Gray Line Wanderings Travel Blog

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Oh Smokey the Bear, how I mocked you as a child. You made it so easy for me and my friends to twist your words into something inappropriate.

This, however, is no joking matter.

Having grown up in New Mexico, I know what it’s like to live in a dry climate. Colorado can be much the same. And unfortunately, this year is one for the books.

Our gorgeous state is in a state of emergency. There are currently fires in Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Boulder.

• 32,00 People were evacuated in El Paso County near Colorado Springs as the fire came down Waldo Canyon.
• Flagstaff fire is about 1.5 miles from the Boulder city limits.
• 90,000 acres have been swallowed up by the The High Park fire in the Fort Collins area. With containment not expected for TILL JULY 30^TH!

We haven’t had any rain, we have extreme temperatures (reaching 106 in the Denver metro area), and high winds. All of these things equal disaster.

So what can we do?

• The Denver Post has provided resources and information on how we can all help in all 3 areas.
• Here is a full list of county bans and restrictions.
• There is a ban on all private fireworks.
• You can only have a campfire if it is in a developed campsite with a metal fire ring.
• DO NOT, I repeat, do not smoke outside!!!!

Fires can happen anywhere. Caution should be exercised everywhere you go. If you are unsure of what preventative measures to take our old friend Smokey the Bear is here to lend a helping hand.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragedy.

Do you have any updates on the situation? Can you provide any tips on how to prevent fires? Let us know in the comments below.

Ahhhh, St. Patrick’s Day – one of those special holidays that people all over the globe just love to celebrate. And with the luck of the Irish, it falls on a Saturday this year.

Originally established as a religious holiday to commemorate Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, the day has progressed into a full-on party in many cities in the US and abroad. With block parades, bagpipers, feasting, dancing, and copious amounts of beer – green beer that is, it’s no wonder that every year on March 17th, everyone is feeling a little Irish, and a lot lucky.

If you’re in the US and looking for something fun to do on St. Paddy’s Day this year, check out this list of America’s Best St. Patrick’s Day Parades. If all of this green celebration inspires you to visit the place where it all began, click here for fun things to do in and around Dublin.

“May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.”

~Irish Blessing

Tell us about you celebrate in the comments below! (click here if you can’t see Facebook comments)

Happy Fat Tuesday, you party animals! This pre-lenten tradition is celebrated all over the globe and under different pseudonyms, but today we’re going to check out the American version and its epicenter, New Orleans.

For all of you lucky (or nuts) enough to be in NOLA for the celebrations, here’s hoping you’re stocked up on headache meds and electrolytes for tomorrow morning. For everyone else, check out what you’re missing here. When you get crazytown jealous of everyone there, go ahead and eat your emotions – king cake, recipe here. (Don’t blame us if you chip a tooth on the creepy plastic baby). Mardi on!

How are you celebrating Mardi Gras this year? Let us know in the Facebook comments below. Even if you miss Mardi Gras this year, check out all the fun things to do in New Orleans year round. (Click here if you’re having trouble viewing the Facebook comments)

Forgetting for a moment the actual sport of football, the forthcoming Super Bowl 46  also happens to serve as (yet another…) battleground for the everlasting debate. Chicken or egg, yin or yang, Boston or New York?

Technically, the Patriots are in Foxborough and the Giants are in Jersey – however, who doesn’t love the chance to beat a dead horse (only figuratively, obviously) and discuss the merits of these two nor’east rivals. This blogger actually doesn’t have a whole lot of loyalty either way, so we’ll just present the facts, ma’am:

• Food: (because it’s my favorite topic) – New York, pizza…clearly. Boston, what? Boston cream pie? Boston baked beans?  Point NYC.

• Traffic: In a painstakingly nonscientific and randomly chosen study, Travel+Leisure told me that New York’s traffic is second in the world only to Mexico City. Although one could argue that the population differences should be factored in…but then I got bored, so point Boston.

• Average Hotel Cost:  NYC, $194 – Boston, $154. Some might call that negligible. I, on the other hand, like $40. So, point Boston.

• Libation-Friendly Culture: I mean, it’s the Super Bowl, right? As rated here, Boston didn’t even make the cut, so….point NYC.

If you, like me, are a math whiz, you’ve noticed that we’ve got ourselves a tie. How about this – visit both, and make up your own mind!

