Saguaro National Park

 

There are few places in the world that seem to live out the Old West frequently seen only when accompanied by John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. However, search long enough, and you will find such places within the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States. In these spots, time has not brought change to the world. Rocks may be decorated with paintings from an ancient tribe. Overhead, the echo of hawks really does resound throughout hidden valleys.

Thankfully, not all such places require an ox-driven wagon to get to. Just outside of Tucson, Arizona lies one of the most unique expanses of desert in the world: Saguaro National Park. One of the newer National Parks, having been designated in 1994, the Saguaro and its namesake encompass two different areas on each side of the city of Tucson. Each half covers a varied landscape featuring everything from dry desert basin to rugged mountainside dotted with Douglas fir and pine. If unable to make a trip the park, don't worry! The Sonoran Desert the saguaro calls home sprawls across southern Arizona, California, and even parts of northern Mexico. While the density of the giant cacti is distinctive of the park, any trip across the southern US can see them dotting the I-10 freeway.

My trip was reserved for the western area of the park. This half is known mostly for it's arid climate and sweeping basins. Aside from the saguaro, few plants grew taller than my chest. Pockmarking the landscape were huge boulders to offer some shelter from the wind. Several trails can be found throughout this expanse, and for families on a day-trip, the 5-to-6-mile Bajada Loop can be driven through an unpaved portion of the park. I also highly recommend a stop at the Red Hills Visitor Center not only to pay the $10 car fee for the park, but for some great information on the trails and paths throughout the park. The shop offered plenty of resources on wildlife in the area for those photographers that may be inclined (I will gladly admit to playing with some coyote and roadrunner dolls in the store). The 15-minute slide show is also a must-see with its nice "surprise" ending.

My trip was relatively short, having been in the area for only one day. The weather was cool with storms beginning to rip through the area. While this would deter many visitors, I found it to be extremely thrilling as there are only a few times of the year that this great desert would receive any rain. The family and I definitely got a little wet, but nothing near the levels of the monsoon season in early Summer that can cause flash floods through the park. Besides, the sheer scale of the saguaro in the area were enough to capture my attention despite any weather.

The saguaro are protected in the state of Arizona with permits needed to move or destroy one of the cacti for construction purposes. Because of this, most residents and visitors have no doubt seen these behemoths throughout the landscape. However, driving through the entrance to the park seemed as if a line had been drawn in the sand, inside of which the saguaro become a forest of needles and arms. According to the 2010 census, the park has an estimated 1,896,030 saguaros! This was in addition to the dozens of other desert plants found at the feet of the symbolic cacti. In addition to the sheer numbers, were the size of many of the plants, the largest of which can grow 50 feet tall. Many of them were armless, meaning they were relatively young in Saguaro Time. Usually, a saguaro will begin to grow arms between 50-70 years old. As I walked along the Hugh Norris Trail, time was essentially lost as realization set in that many of this expanse had looked the same when those classic Western films were just beginning to be released. Yes, looking into the distance a traveler can see telephone wires and paved streets. But, in the mountains themselves, one of the larger saguaros had probably remained as a silent sentinel since the days of the earliest settlers of old.

All-in-all, the Saguaro National Park was a wonderful day trip, and I would love to go back and explore it in greater detail (possibly without the rain, despite the wonderful photo opportunities it gave). While not as famous or large as perhaps Yosemite or the Grand Canyon farther north, the park is definitely deserving of its national status. Walking among gigantic, five-armed forests, it's easy to see why. Listen closely, and you may even hear the sounds of galloping horses and John Wayne's Winchester rifle in the distance.

 

Saguaro National Park Website 

Gateway Home

One of the more interesting parts about my move to Los Angeles was my complete lack of homesickness. I'm generally not someone who hangs on to territorial sentiments, and moving to LA was mostly an escape and all together a Good Move. I love it out here, and I do not see that changing any time soon.

