Starling Travel

iToors is a service that allows you to download MP3s to listen to about great cities. You can see their website here:

• iToors :: iToors Podcasts

Their list of tours are limited:

North America New York, California

Europe Glasgow, London, Paris, Prague

When I clicked on California, I listened to the Santa Monica iToor. They talked about the city and how it attracted artists. I was expecting a walking tour where you start at a certain site and walk while you listen to the iToor. The audio track would point out important sites along the way.

Unfortunately, the Santa Monica iToor just talked about the city. They did include addresses so you could visit the places that they are talking about, but these audio files aren’t walking tours. They’re more for people who are trapped at home and wish they could travel somewhere, but don’t know where to go. Instead of acting like a tour guide in your iPod, they are like the Travel Channel in your iPod.

Maybe that’s why they spelled tour wrong…

Via: Shiny Shiny: iToors – City tours for your iPod

Schlomo Rabinowitz went to Las Vegas and stayed at the New York New York hotel. He got footage of the casino. Every time I’ve tried to take pictures or video in ANY casino, they have stopped me. Good job getting all that “forbidden” footage!

• Echoplex Park: Hey, Let’s Go To Las Vegas!

He doesn’t seem to enjoy the Vegas experience quite as much as I do. I love the New York New York hotel. He kept asking what burrough he was in. I wanted to scream at the screen, “You’re in Central Park!” I guess he doesn’t like the imaginary version of New York quite as much as the real one.

I didn’t know tide pools were anything but interactive spots at Sea World and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You know… you go to the aquarium and the tide pool is the spot where they let you touch the starfish and sea cucumbers, right?

Wrong.

Our friends live in Cardiff By The Sea and they were eager to tell us about the joys of tide pools. They are spots on the ocean that hold water even at low tide. Sea creatures hide out in them until the tide comes back. You can actually go into the REAL world and see local sea life. What you see depends on where you are looking. We didn’t see any starfish, but we saw enough wildlife to truly understand the joy of watching the ocean.

We went to Swami’s Beach in Encinitas, California. Here’s the view from the top of the stairs.

When we got closer, these rocky areas were to the north of the staircase.

On the stairs, the city of Encinitas had posted this sign about the wildlife that we might be able to see.

Some of the wildlife isn’t lucky enough to find a tide pool. They become easy targets for birds.

Here are some good examples of tide pools. Look for areas that are like holes in the ground that hold water while the tide is low.

You can look over the side of ledges also.

There was a sort of shimmer to the water. I don’t know if it was some sort of polution or a local ore. It felt like the water was filled with gold.

This shore crab didn’t make it through low tide. He became a dinner for a bird before we left the beach.

We saw so many anemones. Some of them were exposed by the low tide and dried up quickly. These two were safely hidden in the tide pools.

There were many hermit crabs and other shellfish.

Mike was much better at spotting animals than I was. He found this octopus. His head was about two inches long, but if he had spread out his legs, he would have been about seven or eight inches long. He was very shy and hid under the rocky ledge when my shadow passed over the tide pool.

The most excellent find was the sea slugs. They were at least eight inches long and four inches in diameter. They moved slowly under the water, eating the seaweed surrounding and hiding them.

Our trip to the tide pools at Swami’s Beach was an enjoyable and relaxing couple of hours in a busy week. I can’t wait to go back to California to do this again.

For a how-to guide on tide pool watching, see this entry:

• Starling Travel » How-To Guide For Tide Pools

• Starling Travel » Swami’s Beach, CA: Video of a Sea Slug

• Starling Travel » Swami’s Beach, CA: Tide Pool Video

Swami’s Beach, Encinitas, California: Google Map (taken at high tide, so you can’t see the tide pools)

Beach Parking: 5am – 10pm
Beach Use: 4am – 2am
No dogs, alcohol, or glass allowed
Lifeguard Towers Open: 10am – 6pm during the Summer Season (late June to Labor Day)
For more information: 760-633-2740

Tide pools are areas where you can see sea life at low tide. Depending on the area, you can see a wide variety of wildlife in the water that you wouldn’t be able to see normally. Because the sea life is trapped when the tide is low, they are very shy. It takes some patience to spot them, but once you do, you feel like the world has opened up its diary and showed you its secrets.

Here is a how-to guide for people who have never been tide pooling:

• Find a location: Some areas are better than others. In order to find the good places, I used Google. I typed “tide pool San Diego” and found directions to a beach within walking distance of my hotel. If I hadn’t looked it up, however, I would have been looking in the completely wrong place and wouldn’t have found anything interesting at the same beach. Fortunately, there are so many people interested in this that they have posted tide pool locations all around the world. If you are near the ocean, someone has logged the local tide pools. All you need to do is find the directions to the right location.

• Find the time for low tide: If you show up at the beach at the wrong time, you won’t be able to see anything. You need to know when low tide is in order to see the tide pools. This was more information I found using Google, using the search, “low tide tables.” Salt Water Tides has a comprehensive list for the United States. Low tide happens twice a day, so choose a time that works with your schedule. It’s also better when the low tide is lower—tide tables list the lowest the water gets, negative numbers are the best.

• Prepare for tide pooling: You’ll want to bring a camera, sunscreen and a hat. You should wear shoes with a good tread because the area is slippery. If you are willing to get a little wet, then surf shoes are the best. Otherwise, hiking sandals or tennis shoes are good.

