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Archive for January, 2010

What’s the best zoo in the United States for children?  The world famous San Diego Zoo or the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida? According to Parents’ Magazine, it’s the Lowry Park Zoo, with San Diego coming in at second.  To qualify for the honor, a number of factors were considered, such as were the exhibits at the eye level of a preschooler, were any exhibits hands-on, and did the zoos have enough strollers to rent or tables on which to change young ones?  These factors mean it won’t always be the best known or the largest zoo that wins the top recognition.

If you’re traveling through Florida, stop in and stay at one of the luxury Tampa hotels and see this number one rated zoo.  It contains one thousand six hundred and fourteen animals over fifty-six acres.  Out of those fifty-six, four and a half acres are devoted to an Australian themed children’s zoo, a place where the kids can pet and feed wallabies and kangaroos, play as if they’re sheep-herding, and also play in and around fountains and statues of animals.  Devoted to safety, the zoo has eight first-aid stations, and conducts drills bi-monthly to rehearse what to do if animals should escape.  And, as long as the zoo is open to the public, there’s police security.   Your kids will also see a Safari Africa exhibit, the first phase of which has opened, and features a number of interesting animals, such as zebras, elephants, bongos, warthogs and giraffes — even the African ground hornbill, which is a species of bird with elongated eyelashes and big bills.

Second in the top ten was the San Diego Zoo, which is twice as large as the Lowry Park Zoo and holds four thousand animals.  It’s known for a very well educated staff, ninety-five percent of which have degrees in zoology.  It also operates a children’s zoo containing thirty exhibits and a petting zoo where children can touch goats, sheep, and even miniature horses.  A main feature is the polar bear plunge, where kids can watch two polar bear cubs play in a pool of a hundred and fifty thousand gallons.

All of the top ten zoos have something to recommend them.  The rest of the top ten were the Oklahoma City Zoological Park and Botanical Garden (number 3), the Brookfield Zoo of Illinois (4), the Phoenix Zoo (5), the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (6), the Bronx Zoo (7), the Toledo Zoo (8), the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Indiana (9), and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (10).

Along the Merrimack River, thirty miles outside of Boston, you’ll find Lowell, Massachusetts, a city designed and planned as a complex for manufacturing textiles in the 1820s.  Within thirty years, it had become the biggest industrial center in America.  It’s life as a city waxed and waned for years, falling into difficult times during the Great Depression in the 20th Century, and reviving as the home of Wang Laboratories in the 70s.  While Wang Laboratories went bankrupt in the early 90s, the city remained a strong cultural center for people via the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Folk Festival (occurring in July, one of the biggest free folk festivals in the country).  The annual festival brought new life into the city, allowing it to build a new ballpark and arena, and bring in two minor league teams, the Lowell Spinners and the Lowell Devils.  Over the decades, museums were established to explore Lowell’s heritage in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century, museums that examined the life of the textile worker and immigrant of the 1800s, in places such as the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, the American Textile History Museum, and the National Streetcar Museum.
 
Each of these museums are worth a visit, but if you’re a history buff and coming to stay overnight in one of the hotels Lowell has available for its travelers, then don’t overlook the New England Quilt Museum.
  
Through February 25, 2010, the museum is currently exhibiting Masters: Art Quilts, which examines the state of the art in quilting.  Martha Sielman, guest curator, has arranged for works to represent master art quilters, and so has on display quilts from international artists, such as Australia, Japan, Israel, South Africa, Denmark, the UK, France, and Belgium.  If you go, you’ll see work by Noriko Endo, whose quilts feature realistic and detailed landscapes, and Jane Sassaman, whose work consists of strong, waving designs.  You’ll see what’s possible in the world of quilting, and it goes far beyond what you might consider — there’s portraits, sculpture-like works, narratives, still lifes, and so on — indeed, there’s as much diversity in art quilting as there is in painting or sculpture!

In between the glitz and the glamour of Broadway, and the fierce calls of punk rock, there are other cultural forces in New York, helping to shape its identity over the decades.  There are many different kinds of music that find their home here, just as many cultures find their home in the city.  It’s probably got the most spoken languages on the streets at any given time than any other city in the world, and if you’re looking for something, anything, you can find it here or it probably doesn’t exist.  Some of the greatest contributions to music in the world have roots in Latin America, and find their perfect expression in the hands of the people who live here.

