California fires close parks and other attractions

by Catherine Bodry on

If you’ve got a trip planned to Southern California this weekend, it might be a good idea to reschedule. Besides the current poor air quality and the fact that you might need to outrun a wildfire, many attractions and amusement parks have shut down until the smoke clears.

SeaWorld, Legoland, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park are all closed (although the San Diego Zoo remains open). Broadway San Diego and the Old Globe Theatre have both canceled shows. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, which is closed on weekdays anyway this time of year, is “monitoring the situation” and as of now plans to open its gates on Friday.

The list of state parks that are closed is too long to repeat here: check the California State Parks website or read the L.A. Times article.

US Air is also waiving some fees for anyone traveling to or from SoCal who will have to change their flights due to the fires.

Skybus to Cut Flights and Add More

by Jamie Rhein on

Rats! Be still my heart. I just heard that Skybus is canceling its Columbus to Bellingham flights starting in the spring.

I wrote that line last Thursday after I heard it on one of my local news stations, but I couldn’t get a confirmation if this was indeed fact. Skybus wasn’t talking on their website and whatever I did find, was a vague might. Today, it’s official. My husband even called me downstairs with the news. “No more flights to Bellingham,” he said, pointing to the headlines on the front page of the paper. I, of course, went into my, “Oh, I knew that,” mode.

What a disappointment. Besides Bellingham’s flights ceasing in March, so is the San Diego route and one of the LA flights. Triple darn. My husband was getting ready to book a cheap flight to San Diego to see his cousin. I do have to say, that if you plan ahead, you can get a flight to Seattle for almost as cheap as our Bellingham flight was this summer. By the time we were finished paying for luggage, two beverages and priority boarding, I think we were up to $360 a piece. I’d rather pay a little more for the service and not have to be at the airport with a child before the crack of dawn.

Skybus has a new round of $10 tickets through May on all their locations, but we can’t make up our minds where we want to go or when. It’s too hard making decisions so early in the morning and by the time the caffiene has kicked in, it’ll be too late for us, but if you’re awake, go for it. There are more flights to Ft. Meyers, Florida and Greensboro, North Carolina now, and you can fly directly from Portsmouth, New Hampshire without going through Columbus on a few of the flights.

Distant Lands: From Pasadena to the World

by Kelly Amabile on

I’ve known of the Distant Lands travel shop for several years now, but always thought it was primarily a bookstore. However, after watching this short video feature on the store, I stand corrected — the Pasadena, CA shop is much more than a place to stock up on your favorite travel titles. The travel outfitter has been providing a growing selection of travel gear and merchandise since it opened in 1989.

Distant Lands stock backpacks, clothing, maps and loads of other travel accessories. It’s a one stop shop for pre-trip planning needs. And they host a wide range of travel-related events too. Next week they’ve got a travel photography class scheduled and they’ll host a Peace Corp information session. Also in October — talks by travelers who have explored Kathmandu and Tibet.

This reminds me of another cool California travel bookstore-and-so-much-more that I visited a few years back. I’m bummed to say that I’ve yet to discover a similar independent travel outfitter in the NY-metro region. Anyone know of one that I’ve manged to overlook?

Reasons to Love San Diego

by Erik Olsen on

It’s hard to read this list of reasons to love San Diego from Budget Travel without picturing Ron Burgundy pointing at you and saying, “Stay classy San Diego”. Or maybe that’s just me. It’s not that I’m NOT a big fan of California’s southern most city. I actually lived there and taught windsurfing a loooong time ago on Mission bay. But taking a look at this list, I realized how much the city has changed since all those moons ago. A few of the classic SD stand-bys are there. Places like the world-class Zoo and Torrey Pines. But there are some lesser-known spots listed like dog beach and the 18,000-square-foot Newport Avenue Antique Center, the latter of which has little appeal to me, but is, I’m sure, a great inspiration to swap meet-o-philes everywhere. Laid-back, but still urban, San Diego makes for a great long weekend if you’re in California and is, of course, just a hop skip and an enchilada away from Mexico. The list here provides a solid start if you’re heading there looking to explore the city.

U.S. Cities With the Worst Traffic Are …

by Justin Glow on

The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently announced nine of the most congested U.S. cities which are in the running to obtain federal traffic-fighting aid.

Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle where the nine semifinalists, with a “winner” set to be announced in August. The winning city will receive $1.1 billion in federal program aid designed to fight traffic using “levy tolls that vary based on traffic volumes,” and new mass-transit options for residents.

I thought Los Angeles would be on the list for sure. [via]

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