Utopium Travels

My Air Travel Boycott

2012-03-06T14:01:00.000-05:00

About a year ago I decided that I have had enough with how crazy air travel has become and to start a boycott. I did make one exception in order to visit Australia since I had always wanted to visit and that is not an easy place to get to using other means. Now that I have made that trip though I will not be flying until certain things change in air travel.

I had actually written quite a lot for this post which I had kept in draft form for a while, but I never was satisfied with what I wrote and realized I don't have to go into much detail. Anyone who follows the news has already seen plenty of stories that make my decision to boycott travel not so surprising. The main reason is the TSA. Things have just become obscene with the use of body scanners, pat downs, and even small details such as not allowing a cupcake on a flight. These security procedures just insult the American public and have not proven themselves to be of any real benefit.

Airlines are also a factor for this, although in their case that would just mean boycotting a specific airline rather than not flying altogether. For example, a week before I was supposed to fly to Australia on Qantas they decided to ground their entire fleet simply because of a labor dispute. Now I can understand grounding due to a natural disaster or some potential technical flaw discovered in a certain plane model, but to simply ground planes out of spite should be a criminal act. Fortunately they started flying again by the time I was supposed to leave, but there were many businesses and personal lives hurt by the fact that people couldn't be where they needed to be for multiple days. Airlines need to realize they would be nothing without their customers and need to treat them with proper respect in the decisions they make.

At this point in my life I will use any other means of travel to get around. Trains are one alternative. Sure it may take longer to get somewhere, but it is a lot more comfortable when traveling and they have sleeper cars for the overnight trips that are much more spacious than a cramped airline seat. Driving has the benefit of not needing to rent a car at your destination and gives you a lot more flexibility on when you choose to come and go. And taking a boat can be a pleasant alternative to reaching that island destination for a vacation.

The way I live my life I can get away with never needing to fly, but I realize that this may not work for everyone, especially for those who need to travel internationally. If people can minimize the amount they fly though and use alternative means to travel I think it will go a long way to letting the government and the airline industry know that things have gotten out of control. Sadly I think it will be quite a while before there are any serious changes for the better, but with luck that will be sooner rather than later. Until that time, I won't be boarding an airplane.

37?!?!

2012-03-05T13:21:00.002-05:00

While more recent work by Kevin Smith has been rather lackluster with films like Cop Out and Red State, I did enjoy some of his earlier films so I figured the next time I passed through New Jersey I would make a "quick stop" to where things all started.

The Quick Stop in Leonardo is still there and in business. Aside from a small poster for Clerks 2 in the window it doesn't have anything to show off the fact it was made famous by a series of movies. It is pretty much just like any other convenience store. Sadly the RST video store net to it appears to have gone out of business so I was unable to go rent some hermaphroditic porn.

I also swung by Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank just a few minutes away. Walt Flanagan was minding the store at the time, but he was busy on the phone working out some problem with the credit card system so I figured I wouldn't bother him. The store itself is about an even mix of comic books and View Askew merchandise. There wasn't really anything to me that stood out worth buying, but I'm sure some people who are big fans of Kevin Smith's work will like a lot of things they see there. I'm guessing the locals mostly shop for comic books there.

Buddy Christ...

...and nearby is a false idol.

Nothing exciting to see really, but it was an interesting way to kill 30 minutes of my time.

Broadway

2012-02-29T16:54:00.000-05:00

One of the things I wanted to do in my free time was to go see a Broadway show up in New York. This isn't something I typically do so I thought it would be a good experience. I looked at the shows available and decided to check out The Book of Mormon with a friend of mine.

I decided to take the train up to New York from DC since I really can't remember that last time I had ridden on a train before. Not on one going long distance anyway. Besides, given my boycott on air travel I would like to try various alternatives. The train was rather empty leaving DC with maybe about 10 people in the car I was in. A few more people got on along the way but it never got more than a quarter full. Given that it was a Tuesday morning that might be pretty typical. I brought a book along with me to read but I didn't read more than a half dozen pages since I enjoyed watching the passing scenery. It was quite a comfortable trip up North.

I gotta say I much prefer taking a train over a plane. You only need to arrive there about fifteen minutes before the train leaves and I don't feel the need to ask if any trace of cancer was found after the thorough screening they have at airports. It may take more time for trips further away, but I don't mind given how much of a pain air travel has become.

