Category: travel

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 4 – Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios

    Steve and I split off from the main group this day and went to Universal Studios.  If it were not for the new Harry Potter part of the park, I would not have been all that interested, but I’ve read all the books and heard a lot about the new attraction so I thought it…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 3 – Magic Kingdom

    Day 3 was at the Magic Kingdom.  We started the morning with breakfast with Chef Mickey and friends.  Toren likes looking at people in costumes and finds them entertaining, but only from afar.  When costumed individuals get close he freaks out.  So, he kind of had a rough time at breakfast (and he didn’t sleep…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 2 – Animal Kingdom

    Even though all of her family was in town, Debi still had summer courses that were just beginning that she couldn’t afford to miss.  So she headed back to Tampa this day while the rest of us made our way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  We went on a few friends, saw some animals, then went…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 1

    All of Debi’s family came to Florida for a week long vacation in late May and early June.  We started the trip in Orlando and ended in St. Petersburg.  Here’s a rundown of our activities day by day. The family was all scheduled to arrived in the evening on the 25th of May.  Debi, Toren,…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 7

    This was our last day in the Park.  We got up quite early, broke camp, then headed up to the trailhead of Angel’s Landing, which is one of the more famous hikes in the park.  It’s famous because it runs along a razorback for about 1/2 a mile to the top.  To help secure hikers,…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 6

    I think our volunteer coordinator, Jessica, felt bad after the previous day’s project as our project this day was quite lite – cleaning up tent caterpillars from the Visitor’s Center.  Tent caterpillars (which become brown moths) are particularly pervasive in the park this year.  The also are messy.  They spread their webbing everywhere, particularly on…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 5

    The project we were supposed to do on Monday that was scrubbed because of the rain was moved to Thursday.  Near the Nature Center in the park are several vegetation “islands” (surrounded by concrete curbs) that the rangers wanted to reclaim from the invasive plant species that had taken them over and replant with native…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 4

    I was very impressed with our volunteer coordinator, Jessica, for choosing this volunteer opportunity.  While Zion National Park gets lots of people offering to volunteer every year (Jessica said about 450), smaller parks and monuments don’t get as many offers from people wanting to volunteer.  Since there are other National Parks around the Zion area,…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 3

    The first few nights in Zion were very, very cold.  With the rain falling, the temperatures dropped to the low 40s.  A few students were cold at night, but once it was explained to them that the easiest solution was to layer on clothes, most slept okay.  Even so, getting up in the morning before…

  • Zion Volunteering Trip – Day 2

    Monday was our first day of volunteering.  The day dawned wet and cold, which scuttled the original plan (though we ended up doing it a few days later) and instead headed to the east side of the park to pick up trash at various turnouts.  We spent the morning picking up trash, wrapping up around…