madamwitty

I have been so much happier since I moved here three months ago. Now I get my daily nature-fix as I walk or bike to work. In the morning I hear the roosters crowing and see rabbits on the trails. In the afternoon, I see birds, lizards, and squirrels, and the occasional horse-and-rider. I love Altadena’s blend of natural mountain setting, farm-like animal-keeping, and suburban neighborhood housing.

were actually a little disappointing to me. They were apparently “reconstructed” by some British archaeologist in the 1900s, so a lot of what’s there is really only his interpretation. But it wasn’t built up enough that we could actually go inside any of the impressive buildings.

Definitely take a boat ride out to the volcano hot springs! I did a tour that involved a hike on one of the volcanic islands and then a trip to the hot springs. The hot springs is like a little cove right on the edge of the island; there wasn’t a dock nearby so they stopped offshore and you had to swim about 50 yards into the cove, where the water changed from blue to red (from lots of little iron oxide particles.) Some people dived right off the boat, but I used the ladder they put down into the water. Lots of fun!

First come, first serve, but not crowded at all
Nice and shady
Near a fairly busy highway (a bit noisy, but easy enough to get to)
Close to town
Very close to a 1.5 mile nature hike
Not particularly close to any other trailheads (that I knew of)
Pleasant for a weekend getaway

Like Arizona, most of my time here was spent at National Parks, so I didn’t get much chance to interact with the resident. Beautiful scenery!

Spent some time at the Grand Canyon (South Rim) and then drove through much of Arizona to get into Utah. There’s lots of open country here, with some beautiful scenery. I didn’t get much of a chance to interact with the residents, though.

Technically, I have been to Mexico on a day trip as part of a very short cruise, but I don’t think I did it justice, so I’d like to go back, and stay overnight for at least a couple days.

Is cold, but it’s a beautiful time since the yellow tree leaves contrast beautifully with the red cliffs. Gorgeous!

I have to say I liked Zion better than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is amazing, but it’s become somewhat cliche. Zion is amazingly beautiful and yet few people know about it.

This campground was pretty empty on Monday/Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, which was good since the campgrounds were placed very close together – this gave you a chance to spread out a little from the other people in the campground. It was was pretty cold in November, but fairly close to a general store and a laundry/shower facility and also a shuttle stop. The shuttle system around the park made it easy to get around, given the fact you’re not allowed to park your car very many places.

Not really worth visiting, in and of itself, but there are usually dance lessons there at least 3 or 4 times a week. The class schedule can be found at the Caltech Ballroom Dance Club website.