Recently I had to travel without my 3 wonderful children. Translation: I ran out of town for an impromptu weekend to visit some of my friends…..all by myself! Now don’t get me wrong, I love traveling with my kids. I really do. They are actually very good travelers and I find a lot of joy trekking around with them. It’s just I had not traveled without my kiddos in quite some time and was amazed at just how darn easy it was.  It wasn’t without some hiccups (flight delay, friend’s flight cancelled, etc.) but it was still relatively easy. In case you haven’t traveled without the accompaniment of small people in some time or if you always travel alone and have forgotten the joy of it all, here are some reminders of why solo travel can be so darn easy:

It’s Quiet:

Ok, not collegiate library quiet, but relative to the noise level in my house, it is quiet. Yes, airports are noisy but all of that eventually just levels out as white noise.

Good Old Fashioned Reading:

I love a good book. I love pop culture magazines. Traveling alone gave me uninterrupted time to cash a book. I read a whole book in one setting plus caught up on the latest in pop culture news. Pure joy.

People, in General, Are Mostly Interesting and Nice:

I am normally not a “talker” when I travel. It’s not that I won’t talk, I just prefer not to. When I’m alone and if someone tries to chat me up, I generally give short answers and keep my headphones on. But once in a while there is someone next to me on a plane I can’t resist. Oftentimes it’s someone kind and interesting. That, I like.

It’s Just You and Nobody Else But You:

What’s so great about being alone you ask? Well, that’s just it. You are alone. You can eat what you want when you want.  You can walk instead of taking the moving sidewalks to stretch your legs. You can grab a cocktail in the bar.  You can think and zone out and just be…and THAT is easy.

The rapidly expanding Uturuncu volcano in Bolivia.

I’ve only lived in South America for a few months, but one thing I’m quickly getting used to is having to check out the geological forecast along with the local news and weather. Living in proximity to the planet’s Ring of Fire will do that to you …

For example, last week a family member came for a visit to Buenos Aires and we found ourselves tracking the daily activity of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in nearby Chile. As it is wont to do, Puyehue (roughly pronounced “poo-shay-WAY”) belched a bit of volcanic ash miles into the stratosphere, shutting down flights across the continent from Chile to Brazil for a time. In truth, our guest was hoping to be forced into an extended stay … “volcanic eruption” must surely fall under the umbrella of acceptable excuses for missing work back home, right?

But there is something even bigger brewing in neighboring Bolivia. And it has the potential to produce something that modern human civilization has never seen – a possible supervolcano that likely will one day spew more magma than the equivalent of 1,000 eruptions of Mount St. Helens. The last supervolcano eruption happened in Indonesia more than 74,000 years ago, but one may be in the offing today in Bolivia.

Uturuncu is one of the highest points in Bolivia at more than 20,000 feet, and scientists say the broad base of the mountain is expanding at an incredible rate. New studies recently reported that magma is filling in all around the base of the peak by 1 to 2 centimeters every year.

It’s essentially inflating, and building and building to what scientists say could be the most explosive volcano any of us will ever be around for.

The rapid inflation has been happening for at least the last 20 years, when satellite images first became available. Scientists say that other supervolcanoes in the immediate area – the region is one of the densest collections of dormant supervolcanoes anywhere – collect sub-surface magma at an average of 300,000 years before blowing their considerable tops.

Uturuncu last exploded … 300,000 years ago. And when it does go off again, not only will flights from Bariloche to Buenos Aires be canceled, but probably more like Australia to Austria.

Defame the Thai King at your peril

As if you needed further proof that the system of laws you enjoy in your home country doesn’t follow you on your jaunts across the globe, we provide this most recent example of astonishingly harsh punishment of a foreigner living in a fairly well-traveled country:

According to reports, American citizen Joe Gordon is facing a massive 15-year jail term in Thailand, accused of the heinous crime of (wait for it …) defaming Thailand’s royal family.

Seems the 55-year-old, Thai-born Gordon translated excerpts of an unflattering biography of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej and posted it on the Internet. Unfortunately for Gordon, Thailand has perhaps the world’s strictest “lese-majesty” laws, which have been used to jail political opponents for years. Human rights advocates have protested them many times over.

That said, Gordon has been denied bail, and will reportedly plead guilty to the charges, in the hopes of winning a royal pardon.

“I want the American government to help me, because this is about freedom of expression,” London’s Daily Mail reported Gordon as saying.

Unfortunately, that particular freedom evaporated the minute Gordon stepped through Thai customs.

It's illegal in Mexico for foreigners to take part in protests.

