Cape Town Organics

By Kylie on July 19, 2010

There’s good news for travelers in South Africa who like to maintain an organic diet. It’s also good news for anyone who might be staying in the region for a long period of time, and might get to know the cities long enough that they start shopping locally and making their own food. But even those guests who are in for a short stay at the Cape Town hotels , there are plenty of organic choices.

It’s something that’s become a trend in all the major cities. Perhaps that’s a bit ironic, considering that organic food is the way people eat in smaller villages, depending on the local crops and a local economy to put the food on the family table. In Cape Town in particular, there are traditions of local farming from the city and all the outlying regions, that go back for centuries.

The incredible diversity in the country is also found in the riches of the land, and some of the organic products in South Africa are sold all over the world. Increasingly, the local metropolitan community is turning toward an organic eating and shopping experience. It’s sometimes been considered to be a fashion among the rich, but recent findings suggest that even in economic downslides, the purchase of organic food is increasing. It’s possible to eat healthy even in a city known for its fabulous food as Cape Town.

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Arrested Development in Atlanta

By Kylie on July 4, 2010

A very interesting shift in the music came in 1992. It was part of a history of efforts to push musical forms and boundaries, merging the urban spirit of hiphop music with a positive message that still stays absolutely true to its roots. Arrested Development is a kind of roots music, then, in a sense, but it’s a return to an originary origin, finding traces of ancestral rhythms that were there all along. There was no one like them anywhere, even though the rhythms were awfully familiar.

Even now, their sound is still entirely unique, but it couldn’t be called anything but hiphop. The major success of their debut album, ” 3 Years, 5 months, and 2 Days in the Life of… ” was something that put Atlanta at the center of the history of the form, and gave Atlanta boutique hotels more options for luring customers to spend time in a very interesting city. Almost 20 years later, they hit another benchmark with “Strong,” and although it couldn’t hope to achieve the same numbers that the first one did, it shows a progression of maturity both musically and philosophically.

There are good reasons why a hiphop-oriented group almost invariably has stronger numbers at the beginning, than in mid-career when the voices are found and honed. The music invites a kind of raw energy, one that’s not sure exactly where to go, and there’s nothing about the recent songs that aren’t certain. It’s also due to a kind of overall bias in the industry, it seems, where even though positive messages are good for public relations, they don’t translate into record sales. This is all probably very much beside the point for Arrested Development, however, because they are not aiming for large numbers this time, but for a deeper impact. The future will show what the influence of this group has been, but for now, their fans can find enlightenment and solace from the solid work that they are continuing.

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Scenic Road Trips in America

By Kylie on July 1, 2010

Road trips seem to be a nearly forgotten art, but is still rewarding for the travelers who want to see the United States with all of its scenic grandeur laid out in front of them. Here are three scenic drives that are available across the country — from the East Coast to the West Coast.

In Virginia and North Carolina, you’ll discover the Blue Ridge Parkway. This road winds its way across some of the East’s tallest peaks and is bookended by two national parks — Shenandoah in the north, and the Great Smoky Mountains in the South. The sights change along a parkway that stretches for 469 miles, beginning with such places as Humpback Rocks, Whetstone Ridge, and the Peaks of Otter.

In Texas, starting at the I-10 and Route 17, 190 miles east of El Paso, you’ll come across Big Bend Country, which is named after an immense curve in the Rio Grande in a remote part of the Southwest and the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert — home to ghost towns and ranches and one of the largest national parks in the country, Big Bend National Park , where you’ll find extremely different environments, from the sandy hills and grass fields along the Rio Grande to the deep canyons and towering peaks of the Chisos Mountains. You’ll discover 1,200 species of plants here (including 60 kinds of cactus), 77 mammal species, 66 reptile species and 400 types of birds, more than in any other national park.

Outside of Portland, Oregon, starting on route 26, you’ll encounter miles of farmland, then the town of Sandy and the Sandy River. Continuing along, you’ll come across centuries old Douglas firs on the foothills of the Cascade Range, passing by the Salmon River, and eventually coming into the Mt. Hood National Forest , a dormant volcano that reaches to a height of 11,235 feet.

Trips like these take more than a day, and you’ll need a place to relax and rest for the night, but that should be no problem, because all along the way you’ll also find the best hotels America offers its travelers, from the East to the West, with comfort tempting enough to make you pack up the car and head out and experience the country as it was meant to be seen.

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John C. Freeman Weather Museum in Houston

By Kylie on June 28, 2010

Imagine a museum, and what do you see in your mind’s eye? Works of art? Sculptures? Perhaps exhibits of prehistoric fossils — the bones of dinosaurs, enormous sloths, glittering gems, or a gigantic blue whale? Few, if any, would conjure up images of exhibits about the weather, but that’s what you’ll find in the John C. Freeman Weather Museum in Houston, Texas.

In fact, this weather museum is the first and only one of its kind in the United States, and has been in existence only four years, since 2006. Operated and established by meteorologists, the museum is a part of the Weather Research Center , a Houston-based non profit educational and research organization that wants to educate people about weather and weather safety.

Permanent exhibits include a weather broadcasting “studio” where you and your kids can stand in front of the TV weatherman’s green screen and record a weather forecast of your own. Another room describes the climates of the world, and contains rain forest and desert terrariums, where you’ll find frogs, lizards, and salamanders. A tornado chamber simulates tornado vortexes that you may actually touch.

There are exhibits, too, of a 3-D digital weather sphere, which is used to examine images of the Earth, allowing you to explore previous hurricane seasons, satellite tracking, and plate tectonics. Another area is devoted to the history of meteorology, so you’ll understand how the forecasting of weather has evolved from opening up a window and looking outside to something much more complex.

While the museum is closed on Sundays, it’s open the rest of the week, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. It’s five dollars for adults and three for students; however, on Thursdays, from noon to four p.m., it’s free for everyone. Once you’ve checked into one of the best hotels in Houston , stop in at the Weather Museum, and see if you can predict what the weather might be like for the rest of your trip!

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