I'm originally from a very small town called Jackson, Missouri. Home to about 12,000 souls, most people know of the area only because of the neighboring big-sister town of Cape Girardeau. There's not much to it aside from the Mississippi River and the fact that pundit Rush Limbaugh grew up there. The towns are quaint, the farmland big, and while I'm sure it's a perfectly reasonable town to raise a family, it's entirely too droll for young creatives. I've always held the belief that the prettier an area, the more boring it is, and Cape Girardeau is certainly no exception.

However, after having been in a committed relationship for two years, my girlfriend had never been back to where I grew up. Our previous vacation to New York and Washington DC was my chance to see her hometown. This time, we resolved to take a vacation back to mine. Now, while this certainly would have been a rather uneventful trip, there is one good part of the area that I certainly began to miss upon moving out here: its proximity to St. Louis.

As boring and slow as my hometown tended to be, I loved the city of St. Louis. While only an hour and a half away from Cape (that's how long it takes me just to get to the beach on the freeways from here in Burbank), it was always a magical spot growing up that my family and I would visit as a miniature vacation when we couldn't afford to go on long-distance excursions. Looking back, I mostly took these trips for granted. By going with someone who had never been, however, I found myself scrambling to show her every one of the "cool" spots to see within the city. Before long, I had racked up a list longer than the one we have for our current LA. I couldn't wait and resolved to have every detail accounted for. Unfortunately, living in LA tends to make you forget about the seasons the rest of the country has. When I was young, I was fascinated by the country storms that would roll in through the Summer. I missed them greatly, and apparently, I missed them a little too much. We had bought our plane tickets months in advance for the Saturday of Easter weekend. For those who have kept track of the news this year, you may remember where this was going.

As my girlfriend and I were packing that Friday evening and getting settled for a short rest before our flight, word hit about an F3 tornado that slammed into and closed Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. That's right. After so much planning and anticipation, Mother Nature herself was forbidding me from returning home. While I have yet to see if that was a sign about leaving my beloved Los Angeles, I was determined at the time to make our way somehow. Our flight canceled, Abrah and I were scrambling to find some way to see what kind of situation the airline was in.

At this point, I really have to commend Southwest Airlines. Without hardly any trouble, they were happy to reroute us to any of the nearby cities without any additional costs. They even managed to fit us in early on the same day as our original departure. After being in close to tears, our vacation was saved. Sort of. We were flying into Kansas City now, and my parents managed to make the additional 4-hour drive across the state to drive us back to St. Louis. They were staying with us most of our vacation anyway, but we did lose a little time from my precious schedule. After a short stop where I briefly went to college at the University of Missouri in Columbia, we arrived safe an sound at our destination at around 11PM.

Driving through, we could definitely see the destruction, and had it not been night, I would have stopped to take some photos to share. There was no doubt about it; a tornado had clearly smacked the airport across the face. The beautiful Terminal 1 that was so famously displayed through George Clooney's "Up In The Air" had its windows busted out completely. Freeway markers and signs were bent every direction, and a bystander could clearly tell a path had been from across the nearby I-70 towards the tarmac. It reminded me of a similar tornado that had ripped through Jackson when I was still in high school.

But, most importantly, my vacation was still on. There was no way I would let a little wind ruin my vacation. So, that Easter Sunday, we woke up early and made our way to one of my favorite things about the city: The Saint Louis Zoo.

The wonderful butterfly house

A sassy friend we met in the penguin exhibit

The St. Louis Zoo is one of the must-sees of the city. Governed by three boards, the park is essentially a government entity and made free to the general public. Tracing its roots back to the original Flight Cage from the 1904 World's Fair (a bird cage still operating today), the zoo has become a staple to the surrounding Forest Park area, as well as an important and cherished piece of St. Louis history. The park is home to about 18,000 animals found in areas divided roughly by home terrain. While most of the animals have outdoor room to roam, some of the more... exotic animals are housed in what can only be described as giant indoor temples created to celebrate our living world (I highly recommend the Herpetarium if you are not afraid of slithering things). One of the more exciting animals is the critically endangered Amur Leopard, a big cat with only about 40 individuals left in the wild.