Generations of skill are sometimes passed down, and sometimes it comes up spontaneously in a new generation, but its evolution is strong, and its roots are very deep, and also enormously complex.  It’s an exciting place to come to look into the history and the present, booking New York hotel suites so that you can stay here in style and luxury, and make your way to the Bronx to visit Casa Amadeo.  This a place where every lover of Latin music needs to go at least once in a lifetime.  The 75-year old proprietor Miguel Angel Amadeo will be there, and would probably enjoy teaching you a little about the history here.

The shop is the longest-running Latin music store in the Bronx.  It opened in East Harlem as Casa Hernández in 1927, and Amadeo took over in 1969.  He’s the son of the famous Borricua composer Titi Amadeo, and his knowledge of the records he sells is extensive.  He’s seen a lot of music history firsthand, and is very well-respected among the musicians who play the music in its current evolutions. He also still sells vinyl, and only takes cash, so this is the kind of mom and pop store that everyone misses, but in our lifetime, we can visit, and learn a little something about the music that shapes us in the process.

It’s hard not to notice the copious amounts of payday loan stores that seem to being popping up on just about every corner of most major cities. It is also nearly impossible to watch television without the various money mutual Montel Williams commercials in between your favorite shows. They definitely seem to be setting a new trend in the finance industry as well as maintaining the edge on a relatively new market. So, just where did these payday loans come from?
As I said previously, payday loans are a relatively new type of loan. They have only been around since about the early 1990s. At that time they were not too prevalent; pretty much the only place you could find a payday loan or cash advance was either in a pawnshop or one of the few cash advance stores. It took quite a bit of searching to find someone who would do a payday loan. Lenders began to realize that there was quite a niche market there. With many people in desperate situations from recently losing a job or having been declined a traditional loan, the payday loan industry took off.
In more recent years, as the housing industry has continued to sink and the economy has continued to be unstable, payday loans have reached their highest peak yet. With more and more people out of work and suffering financial hardships, payday loans have stepped in to provide them the instant cash they need to pay bills, buy food, and just get them through the week. Moneymutual.com and other payday loan stores have set up websites. From there you can fill out the application, get approved and receive your money by the end of the day. They make getting cash quick and easy. And as the economy continues to suffer, they may be the only industry that is thriving.

Within sight of downtown Miami, you’ll see Biscayne National Park, the site of fifty islands of ancient coral reef, established in the late 1960s, about forty years ago, preserved by people who had a unique sense of what a national park might be — one covered by water, one that protected not only islands and the bay, but the reefs.  At first there was opposition to this idea, with some people favoring developing the land for homes, while others insisted on protecting it.  After a prolonged fight, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill for the park in October 18th, 1968, creating the Biscayne National Monument to protect terrestrial, amphibious and marine life.
 
Once you’ve settled into one of the Miami hotels, take a ride out to the park and be prepared to experience a world unique to the National Park system, one in which a great deal of the park is best seen underwater.  Here, in a setting of blue-green waters, green islands, and coral reefs, you’ll find proof of ten thousand years of humans living their lives, evidence of pirates and shipwrecks as well as presidents and farmers.
 
The park also offers the Maritime Heritage Trail, which will provide a chance to examine the area’s shipwrecks.  The Shipwreck Trail has six wrecks available to the public, ranging over a hundred years.  You’ll only be able to see these by boat, and they’re best seen by scuba divers, including The Mandalay. 
 
This particular boat was a 128 foot schooner that ran aground on New Year’s Eve in 1966 upon Long Reef next to Elliott Key.  The crew and passengers were all rescued, but The Mandalay was not as fortunate.  The boat was affixed to the reef, hard aground, and looters came pretty quickly to strip the boat.  When tug boats attempted to pull her off the reef, they ripped open the hull even more, and The Mandalay sank.  It rests now in ten feet of water, the best of the wreck dives in Biscayne National Park.  If you’ve ever watched the cable television series about what will happen to the Earth if no people existed upon it, the Mandalay is an excellent example of what happens after over forty years below the waters, with its hull coated with hard corals and sea fans, the home now for schools of fish.

I will never forget the feeling of walking into Grand Central Station for the first time.  New York to me, presents a lot of excitement mixed with a bit of eeriness.  I have only visited the city twice, and so I am not familiar with the city in real life, but growing up and watching old movies, new movies, and various television shows or music videos, the city has been a standard backdrop for years, and so many of the buildings in the financial district, some of the famous and finest restaurants in New York, the skyline, and Grand Central Station are all very recognizable.

