Reigniting Travel Enthusiasm in New York City
April 7, 2012
I’m back in New York City. For me, New York is one of those ‘comfortable’ destinations – I’ve been here more times than I can remember. I liked to visit the city frequently while in college and when a good friend of mine moved here after college, my visits became more frequent. Throw in the fact that I was able to take free flex trips once I started traveling for work and I’ve since lost count of my visits.
I used to ooze excitement when visiting the city. I could spend all day walking around exploring neighborhoods, seeing famous icons, or visiting one of the many world class museums. But on my last few visits, I had lost that energy.
Instead, I was content to just hang out and relax. Over the course of a weekend trip, I might engage in a walk in the park or a bike ride along the river. Or perhaps I’d venture out and eat brunch or grab a drink at one of the restaurants near my friend’s apartment on the Upper East Side. But for the most part, I was lazy and content to let the city pass me by.
If you’d asked me to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, see a Broadway show or even so much as try a new restaurant somewhere south of Midtown, I probably would have scoffed. ‘It’s too far away’, ‘I don’t want to pay for it’, or ‘been there, done that’ were common self-made excuses of mine.
Afterwards, I actually felt guilty about these trips. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to see my friend, kick back and relax a bit. But New York is an absolutely incredible city and I was doing nothing there that I couldn’t do back home in Denver or in any of the cities I work in.
This visit is going to be different.
It is my first trip here since starting Travel Rinse Repeat; I’m determined to live my new travel motto and make the most of my visit to New York City. I’ll be seeing the infamous skyline from new perspectives, visiting one-of-a-kind art exhibitions, exploring unique and vibrant neighborhoods and more – and I’ll be sharing it all here in the coming days.
For me, travel to New York City is exciting again.
header photo credit to Gianmaria Veronese 8 comments
In Search of Gators in Gainesville, Florida
April 6, 2012
Gainesville, FL – They call it ‘Gator Country’ and with good reason: Gainesville is crawling with the likeness of the prehistoric looking reptiles. Everywhere I looked, I was reminded that I was indeed in Gator Country. Of course, there is the University of Florida which has adopted the gator as it’s official mascot. Many cars have gator license plates and several of the local businesses have included ‘gator’ in their names – Gator City Sports Grill, Gator Nails and Salon, Gator Cycle…I think you get the idea.
On a recent 24 hour business trip to the city, I set out on a quest to find some gators for myself.
When in Gainesville, the place to see alligators is Lake Alice on the campus of the University of Florida. The lake is pristine gator habitat – old trees draped in Spanish moss hang over the banks of the lake and the water is extremely calm and still. One word comes to mind when taking in the scenery of Lake Alice – Primeval.
A fitting habitat, considering these creatures’ close relatives first appeared on earth 200 million years ago.
As I crept down near the banks of the lake, I kept an eye on the water for any movement. A ripple here. A splash there. Moving further down the banks, I saw what looked to be a baby alligator’s head, but upon closer inspection it was a large, long nosed turtle.
The warm water of the lake lent itself to the cool and heavy morning air, creating curtains of steam rising into the air and hindering my efforts. Suddenly off in the distance, I caught a shadowy contrasted figure moving along the surface of the placid lake. The shape was unmistakeably that of an alligator, and it looked like a big one.
The prehistoric-looking reptile moved slowly, steadily, and silently through the water – perhaps looking for its next meal. I stood in awe as I watched the creature glide across the glassy lake.
It was thrilling to watch this alligator off in the distance, but I wanted a closer encounter. And so, I continued along the banks of Lake Alice, scanning the water for another gator. Bubbles rose to the surface of the murky water. Could it have been an alligator letting out air beneath the surface? The bubbles stopped, I waited, and then moved on.
Suddenly, movement under the water caught my eye. Less than ten feet away, a small U-shaped wave was moving steadily across the water towards me, being pushed along by some unseen creature just below the surface. I held my breath waiting for this creature to surface. It never did and the wave stopped. Perhaps it was another gator, lurking just below the murky surface. I’ll never know.
As the sun rose higher in the sky I was reminded that my time to search for gators was finite. After all, I did have to go into work eventually. I scanned the water one final time before I knew I had to move on.
Desperately searching the murky, debris-laden surface near the banks of the lake, I saw an unmistakable reptilian slit pupil staring right back at me from the water. Before I had seen the alligator, the alligator had seen me.
Silent and still, the gator and I stared back at each other. I sat watching it for five minutes or so. Only its eyes and nose were visible, the rest of the creature lost in the black waters of the lake.
As a Colorado native, alligators are perhaps the most exotic creature I can see in the wild without leaving the United States. The swamp is such a distant, disparate environment from the high arid plains I call home. So much of our culture and lifestyle is influenced and impacted by the nearby Rocky Mountains, but for Gainesville, it is the swamp and it’s resident alligators are so immensely important to the culture and lifestyle in this college town.
This was clear from the moment I arrived in Gator Country. These creatures and their habitat are revered in Gainesville; a statue of a bull gator stands on the UF campus, and various swamp murals decorate concrete surfaces around the town. Gainesville even nicknamed the stadium where the University of Florida Gators football team plays ‘The Swamp.’
