Starling Travel

The diamond mines of Nevada have nothing on the Crater of Diamonds State Park. When you visit, you’re allowed to dig and keep whatever diamonds you find. Somehow this seems wrong to me. Every state and national park I’ve ever visited has balked at removing a mere pebble, but at this one, you can take away a 3 carat diamond? How can this be true?

• Crater of Diamonds State Park Arkansas – keep what you find in this finders keepers diamond mine

Apparently it is and Nicole Ruhter did just that.

• Missouri girl finds diamond at park – Yahoo! News

Diamonds ranging from 2-6 carats have been found. It all seems like a publicity stunt to me, but the idea of being able to find my own diamond instead of wondering how many African orphans died in mines has me looking at a trip to Arkansas.

Where: Crater of Diamonds State Park Google Map
209 State Park Road
Murfreesboro, AR 71958
Email: craterofdiamonds@arkansas.com
Phone: (870) 285-3113

Maps & Directions – Crater of Diamonds State Park Arkansas

Rocketboom visted the Steinhardt Gardens and gives you a peek at their loveliness here:

• Rocketboom: June 7, 2007

Here are some links to pictures of the Steinhardt Gardens:

• Flickr Slideshow – Steinhardt Gardens

• Steinhardt Gardens pictures from scenery & nature photos on webshots

There are gardens like this all over the United States. They are quiet respites from daily life that you can escape into. Find the garden near you and enjoy its loveliness.

Where:
Steinhardt Gardens
433 Croton Lake Road, Katonah, New York 10536
Google Map

Scott took a quick trip to Moab to attend the Desert Rocks Music Festival in Moab. You can read about his adventure here:

• the.Inevitable.Org/anism » Desert Rocks Music Festival in Moab

It’s a short trip to Moab from the Salt Lake Valley:

We all piled into their Winnebago on Sunday afternoon, and we took the 4 hour drive down to Moab. The event was out in the desert about 13 miles south of Moab at Area BFE. It was a beautiful site, and the weather was great … not too warm. We arrived as one of the concerts had just finished, so we broke out the BBQ and got dinner going. As the sun set (which was incredible) we got our act together and wandered down to watch the Fire Dancers, and then head over to the main stage to see Kan’nal. I was impressed … they rocked!

All around you are small festivals like Desert Rocks. If you have been feeling trapped by work but don’t have any vacation time available, plan a quick weekend trip to a nearby festival. The change of scenery is refreshing and the experiences will help you return on Monday with a clear head. You don’t need to take a two week vacation to an expensive destination to get a boost. You just need to keep your eyes open for opportunities.

Couldn’t finish it. Probably shouldn’t have started it. We had the Brew Cheese for an appetizer and frankly, it could have been my meal. The steak was too good to pass up, though.

Mike says their Nitro-Stout is a pretty good imitation of Guiness. Looks like a rootbeer float to me. You get a bad surprise if you taste it. That’s not a rootbeer float AT ALL.

Hopper’s Pub and Brewery: 890 East Fort Union Boulevard, Midvale, UT
Google Map
Phone: (801) 566-0424

Kitykity took a weekend without her husband and children to go on a solo adventure. She visited some friends and then returned to Biloxi, Mississippi to see how much of her beloved city was left after Hurricane Katrina. You can see what she saw here:

• solo adventure, part 5

She has other videos for this trip showing her visits with friends and her thoughts on the long drive. She also took a photo every hour while she was on the trip. You can click on this picture and it will take you to a slideshow of the series:

It was such a vivid reminder to see her photos every hour. So much of a road trip is on the road. I forget that when I plan one.

Last year, when we visited San Antonio, we took a tour of the San Antonio Botanical Garden. I filmed a walking video for Starling Fitness and it is finally ready!

I’m offering this DVD for $5 including shipping and handling in the continental U.S. If you live elsewhere contact me and we’ll figure out how much it will cost to ship to you.

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

Here is a glimpse of what the walk will be like:

Video Description:

I was lost and unprepared for the hot Texas weather, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the garden’s beauty. From the native Texas grassland areas to the indoor fern grottos, I filmed all that the San Antonio Botanical Garden had to offer.

Wander along the garden paths. Watch the birds fly past you and squawk at you from the trees. Smell the herbs and flowers in the garden for the blind. Breathe in the humid air in the fern grotto. Explore the historical homes of Texas’ past. Chase down the golf cart. Can you keep up?

If you are missing the beautiful greenery that Texas has to offer, you can enjoy it every day with this video.

Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

Laura and I saw some bears at Yellowstone the other day, and we posted a video and some pictures:

• Yellowstone Bear Video
• Yellowstone Bear Photos

We thought these were black bears, but a couple of reader comments said they looked more like grizzlies. After doing a bit of research, I believe these were definitely grizzly bears. How can you tell the two apart?

• Shoulders: Grizzly bears have a distinctive shoulder hump. Black bears have no hump.
• Ears: Grizzly bears have small, “teddy bear” ears. Black bears have larger, more prominent ears.
• Face: Grizzlies have a curved profile between their forehead and nose, while black bears have a straighter face.

Here’s where I found this information. Check out these sites and see if I’m right:

• Get Bear Smart Society – Bear Facts – from a Canadian organization dedicated to reducing conflicts between humans and bears.
• Bear Identification Program – Montana allows hunting of black bears but not grizzlies, so they require hunters to take a test proving they can tell the difference. They have an online training system that shows you the difference, a silly bear hunting game, and a test to see how well you know your bears. I scored 93%.

Look at me in my new green cowboy hat! I bought it in West Yellowstone on Tuesday. We took a break from Yellowstone Park and went shopping. Shopping is one of the joys of travel because I can find so many things that I wouldn’t be able to find at home. We looked at chainsaw bears, smelly candles and homemade soap. I finally decided on this lime green hat.

This hat just might be my new token. I’ll be the girl in the green cowboy hat. If I have to live in Utah, I might as well look a little like a cowboy, right?

One thing I noticed about my new cowboy hat, though…

It was made in China…

Whenever you shop in little shops, make sure you check where the products were made. A lot of times, the leather key chain that looks so western was actually made in China, India, or Korea. What’s the point of buying a souvenir that looks exactly like the souvenir from your hometown? I was checking, so my cowboy hat from China wasn’t a surprise. Neither was my lip balm from Vermont and my Native American Style flute from Utah. I drove all the way to West Yellowstone, Montana to buy a flute from Utah.

At least the huckleberries are from Montana… right?

Click any of the photos in this post to view the large photo (800 x 600) in a separate window.

There’s one sure way to spot a bear at Yellowstone National Park: look for a long line of cars parked at the side of one of the roads through the park. A bear that can be seen from the road will always draw a crowd.

Last time we saw a bear at Yellowstone, it was about a hundred yards away in the woods, and there was no way to get a good photo. Some fellow tourists demonstrated their stupidity by walking much closer, but we stayed by the road and contented ourselves with some blurry photos.

This time we were lucky—the line of cars on the West Yellowstone-Madison road led us to two black bears grizzly bears, much closer to the road. They were across the river, which prevented any tourists from risking their lives. We were able to set up tripods and get a couple of decent pictures this time, along with Laura’s video.

These appear to be Grizzly Bears, although we thought they were on the small side. Two of them were feeding on something (Bugs in a rotting log? A dead animal?) and they parted ways and walked in opposite directions along the river as we approached.

Update 05-02-07: I’ve added this map to show you approximately where we saw the bears. They were midway between the West Entrance and Madison Junction.

Update 05-04-07: I initially identified these as black bears, but I’m pretty sure they are grizzlies. Learn how to tell the difference.

We have been staying in Yellowstone for the past couple of days collecting more photographs and video clips than you could shake a stick at, but we couldn’t save this one until we got home. We saw a huge group of people stopped at the side of the road yesterday. That usually means that there is something interesting to look at. It also usually means that the safest thing for us to do is to drive away slowly because there is always somebody getting too close to the wildlife.

In this case, everyone was gawking at, photographing and rushing across the street in front of cars to see a black bear. They are so rare in Yellowstone these days that it was well worth my time to stop. Since there was a large river between us and the bear, I even felt safe enough to get out of the car.

There had been two bears feeding on the carcass of another animal, but this one had eaten enough and was leaving.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a wild bear in Yellowstone, but this was definitely the best. I felt safe because it would have taken him a while to get across the water, so I could retreat to my car if I needed to and he was completely unimpressed by us.

I’m so lucky to see a wild bear in Yellowstone and even luckier to be able to share it with you.

Update 05-02-07: I’ve added this map to show you approximately where we saw the bear. He was midway between the West Entrance and Madison Junction.

We actually couldn’t see what he was eating. It looked furry, but it could have been a rotten log full of bugs or anything, really. It was hidden behind a large tree.

See tomorrow’s entry for Michael’s photos of the bear. He was able to zoom in on his pictures and get a lot closer than I could with my video.

• Starling Travel » Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Photos

Update 05-04-07: We initially called this a black bear, but it appears to be a grizzly. Learn how to tell the difference.