On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Balloon Juicers who are on the road, travelling, etc. and wish to share notes, links, pictures, stories, etc. from their escapades. As the US mainland begins the end of the Earth day as we measure it, many of us rise to read about our friends and their transient locales.
So, please, speak up and share some of your adventures, observations, and sights as you explore, no matter where you are. By concentrating travel updates here, it’s easier for all to keep up-to-date on the adventures of our fellow Commentariat. And it makes finding some travel tips or ideas from 6 months ago so much easier to find…
Have at ’em, and have a safe day of travels!
Should you have any pictures (tasteful, relevant, etc….) you can email them to [email protected] or just use this nifty link to start an email: Start an Email to send a Picture to Post on Balloon Juice
After the fold, more from Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes!
When – April 2001
Where- Green House, Philipsburg, St MartinThis one always irritates the hell out of troublesome middle daughter, which is why I post it. We’d actually taken the kids out of school and did a long Spring Break (10 days), staying on the tamer side of Orient Beach on the French side (European guests were scandalized that we were “allowed” to take the kids out of school – my response was “we’re doing it, and not accepting any school discipline-and it worked like a charm”).
On the funny side, first time down on the beach, they said “Mom, dad – so many of these people are naked!” My response – “they’re French – they do that.” Their reply – “Oh. Can we play in the water now?”
Another beach day, a warning shot over my bow came like this:
Scene: Kids in water, wife and I are on chaises under a huge umbrella, frosty blender drinks in hand. It is about 11 am. All is right with my world, when I hear the frightening rumble of the blast doors of an ICBM silo open in preparation for imminent launch.
Wife-“Do you see that girl?”
Me (in a desperate and futile act of self preservation) – “What girl?”
Her- “You and every man on this beach know damn well what girl”
Me-“Oh, the one about 20 feet on my right, French, early 20s, tall, goes about a buck 20, or a buck 30 tops, naked, toned, perfect tan all over, zero body hair, clearly buzzed on that great looking bottle of wine she’s drinking and having a great damned time? Can’t say as I noticed her at all.”
Her – “I don’t know who I hate more – her or you”.
When – April 2005
Where- Chacchoben Ruin, Mexico, near Belize border, approx 2 hours from MahahualAt the time, this was a relatively new archaeological find, although the local Mayans had continued using some areas (like some benches in an amphitheater with a stone altar) secretly in a mostly forgotten ceremonial way. Teams had spent a few recent years clearing away jungle and dirt when they realized the extent of the place.
I thought it was cool.
When – December 2008
Where – Punta Sur, Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo MXThis was a family Christmas trip. I always love wild ocean points. This park is the easternmost spot in Mexico, and the Mayans built a small temple on the promontory on the right, just out of range.
When- July 2008
Where – Corcovado State Park, Costa RicaThese were large parrots in the wild – there were several that day. There was heavy foliage (it was a rain forest, which meant monkeys, bad snakes, crocs, jaguars, awful spiders, bad frogs, leaf cutter ants – lots of things to kill, poison or annoy).
They were pretty camera shy, and I was really lucky to get them being fairly still. I got photos of sloths, too, but they turned at as brown lumps in the canopy, moving like sloths.
When – August 2007
Where- Manuel Antonio Park, Quepos, Costa RicaI liked the remoteness of this.
When – August 2007
Where – Manuel Antonio Park, Quepos, Costa RicaThis little shit had a nice scam going. He hung around the beach where people swam.
One young Costa Rican woman was asleep face down on a blanket, next to her daypack. I spotted this little dude as he hopped off a low tree and quietly ran to her pack. He unzipped it in a split second, reached in and snatched a bag of chips before leaving into the tree and shrieking at everybody to keep away from him and his chips. He opened it up, munched away and looked for his next victim.
He was pretty damned gangster.
Wow. Such great shots – thank you! And the good news, folks, is that there’s a bunch more for tomorrow!
Have a great day, and do send in your pictures, travelling or at home. We all grow from sharing them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’ll hold off on my pics from my hiking trip to the mountains until next week.