Let this be an obvious lesson to world travelers: Know the laws of the counties in which you are a guest, and don’t push the limits. Avoid conflicts while a guest in another country. Dodge situations where legality is even minimally questionable.

Perhaps the best tip we can give is to familiarize yourself with the unique legal restrictions of every country you plan to visit. The U.S. State Department provides an excellent legal and advisory synopsis of every recognized country in the world, which you can find HERE.

“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.”  Steve Jobs

However, many of the products developed under the visionary direction of the recently departed founder of Apple did change the world, and were important. For travelers, one of the most innovative products from the Apple factory is, of course, the iPad, and it’s worth taking a look at why it makes such an excellent travel companion.

First, for all its computing power and capabilities, it’s extremely lightweight — even for travelers used to bringing the sparest of belongings. The TSA will let you keep it in your bag while going through security, too. Its huge high-resolution screen, despite its slim size, is a godsend on long flights or any other situation requiring the killing of extended periods of time. (Travel much?) Battery life? Phenomenal, easily gets eight hours and sometimes 10.

The touchscreen interface is ideal for folks on the go. Standing up, sitting down, waiting in line, hands full of bags, having a smoke, eating a sandwich … all are possible times when you can surf the web, read books, or flip through photos with a flick of single finger. For those who can’t seem to leave the office totally behind while on vacation, the iPad is your workstation as well. Typing is a challenge on the touchscreen, but the addition of a Bluetooth keyboard makes it seem like you’re on a full-sized laptop. Keep all your files in the cloud. Add a VoIP application (like TruPhone) and your iPad can be your business phone, by tapping its WiFi connective capabilities. In short, there is little you cannot do work-wise while on the go.

Some downsides? Sure, but certainly not insurmountable. It doesn’t support Flash, so there are some limitations there with some sites. Can’t multitask, but is that such a bad thing really? We’ve already mentioned typing on-screen, which is easily solvable by bringing along the add-on keyboard. Another add-on you’ll need: A camera connection kit ($29) since there’s no USB port. Also, it’s not very friendly with the omnipresent Microsoft Word or Excel documents, but they’re pretty much disasters anyway.

A few more tips: Get a case. It’s great protection, and keeps your computer stealthy. And while on the topic of stealthiness, be aware when using your iPad in public. A tourist using a beautiful computer is a major target in many countries, so be stealthy yourself in certain locales to avoid becoming a robbery victim.

Finally, part of the fun of having an iPad is loading it up with cool apps, so here are a few we recommend with particular utility for traveling:

Kayak – The best search engine for flights and hotels. Their iPad app is even easier to use than their website.

WiFi Finder – Unless you want to rack up serious roaming charges, you’ll likely be turning off the 3G and switching to WiFi for most of your trip. This app will find you all the free WiFi you can handle in cities around the world.

OffMaps – Awesome iPad and iPhone app that lets you download city maps for use even in offline mode. Your iPad’s GPS is accessed and applied to the maps, even when you’re not Internet-connected or out of 3G mode.

WeatherBug Elite – You get an insane amount of weather information for any spot in any corner of the globe, for $4.99.

iBooks – Assuming you’ve already loaded up your iTunes library with enough movies and TV shows to keep you occupied, the iBooks e-reader and iBookstore give you an interactive library at your fingertips. Great way to read.

Happy trails, to you as well Mr. Jobs.

A common refrain you’re likely to hear from people lucky enough to make their home in ski resort towns — especially in spectacular Rocky Mountain states like Colorado and Utah — is that they came for the skiing, but stayed because of the summers. It seems the ski resorts themselves are set to catch up with that sentiment, and boost their summer tourist numbers in the process.

A new bill is sailing through the U.S. Legislature that will open ski areas on National Forest land to year-round recreation. Look for ski resorts to capitalize on the new window of opportunity by adding new adrenaline-pumping activities like zip lines, climbing walls, alpine slides and mountain biking trails. Most Western resorts operate on National Forest lands, and offer some of these types of adventure activities already through selective exemptions. For example, many resorts in Colorado already have developed extensive summer activities on their mountains. Breckenridge has built an alpine coaster and developed a peak area full of summer activities. On a sunny day in Vail, bikers heading up on the gondola nearly match the number of hikers. You can still go snow tubing at the top of Keystone Mountain, even in summer.

But the new legislation (which in early October breezed through the U.S. House without a single vote opposed) should open the floodgates for resort operators everywhere to expand their adventure activities. Ski season may be just around the corner, but a trip next summer to a ski resort should be even more on your radar now.