When I arrived in the city I decided to go check out the World Trade Center memorial since that is finished now. Usually you need to get advance tickets to go in and see it as there is still construction all around the area and they don't want large crowds getting in the way. Being the middle of the day on a Tuesday though they let me in since it wasn't a busy time for visitors. There really isn't a whole lot to the memorial, it is mainly just two big recessed pools with waterfalls around the edges where the towers used to be and stones paths and trees in the rest of the area. If you are curious to know more about the memorial, they have a website at the following link:

http://www.911memorial.org

After heading back up towards Broadway I met with my friend and we grabbed a quick bite to eat before we went to the show. Usually I don't like musicals and stay away from them, but The Book of Mormon was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame so I figured it would be funny enough to keep me entertained. This show was simply AMAZING! I was a little worried they might tone down the humor in order to be shown on Broadway, but this just as vulgar as anything you would see on South Park. There are quite a few memorable quotes that anyone seeing this will probably be repeating for a while. I found one sneaky costume change close to the beginning of the show quite hilarious. And I found it quite awesome how they were making fun of The Lion King which also happens to be playing on Broadway right now.

The show can be quite offensive to some people at times with the vulgarity of it, yet it really was just "generally offensive" and doesn't make fun of Mormon's like you would think from the title of the show. I wouldn't be surprised if some Mormon's found the show offensive, but to me I didn't find anything negative being portrayed from the show.

I had to get tickets over a month in advance to see this show and I can understand why now after seeing it. It went well beyond my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If anyone happens to be in New York and wants to check out something on Broadway, I definitely recommend going to see The Book of Mormon.

Skyline Drive

2012-02-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

With yesterday being so great outside and today being even better in the mid 60's I would have felt guilty if I didn't go out and do something. I decided to go for a drive along Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Since it is a weekday during the winter there was almost nobody on the road at all which made it quite a pleasant experience. The last time I drove along here some Volkswagen car club was there and just being a nuisance to everyone else in the park. The trees are quite bare and the best time to visit is in the fall when the leaves are changing color, but it was still a nice view nonetheless.

I actually brought along a few cameras of mine along with a windshield mount because I wanted to experiment with recording video in my car for when I eventually go on a cross country road trip. I had mixed results and decided one camera definitely isn't good for recording video in my car. I won't bore you with a couple hours of recordings that I ended up with, but here are a couple of clips for those who haven't been to Skyline Drive before and want to know what it looks like to go for a ride along it:

I don't think I will actually do much video recording in the future that involves long stretches as editing can be a nuisance, but it was good to experiment with it since I had the time. I have a better idea of how to approach recording some things in the future when I do want video.

For anyone who is thinking of going for a drive along Skyline Drive, check out the following link for more info:

http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/driving-skyline-drive.htm

White's Ferry

2012-02-13T17:55:00.002-05:00

I haven't really been posting much since things keep coming up that keep me in the DC area and with the cold weather outside there isn't a whole lot to do outdoors. Once things warm up the next couple of months though I will definitely be making a lot more posts to this blog though. Today being a slow Monday with not much to do I felt the urge to go and and do something, so I went up to visit White's Ferry along the Potomac River.

The ferry crossing the Potomac River with some cars.

Outside of the DC area there really aren't that many places you can cross the Potomac River. Bridges are few and far between and you might have to drive quite a bit out of your way to go between Maryland and Virginia. Truth be told most of the land along the Potomac is farm country, but for those people living there it can still be an inconvenience. White's Ferry offers a nice alternative for those people in that area.

What remains of the C&O Canal. Nature has clearly taken over.

The ferry has been operating since about 1828. It came in quite handy for farmers in Virginia trying to move their goods across the Potomac in order to take advantage of the C&O Canal. Today the ferry is mainly used by cars traveling across the river since modern transportation methods have removed the need to move things by ferry. The canal itself has been reclaimed by the wilderness. Down closer the DC the canal still holds water, but this far up north there is just grass and trees growing in the trench in the earth that used to be the canal. All that remains is the tow path people can still walk or bike along.

A shop just next to the ferry on the Maryland side. Click to see the larger version and you can see the flood lines for the times the Potomac River rose to high levels.


Another ferry currently sitting on land.

