Disney Cruise Montage Video

We went on a cruise ot the Bahamas aboard the Disney Dream last week. Below is the video montage I put together. Would love to hear what you think about it!

Muir Woods National Monument Review

Muir Woods National Monument contains a magnificent redwood forest near San Francisco. If you've been following my blog or Twitter lately you know I've been on the west coast the past couple of days. The next several posts will entail our adventures and experiences starting with Muir Woods. Included within are some of my Muir Woods pictures. But first, some background information on the California redwoods.

Where is the redwood forest located? There are two species of redwood trees in California: coastal redwoods and giant sequoias. The giant redwood trees are found along the coast of California while sequoias are only found in a few remote regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Redwoods can grow to a height of 379 feet, diameter of 22 feet, bark 12 inches thick, and an age of 2000 years (while sequoias in comparison grow to 311 feet, 40 feet in diameter, 31 inch thick bark, and 3,200 years of age)!

Some of the closest redwoods to San Francisco are found at Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, California. This 104 year old park, named after John Muir, is located 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. There are over six miles of Muir Woods hiking trails amoung the humungous trees. If you plan on visiting Muir Woods National Monument here are a few of my personal tips for a better and more enjoyable visit:

If you do decide to visit I recommend getting to the park early, as soon as it opens. The Muir Woods parking lots are tiny and fill up very quickly. If you don't get a parking spot you may park along the side of the road leading into the park but we warned you may have to walk a mile or even two (seriously) just to get to the front entrance!

There is an entrance fee to for the Marin Muir Woods trails (parking is free) but it was only $7 a person. Remember, there aren't many places where you can see these rare and wonderful trees.

The Muir Woods weather is quite cool so bring a jacket. Even though it might be nice and toasty while in the parking lots, the park is a dense forest where little sunlight reaches all the way to the forest floor making the air very cold. Dress appropriately.

The Muir Woods address is Mill Valley, CA 94941. The national park doesn't have an actual street address but was already listed in attractions on my Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator.

More updates from California coming soon!

Ricketts Glen: A Hidden Gem

My wife and I went on a driving tour around Pennsylvania this past weekend. One of the highlights was our stop at Ricketts Glen State Park (commonly misspelled as Rickets Glen). This scenic state park is located in northern PA, past the town of Benton. The Ricketts Glen state park address is: 695 State Route 487 Benton, PA 17814 (30 miles North of Bloomsburg) if you’re interested. The main reason for going is to see the twenty plus named waterfalls found inside of the park. We ended up hiking over seven miles on the Falls trail.

The tallest waterfall in the park, at nearly 100 feet, is Ganoga falls, which is pictured below. Although it was a hot summer day the cool breeze and mist radiating from the waterfalls combined with the shade created by the old growth forest kept the temperatures on the trail down and tolerable. Many hikers even took the opportunity to cool off by jumping in the river. For more pictures check out my Ricketts Glen slideshow video embedded below.

Ganoga Falls

There is a proper lake in the middle of the park which can be used for swimming or boating. Ricketts Glenn camping is offered as well as a number of cabins for rent on the grounds of the park itself. If you’re lucky you might even run into some of the local wildlife which inhabits Ricketts Glen state park. Notable species include black bear, river otter, bobcat, white-tailed deer, porcupine, turkey, and more! For more animal and wildlife pictures visit my Zoo Tails blog.

Pictured below is the 2012 Rickets Glen State Park map and Falls trail map.

Our original plans called for us to visit Worlds End state park too but it is even more north than Ricketts Glen. After hiking and climbing over seven miles we were pretty exhausted and decided to head right to our hotel outside of Bloomsburg. This turned out to be a great decision because shortly after checking in a giant thunderstorm rolled through the area with frightening lightning that knocked out the power at the hotel several times. Oh well, now we just have an excuse to go back sometime soon!

Cheaper than a Honda Snow Blower

A coworker recently shared this with me after a conversation we had about shoveling snow, since it's unfortunately about that time of year. He mentioned that he has a giant snow scoop and how he can clear his driveway about as fast as his neighbors who have snow blowers. Here is a link to it and where he got it. You can ship to a store.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3994134

Where this really shines is moving the heavy icy stuff at the bottom of the driveway where the plow has gone by. Snow blowers usually can't move this very well or at all. It takes about 6-10 full scoops (depending on depth) to clear this from my 2 car wide driveway. Conventional shovels would be like 20-40+ depending on the depth and weight. With this, the weight of the snow is no issue, since you never have to lift the snow to dump it somewhere. You just scoop, slide, and dump. This thing is almost NO strain on your back (depends how you dump it). It is as fast as a snow blower and a lot cheaper.

Smoky Mountain National Perk Video

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to one and all! Enjoy these holiday videos I created which include some of the most bizarre Christmas displays you will ever see!

Most Bizarre Christmas Display EVER

The weirdest and most bizarre Christmas decorations and display you will ever see. It's called "Christmas in Motion" and can be found in the small town of Wooster, Ohio. There are hundreds of dolls and animated toys, puppets, stuff animals, etc. These people have converted their front porch into a museum. Check out the pictures and video below.

Figured Out the Cause of a Cyclone in a Kids Way

Not too long ago, I posted an entry about how someone found my blog by searching for “cause of a cyclone in a kids way” and I had no idea what they meant or why anyone would search for that. I think I figured it out. The searcher was from the great state down under, Australia. The Australian term for hurricane is cyclone. It makes complete sense now. What causes a hurricane and how to explain how a hurricane forms in a way that children can understand. Cause of a cyclone in a kids way. Brilliant.

Today, an American found my blog by searching for “formula for a b c d for kids.” Hmmm. How do people searching for stuff for kids always end up at my blog? Let the investigation begin.

Dog Days of Summer

This graphic from the Columbus Dispatch shows just how much the weather has sucked this summer in comparison to last year. Summer 2009 yielded only five days ninety degrees or above, with none coming in the month of July. That’s fourteen days less than last year. The average temperature in July was 5.5 degrees cooler. June started promising with the same number of days in the 80s as last year and only a 0.8 average degree cooler. But by the end of the summer we have been deprived of thirteen less eighty degree days. And these values were recorded in Ohio. I’m sure it was even worse here in the state up north. What happened to global warming?

Forecast

Weatherman was to be the only job where you can be wrong 80% of the time and still have a job. Can you think of any others?