The Power Sightseer's Guide to San Diego

This trip was for my grandsons, so this is the kid friendly version of San Diego.  It was an awesome trip for all involved.  We stayed at the Omni in the Gas Light Quarter.  The entire area is great and provides everything you need.  Easy walking to the train and trolley, great shipping, restaurants makes it a great place to stay.  Obviously the hotel has great views

it is also right next door to the Padre's home field.

I highly recommend the Tin Fish right next door to the hotel.  Great food and atmosphere including a great night of live music with Joe Rathburn was just what we needed to relax after a LONGGGGG day at the San Diego Zoo.   

My other recommendations for downtown eating would be Broken Yolk (awesome breakfast specials)     Mary Jane's located in the Hard Rock Hotel (vegetarian tacos - yummy) and Pink Berry.  All are an easy walk from the train or the hotel.

The zoo is very big so I suggest you take the guided tour bus when you first arrive.  The tour lasts about 35 minutes and gives you a very nice overview of the entire zoo.  The polar bear exhibit was our favorite.  The elephant area is really special also.

The only other big spending stop on our trip was Lego Land.  Great for kids, with every ride being kid friendly.  Lots of very interesting uses of legos.  Tons of fun and well work the admission price.  This year they added a water park.  The lazy river has inner-tubes with build in lego pads and floating legos for hours of fun.  When you leave Lego Land you might want to stop by Carlsbad beach.  There is a nice sandy beach with awesome smooth sandblasted rocks littering the edge.

Imperial Beach hosted a Sand Castle contest while we were there.  It was amazing.  Imperial also offered lots of great sea shell hunting.

La Jolla children's beach was an easy bus ride away for those of you traveling without a car.  The seals were fun to watch and there was a nice shallow water beach where kids could play.

My grandsons loved San Diego.  This was our second trip and they have already started planning our next.

New Website

I have been doing a lot of traveling the last few weeks.  So I have hadn't posted as much as I should, but I have some new material to work on.  I will have some new material posted soon.  I have accomplished one thing though.  I have a new website - yeah!  Come check me out at

www.paulawhatleyphotography.com

Let me know what you think.  I would love your feedback.

The Power Sightseer's Guide to St. Thomas

Before I go anywhere I consult my 1000 Places to See Before You Die book. It is a great resource for off-the-beaten-path ideas. For St Thomas the recommendations included Magens Bay Beach. I will give them that it is unspoiled. Not a big resort in sight.

 I much preferred Sapphire Beach on the other side of the island. I think the name sums it up nicely. Sapphire water, nice sand, great waves. This was an all around great beach. You can even make friends with the sunbathing iguanas.

As long as you are there take the short hop over to St John Island, it is only a ferrie ride away. Keep your eyes open for great photo opportunities along the way.

On St John I quickly abandoned the tourist shops at landing and took the local bus to the trailhead at Cinnamon Bay. Riding the local bus up provides you the easy hiking down to the beach. This is a nice walk with the opportunity to see some amazing mud nests. Keep your eyes open for glimpses of the beach as you pass openings in the flora. At the end of the trail there are some ruins of a sugar plantation. Be sure to check them out.

Your ultimate reward for the hike is Cinnamon Bay beach. It is a wonderful place to spend a afternoon after your hike. There is camping available at the beach also. When you are ready to head back to St. Thomas there is a very convenient shuttle to the landing to catch the boat.

All in all the USVI is a great place to catch a little sun, decompress and relax.

The Power Sightseer's Guide to Grand Cayman

I have been to beaches all over the world, but I have to say Grand Cayman has some of the best water I have ever seen. I was impressed with the amazing clarity and brilliant color. I am a sucker for things that are out of the normal tourist attractions. I always ask around for places the locals love. Hotel housekeeping, store clerks and taxi drivers are wonderful sources of information. One of my best finds was starfish beach close to Rum Point beach on Grand Cayman. Rum Point beach was packed with tourists but just down the road there was an amazing little beach tucked behind a housing development. You could wade out pretty far and the best part was the starfish. There were dinner plate size starfish in the most amazing color right by your feet. A little effort to find, but well worth the effort.

The island also sports a coral strewn beach on the East side with an almost continuous spray spouting forth from a blowhole. Road side signs marked the spot, but even though it was a gorgeous photo opportunity it was not ever crowded.

As you drive around the island be sure to look for iguana. The prehistoric looking creatures were prolific.
I did indulge in one decidedly touristy activity and took the redsail catamaran out to swim with the stingrays. I have to say it was a wonderful experience. By cleaning the days catch in one spot, generations of fishermen have trained the rays to hang out on a sandbar near a break in the coral reef looking for food. The huge rays have very sensitive skin on the underside of their noses and will nussle you feeling for food. Having the wild creatures swimming around you and resting your arms was an otherworldly experience.

I absolutely loved Grand Cayman. Go, you will love it too.

The Power Sightseer's Guide to Dallas Arboretum

One of the best lessons I have learned is to treat my own city as a sightseeing opportunity. Since I obviously love flowers it was only natural that I seek them out close to home. The Dallas Arboretum is a wonderful little oasis in the heart of the hustle and bustle of the big city. http://www.dallasarboretum.org/ Situated on the banks of White Rock Lake, the Arboretum is an ideal place to visit nature, have a picnic or just relax. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love living in Dallas. Periodically though I like to see a tree and hear a bird without any disruptions. The arboretum is a great little get-away.