An old bridge used to cross the canal to get to the ferry. A modern road takes its place today.

There is a lot of history related to White's Ferry and the surrounding area, particularly during the civil war. Just north of the ferry is White's Ford where many soldiers cross. I went up to visit that as well but there isn't much to see other than a few signs explaining the historical significance of the site. Otherwise it looks just like any other part of the Potomac River.

White's Ferry isn't the most exciting place to visit I will admit, but it was worth checking out to see at least once since I had the free time. You don't see many ferries like it in modern times.

Kreeger Museum

2012-01-21T13:04:00.001-05:00

This morning I decided that I should go out and see something new rather than sit at home with what is barely an inch of snow. I have been meaning to check out a few of the lesser known museums in DC so I went to go visit the Kreeger Museum which is located on Foxhall Road.

Front of the museum.

This is a private collection and not like one of the Smithsonian museums down on the mall. Admission is $10 for most people although I believe they have student discounts. Photography isn't permitted indoors so I won't be posting any pictures of most of what I saw, but you can see what they have to offer on the collection section of their website before going to visit. There are quite a few paintings by Picasso, Monet, and other famous artists in their collection. The museum is essentially a former residence designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster so it has some rather interesting architecture.

While not as large as a Smithsonian museum, it is still big enough that it can keep you occupied for an hour or two browsing the general collection. It felt a little more intimate being away from the usual tourist destinations. There are a few nice touches like a small library to the side that has many books on art that you can sit down and read in. There is also a sculpture garden surrounding the building that is currently being expanded to include more works and have a reflecting pool.

A few sculptures in the rear.

What will soon be a reflecting pool surrounded by more sculptures.

The staff there was quite friendly and were quite happy to engage in conversations with me. Guided tours are also available although I arrived about an hour before the next one was going to start so I didn't bother. The general collection itself is only open to the public on Saturdays, but they do have various other events there during the week such as special exhibitions, lectures, and film screenings.

If you happen to have some free time on a Saturday and want to see something just a little bit different from the museums down on the mall, the Kreeger Museum may be worth checking out sometime.

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

2012-01-19T17:58:00.001-05:00

Today I visited another abandoned location not too far away from the DC area. A section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was bypassed in 1968 and the old 13 mile stretch of road was left to the wilderness. While you aren't able to drive on this road anymore, it is still quite easy to visit it using other means. I took my bike with me to explore this old highway.

Blocked to cars, but the road is still there.

Using my bike for scale you can see how narrow the lanes are in some places.

For a road that has not been maintained for the past 44 years it isn't in that bad of shape. Some trees and other vegetation have taken over the median and the southern side of the road is a bit chewed up, but the northern side of the road is in good enough condition for riding a regular bike. There is no need for a heavy duty mountain bike and a simple three speed bike should be adequate for anyone to ride along the road so long as you keep a careful eye out for potholes. There aren't any real steep inclines so you won't finding yourself having to dismount your bike except for getting on and off the turnpike itself.

A popular destination for bikers.

I started out at the western end which is in Breezewood. This town looks like any other stop for truck drivers and you would have no idea how to find the abandoned turnpike unless you know where to look. All the road signage of course refers to the current turnpike. If you know where to look though and keep an eye out though you can easily find places to park and get onto the old road. There is actually a group called Pike 2 Bike that works to try and maintain the road enough to allow people to easily bike like any other trail.

One of the tunnels through the mountains. Enter if you dare.

Graffiti litters the tunnel areas.

Inside a maintenance area at the end of the tunnel.

If you plan on going far on the turnpike you need to be aware that there are a few tunnels along the way. Since they have been abandoned there are no lights so you will need to bring along your own source of light to travel through them. I actually picked up a headlight for my bike just for this occasion so I could bike through the tunnel without having to hold on to a flashlight. Each tunnel averages about a mile long so it will be pitch black for most of the trip through. This isn't the kind of place someone afraid of the dark will want to venture, especially with the pigeons and other animals making noises from their nesting places. Since you really can't photograph complete darkness, I recorded some video to give a better idea of what it is like inside.

I would say this is definitely quite creepier than the visit I made to Centralia earlier in the week. At least there you could easily see the potential dangers of sinkholes and toxic fumes. Fortunately on a bike the tunnels are rather easy to get through quickly.