OzarkHillbilly
Nice pics and even better stories. :-) (I had an instant karma moment while walking with my wife in Palma- saw an “oh my Dawg, is that a goddess walking down the street or am I drea….” WHAM!!!! walked right into a sign post, staggered back about 5 feet. My wife just smirked)
Those “large parrots” are Scarlet macaws. My own experiences are with Military macaws, which are a threatened species due mainly to the wild pet trade and of course, habitat loss. They use to be common in Mexico, but in all my trips there I only saw them when I was up on the El Abra (a low uninhabited mountain range near the Gulf coast in SLP) The Scarlet Macaw suffers the same difficulties to a lesser extent.
raven
I still have my Green House t-shirt from 30 years ago!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
What surprised me about the parrots where we were was how active they were for big birds – these suckers were flitting everywhere, and were REALLY mouthy.
I’ve always wanted one, but now figure I’m too old – it wouldn’t be fair, considering how long they live.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
Nothing quite like those jerk wings. Salty, smoky lightly sweet goodness, the skin having a satisfying little crunch.
I havent found anything quite like them anywhere domestically.
Baud
No pictures? What’s the point of this whole damn series?
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Down in the Amazon (some day, over the rainbow….) they gather at clay licks for the minerals. (short video) They are special birds.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Had I swung a camera that direction, I would not be alive today to share the tale – once she noticed the girl, I was carefully scrutinized for any hint of a reaction. Best I could do was an odd flit of the eye, and that was with sunglasses on.
Still got caught….
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Understood.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I just read that in the wiki you posted – I guess they’re suckers for clay.
rikyrah
Love the pictures. The weather here is cold and lousy.the warmth of the pictures??
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: It’s the minerals in the clay they are after. The minerals neutralize the toxins in their diet that accumulate in their bodies. I always find such things fascinating in a chicken/egg kind of way.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I wonder if the pictures I am seeing online are of a newer place?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
Looks like there is a second St Maarten location (probably to provide a spot away from the cruise ship people in Philipsburg – they descend on it like locusts during the day).
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
As I look at photos, the mothership in Philipsburg looks the same as I remember. The Simpson Bay location is more beachy and undoubtedly far less crowded.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think I’ve seen nature specials where elephants also eat clay.
Sab
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:Is the kid eating the same one as was at one of the marches this year?
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: A lot of animals do, for the high mineral content.
debbie
@Sab:
I believe that marcher is his youngest.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Years and years ago, at a May sales conference in Phoenix for the publisher where I worked, we were all sitting around the pool, when a young woman set up a chair nearby. Her swimsuit was one of those tattered styles later popularized by Gautier (I think), very revealing but making for very odd tan marks. The sales reps, all men who would have humped a conference room chair if given the opportunity, were beside themselves and had great difficulty appearing disinterested. There were only a couple female sales reps, but we had a great deal of fun watching them. It was like a small window into the male psyche.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Deep down at the center of our being, we are all dawgs, ready to hump any passing leg. If you ever meet a man who appears otherwise, he is either gay, a eunuch, or an accomplished liar. I sometimes think the only reason we still exist is for the humor we provide you gals.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@debbie:
Yup.
Bruce K
Flying back to the States tomorrow morning – Athens through Heathrow to BWI. Weekend on the Jersey Shore for a wedding, then probably a few days in NYC.
I’ll try to take a few snaps along the way. I’m still kind of worrying about what it’s going to be like going through passport control in Trump’s America, and if the cheeto shows up on a TV screen to greet new arrivals to his country, I may have no choice but to ask, very loudly, if anybody happens to have a brick they wouldn’t mind sacrificing in a noble cause.
Quinerly
Love the pictures and the stories! Thanks.
StringOnAStick
We were at that beach in Manuel Antonio NP 2months ago. The gangster monkey we saw had figured out how to turn on the water faucet to get his own drink, no doubt a classic example of monkey see, monkey do.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
So the years have taught me.