Tag Archives: weather

Europe, Spain

9 September, 2014

Hi Everyone!

We are alive and well in Barcelona. It has been quite the adjustment with the time and temperature this trip. Boo jet lag!

Going from semi-arid desert to 85 to 90% humidity takes some getting used to. Luckily, the weather has been good so far. We had a little light rain yesterday morning, but nothing umbrella-worthy.

Navigating the city has been easy. The metro is quick and efficient, although the tunnels are like standing in a disgusting sauna while waiting for the air conditioned cars. I’m sure 90% of the 90% humidity is actually sweat from the passengers. That’s disgusting!

For as easy as Barcelona is to navigate, it is one of the more difficult cities to actually see what we want to see. ‎ There is a lot of hurry up and wait, then stand in line. For example, wait in line 40 minutes to an hour only to book a time slot in 2 hours to come back to see the church, museum, or park. The volume of people definitely leaves a lot to be desired.

Yesterday we managed to visit Park Guell and see a lot of the Gaudi buildings around the city. Today we are out of the city in Montserrat. Montserrat is a mountain top town with a Benedictine ‎Monastery. Sadly, it is overrun with people as well, but we are making the most of it. There’s an air tram and 2 funiculars to go along with the hiking trails. Who doesn’t love a funicular?!?

Tomorrow we are booked for the Sagrada Familia. We didn’t want to wait in line for an hour yesterday only to have to go back in 2 more hours, so we booked online, and will skip the waiting tomorrow.

Stay tuned…
~j

Asia, Vietnam

Standard Fare Really

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It isn’t raining, but it is overcast. I suppose I should be thankful that it isn’t scorching hot though because we climbed several hundred stairs, and covered a few kilometers hiking in caves today.The “junk” we are sailing is quite sweet. There are 8 passengers on board, with a total of 6 cabins. The cabins are cute–pretty much like the pictures on the website; the food on the other hand is INSANITY! We had 10 courses for lunch and then another 10 for dinner. I really hope the breakfast isn’t 10 courses or I might explode.

I took photos of most of the dishes. I tried most of the dishes, but just couldn’t stomach de-legging, de-heading and de-shelling steamed shrimp that were bigger than my thumb. And, the physical reaction to clams and oysters prevented those two dishes from being a gastronomic success. The stuffed crab, squid and seafood soup were all quite good though. I know you’re all wondering what Jon ate…we’ll tell you when we get back.

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North America, USA

Do Not Feed Prairie Dogs

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Do not feed prairie dogsPrairie Dog Town is a real location at the entrance of the Belle Fourche campground. True story. Check out the map. We ended up spending a very rainy night there. The campground was nice enough, but the weather not so much. At least we were able to take some fun photos.

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 These Black-tailed prairie dogs remind me of the marmots at one of the parks here. (photo below) Even though they’re Yellow-bellied marmots–they still look the similar. Yep, Groundhogs, Marmots, Prairie Dogs, whatever you like to call them–the same all over the place. (ps: they really are all from the Sciuridae family, so there’s your mini science lesson for the day.)
gopher

 

 

North America, USA

Devil’s Tower

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Devil's TowerIn 1906, Devil’s Tower was proclaimed the first national monument by President Roosevelt. The tower is a crazy rock formation. From the pictures it doesn’t really look that big, but the top of the tower is about the size of a football field. Though it looks like an old volcano it isn’t.

The tower is actually an igneous intrusion (Science lesson: Magma pooled under sedimentary rock, it eventually hardened and then the sedimentary rock–being softer, eroded over time and exposed the igneous rock formation of the tower. Munson would be so proud of me remembering all of that from Geography!) Now this I had to use google for: “Devil’s Tower is made of Phonolite porphyry, it is similar in composition to granite but lacks quartz. Phonolite refers to the ringing of the rock when a small slab is struck, and its ability to reflect sound. Porphyry refers to its texture, large crystals of feldspar embedded in a mass of smaller crystals.”

Sad to say that the tower was pretty amazing, but this was probably one of the worst parts of the trip. We drove half way across the country so that Jon could climb at the tower and I could tour the park. But this was the only day of the whole trip that it wasn’t scorching hot. It RAINED so hard that there was no climbing to be had by anyone for the day we paid for, or the day after that. SO HORRIBLE! So, now Jon has a credit in Wyoming for the next time we happen to feel like driving over 2000km and back just for the weekend.
Peru, South America

Qorikancha

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On the first day in Cusco (during the hail storm), we went to Qorikancha.  Qorikancha was an Incan Temple of the Sun until the 16th century when the Convent of Santo Domingo was built on the Incan temple. The site is a mixture of Incan and Baroque building techniques as there are still Incan walls supporting the convent.

Word is that Qorikancha had panels of gold lining the walls of the court-yard that were designed to be bathed in sun. (Qorikancha means “courtyard of gold” in Quechua.) A lot of the gold was used to pay a ransom for a captured Incan, Atahualpa, whom the Spaniards killed anyway. Then, when Spanish Conquistadors sacked Qorikancha, they seized the remaining gold and melted it down.  Legend has it that a massive gold disc was hidden somewhere by the Incans. That hiding place has yet to be discovered.