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
Surprisingly, I miss my yard tarantula from when I lived in Colorado. Seeing it drink from my pond one hot summer day was life-changing; I’ve never looked at spiders with the same lifetime hostility since.
More from Le Comte de Monte Cristo:
Spring 2015
Where: Louisville
I don’t do a lot of photos at home, but these are the most Louisvillian of Louisville photos.Meet Spike. Spike is a desert tortoise who loves his owner and loves going for walks in warm weather. I even have video if I can figure out how to post it.
Spike got hurt while crossing the street in the fall (some texting asshole hit him with her car), but has made a full recovery.
What an amazing, gorgeous creature! I have a soft spot for turtles and he does not disappoint! That just makes my day to see such a beautiful creature.
March 2015
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Youngest daughter in pose…
This set was taken by my youngest daughter at her archaeological dig in southern Albania in the summer of 2014. They’re still living simply, using horse carts, but she reports that they seem happy, well fed and prospering in their own way.
What a pretty girl!
5/19/2017
Sydney Australia
Botanical Gardens and East Harbour, overlooking naval base taken from
May 20, 2017
Sydney
Lobby of Intercontinental
5/20/2017
Sydney
My breakfast view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House – we climbed the bridge yesterday
More Sydney, including a short video, next Tuesday!
Thank you Comte, there are so many more to come from you. Your generosity knows no bounds – thanks for sharing!
Have a great day everybody, travel safely and enjoy this wonderful, beautiful, incredible world.
Amir Khalid
Is that spider a Boris in size, an Aragog, or a Shelob?
Lavocat
Holy fuck! “Yard tarantula”? I guess that it’s this morning’s mind fuck.
Lalophobia
*regarding yard tarantula*
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooope.
Elizabelle
Now I want to see a tarantula drinking. Just not blood.
Good morning, all.
Mustang Bobby
The only problem with my yard tarantula when I lived in Colorado is that he never came when I called him. Mind of his/her own.
Aleta
My neighbor in Mexico used to set out a saucer of milk for a tarantula who would come to the front step and drink while we sat there. I know what you mean about changing everything. I can still see it and feel the attitude of its motion, which seemed gentle and aware. Maybe it was something about being so articulated. Inomar would pet it and said they liked that and were affectionate.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: Tarantula’s are like that.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
You mean, they’re basically eight-legged cats?
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Exactly.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
Good one!
My younger son kept tarantulas for years, At the peak he had 6 including a rosey hair, a red knee and a beautiful blue one that I can’t remember the species. Pluses: They are quiet and never make a fuss. Minuses: Not a lot of playful activities. It would be cool to see one in the yard but none make it to the frozen tundra
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Yard crabs…
debbie
I hope I forget that first picture before I fall asleep tonight. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
dance around in your bones
ETA: WHILE walking in Arizona, not white walking. Can’t edit, WP says my comment is spam, go figure. o.O
rikyrah
The entire tarantula conversation in this post?
Hell to the no.
Uh uh
rikyrah
Spike is beautiful ??
MomSense
Yard tarantula? Nope.
Gorgeous photos, le Comte. I especially like the Albanian photos which remind me of some Greek villages I’ve visited.
Gindy51
I wish we ha yard tarantulas… we used to have one named Mary, a rose haired and she was awesome. Scared the shit out of 250 pound construction workers all the time. They refused to work in any room her aquarium was placed. I used to have to lock her in the bathroom for them to even go upstairs to repair our house. Funny.
Yoda Dog
Wow, what an cool turtle! This is a really great set of threads, I love seeing everyone’s pictures. Thanks Alain!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@MomSense:
She’s in Greece right now, two doctoral app enhancers. She has a little break so my wife’s joining her tomorrow on Crete for some hiking and diving the next 10 days.
Quinerly
❤❤?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Yoda Dog:
First time I saw him, I did a double take – his owner was walking him on the sidewalk in a really great hipster neighborhood.
Alain the site fixer
Just to explain, in the part of Colorado that I lived, tarantulas almost as big as your hand would come out of burrows and spend the warm months eating and doing spider things. They did nothing but startle me every once in a while, until that day in early Fall when, like clockwork, they all walked “home”. So, after not seeing much of them for a couple of months, suddenly they’re crossing the road, walking conspicuously, etc. I saw the sad result of not finding a good burrow – a frozen-solid youngster. I can’t believe the sadness I felt…for a spider!
Luckily, the ones in Fremont County/Pueblo County/Custer County aren’t poisonous, but they are large! When I found a spring hidey hole this guy was using, I was always careful to give him wide berth – I know he was home because he made sort of a loose cover over the hole when it was occupied. Neat creatures are all around, you just have to notice them, watch them, and pay attention. It’s clear that there’s personality and intelligence in so many creatures that we pass by every day.
Waratah
Terrific photos, tarantulas, turtles, Albania, Cambodia and Sydney harbor.
Steve in the ATL
“Albania/on the shores of the Adriatic”
Haven’t seen that Cheers episode in decades but I still hear Coach singing that every time I see the word Albania
stinger
NO. No, no, no, no, no. I will look at pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Canyon, Ecuador, orchids, Albania, Peru, birds, dogs, cats, cacti, cathedrals. I will gaze for hours at pictures of Tuscany.
I will NOT look at pictures of gigantic hairy spiders.
Just… no.
piratedan
tarantulas help keep down the bugs, while scary looking, the ones out here in the southwest are pretty much harmless. I have a couple of places on the property where they like to hang out and I let them be. Since we’re all circle of life here, having them around also draws in the beautiful (and creepy) tarantula hawks, which also weird Ms. Pirate right out…
Yoda Dog
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: He’s HUGE! I’ve never seen a turtle that big in real life. You’d have to really not be paying attention to hit that guy. Unbelievable.
J R in WV
I would much rather have a tarantula around than a tarantula hawk – which for those who don’t know is a very flashy wasp that preys on tarantulas. One of the most painful stings, as it’s meant to paralyze one of those spiders almost instantly. I used to be all like “KILL IT KILL IT” when I saw a spider, I got stung repeatedly by a common paper wasp as a v young child, which hurt a lot and gave me a bug fear fetish for a while.
But now I’m mostly past it, will swat biting or stinging bugs, but will also rescue wolf spiders with a glass and a piece of cardboard. You can easily slip a glass over the spider, they can barely see it, and then run a mailer postcard under the glass slowly. Then remove the spider from indoors home to outdoors home, usually dropped into a bed of ferns for a soft landing.
J R in WV
@stinger:
Glad you liked the Tuscany pix. For your relief and satisfaction – we did NOT see any spiders in Tuscany. None.