Starling Travel

Last year, my sister, Stacey, wanted to go to Disneyland for Christmas. After a HORRIBLE flight delayed by a snow storm, we arrived in California the day after Christmas and enjoyed the park all dressed up for the holidays.

Here is a video showing what it’s like:

Considering how much a fan of the Haunted Mansion I am, you might think that I hate what they do to the ride for Christmas, but I loved it. Here of some photos of the Christmas decorations:

What I loved most of all, however, is the parade and fireworks every evening. They had SNOW! I know it sounds crazy that they would be able to produce a gentle snow fall every evening in southern California, but they did. I don’t know what the snow flakes were made of, but they felt just as cool and fluffy as the snow that delayed our flight in Salt Lake City for so long.

When my sister suggested that we fly to Disneyland for Christmas, I thought she was crazy. I just went along for a family trip that we could laugh at and remember. Now, it’s a year later and I’m sad that I will miss Christmas in Disneyland this year.

I love this video of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in Texas.

Here is a video of a hike to the South Rim of Emery Peak.

Where: Big Bend National Park in Texas Google Map

Just a quick couple of photos to show you the view of the ocean from the seawall in Glaveston, Texas. It always amazes me that I can step onto a plane in the winter and step off a plane in the summer. In my mind, the seasons have always been attached to the time of the year, but with the advent of air travel, we have the option of changing the season at will.

Take a simple one-minute vacation with this time lapse video of Mount Hood.

Sometimes we need just a few minutes of wildness to bring us back to our senses and feeling refreshed.

This video was filmed with an iPhone using ReelMoments [iTunes Link] by NexVio.

While going through my grandmother’s collection of knitting and crochet books, I found this old photograph of Lower Falls in Yellowstone.

The information on the back made us very excited.

It is a hand painted photograph by J. E. Haynes, son of Frank Jay Haynes, the first official Yellowstone photographer. F. Jay Haynes actually named many of the Yellowstone sites and was instrumental in documenting Yellowstone. J. E. Haynes, followed in his footsteps.

My grandmother’s photograph is pretty faded, so I tried to spruce it up a bit.

Here is what the sight looks like today.

Lower Falls is located in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

• Lower Falls on Google Maps

The Library of Congress posted these old photos of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

It doesn’t seem that different today:

Asbury Park fell into disrepair during the 1980’s and 1990’s, but recently has been cleaned up. After the renovation of Convention Hall, people started visiting more often.

Where: Asbury Park, New Jersey: Google Map

The Library of Congress uploaded some old prints of Aberystwyth, Wales from over a hundred years ago.

It surprises me how similar things look today:

You can see all the photos from that set in this slideshow:

Where: Aberystwyth, Dyfedunstarred, UK: Google Map

Here is the announcement of the formation of Zion’s National Park in the New York Tribune back in 1907.

It reads:

Wonderful natural bridges and other wild scenery to be included in two new national parks.

It’s nice to see how people viewed our national parks one hundred years ago. Instead of complaining that the government is “stealing” our land, the press was excited to share the beauty of the areas that the parks protected. Because of that foresight, we can see these sites even now.

This weekend, you can hike, camp and enjoy at over 100 National Parks for FREE! They offer fee free weekends a few times a year and there are a couple left. You can find out more here:

• U.S. National Park Service Fee-Free Weekends in Your National Parks

Mark your calendars for fee-free weekends this summer:

• July 18-19, 2009
• August 15-16, 2009

Mike and I enjoy several of the nearby National Parks. The photo shown is from a trip to Lake Mead in southern Nevada (near Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam), which is on the list of free parks this weekend. You can see all the photos of that camping trip here:

• Lake Mead – a set on Flickr

If you are feeling the financial squeeze this year, take advantage of the parks that your tax dollars go toward maintaining and try them out this weekend free of charge.

The Sands Motel has been a fixture in St. George, Utah for a LONG time. In the Fifties, it was called the Sleepy Hollow Hotel:

When the Vegas craze hit during the Sixties, it became The Sands Motel and outlived its namesake:

A few years ago, when we were driving through St. George, we took photos of it in all its glory:

You can see all the photos here:

• Sands Motel – a set on Flickr

Where:

Sands Motel
581 E Saint George Blvd
Saint George, UT 84770 Google Map

Phone: (435) 673-3501