Our visit was short-lived, of course. Not long after we began our journey through the park did the rain begin to come down. We were already on a time limit as it was (more on this shortly), so we only got to briefly see the indoor exhibits. The trip was not in vain, of course, as my girlfriend loved the butterfly and penguin houses, which were really why we wanted to visit in the first place. Our only disappointment came from learning that the former polar bear displays had been replaced due to the unfortunate death of the already troubled animals. They were always a favorite to my family, and I shudder to think that we may be reaching a point where those always-happy polar bears will no longer exist.

After our zoo trip, we began the search for food. Being Easter Sunday, our original trip to The Hill had been unsuccessful (my parents, being parents, would not listen the my reasoning that a prominent Catholic neighborhood would not, in fact, be open for the holiday). So, just to show my girlfriend the sights, we drove down the Laclede's Landing area nestled right against the Mississippi riverbank. Lo-and-behold, the one restaurant we wanted to take her to the most was mystically open for the day, and at extended hours from what we expected to! The restaurant, of course, was The Old Spaghetti Factory! While certainly not native to St. Louis, the OSF has always been a favorite, and we had concluded that the StL branch was indeed better than their others. Plus, it was a time-honored tradition for us to eat at the Factory before our next stop. The food was delicious, as always, and we all managed to take our time savoring the spumoni ice cream included with the meals.

With our meal concluded, we checked our watches and decided that it was time to head downtown. My parents had the foresight to book rooms at the Drury Plaza in the heart of the city, so we would be able to park our car and walk to wherever we needed to go in the immediate area. This was especially essential because there's one stop that I had to go to if I returned to St. Louis. It was something I had reserved almost before I had even bought the flights to the city. An event so rich and grounded in St. Louis culture and history that missing it would essentially mean your trip to the city was incomplete...

 A St. Louis Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium. It's absolutely necessary. The stadium is practically a second home to many natives of the surrounding areas. Whereas cities like New York and Chicago have a slew of wonderful locations and sights, St. Louis grew in such a way that, while we have plenty of cool locations to visit, baseball would always remain at its heart. We do have other sports, yes, but you will not find the same kind of passion and pleasure that can be found at a packed game at Busch. And our home games are always packed.

Dating nearly 120 years old, the Cardinals made their official name change in 1900 and have remained rooted in downtown ever since. Names like Roger Maris, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Stan The Man ring throughout the stadium on any given day, usually announced by broadcasters like Jack Buck, Harry Caray, and Mike Shannon. Although the current incarnation of Busch Stadium was built in 2006, the site it rests on has been a local landmark since the original "arches" stadium in 1966. Even on away games, a baseball fan can walk around the stadium and enjoy the beautiful statues of players past that rest outside. The best viewing is certainly behind home plate, with the wonderful view of the downtown skyline and the Gateway Arch beyond center field. It also houses a unique take on another native St. Louis business: a Build-A-Bear (or, in this case, Build-A-Fredbird) Workshop. Needless to say, the stadium is hard to miss when visiting the city, and even from outside you can hear the stadium tornado siren and fireworks roar after every Cardinal home run.

I had to make the pilgrimage, and throughout our travels, I was worried that our game would be rained out. The forecasts were not looking good with more major rain expected to hit at roughly the same time as First Pitch. To make matters even crazier, this was no ordinary game, but an ESPN Game Of The Week event day against our current rivals, the Cincinnati Reds. It was a day full of Stan The Man Bobbleheads, the first to be made after the Cardinal legend. Not only did we have to fight the rain, but we had to fight the crowd.

Our worries were for nothing, though. Upon entering the stadium, bobbleheads in tow, we actually had a very pleasant game. We had splurged on seats just 10 rows behind home plate, a first even for Cards fanatics like ourselves. Although my girlfriend does not care for baseball, the rest of my family had a great time. The rain amazingly held off until a light drizzle started around the 6th inning, and I even got to hear my tornado siren! The family ended the night with a trip down to local bar Caleco's, myself feeling as though the vacation was successful just from the first day alone. Eventually, I was taken out overnight by my great friend (and hopefully future LA native) Sarah, and we had a great night catching up at a nice little karaoke bar called Novak's. I had never been before, and was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me a bit of the West Coast, and I was finally able to reconnect with people I had felt missing from my life for quite a while.

