Tagged With "Caribbean National Forest"
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Re: Casa Bacardi Rum Plant, San Juan, Puerto Rico
I've visited the Bacardi plant too, and remember being quite impressed by it. As I recall, the original was in Cuba and the family moved to P.R. to escape Castro. And I'm proud to see you standing after those free samples! Thanks for the post.
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Re: Portland, Maine: A Big Little City
It's about 30 miles north of Cabot's Cove, which is near Wells, Maine. Which is at one end of the excellent Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, which combines forest and shore habitats and makes a wonderful walk. It was featured in a couple of Pictures of the Day, and was the scene, back in 2013, of Where in the World is TravelGumbo #5
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Re: A visit to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello
Regarding his feeling about slavery, I have no doubt, because of the nature of the man as shown by the things he did write, he was conflicted. And while he seems never to have come to a personal solution I don't believe, either, that his lack of action was de facto support for the institution. Sometimes there just isn't time to resolve one's own conflicts and be a father of a new nation too. We may be asking too much of human beings if we expect tidy packages and complete resolutions in 1 ...
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Re: 1000's Drawn to North Dakota
Just checked the unemployment rate. North Dakota's is the lowest in the nation. In Aug 2013, it was 3.0%. Neighboring South Dakota's is 3.8%, as it too benefits from the oil boom.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? #37
I can't make up my mind whether it is a watch tower (forest fires?) or part of a modernistic church...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo, #60
Hmmm, I thought Scotland, Ireland...definitely NOT in a forest; trees too spaced, road too visible. In a park, perhaps? How clever of the puzzlemaster to find a picture with the flag furled to prevent an easy guess...
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Re: Taos NM - Indian, Mexican, and Yarn
Historydigger, That is very interesting. We were in Taos this time because I was dropping my wife off at a writers retreat/workshop at the SMU campus in the national forest outside of town.
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Re: New Eurostar Service, London - Provence
Sorry Paul but you've lost me ! If you fly to Marseilles and take the 760 mile train journey to London you'll avoid the APD. True. But that will cost you more than the APD and you'll waste a day. You dont see much from the window on a train doing 186 MPH. Be aware that the nation with the most heavily taxed European passengers is France, where over 60% of airport and passenger charges are in the form of state taxes to be paid by the passenger.
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Re: Gallery: A visit to Cuba
Beautiful! I was there in 1959......and the color of the water is what I remember the most!
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Re: Gallery: A visit to Cuba
Great post and pictures Dr Y...definitely on my wish list. Is tourism on the increase you think??
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Re: Gallery: A visit to Cuba
Thanks IslandMan, There are many resorts in the Varadero peninsular. The Christmas/New Year season is kind of full. But other than that, still unspoiled to me. The tour guy told us that currently 80% tourists are Canadians. I can imagine if sanctions are lifted, there will be lots of tourists from USA, they are much closer in terms of distance.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 16, 2015: Fall in Glacier National Park
Beautiful photos! Makes me appreciate all over again the wonders this nation has to offer!!!
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Re: Monterey Bay Aquarium: Oceans Apart
There's lots of fun aquariums around the country and planet, but this is the finest aquarium I've ever visited. I'm especially fond of the jelly fish exhibits, the Kelp Forest tank, and the large tank that features animals from the ocean's depths (like the strange looking sunfish). Nicely done, Lester. thanks for sharing this.
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Re: How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Sometimes when I'm in Vancouver I head to Canada Place to watch the cruise ships coming and going. You actually get to see the belly of the ship being loaded. The dozens of palates of food that go on is amazing. Would you have thought a cruise ship would consume 3 massive containers of potatoes in a week? 2 of onions? Might even have been more, that's all I saw. It is truly a model of efficiency.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 16, 2015: Coffee & Dessert in North Beach
Precisely. But I am also easily distracted in a bakery such as this, so I might just let that almond croissant slide by as I reach for a slice of black forest cake!
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#124)
More good guesses, but Gumbo is not on a school campus. The picture below is of the river that runs next to our building. The river is the reason why this building was built here. Also, the building sits adjacent an area of first growth forest, a rarity in this part of the country.
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Re: Edinburgh tells its 'People's Story'
If you liked this museum I recommend another, different but complimentary, the Back to Backs in Birmingham. A group of dwellings in the city center that somehow escaped urban renewal, it's been turned into a museum by the Nation Trust and recreates working people's homes of several eras, fascinating. https://www.nationaltrust.org....ingham-back-to-backs
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Re: Cuba: Uncertainty stirs a booking boom
It's time the American Government stopped flexing its muscles to crush a nation of dirt poor people. Inhuman.