The opposite side of the tunnel.

The road continues...

Since the temperature was hovering around the freezing point and it was quite windy today I ended up turning around before making it to the second tunnel. I definitely plan on coming back when it is warmer so I can explore the entire length.

What is left of a couple car seats next to a maintenance area.

The rest of the pictures I took can be viewed at the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/utopium/AbandonedPennsylvaniaTurnpike

For more information on the abandoned turnpike itself, check out the following links:

http://www.abandonedturnpike.com
http://www.pike2bike.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike

Centralia

2012-01-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

Even though I need to stick around the DC area for a while I decided to make some day trips when I can. Yesterday I went to visit a town called Centralia in Pennsylvania. This is a place that has been mostly abandoned, and for good reason.

Smoke from the underground fire seeping through fissures in the highway.

Centralia used to be a coal mining town. Sometime during the 1960's though the mine caught on fire and has been burning ever since. It is quite possible this fire may burn for a hundred years. The danger of this mine fire has lead the government to claiming eminent domain over the town and relocating its inhabitants. A section of route 61 had to be moved around the affected area as part of it has broken open and is constantly venting fumes as you can see from the picture above.

Streets with no buildings. This area used to be full of homes.

The few still holding on to their homes.

Not much of the town is left today. Because of the eminent domain claim most of the residents have moved away and their homes have been torn down. Today there are only a handful of people left in the town that are defying the state orders to leave. Aside from the few houses that still stand, Centralia is mostly a grid of empty streets with driveways to homes that no longer stand. It has become quite a desolate place. It is quite a contrast after driving through the town of Ashland a couple of miles to the south which is a busy and thriving community.

This isn't fog.

Some of you might find the look of this town familiar. Centralia was actually used as inspiration for Silent Hill. I can definitely understand how this place can inspire a horror genre. The area is dead quiet with fumes seeping out of the ground at all hours of the day. Even though it was below freezing outside when I visited the smoke coming from the ground that hit me felt almost like a sauna. Fissures in the earth litter the landscape and you can never know if the ground may open up below you with how unstable the area is. Part of the reason for the evacuation of the town was because a kid had fallen into a sinkhole that opened up right underneath him in his backyard. Fortunately he was saved before the toxic fumes below suffocated him.

Empty shotgun shells. Someone fighting monsters?

The cemetery is one of the few remaining signs of civilization.

An old abandoned building next to the highway that wasn't torn down.

Pictures don't always capture the way things really look so I recorded some video at various locations around the town:

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Most of the stuff I documented was in the surrounding areas and aside from a quick drive around the streets to look around I stayed away from downtown. There really isn't that much left to see or photograph anyway as most of the homes have been torn down. The few residents that have stayed probably get annoyed enough as it is with other people venturing out to see the strange site of smoke coming out of the ground day and night.

I won't go into too much more detail when there is plenty of info elsewhere on the Internet. You can follow these links for more information:

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

More pictures of my visit can be found at the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/utopium/Centralia

On a lighter note that any Battlestar Galactica geeks might enjoy, I passed through a town called Frackville. Here is a quick picture I snapped of the sign on my way back home:

They like to get it on in this town.

Australia

2012-01-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

So I had some travel plans for January which would have added a bunch of content to this blog but unfortunately my furnace broke down. For the time being I am stuck in the DC area until I can get it replaced. With this in mind I figured I would write about my trip to Australia I made a few months ago.

I went to Australia in November of 2011. It was the last place I would go before my boycott of air travel. I figured if I was going to stop flying I might as well go to the opposite side of the planet first. I have been wanting to visit Australia for the past ten years so I was looking quite forward to this trip.

I had booked my flight on Qantas. A week before I was supposed to fly to Australia, Qantas had decided to ground their planes for a couple of days due to a labor dispute. This gave me a little bit of a scare because I wasn't sure if I had change plans that I had arranged months earlier, but luckily things had cleared up by the time I was supposed to fly so things went just as scheduled. The fact an airline could strand thousands of passengers for many days just because of an argument over wages simply added to the reasons I no longer wanted to travel by plane anymore. I won't discuss that any further here though.

