Moving on…
2023 is a year of growth and renewal. In that vein, please join us now at wearytravelers.net !
Vagawandering.com Blog
Fire Data – California and beyond
We lived thru, and self-evacuated from, the 208k acre Cedar Fire in 2003 and the 248k acre Witch Fire in 2007 in San Diego county, with an asthmatic child. The most petrifying part was being unable to access any data regarding fire location and spread. We were expected to sit by our phones and evacuate when (and if) the call...
Travel, now
‘A One-Hour Layover Is Not Enough Anymore’: A Flight Attendant’s Tips on Surviving Travel Now https://nyti.ms/3Rkjxdq
Citizens arrest, Oregon style
Oregon Residents Help Officials Arrest Man Accused of Starting Wildfires https://nyti.ms/3PTUe0j
Origins of SARS-CoV-2
Researchers pinpoint multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2 Jonathan E. Pekar, a doctoral student in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology who co-led the project with Wertheim and is lead author, said the pandemic was likely looming for years, awaiting only for the opportunity when humans would come into contact with an animal host capable of transmitting the virus. “Everything complicated happened before...
Experian strikes again
Might be a good time to check your Experian account. We had to remake ours.
Existential Crisis
“Space is just too big. The area of the sky you see in the picture above is about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. Those aren’t individual stars or solar systems in the picture—those are galaxies, each with billions of stars and billions of planets. One billion grains of sand would weigh around 11 tons. And...
ANA Flying Honu re-debuts in Hawaii market
The Flying Honu, which inaugurated service in 2019 (doesn’t that seem so long ago?) has resumed service to Hawaii! But travel from Japan has still not rebounded fully as the Star Advertiser reports: “While the U.S. travel market to Hawaii has surpassed 2019 levels for the past 13 months, travelers from Japan in May were still 93.7% below the visitor...
Tehachapi Loop
Built just before the turn of the century in 1878 by migrant Chinese workers, the Tehachapi Loop enables a 77 foot elevation gain in a small valley by snaking the line in a complete 360 loop – dramatically increasing the run over the rise in order to maintain no more than a 2 percent grade. 3000 workers carved this trail...
Din Tai Fung in Downtown Disney
“Din Tai Fung is one of the new restaurants coming to DTD and I can’t wait!” https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland/comments/udwx4e/din_tai_fung_is_one_of_the_new_restaurants_coming/
Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to save the Planet
Just listened to a very compelling Smithsonian presentation by John Reid. Look for other opportunities to intersect with his speaking tour! Book just published in March. “Clear, provocative, and persuasive, Ever Green is an inspiring call to action to conserve Earth’s irreplaceable wild woods, counteract climate change, and save the planet. Five stunningly large forests remain on Earth: the Taiga,...
Gobekli Tepe site predates 4000 yr old Stonehenge by 6000 years (Turkey)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/ “But, Peters and Schmidt say, Gobekli Tepe’s builders were on the verge of a major change in how they lived, thanks to an environment that held the raw materials for farming. “They had wild sheep, wild grains that could be domesticated—and the people with the potential to do it,” Schmidt says. In fact, research at other sites in the...
Antojitos Mexicanos La Placita (Lake Worth, FL)
Sometimes dreams do come true. 4.6 stars from 518 reviewers. Delicious chicken, pastor, and carne asado tacos. Just don’t order the American tacos. Only the Mexican ones! Antojitos Mexicanos La Placita(561) 249-1190https://maps.app.goo.gl/ejGbrAgWTNpceG3S6 Also filed under Florida: Why be normal? Digital air, but analog trash:
Eating Place 1849 (Waikiki)
The original plan was for the Beachhouse at Moana Surfrider but the $100 prix fixe menu and so-so reviews scared us off a bit. And my family raved about Eating House 1849. We were fortunate to get next day reservations for 8pm so we grabbed it. We hadn’t been to the Intl Marketplace since they remodeled. At night the 3rd...
Dukes Waikiki / Hula Grill
Dukes is our most favorite Hawaii restaurant. The location, the menu, the food quality, the live music. OK it’s a bit touristy. Reservations are impossible. And the prime rib buffet was $61. But come on, who can resist getting a little ravioli, chicken, fish, AND prime rib. And spicy poke. (And let’s talk about poke in Hawaii. Only in Hawaii...
Birdfeeding
“The Pine Grosbeak encounter was magically different. That young male and I whistled back and forth before we saw each other, and after we made eye contact, still whistling back and forth, he kept coming closer while looking directly at me. When he finally alighted on my hand, still looking into my eyes, he lingered for what seemed like an...
Weekend in Sacramento (Selland’s, etc)
If you know Sacramento, you know Sellands: Obo, Selland’s Market, The Kitchen, Ella. We were introduced to Sellands by our good friend in Sacramento and the love affair has never died. As a testament to our loyalty, we spent just about all our food dollars at Sellands this weekend. Selland’s Market-Cafe East Sacramento, 5340 H St OBO’ Italian Table &...
The Kitchen (Sacramento, CA)
We have literally been waiting for years to snag a table at the Michelin Starred “The Kitchen.” Our very very good friend in Sacramento made a reservation in October 2021 and we waited with bated breath, biting our nails for 5 months, hoping Covid would die down enough for us go. Then Omicron surged in Dec/Jan 2022 and we lost...
101 Noodle Express
Papa has been torturing us with texts of their visits to 101 Noodle Express. So I crashed their latest visit! Quiet in mid afternoon, we enjoyed all our favorites. I’ll also mention our new dish, “Spicy Beef with Rice” which is definitely NOT spicy, at all, whatsoever, but it is a good accompaniment to the XLB and pan fried dumplings....