Mike and I go to Austin, Texas every year for the SXSW Interative Festival. It’s nice to see that the New York Times have noticed how entertaining the city is:
Since Austin is so close to San Antonio, a visit to those two cities is a great trip. Here are all the entries in which we’ve talked about Austin, Texas:
You can see my links to San Antonio here:
Imagine walking on a hiking trail in Spartanburg, South Carolina when you happen upon this scene:
The Scarecrow Wedding decorated the trail back in March and entertained the walkers, runners and hikers along the way. You can see more photos here:
Where:
Ward and Andrea Jenkins moved to Portland this year and they are enthralled with their new home town. You can read about their enthusiasm here:
Portland has been a gas stop on the way for Mt. Hood for me, so it’s inviting to hear what a newly transplanted family thinks about the place.
“It’s been so easy to love this new city of mine, with what seems to be TONS of things to do with kids in tow. We just recently checked out the Oaks Amusement Park this past Friday, and, even though it wasn’t like good ol’ Six Flags Over Georgia (Monster Plantation, anyone?), it still had the wonder and awe that only old skool rides can make for summer memories. They even had a roller rink, which I SWEAR had the exact smell of the 1970’s — they should somehow bottle it up and sell it on the street corners of America. I’d buy it. Ava and Ezra were loving the kiddie rides, all of which bordered on the “carny” side. In fact, the entire park screamed CARNY — they just never left town. (The park’s been a staple of SE Portland since 1905!) It was the perfect ending to a great summer.”
Ward has been a faithful lover of Atlanta, but it looks like Portland has won his heart. Welcome to the Wild West, Ward!
I love reading about other people’s travels. Jesse Stay was nice enough to share his trip to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole with us:
You can see the photos from his trip here:
Yellowstone Park is one of my favorite places to visit. I love to see what other people experience when they go there. Never in my many visits have I seen a buffalo get this near Old Faithful. That was a once in a lifetime shot, Jesse!
Why has it taken me so long to find out about the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame? I have yet to visit, but the next trip to the northwest is taking me straight to it! Here are some photos on Flickr:
This photo is my favorite. Kelly_pwn had to stitch together two photos to get it all in one picture, so it looks wonderful!
The Science Fiction Museum is in the legendary Frank Gehry building right next to the Space Needle. The Space Needle was yet another symbol of the future that didn’t come, how apt.
My whole life, I looked forward to the future that science fiction promised me. Only now am I surprised at what has come and what hasn’t. Sure, I don’t have a flying car, but I CAN eat freeze dried food all day if I want. I think I’ll stop dreaming for a future that may never come and just be happy to reminisce about a future that is somehow in my past.
Where:
The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
325 5th Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Google Map
Summer Hours:
Open Daily 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m
Ryanne and Jay are in Cambodia right now. They have posted two videos of their experience here:
Momentshowing: VIDEO: Cambodia, Day 1
Momentshowing: VIDEO: Driving around town, Cambodia
If you have ever wanted to visit a different country all the way around the planet, click on over to Jay and Ryanne’s video blog and watch their two videos about their stay in Cambodia.
Michael Edwards went to the Kyambura Gorge and on his way to the Jacana Lodge, they stopped at the bat caves. This is in West-Central Uganda.
There are many places to visit bats all over the world, but Michael got some great video of them flying around this head.
We went to the Museum of the Rockies to see an exhibit that they have there until September:
Here is their description of the exhibit:
“Ten years in the making from the artisans of the Pharaonic Village in Egypt, the Field Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this dazzling collection of 126 reproductions faithfully preserves Tutankhamun’s treasures. Included in the exhibit are Tutankhamun’s magnificent state chariot, golden shrines, beds, thrones, jewelry, his spectacular funerary mask, mummy case, and royal mummy. There are also associated artifacts from the period surrounding Tutankhamun’s reign that reconstruct both the historic discovery of the tomb by Howard Carter and the life and times of Egypt’s celebrated boy king.”
If you have seen the King Tutankhamun Museum at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, you will be underwhelmed by the reproductions at The Museum of the Rockies. In fact, if you have seen the gift shop at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, you will be underwhelmed by this exhibit.
The entire cost of entry, however, was made up by the dinosaur exhibit. I have never been to a better dinosaur museum. I was amazed at the collection that they had. Here is me next to a T-Rex skull.
My favorite part of the museum was the collection of Triceratops skulls lined up according to age. Baby Triceratop skulls right up to old age and everything in-between. Each skull was labeled with the exact location in Montana where it was found.
They also had paleontologists there, working on fossils and explaining them to questioning children. I felt like a peeping tom, looking in on their work in the office, but it didn’t stop me from looking. It was totally awesome!
With the horrible King Tut reproductions forgotten, we left the museum happy and wishing we could stay and see more.
Where:
Museum of the Rockies
600 W Kagy Blvd
Bozeman, MT 59717
Phone: (406) 994-2251
After dining at some casino restaurants in Billings, Montana, I had given up on finding any food in an enjoyable atmosphere. Then we found Grains of Montana and were pleasantly surprised.
The most endearing part of the restaurant for me was a small touch that might not even be noticed by most people. The “number” that they gave us to put on our table while we waited for our food wasn’t a number at all. It was a little card telling me something about a town in Montana. In this case, it was Pendroy.
It gave the restaurant such a local flavor that I immediately loved eating my egg salad sandwich on sourdough bread with kettle chips. It was a simple meal, but it felt like incredibly good food that I couldn’t get anywhere else.
Mike had the chicken pesto pizza. I had no idea that Billings had heard of “pesto” until we saw it on their menu.
Unlike so many of the trendy bakery restaurants that have infiltrated Salt Lake City, Grains of Montana had an EASY ordering process. We were able to tell ONE person ONCE what we wanted and paid her. At Paradise Bakery, for example, we end up having to tell four separate people our order before we are allowed to pay for it. Grains of Montana made the process so much smoother.
There were desserts aplenty. We tried the cinnamon roll and its delicious cream cheese frosting was perfect: not too sweet and fresh. There were so many desserts to try that we wanted to return, but our time in Billings was short. If you get a chance to try their brownies, please comment here and tell me what I missed out on.
Best of all, there was free wi-fi available. We had looked all over Billings and finding free wi-fi is difficult, to say the least. Grains of Montana announced it loudly with this sign on their door. It had been days since we had partaken of free wi-fi, so it made that little cafe feel like a piece of home.
In the end, the visit to Billings was made better just by visiting Grains of Montana. It’s amazing how healing an egg salad sandwich and free wi-fi can be where neither are easily accessible.
Where:
Grains of Montana Bakery
926 Grand Ave.
Billings, Montana 59102
Phone (406) 259-7142
Fax (406) 259-7152
Email: grainsofmontana@qwest.net
STORE HOURS
Mon. – Fri. 7:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sat. 8:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sun. 8:00 am – 8:00 pm
Download this video for your iPod
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.
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