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Re: Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
While this report is interesting in one regard, I find myself disturbed by the discussion of Woodrow Wilson that leaves out so many negative aspects of Wilson's legacy. Negative enough that students at Princeton have been trying to get his name off buildings. Wilson was a racist. A member of the KKK, or at least a friend. He showed Birth of A Nation, a racist, pro-Klan movie in the White House. He segregated the civil service, which had been one of the ways that Black workers had been able...
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Re: Flying Emirates Business Class: a review
A small taste of self indulgence. Reminds me of a TV ad. "Because I'm worth it" On a First Class BA flight from London - San Francisco the only problem I had was staying awake. Not paying all that money for a good sleep ! OK - I paid for a Round - the - World Ticket but the first flight was overbooked. It pays to be well dressed in economy. But I would have enjoyed the Black Forest Gateau you had instead of my French Champagne.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#117)
IDK good one to be stumped. Thought a Caribbean or West African Nation capitol; then the Christmas Trees brought us back to North America, and we settled upon Harrisburg, PA. Probably early in December since no snow outside. Beautiful building, the eye can't take in all the detail, wherever it is. Missteacher411
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Re: Cozumel, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico: Coral, Currents, and Clear waters
The Yucatan is wonderful place, and so much more that Cancun. For those who don't scuba there is Xel-Há national park near Tulúm. This lagoon is wonderful place to snorkel and with beautiful fish in a more controlled environment.
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Re: Cozumel, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico: Coral, Currents, and Clear waters
What an amazing place!! What a great experience! Thanks for sharing this adventure with us. Especially love your beautiful photography.
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Re: IRS gains power to get passports cancelled
I don't like it either. The IRS has made mistakes before and I'm sure taxes and penalties add up quick if the person doesn't pay in time Plus people from certain states might need their passports to act as ID because they won't be able to get into federal facilities with their state drivers license only and might not be able to fly soon . http://www.latimes.com/nation/...-20160103-story.html
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Re: An English Garden Gallery: Hidcote
They are delicious. The most memorable single dish I've ever had was forest ferns, far out into the Chinese countryside near the Burma border, cooked for 3 of us, the only other people for miles I think, the lovely taxi driver who knew the place, my friend and me. Other things, too, but it's the ferns I remember.
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Re: Name Your Favorite Restaurants for Atmosphere, Past or Present
For the sake of the memory I'm going to add another place here where I had possibly the best meal of my life. I cannot tell you the name of it or if it had a name or even where it is exactly, somewhere along the country road between Jinghong (Yunnan, China) and the Burma border. I'd hired a guide/driver to take me to the tribal market, famous in those parts, and on the way back suggested we stop for lunch. I'm one of those who believe regional Chinese is the best food in the world and this...
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Re: A Visit to the “Spine Garden:”Cactus in Arizona’s Sonora Desert
As it snows and storms outside, a welcome diversion! I find all cacti interesting but there's something captivating about the saguaro forest around Tucson. While visiting Saguaro National Park (years ago, before it was a national park), I remember a newspaper clipping tacked onto the park's information board. The headline read something like "Saguaro cactus involved in double homocide". Seems a drunk yahoo with a shotgun drove out to the desert to kill himself a giant saguaro. He did, the...
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Re: A Visit to the “Spine Garden:”Cactus in Arizona’s Sonora Desert
I love the Saguaro forest around Tucson. Especially in the spring when the cacti are in bloom!
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Re: From Where I Sit: A Gallery of Benches
I thought for sure there would be a bench with Forest Gump sitting on it holding a box of chocolates. "You never know what you're gonna get". Nice piece, PHeymont, thanks!
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New gonzo cruise ship even has sky-diving!
In the race to think up more features to add to cruise ships, Royal Caribbean is looking up...with a top-deck skydiving simulator on its newest ship, Quantum of the Seas, which has just started operating out of the New York area. Would you believe...
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A Remote Canadian Village offers Indescribable Natural Discoveries
As I left the hotel in Winnipeg I was outfitted in all my brand new cold-weather gear headed for the airport and a two hour flight to the remote village of Churchill. I prayed my preparation for facing the sub-zero temperatures and brutal...
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What changes in European hotel booking could mean to you...