The next day in St. Louis was a little more rushed, as we had lost a day due to the tornado and were driving down to Cape Girardeau in the evening. So, we decided that my girlfriend could not visit St. Louis without going to its most famous landmark: The Gateway Arch

 Technically, the Arch's official name is the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial Park. When construction ended in 1965, its stainless steel frame stood at 630ft high. It currently remains as the tallest man-made monument in the world, able to shadow everything from the Statue of Liberty to the Washington monument to even the Great Pyramid of Giza underneath. Throughout our stay, the monument stood outside our hotel window, a welcome sight after nearly five years going without seeing it. My girlfriend commented several times on our vacation at the sheer size of it as it watches over the city.

We decided to actually go up into the Arch, which was a first even for me. Always happy to support our national parks, we bought a package that included the short documentary before escalating inside. I found it fascinating, even if the video was more than a little dated. The images of men suspended from the Arch evoked images similar to John C. Ebbet's famous Empire state Building construction photos. Even more inspiring, the video claimed that expected several (I believe the exact number was 14) men to lose their lives atop the steel pinnacle, yet not one did. After the video, my girlfriend and I ascended through the extremely small "capsule" elevators designed specifically for the monument. The view was wonderful from the top and surprisingly roomy. I was especially happy every time someone would point out Busch Stadium from the skyway (which most of the people seemed to do at least once). However, one thing to note is that the Arch is built to sway at least 18 inches to remain flexible in high winds, and we descended rather quickly after my girlfriend felt the motion while looking over the Mississippi River side.

We also made a pit-stop at the St. Louis City Museum.

What can only be described as one massive playground, the museum is a wonderful place to explore and basically run around being crazy. It's not without its educational merits, however, as among the displays are and architecture and antique exhibit, as well as an aquarium. We were a little too old for most of the really fun stuff by the point, but I still had a blast climbing through what areas I still managed to squeeze through. the girlfriend was not as amused. We also managed to find (by complete luck, as most of our food had been this trip) the famous Ozzie's right around the corner. We had come during the slow period, not even expecting it to be open but we lucked out!

Happy with the first half of our trip, we made our way down to Cape Girardeau only to be hit with even more tornadoes on the drive down Interstate-55. This would become a common occurrence during the next couple of days. Thankfully, we were not blown away by any means and enjoyed a few relaxing days with not much to do.

This part of our trip was mostly melded into one. As I mentioned, Cape Girardeau and Jackson are not large by any means. We were mostly famous as a trading post during the early Louis And Clark Expedition, and we do have a history with Mark Twain. It is exactly what you would expect a lazy river town to be. There is a massive floodwall that protects Cape from imminent doom, though the other areas have not been so lucky (evidenced by the flood of 1993, which many people have seen photos of regarding my home area over the years). This part of the vacation was spent mostly driving around or hanging out with my long-lost friends in a few of the local bars. The one major stop was a must-do restaurant known as Lambert's Cafe. Dubbed the "Home of the Throwed Rolls," it was recently voted as the #1 Place to Pig Out by the Travel Channel and has been featured numerous times by the Food Network and beyond. The atmosphere is that of a good home-cooking kitchen with license plates and ragtime waiters. All of the items are All-You-Can-Eat (you generally don't need seconds anyway), and include famous "pass-around" or extras that travel around the room. Of course, the most famous aspect are the hot, moist rolls that are thrown at you from across the room. I had plenty of great memories of those rolls and sorghum, and I was finally able to add new ones with my girlfriend. we both had the chicken strips and still had more than enough left over to make a complete third meal when done.