The bulk of the flying was between Dallas and Sydney. They pack as many people as they can into tight space on the long overseas flights. I tried my best to get as much sleep as I could but ended up getting very little. It is quite difficult to sleep when seated so close to other people with little room to move around. By the time I finally arrived I was very glad that the hotel I booked for the first night there let me check in early and just pass out on the bed for most of the afternoon.

Please forgive the lack of pictures from this trip. Since I had only two weeks to explore another continent I decided to just spend my time enjoying myself rather than stop and take time to document things. Besides, pictures of everything I saw can easily be found online photographed by someone else.

During my time in Australia I decided to rent a car and explore the eastern coast as much as I could. I am not the type of person who enjoys lounging at the beach for a week and prefer to keep moving and seeing new things. This came is quite handy at times. My first full day I spent exploring Sydney. I did the typical things downtown like seeing the opera house and such, but after one day in Sydney there really wasn't anything else of big interest to see. Don't get me wrong, Sydney is quite a nice city, but it is just like any other modern city really. The traffic is just about as bad as DC. My second day I decided to head out west towards the Blue Mountains rather than deal any more with the city life.

I visited a town called Katoomba which was an area in the mountains overseeing the Jamison Valley. For those who have the time and endurance you could hike down the steep mountain to see the valley below, but I opted to take a cable car down instead. The valley is essentially a jungle with all sorts of wildlife. I came across one bird that seemed to be able to mimic the call of any other bird. It was fun sitting there watch it doing different calls at random to basically screw around with the rest of the birds in the area. The trees and other vegetation were very alien compared to the United States. Seeing places like this was much more interesting than walking around just another modern city.

The next day I started my way North along highway 1. I first stopped at a small zoo where you could see a lot of animals native to Australia. Koala bears, emus, and kangaroos were all there of course. You could actually go into the area the smaller grey kangaroos were to feed them and pet them if you like. Kangaroos seem to easily adjust to humans and the ones at this zoo would let you get very close to them without any fear. I wouldn't be surprised if many people kept grey kangaroos as pets. I also would find out later that kangaroos are the equivalent of deer. While driving along the highway there would be plenty of signs indicating kangaroos crossing the road and every once in a while you would see a dead kangaroo along the side of the road that was hit by a car.

I continued on highway 1 until I got to a town named Port Macquarie where I decided to stop for the night. This struck me as the kind of place my dad would like. It was on the water with quite a bit of boating and seemed to have a very friendly atmosphere among the people who enjoyed talking with you. One thing that really stood out though was a long rock wall along the northern end where people had painted rocks. It was about a mile long and the paintings on the rocks ranged from humorous artwork to people marking road trips they made and rememberances of people who has passed away. I couldn't even begin to photograph the rocks because there were so many, but here is a link I found to someone else who snapped some pictures:

http://the-word-is-on-the-street.blogspot.com/2010/11/rock-wall-port-macquarie-nsw-australia.html

The next day I made my way up towards Surfers Paradise which is located just south of Brisbane. This was actually the main reason I had wanted to visit Australia. I had seen something on TV about Surfers Paradise about ten years ago and something about a place with that kind of name all the way on the other side of the planet just appealed to me. In truth there was nothing really extraordinary about Surfers Paradise and I would actually compare it to Virginia Beach, but I still had an excellent time staying there. The hotel I had gotten reservations at had actually put me on the top floor which gave me a beautiful view. Apparently there were two regular rooms on the top floor where the penthouse suites were and one just happened to be available for me. I spent the next couple of days just taking it easy and enjoying the sun and sand. Aside from a heavy downpour I got stuck in while in Sydney, the weather throughout my trip had been quite spectacular and I was glad it continued throughout my entire visit.

I need to take a moment here to bring up some observations I have made about Australia in general. The main thing was that it seems everything was quite Americanized. Just about everywhere I saw the following businesses:

McDonald's
Subway
Kentucky Fried Chick (and they didn't serve biscuits!)
Domino's Pizza
Ben & Jerry's
Target

There were many other American businesses I saw but they would just be too many to list. The only thing that really surprised me was that I only came across a couple of Starbucks locations. That is the kind of chain you figure has a shop on every street corner in the world. Television was also very similar with how American it seemed. There were many TV shows you would find that were American in origin, especially anything on FOX since this is Upert Murdoch territory. Even shows that were filmed in Australia were basically copies of the American version. There were a few British shows as well, but not very much compared to everything else. Here are some shows that I saw on TV that were duplicates of what we have here:

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
The Apprentice
The Today Show
60 Minutes

Even movies all seemed to come from the United States. I walked into a movie rental place just to browse around and it was very difficult to find something that wasn't American in origin. Australian cinema seems to be a very small sector in its own country. I did get the chance to watch a good Australian movie called Red Dog (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803061/) on my flight back home. But aside from that, I really got to see how much of an influence the United States has on the rest of the world, particularly in English speaking countries.