So many films have had scenes in this building, so when I walked in for the first time, I was blown away with first, just how big it really is and just how many people there were, then I felt a bit odd as it felt a little like coming home.  Not that I had ever thought that I “belonged” in the city, not in that way of coming home, but just coming to the familiar.  It is a strange feeling that is kind of deja-vu in a sense.

The station was constructed a ten year period beginning in 1903 and lasting through 1913.  There are sixty seven sets of tracks taking up two floors.  This is mind boggling.  This is the second incarnation of the station, as the first one constructed in 1869 was built for steam engine trains.  The smoke caused an accident in the Park Avenue Tunnel, as the visibility was greatly reduced by all this smoke.  They built the Grand Central Station of today, with electric trains, and by 1910, no steam engines at all were allowed within the city limits.

The art and the architecture of this building is just as impressive as it is breathtaking.  The ceiling mural was painted by Paul Helleu, who was inspired to paint the zodiac by a manuscript from the medieval time period.  The building and the design, is Beaux-Arts Design at it finest.  This is one of the icons of the city, and should you find yourself standing in the middle of it some day, you will understand the immense feelings that Grand Central Station evokes.

Yesterday felt like another history lesson. We had a short drive from Atlantic City to Philadelphia, around an hour-an-a-half, but we did have to pay around $8.00 in toll fees. My husband, at one point got so excited that he got off the Interstate too early, so as he was circling back to get on the highway again, he saw a sign indicating that a house was the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe! Naturally, we had to take a photo, so he parked the car and got out. When he approached the sign, a police car just happend to turn the corner and stopped and rolled down his window to ask my husband what he was doing. My husband told the police officer what he was doing and the officer told him to do it quick and get the hell out of there. We left right away. This was our introduction to Philadelphia.

Our first stop was to the Liberty Bell, when I was a child, the Liberty Bell was out in the open, but now there was a security checkpoint. Next we had to eat a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I had mine without onions and had them put on provolone cheese instead of that awful cheese wiz. Then it was time to find our accomodations. We booked a cheap hotel on this site: http://www.philadelphiacheaphotel.com, so we weren’t too sure what get as far as accommodation go, we lucked out, the hotel was centrally located and was really very nice.

After we checked-in, we went back out to find the Diamond Lounge Casino. The place was amazing in comparison to the one in Las Vegas; here they had wood-fired pizza, salads, hot entrees and a nice dessert bar, back in Vegas, all they have is chips and dip, cookies and nuts! We sat down to eat, and the couple sitting next to us figured that we were from out of town and began a conversation with us. They live here in Philly, so the gave us all kinds of information about what to do here. They were about to leave when they turn back around and invited us out to dinner! We took them us on their offer and met up with them later and continued our conversation over a great meal.

Tomorrow we head south to Hilton Head. We decided that if we meet another great couple there, then we’ll invite them to dinner!

It’s expensive to live in New York, but it’s also true that the longer you live here, the easier it is.  This is a city that’s based on connections.  Even more than hard work or talent, connections will take you places.  That’s one of the reasons that it’s considered to be one of the most intellectual cities, because you have to have a sharp mind to make the right connections.  For visitors, however, it’s a paradise.  You don’t need a lot of money, and you don’t need connections, to have a great time in this town.  That’s one thing that’s changed a lot in the past ten years, where tourists have a much easier time getting around.
There’s everything that anyone could ever want.  A quick look at the www.fivestarnewyorkhotels.com site will tell you that there are great places to stay here.  Something for everyone, that’s what this town’s got.  It never ceases to amaze me.  People are innovative here, whether it’s trying to be the best at hospitality, or trying to be the best tube talker, this is the place to come and try.  For those who might not know, tube talkers were a rare breed in Manhattan, and it didn’t last as long as I thought it should.
When the Blue Man Group was starting out, their Astor Place show was a pretty reasonable ticket.  For out of work actors like me, though, inexpensive still didn’t cut it, and for a month, all I could do was dream about the show that mixed chaos theory, live percussion, and existentialism in one magnificent evening.  One day, I vowed, I would get there to see those big blue heads.  It didn’t take as long as it seemed before my roommate approached me with the opportunity to see them for free, if I was willing to tube talk.  In New York, be careful of trying anything once, but this held a danger that was worth the risks.  You would sit backstage and speak into the plastic tubes that ended in front of the spectator’s chairs.
I don’t remember all that we talked about that night, but I know I couldn’t stop.  The guy at the other end of the tube was telling me about the freemasons, and the number 23, and he told me that my life would change after our conversation.  I can’t reveal any more details than that.  I love the Blue Men.