To end-cap our trip, we had planned a late flight out of town, so we finished up shop doing a few more things around St. Louis. The final big attraction that is essential to any visitor is a free tour at The Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

The largest brewer in the world, Budweiser is no doubt a familiar name to most people at this point. And while the free beer at the end of the tour is definitely a major highlight, the tour itself is fascinating. Containing three registered landmarks, the Busch campus covers 100 acres, almost the same size as my employer at Warner Bros. It's one of the oldest maintained structures in the city and has been synonymous with our economy over the past century-and-a-half. Plus, it's a great opportunity to see the world-famous Clydesdales, some of which were more than happy to pose and play when they saw the tour groups approaching. As for the beer, the beechwood aging process is pretty fun to learn about, and seeing the giant steel aging vats certainly puts our world's love for alcohol into perspective. I certainly couldn't complain after having a freshly brewed berry-flavored draft at the end.

We also had to make one final stop, a restaurant called Bailey's Chocolate Bar in Lafayette Square. We had heard it recommended from several of our fellow St. Louis transplants, and decided to give it a look. The menu and theme is entirely based on, well, chocolate, though they do offer regular lunch specials and pizza as well. To say it was delicious would be an understatement. Mom tried their chocolate beer, while I went for the much-recommended chocolate martini (get it hot if you can). Everything was extravagant, and every table had a freshly place rose you could purchase for your significant other while on a romantic date. I was extremely impressed and would go there again in a heartbeat.

Nearly a month later, I'm typing this trying to remember everything that happened. I had been reluctant to write a blog on the city, feeling that my pictures and stories would not do it justice. Already, I would love to return for a second vacation. While definitely not a city I could probably live in for the rest of my life, it's certainly charming in its own right and well worth a visit. While New York and LA certainly get a lot of attention, and for good reason, St. Louis is a destination with many, many offerings that are easy to pass over among the bigger cities. I feel as though there's even more I can show, from the Fox Theater, to the Muny, to the Science Center. I may have moved, and I certainly don't miss Cape Girardeau, but St. Louis will always be the city I compare others to.

Impressions of New York

I recently traveled to New York City for the first time about a month ago, as you may have noticed from my King Tut blog. With the Yankees in the playoffs yet again (hey, I'm a Cardinals fan, but we fell out awhile back), I figured it was high time to update this page with my trip and impressions.

Abrah and I arrived in the city mid-day Saturday after a direct flight from LAX. She had not been feeling well due to the plane, but I was ready to get out and explore the moment we had landed. It's important to note now that Abrah has been to the city several times almost every year since she was born due whereas this was my first trip. Throughout the next week, she would start to feel better and do her own things, but most of my time was spent meandering without any real purpose or direction through the city. Anyway, we took a short taxi trip from JFK to her friend's apartment that would remain our basecamp for the next few days.

The ride was interesting, to say the least. It's hard to describe someone's first thoughts of Manhattan. It looks essentially what you would expect from countless movies and television shows. The skyline is nothing but skyscraper after skyscraper. What makes it unique, however, is the feel of the city, and emotion that is rather difficult to put into words. As we came out of the tunnel and into the city itself, I was immediately hit with a sense of scale from both sides. I began to realize that, while you are surrounded by these massive buildings, you are still on a limited island. It's one thing to read that, yes, Manhattan Island is only 8-miles long or whatever, but to actually be in the middle of it for the first time is what really puts that scale into perspective. I would be taking advantage of this on my walks later on through the week.

We arrived without problems to our host's apartment and, after getting settled in, the three of us set to work on a theme that would quickly become my favorite throughout our vacation: food. While the girls weren't terribly hungry, I was starving and, for whatever reason, I was craving an authentic NYC meatball sub. I have no idea why this came into my mind, but I had decided I wanted to just walk into some small hole-in-the-wall place and get a sub. So, that's just what we did. I can't remember the name of it (I think it was PJ's Pizza, on 52nd and 10th), but it was, hands-down, one of the best meatball subs I had ever had. It really set the tone for our culinary experience the rest of the trip. And of course, this was only topped by the rooftop view we had from our basecamp:



It was a perfect way to start our journey.

The next day, we each set out for our own separate trips. Abrah still was not feeling well, so I got an early start on walking around. I certainly looked and acted like a stupid tourist, but getting out into a new city is always a rush. I had no idea where I was, but thankfully NYC is set up in such a way that it's hard to get lost. Labor Day weekend was approaching, so the city was still fairly crowded (although I guess it's always crowded) in the touristy areas. I managed to run right into a huge street festival on Broadway, which was a massive timesaver with no traffic to worry about. It was here that I managed to get my legs for the city and approach the idea of jaywalking. In Burbank, that will almost always net a ticket, but in this massive city, it was everyday life. I had no fear here, and was able to get around with my camera to feel out the city easily enough.