Another thing that stood out about Australia was the fact water wasn't as plentiful. Many places I went I saw signs referring to water restrictions. Many rest stops along the road had dry toilets and when you washed your hands in the sinks they had big warnings about not drinking the water from it. On the radio I even heard long discussions arguing about water rights and the fact people could buy and sell rights to water use. This was all along the eastern coast as well and not inland where Australia has an even drier climate. Water appeared to be a lot harder to come by in Australia which is quite a contrast to many places in the United States where we really don't think about it at all except for the occasional dry spell during a hot summer.

After my time in Surfers Paradise I planned on driving up towards Whitsunday to check out the great barrier reef. Unfortunately I didn't realize that driving that way would be a little more difficult than it seemed. Australia doesn't have an interstate highway system like we do in the United States. While there are some high speed motorways in more urban areas, most of highway 1 consists of a two lane road that goes through many small towns. This wasn't so bad between Sydney and Brisbane, but North of Brisbane it became a bit of setback for me. I originally thought it would take ten, maybe twelve hours max to drive to Whitsunday, but after about nine hours I realized I was only a little more than halfway there. Given the time I was making, I decided to just stop and turn around. If I continued on with trying to make it to Whitsunday I would have had very little time to enjoy myself there and had to just turn around and spend the rest of my trip driving just to get back home. That wasn't something I was looking forward to so I figured I would cut my losses as I had already seen mostly everything I wanted to see anyway.

Part of the problem I had driving North of Brisbane is that Australia appears to be undergoing a major road works project. They are expanding into multiple lanes and making of improvements that I am sure a few years from now will greatly improve getting around the country by car. What this meant for the time being though was that every few miles I would either have to slow down to about 30 MPH in a construction zone or simply just stop and wait because they only had one lane alternating traffic in each direction. Because of this I would recommend that anyone planning any trips in the immediate future might want to consider flying or taking a train between the major areas in Australia. Had I known this I would have made such arrangements myself, but it was too late by the time I understood this.

One good thing about driving in Australia is that Australians seem to be very good drivers. Unlike in DC where it is pretty common for people to go 20+ MPH over the speed limit weaving through traffic while talking on the phone with one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other, people tend to be pretty responsible drivers. I never saw a single person with a phone to their ear and everyone seemed to actually obey the traffic laws.

Despite my driving difficulties around the end of my trip I definitely enjoyed my time in Australia and think it was well worth the effort of going. I hope to go back there again someday although that may be many years from now since it is the kind of trip you don't take lightly.

Buddhist Peace Park

2012-01-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is something that really isn't that far away, but today is below freezing and I am still planning out my future road trips so this will have to do for today. Besides, I am sure a lot of people in the DC area are not familiar with this.

Up in Poolesville, MD there is a Tibetan Buddhist temple that belongs to Kunzang Palyul Choling. I came across this place a few years ago while doing some random driving to explore the area. What I found interesting though is across the street from it. At first glance all you see is a set of wooden stairs that go into the forest. I decided to take a look and was quite surprised to see what I found.


The Temple

The stairs into the forest.

At first you just walk along a forest path for a little while, but along the way there are what look to be colorful fabric parchments hanging in the trees.

The forest path

You don't see this often when hiking through the woods.

Eventually you will reach a clearing where there is quite a large stupa in the middle. It seems quite unusual to see a structure this large in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

Various offerings. Apparently Buddha likes Starbucks.

The area around it has more of those colorful hangings in the trees, stone benches to sit on, and wind chimes which were certainly doing their job of adding to the atmosphere on a windy day like today. Even though it is the middle of the winter I can see how it can be quite a peaceful place to visit. The layout was a little difficult to photograph so I just recorded a quick video to better show how things look. Please forgive the noise of the wind in the microphone.

