Anyone complaining
there wasn’t enough to do on their trip to St. Louis, MO. obviously didn’t do their research. (Not to say that I’ve
heard any complaints.) Play
Back STL online has some excellent columns that contain a ton of info on the city. In his recent Delirious
Nomad column, Byron Kerman lists a month load of great events happening in January. Experience the city in
mysterious shadows at Left Bank Books, spend a day with Ice-T, or huff it through the Missouri Botanical Garden on what
Byron calls a floral-adventure walk. There are really too many to name and if the St. Louie tourism site isn’t adding the kind of spice necessary to
get you excited please, by all means check out this Delirious Nomad column. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
Tony Wheeler's Blog
Kelly gave a nod to Lonely Planet
founder’s blog a while back, but I only recently stumbled upon it and gave it the once over. The verdict: not bad, but
not great. There are some decent posts where Tony lists his favorite restaurants and one about books. But that’s
about it. The entries just kinda stop and stutter there. And they’er just lists, you know? There’s very little
personal reflection or commentary. I would guess this is because Tony is a remarkably busy man, which would make some
sense since he does lord over a travel book empire that has been churning out some fine books lately. Still, if
you’re going to create a blog, keep it up, y’know? Overall, given what I expected to find, this was pretty
disappointing.
Canopy Tours
You have to like it when you can travel and mix education,
environmental activism and adventure. Usually, you get one or two, but not all. For example, we’ve posted about
educational tours where you head to a place like Peru and do some kind of archeological al dig. Sounds great, very
educational, interesting except when the boredom is excruciating, but hardly adventuresome. You’re not getting chased
down by Nazi’s after all, no matter how many lines you’ve memorized from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
So with
all that said, here’s a recommendation that does just this. Adventure, education, environment. They are called Canopy Tours, and you can do them in a lot of places where
there are, well, canopies. In this piece from the Washington Post, via the Star Trib. According to the piece, the
original Canopy Tour began in 1997, when Darren Hreniuk opened his first company
in Costa Rica. Since then, other companies have opened similar adventures, which are sometimes called sky treks or
zip line tours. As I say, there appear to be lots
of places where these are done, usually with a guide who knows his plants and insects and can answer your questions
as you soar over the jungle floor. Places to do these tours included Nicaragua, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica and Africa.
Bullish on Banff
Man, here in the states we got ourselves some amazing national
parks. I’ve rhapsodized about Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and so on. These are all places that pretty much
eveyone knows. But up north a bit, they got some nat parks of their own, and one of them (although there are many),
particularly kicks arse.
Banff is Canada’s oldest national park,
and one of its most scenic. It was founded in 1885 as a somewhat modest 10-square-mile reserve by the country’s first
prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Since then, the park
has exploded to encompass some 2,590 square miles of vast, mind-blowing mountain landscapes, jagged glaciers,
high-altitude morainal lakes, and gushing rivers. The two nearby towns, Lake Louise and Banff, are both superb location
to hang a hat, grab some grub and do some kicking back after a hard day of exploring. One problem though is that like
Yosemite and Yellowstone, there are lots of folks who get the same idea about visiting Banff. In other words, it can
get crowded, especially during June, July, and August. So as you’re making plans this winter for summer fun, give Banff
a thought.
Iraq: Farris Hassan and the Kurds
Even if you read the paper every day, as I tend to do, it can be quite hard to follow and comprehend the many angles
and nuances of various current events. The War in Iraq seems to be going crummy one day and OK the next, when there is
a vote and/or when you catch one of the infrequent stories that show life getting back to normal.
I bring up
the Iraq war specifically because a) you need to read this great story about the 16 year old kid who went there and came
back. And b) because of this great
interactive on the Kurds that I recently saw over at National Geographic. The first story I bring up just because I
thought it was great.
So first things first, there was the story recently of the
American teenager Farris Hassan who was apparently Inspired by a high school journalism class, and then took off to
Iraq by himself to experience it for himself. Good for you Hassan! Just try to be careful next time. Well, in a
roundabout way, he made it to Iraq and made it back. Several soldiers who encountered him were quite astonished at his
courage…and/or naiveté. Anyway, great story.
Next we have the interactive on the Kurds, a ethic
group in Iraq who has sort of been left out of the story. The Kurds would very much like to have a slice of land to
call their own, and they were horribly treated by Saddam. Their story and some amazing photos can be seen over at
National Geographic. I realize its still vacation time, and you might not be in the mood for a history lesson, but
check it out anyway.