Eventually, I made my way into Central Park. It was certainly massive, although I'm not sure if it's exactly what I had always thought. To be honest, after growing up in Missouri my whole life, a park is a park until it gets funded on a national level in my eyes, and CP was not much of an exception. It was certainly fun, and large, but not what I had imagined after seeing it in so many areas. The shade was a relief, to be sure, and I did enjoy watching a couple softball games with the city towers as a backdrop. Perhaps I need to take that "movie tour" that is offered to get a better sense of place. Also, I got lost in the Ramble. Never again.

I eventually met back up with the girls near the street festival and, unknown to me, I had completely passed by Times Square without even noticing. If there was one place in the city that I felt was smaller than what I imaged, it was Times Square. We ate at the Sbarro's nearby (apparently much different than the others), and went off to do some shopping. The night was rather quiet, and we ordered delivery to watch the Emmy Awards in the evening after meeting up with yet another friend in the city.

We awoke early the next day for what would be one of the highlights of our vacation: attending the Late Show with David Letterman. Now, it's important to remember than both Abrah and I work in the industry for George Lopez and Ellen DeGeneres, respectively. We knew the process of a live-taping and were here mostly to see Dave and to see how they run their show. Well, I was there to see Dave anyway. It was a fantastic experience on the whole, and seeing a living legend up close was a dream come true. We were placed front row and both spent a good while figuring out how their audience coordinators handled their seating. Their staff was amazing, and we were happily informed that it was the start of his 17th Season. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested. just remember you have to answer a trivia question before the tickets are granted!

The rest of the trip was spent between museums and shows. I had made the Museum of Natural History one of my major stops, with the King Tut exhibit being a spur-of-the-moment event. You can read about the latter in the blog. The MoNH was really interesting, at the least, and I fell in love with the dinosaur exhibit. The girls mostly stayed behind to chat about girly things or to make fun of how much of a kid I was being. I had never seen many fossils in my time, but the T-Rex made the 8-year-old, Jurassic Park-lover in me delighted. I spent as much time on the upper floor as I could. The other floors were ok, but I have to admit to being a little let down overall. Most of the displays were dioramas, which isn't much after having grown up going to the St. Louis Zoo with real animals everywhere. I also felt there was a ton of emphasis on different tribal cultures, which isn't much of a natural exhibit at all, cool though they were. On the whole, I enjoyed it, but felt the King Tut exhibit was the better of the two museums on the trip.

We also managed to wrangle great seats to American Idiot. We caught up with one of our LA friends and coworker of Abrah's who happened to be in the city as well. Somehow, the girls managed to get front-row Mezz seats via Rush seating. I'm am an avid hater of stage theater after having lived it since the 6th grade (give me motion pictures or give me death), but I had to admit that i did not hate the show as much as I thought I would. They sounded like Green Day, which was the only real requirement I had, and I only disliked the portrayal of St. Jimmy out of the cast. It was the play I had imagined after first hearing the album, and I would consider one of the very (very) few musicals I would be able to tolerate again. After the show, we managed to go onto the stage thanks to some connections our friend had with the guitarist. He was a gentleman, and it was extremely cool to be on a major Broadway stage, if nothing else.

Overall, the trip was incredibly enjoyable and I know what others mean now about falling in love with the city. I felt like there simply was not enough time to see all that I wanted, but I guess it would take lifetimes for that anyway. The city is definitely one-of-a-kind, with its own culture, layout, sights, smells, etc. Just seeing a picture of the city now brings up a ton of different memories (mostly the smell, but you get the idea). I doubt I could ever live there and am happy with the city, but I certainly would not mind a job that sent me over to their coast on occasion. Most of all, regardless of any positive or negative opinions a person might have, New York City proved itself one thing of all others: unforgettable.