Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Yellowstone in Winter)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m taking a trip to a winter wonderland – an amazing visit to West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone National Park in winter is beyond description, it is just that beautiful. Everywhere you look is like a living postcard, but as our tour guide kept reminding us – we were actually driving into an active volcano.

Highlights:

Our tour vehicle. We were picked up by our tour guide, Mike, in a 1952 Bombardier V8 snow-coach – how uber-cool is that?! And we got lucky on the day we took the tour as our family of four were the only ones in his tour group.

Animals. Another uber-cool thing about a visit to Yellowstone is the animals, and whether or not you get to see any. Because these animals are going about doing their everyday wild things, not posing for photo-ops like animals in zoos. We saw bison, elk, a bald eagle and a hunting coyote, who tried to catch a duck floating past in a river only to epically fail. Yep, we were witness to one of natures little humiliations.

Old Faithful (and other geysers). New Zealand has some incredible geysers of its own—Rotorua is built around most of them—but geysers surrounded by pristine white snow are something we don’t usually see back home. Old Faithful certainly was faithful, and impressive.

Waterfalls. Yep, even in winter—because of the thermal activity the rivers don’t freeze. So I wasn’t really being mean laughing at the coyote. At least he jumped into warmish water.

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery center. I’m a wolf fan and a bear fan, so what better place to see both? While I’m not going into the debate of wild animals kept in zoo-like surroundings, I have to say I was impressed at the care that these animals received. The bears here likely would’ve been killed in the wild as they are all rescued ‘troublesome’ bears. Given that the biggest creature with teeth in New Zealand is the wild boar (and very few are seen unless you frequently disappear into the bush), seeing wolves and bears up close was a real treat for us. Oh, and the bear cubs? Cuteness overload times two.

Snow. We’re an easily amused family and gosh, did we LOVE the snow! Which leads too…

Sledding. Directed to a park in the centre of the small town of West Yellowstone by our tour guide, the four of us had a hilarious time sledding until the sun went down. Unfortunately I missed getting a photo of my husband as he rolled ass-over-teakettle down the slope backward—he sat on his sled at the tippy-top of the sled run and then lost his balance—but he got his revenge later when I got stuck in knee-deep fresh snow! (That's my daughter beside me laughing her butt off).

Would I go back to Yellowstone National Park? In a heartbeat! I’d love to see the park in all its glorious seasons because it truly is the most incredible, soul-filling place.

Tracey

Happy Valentines Day!

Yeah, it's commercial and kind of sappy - but Valentines Day can be fun! And here are some fun lolcats (and a couple of otters) to make you smile...

Happy Valentines Day!

Tracey

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Seattle, WA)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m heading to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A and one of the coolest cities I’ve been to, Seattle, in Washington State. Okay, I admit a teensy bit of the reason I like this city is a) Grey’s Anatomy is set there (and FYI I did manage to find the building they use in the outside shots!) and b) I got second place in the Greater Seattle chapter RWA ‘Emerald City Opener’ contest this year. The main reason though, is Seattle is a not-too-crowded picturesque city, and also a quirky, fun place to spend time exploring. Oh, and its coffee - Seattle LOVES coffee, ergo, I loved Seattle...

Highlights:

Bank of America tower on Columbia/5th Ave. While it may not be as ‘romantic’ as the Seattle Space needle, for an unhurried and amazing view over Seattle from the 73rd floor for $19.00 (3 adults, 2 youths) the saving of $60+ felt pretty darn worthwhile. We could see the snowcapped mountain ranges of the Olympic mountains and the Cascade mountains, but Mt Reinier was hard to see because of the bright sun and the fog rolling in from the southeast, which was both beautiful and eerie. Then we descended to the 40th floor and yet another Starbucks to have a hot drink while we enjoyed the view some more. God Bless Starbucks!

Ride the Ducks Tour. Yeah, it’s a little cringe worthy (especially when your blabbermouth mother-in-law dobs you in to the whole duck-bus for having a birthday coming up and then they all sing an off key rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ in the middle of a parking lot) but still fun. Nothing beats viewing Seattle sights while trundling around in an open air, can’t-miss-it WWII amphibious landing craft with ‘YMCA’ blaring from the speakers and blowing on a little quacking duck beak. Cos’ I’m just that sophisticated in my traveling tastes…

Pike Place Market. Wow. We were so knackered after our full-on day in Seattle that we only managed to cover less than a floor of this market – but what a bustling, fascinating place. The fishmongers in action (throwing fish back and forth!) on the street level of the market was memorable!

The quirkiness. I just loved Seattle's sense of humour! (Sign on car door says: Anything of value already stolen!)

Surrounded by beautiful, snow-capped mountain ranges and the beside the serene Puget sounds, Seattle is a must-see if you’re in this part of the country.

