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A jaguar thinks it over.
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START
THE JOURNEY HERE This site is designed to help you
let your imagination fly. It will introduce
you to some unusual travel experiences. It doesn't suggest the best hotels or restaurants, but it will lay out the territory where you might be able to find one interesting adventure
and link up with some of the finest travel companies
on the planet and others like yourself who
want to know more about where you are. So dream
a lot,
plan a little. Then go. Enjoy!
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The sun in more turbulent times. It goes
through a quiet period every eleven years, but rarely as long as this. (Photo: NASA). THE MYSTERIOUS
SUN You might not have noticed, but for the past 2 years, the Sun has been spot-free. No blips, nary
a twitch, “quiet,” in the language of solar scientists. No one knows why sunspots have disappeared; and there’s
a lot of speculation about what it might mean on earth. Happily, in the last month, solar scientists recorded two new eruptions.
But are they the beginning of a normal cycle? Or is this the beginning of a new norm? For a deeper look at the Sun, you
can visit some fascinating places where the Sun is the center of observational activity – and you just might arrive
when the spots really take off. The National Solar Observatory
maintains telescopes that accept visitors. One is at Sacramento Peak in
New Mexico www.nso.edu/visitors.html For winter hours, please call 575-434-7000. At Kitt Peak, above Tucson, Arizona, guided tours of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope are given daily at 10:00AM. See: www.noao.edu/outreach/ NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is what it says, has some really interesting
pictures and facts: www.research.gov/rgov/anonymous.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=news_ At 14,000 feet, the telescopes at Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii are unparalleled in penetrating
the universe. Because humans adjust slowly to the extreme change in altitude, visitors are better off using the telescopes at the
Visitors’ Center, at 9,000 feet. Among the telescopes visitors can use is one dedicated to viewing the sun, so you can
visit in the afternoon and stick around til nightfall. Please see: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/visiting.htm Remember: wait 24 hours if you dive.
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The "diamond" appears for one second at the very
beginning and end of totality. (Photo © podgorsek) A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE doesn’t happen often. Whether you view it looking at the sidewalk, or behind a telescope with a solar expert,
you need a clear sky, preferably with minimal pollution. The path of the next one, 11 July 2010,
cuts a swath across the Pacific Ocean from the Cook Islands to Argentina, real estate that also includes Tahiti and an azure
ocean. Join Dr Alex Filippenko, professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley, aboard the luxurious small ship Paul Gauguin
and cruise Polynesia before finding the ideal viewing
site for the eclipse. This trip, offered by Wilderness Travel,
allows for ocean exploration on your own with snorkel or by sea kayak. Eight days from
July 6 to 13; from about $4,200 depending on cabin. (Savings if you act fast!) Please see: http://www.wildernesstravel.com/trip/tahiti/eclipse-tahiti-2010-tour
For a more adventurous trip, Betchart Expeditions (http://www.betchartexpeditions.com/s_pacific_tahiti_eclp.htm) will fly you to Papeete, Tahiti for a dip into island heritage with an anthropologist, before ferrying over to Moorea where
the snorkeling is fantastic. There, Dr Michael Poole, a world authority on spinner dolphins, will introduce you to their secrets.
For the eclipse, you fly in a charter plane to the tiny atoll of Anaa, way out there among the dots of land of the
Tuamotu Archipelago. The mayor of Anaa will welcome you as his personal guests for 2 nights for a full taste of island culture
– and the celestial event, which will be
commemorated with a special feast. July 4 to 12; about $5,000. Space is limited.
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Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
on one of his trips tro the Moon. (Photo © NASA) WATER ON THE MOON? WATER ON MARS? Would you believe both? The much-followed LCROSS rocket expedition into
the Moon's South Pole produced, after chemical analysis, water, and apparently a lot of it. Mars has lots of evidence
of what look like old rivulets and surface puckering from vaporizing dry ice. Soon there will
be tours. 
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The Morning Glory Pool, a smoking green
entrance to what seems like the center of the earth, in Yellowstone National Park. The colors result from different
algae and bacteria living in the hot waters. The pool is 23 feet deep. (Photo © Jason Maehl) YELLOWSTONE IN WINTER Wolves, bear, elk, and the predator-prey drama play out in the snow, if you
are willing to get up at dawn and do some serious trekking. The Yellowstone Association Institute sponsors several programs
with a guide that take you to the wildlife on trips that range from backpack treks to daytime sightseeing and comfortable
nights at the lodges. In addition to wildlife, some amazing
steaming pools, seething mudholes, and majestic geysers, the Park has a collection of great old hotels, such as Mammoth Hot
Springs Lodge and the newer Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Wall-sized fireplaces, good food. Prices are moderate, but hurry!
the winter season ends in early March. Please see www.yellowstoneassociation.org/institute/lodging/programs.aspx.
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Celestial events might be amazing, but nothing
beats the earth when it comes to variety. And until we know everything -- which is a terrible possibility -- our planet is
full of surprises. Life forms, for example, thrive as well in the Morning Glory Pool as in the depths of the polar oceans
or on desolate Saharan dunes. ARCTIC PERMAFROST is melting. When it melts, the ancient peatlands give off carbon dioxide and methane, major greenhouse
gases that contribute to global warming. Technically,
permafrost is any soil that has been frozen for two years. Different types at different depths melt at different speeds. While
it's possible to see graveyards getting wobbly, the actual rate of Arctic thawing is hard to predict. You can join an Earthwatch expedition in Churchill, Manitoba in
February, and join scientists taking core samples in peatfields, using ground-penetrating radar, and logging microclimate
data to try to gauge how fast it's melting. Stay in a warm research station dormitory, eat well, even learn how to build
an igloo. Eleven days, about $3,000. Please see: http://www.earthwatch.org/exped/kershaw_churchill.html.
Below,
a boreal forest in Churchill, Manitoba.
(Photo © graphicjackson )
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A polar bear stands on a sunken ice floe
in Wager Bay in the Canadian Arctic. (Photo © John Pitcher) Bye, Bye, Kapitan Khlebnikov The venerable expedition icebreaker will be retired in March 2012 . But you can be aboard for its final legendary Northwest Passage west-to-east
voyage leaving Anadyr, Russia next summer July 18 to arrive in Resolute, Nunavut, Canada on August 5.
This sentimental trip will cut through the broken ice floes
of the Arctic Sea and take you past the changing polar landscape. Aboard will be author and professor of naval history Andrew Lambert who
will share his knowledge on one of the early adventurers, Sir John Franklin, whose expedition to find the Northwest Passage
failed when the ice froze around him. The Quark Expeditions crew, experts in polar travel, will keep you informed on the local
wild ecology along the way on this memorable trip.
Prices
depend on berth, from about $16,500 to $28,300; 20 days, Anchorage to Ottawa. Please see: http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/arctic/northwest-passage/ |
TREK THE DESERT iEXPLORE is one of the best companies to consider if you want to experience something
new. A private guide will lead
you and your camel across the mesmerizing orange dunes of the Moroccan Sahara, wandering from oasis to oasis and Berber villages.
Spend three nights in a tented camp beneath clear, cold skies. In Marrakech, visit two Kasbahs. Moderately difficult;
8 days, January to December, 2010. Minimum group: 2. About $3,000. Please see: www.iexplore.com/tour/47629
Saharan safari. (Photo © Kamchatka)
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