair. Here is last year’s video of the event:

• Starling Travel » Orange County, California: The Orange International Street Fair 2006

The Orange County Fair just started, so if you happen to be in Southern California, it might be an enjoyable way to spend a day.

Here are a couple of good entries about exercising while traveling.

• Starling Fitness » Question of the Week: How do you exercise when you’re traveling?

• Running on the Run » Complete Running Network

Vacations and travel are meant to be relaxing. Letting your exercise routine fall by the wayside is actually worse for you than not exercising. Exercise is such a stress reliever that you almost have to keep up with your routine in order to let yourself relax on vacation.

Find a way to do it and share your ideas here.

Enjoy this lovely stroll through Battery Park in New York with Joanne from Rocketboom.

Where: Battery Park, New York Google Maps

Battery Park – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This postcard is HUGE! You really need to click over to Flickr to see it full size.

Here’s the front:

Here’s the back:

The postcard reads:

Millennium Park – Chicago
Cloud Gate, Millennium Monument-Peristyle, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, BP Bridge
Millennium Park in Chicago is a 21st century center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design.

They write:

We walked around this park today.
It was amazing!

Please send me a postcard from your travels or your hometown. If you do and it’s interesting, I will publish your postcard on Starling Travel.

Send your postcards to:

Starling Travel
Attention: Laura Moncur
P.O. Box 522032
Salt Lake City, Utah 84152

It’s like sending a postcard to the whole world when you go on vacation. It’s like bragging about your hometown to the everyone on the planet.

Kitykity and her family went to Disney World last month and she has posted a couple of videos of their fun. You can see them here:

Disney World: Part 1: Traveling and Blizzard Beach

I forget how much of traveling is actually getting there. It looks like Kitykity made it fun with her family by filming videos and keeping them occupied. Since I’ve never been to Disney World, I would have liked to see what Blizzard Beach was like and to see the kids playing on the water rides.

Disney World: Part 2: EPCOT Center, squishing pennies and playing in the fountains.

Click To Play

There is a eighty-year-old woman in me that saw the children playing in the fountains and thought, “That ain’t no way to spend time in Disney World! Ya gotta gitchyer money’s worth, kids!” Of course, they’re there to have fun. If they’re having fun with the fountains and squishing pennies, then you got your money’s worth.

Kitykity regularly posts interesting videos on her vlog. Check her out there: kitykity’s vlog.

I have been behind scanning all the postcards that have come from far and wide. Here is the postcard that has traveled the furthest to reach us:

The letter is in French. If any of you know the language, could you please write the translation in the comments?

Please send me a postcard from your travels or your hometown. If you do and it’s interesting, I will publish your postcard on Starling Travel.

Send your postcards to:

Starling Travel
Attention: Laura Moncur
P.O. Box 522032
Salt Lake City, Utah 84152

It’s like sending a postcard to the whole world when you go on vacation. It’s like bragging about your hometown to the everyone on the planet.

Halfway between San Jose and Salinas is Mount Madonna County Park. It is a great place for camping and hiking. If you are planning a trip to California, you can find so much more than the Disneylands and the Sea Worlds. There is an entire state of experiences waiting for you. You can find out more here:

• Two-Heel Drive: Mount Madonna County Park

• Bay Nature: On the Trail: At Home off the Range: A Cattle Baron’s Refuge at Mount Madonna, July-September 2007

This park belonged to a Cattle Baron during the Gold Rush Era. All that is left of his mansion are moss-covered stones. It’s a surprising reminder of how quickly our most cherished possessions can deteriorate into nothing. It also serves as a warning that everything that we do to the planet is merely a scratch and Mother Earth can recover and overgrow your mark within years.

For a different sort of vacation, try camping at Mount Madonna County Park.

Where: Approximately 38 miles north of Salinas off Highway 101 – Google Map