Moab’s Nuclear Past

by Erik Olsen on

Ah, the virtues of Moab. They are far too numerous to list here. If I could be
anywhere right now, I honestly think Moab would be in the top ten places I’d choose. I’d probably go tropical before
anything.

Well today there is a quick and dirty Moab
story in the NYT.

The piece is mostly an environmental article, about how Utah used to be this haven for Uranium mining, but ten
following Three mile Island and other non-nuclear proliferation issues, Moab turned its attention towards tourism. And
good for it. Moab is now a mountain bikers Mecca, and one of the greatest places to ride in the world, let alone the
country.

I had no idea about Moab’s nuclear past, so I found the article fascinating, and I think you will too.

New National Park

by Erik Olsen on

Always great news to hear a new National Park has been born. Of all the complaining people do about the US
government, there is one agency, the National Park Service, who I think really does a fine job providing a valuable
service to Americans and foreign visitors.

Our national parks are crown jewels, and the park Service, despite all its

financial difficulties and other problems  can usually be depended upon to maintain, improve and add to the
wonderful National Parks.

And so it’s great to see a new addition to the park system come on line. So let us offer a gadling welcome to he new
Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Park, America’s newest
national park. The park straddles the Columbia River and stretches along 40 miles of coastline in Washington and
Oregon, allowing visitors to walk in the footsteps of America’s most famous explorers.

Watch Review: Barato y Caro

by Erik Olsen on


I’m on the lookout for a new watch and
decided to look around and test drive a few…several that are within my range, and a couple that are not. I wanted
reliability most of all, as well as features like the ability to go underwater and, where possible, cool features like
an altimeter.

After spending some time talking to folks and looking around, here are the results so far. I’ll be posting other
discoveries as I go along.

Caro:

In the expensive range, the Breitling is the king of the hill.  The screw-lock push buttons on the
BREITLING Chronomat Evolution make this a watch that can go to
1000 feet…which means you’re body will pop before the watch does. It is elegant and amazingly sturdy, I mean really
sturdy, an amazing piece of engineering. But of, course, at $3,630, it should be. 

Another pricey watch is the Seiko’s Sportura Kinetic
Chronograph. Like most watches these days, it has a built-in stopwatch, but the elegance and durability of this
watch makes it a strong second place. But it, too, is pricey at $3,500.

Barato:

On the cheaper side, I think my favorite watch so far is the

Suunto X3. I got to test drive one of these babies and was very pleased. It is elegant in design, simple as pie,
sleek and with all the functionality you want including a stopwatch, but it also features a heart rate monitor,
altimeter, barometer and thermometer. I took it to the top of my building and got almost giddy watching the altitude
climb as I went up the elevator. Can’t wait to try it out in the mountains.

This is the one I recommend if you’re looking for something cheap and easy. Hopefully, I’m going to be looking at
several of the Timex watches in the near future and will post about what I find.

Great Escapes Redux

by Erik Olsen on

I just took another look at the Great Escapes series by MSNBC and have to say I am really impressed. I really hope
they will do more of these.

 

MSNBC.com has done four installments of these travel documentaries called ”Great Escapes Digital Village,”
which feature Richard Bangs, on trips to far off and distant lands.

They are really cool and accessible here for your
viweing pleasure. Bangs was a cofounder of Expedia.com, and his crew were outfitted by HP, a sponsor, with
battery-powered cameras and photo printers to tell the story. Great travel journalism

Galavanting with Ghandi

by Erik Olsen on

After going to India recently, I Netflixed and watched Gandhi, the
epic film starring Ben Kingsley. I’d seen it before, but there is something about travel, age and maturity that opens
your eyes to history. The movie I watched was completely different from the one I’d watched when I was younger, BEFORE
I’d actually been to India. India blew my mind. I’ve lived in Bangkok, Madrid, Santiago, Chile, and I’d seen poverty,
but nothing prepared me for what I saw in India. The unfathomable sprawl of slums in Mumbai shook me. The sight of
untouchables sifting through human ashes on the River Ganges, the sight of bloated infant corpses turning slowly,
face-down, in an eddy…these things were unreal to me.

BTW: if you’re interested. I have a video I shot in Varanasi that folks might be interested in…no baby corpses, but a
nice flavor of the place. Watch it
here.

Anyway, I bring this up because I just read
Tom Haines’ excellent article
in the Boston Globe on the reenactment of Gandhi’s salt march. The march was
orchestrated by Mahatma Gandhi 75 years ago to challenge a strict salt tax, and with it British rule of India. The
scene is featured prominently in the film and is one of the most important events in modern Indian history. Haines does
a great job discussing the march and its significance, and the article is really well-worth a read.