The Water Walls area with its winding paths and beautiful water features is my favorite garden in the Arboretum. I could sit for hours with a good book and just relax. If you are looking for fun with the kids there are the Texas Town and Texas Pioneer areas. Child size houses a teepee and garden area offer limitless opportunities for imaginative play. But don't stop there, Toad Corners offers the opportunity for kids of all ages to splash about in the water spouts. You also won’t want to miss the koi ponds and other wonderful hidden spots.

Although the Arboretum is great during the spring and summer there is really no time of year when it is not wonderful. Throughout the year there are many events including the concert series held on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Dallas Blooms is held every spring and is a great time to get acquainted with the Arboretum. In the fall each year the Arboretum is transformed into a giant pumpkin patch.

Even during the winter there are many opportunities to see beautiful things.

If you live in the area I would highly recommend an annual pass. I know once you go you will want to return often.

Once you have experienced everything the Arboretum has to offer be sure to take a stroll around the lake. There are usually wonderful boats to see and the bird watching is exceptional.



Enjoy the sights no matter where you are.

The Power Sightseer's Guide to Morocco

I had no idea what to expect from Morocco. I could never have imagined the warmness of the people or the beauty of the country. I flew into Casablanca, but immediately caught a flight to Ouarzazate. Ouarzazate is located in south-central Morocco and is the Hollywood of Morocco. Many films including Star Wars and Gladiator were shot in the area. I arrived not too long after September 11th. It was very gratifying to see the signs roughly translated to Terrorists Keep Your Hands Off Our Country. Morocco is very serious about being anti-terrorism.

From Ouarzazate it was a two hour drive to the village where I would be staying. My first oh-my-gosh moment occurred during the drive when I saw camels roaming the sides of the road. Being from Texas all I could think was that they were like huge jack rabbits.

The most amazing thing about Morocco was the people. I have never met any group of people that were so welcoming. Every person I met invited me into their home for VERY sweet mint tea and snacks. No matter what they economic situation, I was welcome to anything they had. While I was there the country experience the worst flooding since the 1960s. The devastation was amazing but so was the spirit of the people. I saw those with nothing sharing what little they had with others. Stranded goat herders were given food and shelter. People pitched in to get vehicles through the flooding and make sure everyone was safe.

  

The ancient kasbahs began to soak up the water and crumble at the bottom. Their mud brick construction, perfect for the normally arid climate was completely unfit for the torrential rains. As soon as the rain ceased, repairs were being made to ensure that the kasbahs would survive so that their amazing structure could be enjoyed for decades to come. Some of the kasbahs were enormous and being used as apartments. It was shocking to see such ancient palaces with satellite dishes and laundry hung from the balconies.

Eating in Morocco was a little bit of a challenge for me as a vegetarian. Typically Moroccan food is cooked in an earthenware pot called a tagine. A tagine, which is also the name given to the dish, cooks similarly to a crock pot. The dish will include meat, vegetables and possibly fruit such as prunes.

Bread is utilized instead of utensils. The meal is served family style with everyone sharing one tagine. I became very proficient at picking out potatoes, carrots and prunes with my bread “spoon” and leaving the meat for the others in my group. One bonus on the eating front was that pomegranates and mandarins grew everywhere. I was able to often pick them on the side of the road. It was absolutely the best fruit I have every eaten.

One thing you should make every effort to experience is a local bath house or hammam.  The hammam consists of several rooms where you steam, scrub, rinse and refresh yourself along with a group of your closest friends and complete strangers.  The soap provided appears and smells to be a mixture of tar and lard. It proved to be a wonderful exfoliant. For obvious reasons, there will be no photos of this activity.

All in all, Morocco was a wonderful place to visit. Leaving the hustle and bustle of the big city and arriving in a country village was somewhat of a culture shock. However, being able to slow down and relax was an amazing addition to the trip.

The Power Sightseer's Guide to Healthy Travel

Keeping up my healthy routine is VERY important to me when I am traveling. I have worked really hard to achieve and maintain a significant weight loss. No pills or surgery, but lots of sweat and healthy eating. As much as I love my travel time I don’t want to jeopardize everything I have worked so hard for by taking a week or two off my routine. I am definitely not saying you need to be perfect while you are traveling, but doing a little something every day will help keep you on track. Plan to take walking tours when possible. They offer better photo opportunities as an added bonus. Walking is my favorite activity. I can relax and just take in the sights and still burn calories.


If you want even more activity, you don’t need workout equipment to get in a little exercise. Do a few squats using the hotel room chair, a few lunges, some crunches and push-ups each morning before you head out for your day. Twenty or thirty minutes in the morning will get you off to a good start. I feel so much more energized when I start my day off with a little exercise. I can enjoy myself and maybe indulge a little in the local cuisine.

Carry health snacks with you and find out if there is a grocery store within walking distance from your hotel. Fresh fruit is great and depending on where you are you might find treats that aren’t readily available to you locally. I practically lived on mandarins and pomegranates picked from the side of the road in Morocco. It was the best fruit I ever had. Being a vegetarian I am a little more challenged, but healthy food is available if you are willing to look. Eating healthy at least part of each day helps me not only stay on track with my goals; it also helps keep me feel good on my trip. Making major changes from your normal eating routine can lead to stomach issues and no one wants that when they are trying to have fun.