You may soon have a real reason to use a "metasearch" site such as Kayak or Travago to find your European hotel room, rather than an actual booking site such as Booking.com or Expedia. Up to now, almost all prices have been the same; that may be about...
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Saguenay Fjord — Deep and Long but not very Tall
I’d heard as a schoolboy that the Saguenay Fjord was one of the longest in the world. Years later someone told me the area around Tadoussac was pretty, sparsely developed and inviting. Given a spare day or...
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The Valley Island of Maui: 3) Central, Upcountry and South Maui
The largest stretch of (relatively) flat land on Maui is the valley between the two volcanoes, Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains. This area is commonly called “Central Maui” and it’s here most locals live....
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A Visit to Ireland: Part 1) An overview of the Country and its People
I remember being in Wales several times and looking across the sea to the west, thinking that I needed to get to Ireland. Well I finally made it, completing this journey with my brother on our annual "getaway trip"! It was a trip we really...
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Washington State’s Long Beach Peninsula
For most travelers, the southwestern corner of Washington state is easy to bypass. It lies well over an hour’s drive from the busy I-5 Interstate Freeway. The broad mouth of the Columbia River limits access from the Oregon...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Dec. 3, 2013: Chateau Usse, Loire Valley, France
One of my favorite places in Europe is France's Loire Valley. That's partially because of its pastoral beauty -- rolling hills, farmland, vineyards, forest, dairy herds -- but largely because the people are much more relaxed and...
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Chicago — City of Skyscrapers & Cloud Gate
Like the monolith in Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s monumental film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, “Cloud Gate” looks like an alien object dropped onto a terrestrial landscape (not the African Savannah, but rather into...
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Washington state's Wild Horses Monument & Gingko Petrified Forest
The Columbia River is one of the most interesting and beautiful geographic features of the Inland Northwest, from its headwaters in British Columbia to the dramatic Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon. When...
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Colorado National Monument
While many of the units of the US National Park system are frequently visited and very busy, there are also a few less crowded places. Colorado National Monument (known to locals as " The Monument" ) falls into the latter category....
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, January 15th, 2015: Winter Flowers ?
Flowers in Winter. Todays Picture of the Day comes with a question. Thanks to "Climate Change" this Rose is happy to flower in January. That's today - 15 January 2015. It's in Liverpool, England where I live. 2 years ago...
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Monterey Bay Aquarium: Oceans Apart
Located directly on the Monterey Bay just south of Santa Cruz is a sprawling complex of nearly 200 exhibits of more than 550 species in a 2 storey building nearly 30 years old: the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA). Started in 1978, and open to the...
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El Yunque: A visit to the rain forest
When we began planning a trip to Puerto Rico, and planning to include our 14-year-old granddaughter, we sent her some of the material we were gathering and asked her what her priorities were. She, and we, both had El Yunque right near the top of the...
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NYC-LAX for $32—-is it possible?
Jet Blue is doing some amazing promotions these days, including limited numbers of seats at ridiculous prices if you can grab them. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays through Feb. 21; other destinations include San Francisco, Austin TX, Fort...
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Road Trip, Day 2: Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden
March 10, 2015 I woke the first morning of my visit along the Northern California coast at a friend’s house in the village of Elk. I was alone, the kitchen toasty warm from the fire Jane had made for me before leaving...
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Where to go for sun if you can't go "there" now...
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Tunisia and new visa restrictions on individual travel to Egypt, the Telegraph (UK) has gathered up a list of "fun in the sun" places for those in need of sand and tan. The list, with pictures, is HERE...
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How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Today's (Mar 22) NY Times has a fascinating article on the "backstage" operation involved in getting 6000 passengers off a ship, washing 93,000 pounds of linens, loading up all the food and water, and getting the next 6000 passengers out to...
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Canada creating its first Urban National Park
While Canada has many beautiful and large national parks, almost all in pristine wilderness settings, there are no urban park units within the nation. Urban historic sites and the like -- yes, many, but no parks. In a change to the...
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JetBlue to start NYC-Havana flights
JetBlue will fly scheduled direct service from NYC JFK to Havana each Friday, starting July 3rd. Like all U.S. flights to Cuba it will operate as a charter with one of the officially approved travel service companies, in this case Cuba Travel...
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Cruise lines drop Puerta Vallarta over violence
Recent street fights between armed drug gangs and Mexican police and troops in Puerta Vallarta have cancelled several cruise's port calls, and curtailed others. Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas, Disney's Wonder and Celebrity's Infinity have...