• Arrive one hour before low tide: All the coolest spots will still be under water at that time, but arriving one hour before the “big show” gives you enough time to find good spots. Remember, the tide tables are just estimates, so giving yourself plenty of time just ensures that you’ll be able to enjoy yourself.

• Look for areas that are still under water: This is the hardest part of tide pooling is finding the spots where the wildlife is hiding. Look for “holes” under the water that will still have water even when the tide finishes going all the way out. That’s what the starfish, octopii and sea slugs are looking for: a place that will still be wet, even when the ocean is low. Here is a picture of one of the tide pools Mike and I found on our tide pool expedition:

• Be patient and watch for movement: These animals are trying to survive during the two hours of the day that they are most vulnerable, so they are VERY difficult to see. You need to sit still and watch everything under the water. What you will see will vary depending on the part of the world where you’re watching, but there is always something there, hiding. You just need to sit around long enough to notice it.

• Soft Touch: If you disturb the tide pool, every living thing in there is going to hide and stay as still as possible so you don’t notice them. Poking around in the water is just going to ruin your experience, so leave the animals alone. Additionally, prying the animals off the rocks can kill them. If you do want to touch, a soft, one-finger touch is the most you should do. You’re here to enjoy nature, not destroy it.

• Walk carefully: It’s best for the animals to stay in the areas that are not underwater. That way you don’t scare or hurt them. Additionally, remember that you are walking on a part of the ocean that’s usually underwater, so there may be unlucky wildlife that didn’t make it to the tide pool under your feet. Step carefully.

• Keep your eye on the ocean: The tide goes out and the tide comes in. You only have a couple hours to watch the wildlife before the tide pools go back under water. Don’t let it surprise you. You are walking on a slippery area and it only takes a small wave to knock you over. Don’t lose your expensive camera to the salty water just because you didn’t pay attention to the ocean.

Watching wildlife in the ocean’s tide pools is a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. More importantly, it’s a free activity that will provide you with an opportunity to see nature in all its glory.

The following websites have some tips and information about tide pools:

• Tide Pools

• Watchable Wildlife — Tide Pools

• Tide Pool Tips

Click here to see what Mike and I saw at Swami’s Beach in San Diego, California on our tide pool expedition:

• Starling Travel » Swami’s Beach, CA: Tide Pool Watching

• Starling Travel » Swami’s Beach, CA: Tide Pool Video

On the way from San Diego from Las Vegas, we passed lots of motorcycles. Groups of five to eight riders were making their way from California to Vegas. We stopped for gas in Barstow. While Mike gassed up the Beetle, I ran to the bathrooms located outside the store. There was a big sign on the men’s bathroom, “Out of Order.” The women’s bathroom was occupied.

I danced my little “I should have stopped in Victorville” dance while I waited for the women’s bathroom. When the door finally opened a burly biker walked out. He blushed a bright shade of red and jerked his head toward the sign on the men’s bathroom. He bashfully walked away and let me use the bathroom.

He left the toilet seat up.

When Jay and Ryanne moved to San Francisco, they drove across the United States. The only touristy thing they did on the drive was this quick trip to Mount Rushmore.

• Ryanne’s Video Blog – Mount Rushmore

“All right, there it is.”

“It’s a lot smaller than I thought.”

That was my exact sentiment when I saw Mount Rushmore. After living in the Wasatch Mountains, these hills weren’t able to impress me, even though I was a child. I had always imagined them as tall as my mountains back home, so these “guys in stone” weren’t that big of a noise to me.

Every year it happens. The sunny weather fools the tulips into coming out of the earth. As soon as they bloom, the tempermental sky dumps a foot of snow on them. Luckily, they’re hearty.

This 54 second video was taken on April 3rd, 6th and 7th, showing the process that happens every year. When I see the tulips popping out of the ground, I want to tell them to go back in. They’ve been fooled and winter is FAR from over.

I found this quotation at The Quotations Page and it surprised me at how true it was.

There have been many times that we have visited a city in which we know people who live there and choose to stay in a hotel because it’s more comfortable for us.

There’s something to be said for the joy of having house guests, but the novelty of it wears off very quickly. I understand this, so whenever I plan to visit family for more than one or two days, we stay at a hotel. It’s just easier that way.

There are lots to tricks to packing normal clothes so they don’t wrinkle, but I approach packing my clothes for travel in a whole different manner.

Buy Clothes That Are Wrinkle-Resistant

I’ve found that Columbia, North Face and REI clothing are perfect for travel. They are lightweight and they can be smashed in a suitcase any which way and come out looking great with just a shake.

Bring Jeans

Jeans are HEAVY. Packing them takes a lot of space and weighs down the suitcase. That’s the negative, but the truth is, jeans are perfect travelling clothes. When folded neatly, they come out of the suitcase ready to wear.

Bring Coat Hangers

The hotel room never has enough coat hangers, so I always pack enough to hang my clothes.

Unpack Quickly

As soon as I get to the hotel, I unpack my bags. I shake out my clothes and hang them up on the coat hangers I brought. The less time the clothes are in the bag, the less likely they’ll be wrinkled.

This only works if you are staying in ONE hotel your entire trip, but it has worked pretty well for me over the years.

Fodor’s has a great list to prevent wrinkling your clothes while you have them packed away in a suitcase:

• Fodor’s Travel Wire | 6 Tips for Wrinkle-Free Packing

Here is a condensed version of the list:

• Lighten your load
• One word
• Rolling, rolling, rolling
• Fold it
• Delicate situation
• Pack it away

Tune in tomorrow to see my radically different take on the same situation.