Tracey

Make em’ Laugh, Make em’ Cry.

How is it that some writers and film-makers can make us feel things even when we don’t want to? They suck us into their story world and into the lives of their characters, and the next thing we know we’re right there with these characters feeling their hurts, cheering on their triumphs and wishing the movie or book would never end. We become invested in these imaginary lives.

This week I saw ‘Les Miserables’ on the big screen. I’ve never been to the Broadway show, but I have seen some very talented teenagers perform the musical in a fabulous school production. I’d been pre-warned the movie was a tear jerker—but after all, I knew how the story ended so I thought  remaining staunch would be a piece of cake. Not so. By the end of the movie I had surreptitiously gone through a number of tissues and I had to breathe through my mouth as to not give the game away by constantly sniffing.

You see, Hugo Victor’s story of mercy and redemption made me overlook the fact that this was only a movie. After a while I forgot the cast were Academy award winning actors and actresses. I didn’t think about the cameras and sound crews and stuntmen. After a while I didn’t notice that everyone sang their lines or wonder if 19th century France really looked like that. For 157 minutes I was transported to the world of the unforgettable Jean Valjean, the fanatical Javert, and the tragic Fantine. I felt their pain, their struggles, their sacrifices. And I didn’t want to leave their world so soon after I’d found it.

I sat in the theatre as the credits rolled, listening to the sniffs, and watching people quickly swipe tears from their cheeks. “This,” I thought to myself, “This is the effect I want my stories to have on my readers.” 

Something to aim for, hmm?

Tracey.

What I’m reading this week: Manslation – Jeff Mac. If you’ve ever wondered how to decode the secret language of men, this book might help. It’s also damn funny!

What I’m watching this week: Final episode of Grey’s Anatomy Season 8 – another tear jerker!

This week’s favorite quote: Sung, from the ‘Les Miserables’ movie: Take my hand and lead me to salvation. Take my love for love is everlasting. And remember, the truth that once was spoken, to love another person is to see the face of God.

Hot guy of the week: Eddie Redmayne, who plays the character Marius in Les Miserables.

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Bangkok, Thailand) Part 2

Back to the exotic ‘Land of Smiles’ again today.

Things I loved.

The Grand Palace and various Wats. Opulent, impressive, ageless. I’ve never seen anything like it. My favourite was Wat Arun, because I overcame my fear of falling to climb up two very steep sets of stairs to reach the top level which gave us a stunning view of the Chao Phraya River.

 Siam Niramit. An incredible show – and so different and unique to our Western world productions. And not every day that you get to see an elephant so close up.

Ayutthaya. On another tour we visited the ruins of the old Thai capital, Ayutthaya. I was fascinated walking around the grounds of these ancient buildings dating back to the 1300’s and my imagination went into overdrive imagining the lives of the people who once lived and thrived in the area.

Baiyoke Tower. Amazing views from the tallest tower (and hotel) in Thailand. Pretty cool to see Bangkok’s massive urban sprawl from such a height.

Things I didn’t love quite so much.

Being away from my kids. We left both our kids with family and friends while we were away and it was heart-breaking seeing my 12-year-old on Skype trying not to cry because she missed us so much.

Thai foot massage. We thought it would be relaxing. We thought it would be a treat on our sore feet after a day at the markets. We thought wrong. I’m convinced the two male masseuse’s who hardly spoke English thought we were having a fabulous time – we weren’t. I swear my masseuse had iron thumbs and applied them with sadistic glee to my most sensitive spots – my legs and feet were aching for 3 days afterwards. Never. Again.

Red light district. Serves my curious nature right for agreeing to go and have a peek at an infamous mall in one Bangkok street. Seeing scantily clad women standing around being leered at by predominantly older white men and the lack of life in the women’s dark and likely drugged eyes, left me feeling queasy.
 
The food. I’ll be honest; I’m not a great fan of traditional Thai cuisine. But I did my best to try different things, but almost every time I did I’d get burned. Literally. My tongue was on fire. No matter how often I asked for ‘Mai-ped’ (Not spicy), the meal would be almost inedible. So yes, there were days when I resorted to having an ice-cream sundae for lunch.

Would I ever go back to Bangkok again? Truthfully, unless it was to save a lot of dollars on medical/dental treatment, then no. Overall I felt a huge disconnect there, but that’s all on me. Lots of people rave about how much they love Thailand, and they probably think I’m weird for continuing to return to the U.S.A instead of seeing more of Asia. But while I felt a deep connection with the U.S and Canada on the three times I’ve been there, I felt very little other than ‘Oh Lord, this is so not me!’ in Thailand. I didn’t feel this in Singapore or Brunei (loved Brunei!), so it’s not that Thailand isn’t a Western country, I just couldn’t find any joy in being there…

Tracey