Watching Fireworks

by Erik Olsen on

Don’t know about you, but in my experience watching big fireworks shows was always second to
actually blowing them up. And when I was young and my pyromaniacal tendencies were a little more reckless, we used to
head down to Mexico and fill up bags with M-80s and M-1000’s and then we’d spend hours blowing shit up. You name it, we
blew it up. Or tried. But no animals, I promise.

Anyway, that was then, and this is now. Now the laws are so uptight that you’d probably get thrown in the pokey
blowing stuff up the way we used to. So now we have to content ourselves with sitting around on a blanket watching
professionals explode high-tech fireworks in the sky. Oooh. Ahhh. Yawn.

As one of my favorite writers would say: And so it goes.

But if you are interested in catching 4th of July fireworks, I do herewith offer you a list of the places where they
are said the be the best. No, this is not a replacemnt for putting an M-1000 in a newspaper machine, but it’s what it
is.

The hot spots for fireworks fun:

• Marin County, Calif. (San Francisco): Marin County Fair. Thursday-July 4

• Madison, Wis.: “Rhythm & Booms!” Independence Day Celebration. Saturday

• St. Louis: Fair St. Louis. Saturday-July 4

• Addison, Texas (Dallas area): 20th annual Kaboom Town. July 3

• Washington: Independence Day Celebration. July 4

• New Orleans: 15th annual “Go 4th on the River.” July 4

• New York City: Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks. July 4

• Philadelphia: Philadelphia Freedom Concert. July 4

Watching the Whales

by Erik Olsen on

Not too long ago I posted a bit about my experience seeing a bunch of porpoises while I was out fishing. It was totally cool. They surrounded the boat and I reached out and patted their silvery backs.

In California whale watching is big. that’s because there are so many of these meandering cetaceans in the off the coast in the Pacific. Having grown up in California, I’ve seen humpbacks around the waters since I was a kid. And when you see them, it’s often the case that they are being tailed by whale-watching boats. Whale watching is pretty fun, if there are whales to see. And especially if the whale seem intent on entertaining. Here is an article about the best places to do whale watching. Of course California is there, but so are the Azores, Dominica and Orcas Island up in Washington. This last one is also a favorite of mine because the whales you see are often killer whales, and if you’ve ever been out kayaking and seen an Orca, well, there’s nothing quite like it.

The New Yorker…All of It

by Erik Olsen on

Not sure how many folks out there are magazine fiends, but I am one. I have so many subscriptions that every month
our mailbox overflows with beautiful glossies like National Geographic Adventure, Men’s Journal, Scientific American,
the Atlantic, Harpers, Discover, Outside and so on (just to give you a quick glimpse of my reading habits). But among
all of the magazines I get, there is one that ranks so far at the top, that I literally get angry if I miss an issue.
That magazine is the New Yorker.

And here I learn today that the good folks at the New Yorker will

soon be releasing on DVD, EVERY issue ever printed. That’s right, the New Yorker’s entire history, from February
1925 to February 2005 (it’s 80th anniversary). Holy sh*t is this cool.

And more cool New Yorker news. I just learned that the New Yorker will now be available on
audible.com, a service that I have subscribed to for some time now and to which I
am wholly addicted. This is great news for commuting New Yorker fans.

American Sahara

by Erik Olsen on

Lawrence of Arabia fans might think you have to travel around the world to find vast, sprawling dunes as far as the
eye can see. Wrong. Little known to most people the Great Sand Dunes National
Park in Colorado is a place where you can satisfy your bedouin fantasies without leaving the country.  The
Chicago
Tribune has an article on the GSD National Park that provides the gritty low-down on how to get there and what
you’ll find (um, sand….lots of sand). The tallest dunes here rise over 750 feet high and the park covers over 30 square
miles of massive dunes. There’s great hiking, camping and some climbing too. Photographers, too, should take notice
because the GSDNP is a shutterbug’s paradise. If you catch the dunes at the “golden hour” you might find you’ve taken
shots worth of a National Geographic cover spread.

“Comeback” of the Siberian Tiger

by Erik Olsen on

Feline fans unite. The newest NPR/Nat Geo
radio expeditions feature is up and is about
the return of the Siberian Tiger. NPR’s Alex Chadwick talks with Dale Miquelle, who directs the
Wildlife Conservation Society‘s Russia program. A pretty fascinating interview.

The good news is that recent results show that these tiger populations are holding relatively stable. Scientists
thought that the tigers would be nearly wiped out by now, but they are showing some resilience. While the numbers are
still dreadfully low (some 500 or so animals are said to exist in the wild), the stability of the population has
surprised the WSC. They say the uptick is the result of an improving Russian economy and fewer poachers. Give a
listen, these features are always
pretty good.