After leaving Gainesville, there was one burning question I have that I didn’t get a chance to answer during my visit. With the ubiquity of the scaly reptiles, is it popular to eat alligator in Gainesville? My guess is that’s more of a Tallahassee thing…
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Visiting Seattle, Washington – The Local’s Take with Ashley of ‘A and B C The World’
April 4, 2012
John’s note: The Local’s Take is a series where I interview some of my favorite travel bloggers and turn the tables, asking them to share their hometowns with us. After all, what better way is there to learn about a destination than from a travel writer who calls it home? So join along and learn how to make the most of a visit to Seattle, Washington with Ashley of A and B C the World.
Name: Ashley Dillon
Hometown: Seattle, Wa
Website:www.aandbctheworld.com
Facebook:www.facebook.
About: A & B is a little travel blog we started during a half-year long trip through Southeast Asia. Since returning to the states from Asia, A&B C the world is our travel-outlet, cataloging our favorite places, travel sites, and things.
Tell us about Seattle. If you’ve been to Seattle, you know that it is the sum of its parts that make this city whole. Basically, Seattle is one big collection of neighborhoods. The quaint, small-town feel of each of these neighborhoods lends to their charm.
You have local eateries, grocery stores, neighborhood bars; basically everything you would need is located within a mile radius, and when you leave that mile radius you enter another neighborhood with it’s own food, bars and local haunts. From Ballard to Fremont, Greenlake to Madison Park, each of these great places are worth a trip in themselves.
What can visitors do to make the most out of a visit there? Most visitors stay in downtown Seattle, but I highly suggest finding a small hotel on the outskirts of downtown. Be sure to rent a car if staying outside of downtown, but I highly recommend hitting the year-round local farmer’s markets and tasting all the delicious artisan pastries and Washington cheeses.
What is Seattle best known for? Rain! Seriously, it seems like it only rains when I have people coming to visit, but if you stay longer than a week, than you are guaranteed to catch a little sun.
When is the best time to visit? July-September. We have perfectly mild weather and less rain at that time of the year, which makes a perfect time to visit and wander around The Emerald City.
Are there any unique festivals or celebrations? Seattle is known for its music festivals. Over Memorial Day weekend there is a huge music festival called Sasquatch at the Gorge (in George, Washington) that lasts for three days and brings in some great artists.
Or my favorite is Capital Hill Block Party, where for a day they block off all of the Capital Hill neighborhood and literally throw a big block party in the streets with great bands, food and drinks.
What is the local delicacy? We are lucky to live in a city surrounded by farms. We always have an abundance of locally grown, fresh produce and delicious seafood! So I’d have to say salmon and apples of course are our local delicacies.
What is the best restaurant or food experience in Seattle? Obviously, I am a big fan of the Seattle food scene. There is an amazing variety of food here, but I highly suggest grabbing local Seattle fare, either at the Walrus and the Carpenter (oyster bar) or Sitka and Spruce (seasonal Seattle cuisine).
If you are looking for something less formal, I would definitely recommend Pho, especially on a rainy day. Pho is the only thing that warms me and never disappoints. For around $5 you are sure to leave stuffed! Head to the university district to get free cream puffs with your pho for dessert.
Are there any unique or interesting neighborhoods? Ballard is my favorite neighborhood, though I might be biased because I live there. This little neighborhood harks back to its Scandinavian roots, and Swedish flags definitely outnumber US flags.
How would you spend a perfect day in Seattle? To start a perfect Seattle day (like the locals) head to the Sunday Ballard Farmer’s Market, where you can grab coffee and *vegan* pastries to go, and slowly meander up and down the farmer’s market.
Then grab brunch at Portage Bay Cafe (seriously worth the wait and the pancake topping bar is to die for- again, it is all locally sourced/fresh ingredients). After stuffing yourself with great food, walk down the street till you reach the locks.
This is where they let boats from the ocean into Lake Union or visa versa, by “locking” them into small channels while raising or lowering the water level. You can walk through the locks to the other side, which is called Magnolia. From there you can put in a little hike down to the beach at Discovery Park, where you can scour for drift wood and sea glass.
By the time you are finished hiking around, it’s probably time for happy hour and Ballard definitely has an abundance of great bars and happy hours. We usually stay a while and end our day meeting friends, eating and drinking and then walking back home (just be sure to bring a rain coat).
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Travel Rinse Repeat’s Seven Super Shots
2 April 2012The good folks at Hostelbookers created this little game called ‘Seven Super Shots’ that encourages travel bloggers to share seven of their favorite photos from their travels in the seven specified categories. This has been making its rounds on the travel blogs lately, and my friend Annette of Bucket List Journey was kind enough to [...]
Travel Rinse Repeat Roundup – April 1st, 2012
1 April 2012Welcome to the next edition of The Travel Rinse Repeat Roundup, where I provide site news, useful links, updates on old articles, interesting info, and whatever else that might be on my mind. I just returned through a swing through Florida, visiting Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola, and Gainesville and in case you’re curious, the header [...]
Abandoned But Not Forgotten in Baton Rouge
30 March 2012Somewhere along the Mississippi River just south of Downtown Baton Rouge, an old abandoned wharf still stands, forgotten by the busy river traffic continually passing by. This wharf isn’t in any of the travel guides and with good reason: it’s a pretty dangerous place. I received the tip-off from former Baton Rouge resident Mary from [...]
Visiting Bloomington, Minnesota – The Local’s Take with Shanna of ‘There and Back Again’
28 March 2012John’s note: The Local’s Take is a series where I interview some of my favorite travel bloggers and turn the tables, asking them to share their hometowns with us. After all, what better way is there to learn about a destination than from a travel writer who calls it home? So join along and learn how to [...]
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