Now I am sure this park has seen better days as some parts of it stand in a state of disrepair. There are steps and paths that have become overgrown or crumbled away which is especially evident further down as I will show later.

Steps down to an old clearing. The steps have vegetation growing over them and the clearing around the stone bench could use some tending to.

Continuing further into the forest leads to another garden area that is just past a small bridge over a stream. To be honest I am really not familiar with Buddhism, but I do recognize the Tibetan prayer wheels and the other structures are probably used for prayers as well.

From here there are some steps up a hill towards another path through the forest that goes on for a while. This part definitely needs some tending to as there are plants in the way and one of the small bridges has come apart. I even came across the frame of a small car in the middle of the forest. I looks like it has been there quite a while and I can't imagine how it go there.


Watch your step.

Eventually the path leads to another garden area that borders against another road. There are a few other area like is as well along some paths in different directions. But essentially the park is dedicated to Buddhist prayer and reflection. I was here on a cold winter day, but I am sure on a warmer day it is quite a pleasant place to visit and be at peace. With luck Kunzang Palyul Choling will be fixing things up so it will be easier to get around and enjoy the park.

For more pictures you can visit the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/utopium/BuddhistPeacePark

Assateague Island

2012-01-02T20:27:00.003-05:00

Most people who go to the eastern shore of Maryland tend to end up in Ocean City, but not many of those people realize that just a short way south is an Island full of wild horses. Assateague Island is pretty much the only place on the east coast where you will find free roaming horses. I have gone there many times before and find it quite a beautiful place to visit. It is definitely quite a contrast when compared to Ocean City just to the North.

There are many theories about how the horses first came to be on Assateague Island such as they are survivors of a shipwreck off the shore, but nobody really knows for sure. However they ended up there, they have been isolated on the island for centuries which has led them to adapting to the unique coastal environment. The horses you see there today aren't as big as domesticated riding horses and most certainly won't win any races. While the horses are wild, they have become very accustomed to humans and it is quite common to see them grazing along the side of the road. You can get quite close to the horses, although this isn't exactly recommended because if you happen to scare them there is a good chance of getting a hoof in the face.

One of the things I really like is the isolation. Outside of the summer months there is almost nobody on the island. And because it is a national park, the natural beauty is preserved with no tacky looking resorts or miniature golf courses anywhere in sight. The island itself is quite long and stretches down across the Virginia border. If you decide to go for a walk along the beach it will certainly take you quite a while to reach the end.

If you have a truck or SUV you can get an OSV (over sand vehicle) permit which allows you to drive along a 12 mile stretch of beach. This isn't like Daytona Beach where the sand is so densely packed any car can drive on it. Driving on the beach requires a high ground clearance and a shovel in back in case you get stuck and need to dig yourself out. I had an OSV permit for a while and can say it is quite amazing driving alongside the ocean with nothing but sand and sky ahead of you.

I spent today hiking around the sand dunes. Considering it is winter and next the ocean the wind can make things quite a bit cold. Fortunately is was sunny out and I stayed a little bit inland so the wind didn't bother me so it ended up being quite comfortable even though it is January. While it may be preferable to go to Assateague Island in the summer to enjoy what the long open stretch of beach has to offer, it can still be enjoyed other times of the year if you like hiking or biking and want to see wild horses all over the place.

If you want to see more pictures I have taken at Assateague Island, go the the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/utopium/AssateagueIsland

Most of these pictures were taken on previous visits just in case you happen to notice any seasonal differences. In future blog posts I will try to make sure I don't use older pictures as I plan on visiting places I have never been to before anyway.

First Post

2012-01-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

I am starting this blog to document that various places I visit. I have recently become unemployed and decided that with the free time I now have available I want to go travel to places I have never been to before. The places I visit could be anywhere from just down the street to the opposite side of the planet. With luck I will be recording more unique locations rather than typical travel destinations.

Having this blog will hopefully help give me a reason to get out more. The reason I got into photography ten years ago is because I was unemployed at the time and needed a good reason to get out of the house and not be lazy at home all of the time. Truth be told I really don't care about taking pictures, but it was something that was successful in making me a more active person. Now that I find myself with a lot of free time again I want to make sure I keep myself active, especially now in the winter when many people prefer to just stay indoors at home.

If anyone has suggestions of unique places I should visit, please e-mail me at utopium@gmail.com.