Historic Main Street in the Heart of Park City, Utah

On September 29, 2021September 29, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Utah3 Comments

When visiting Park City in Utah, it is mostly about outdoor activities whether in the summer with hiking and biking or in the winter with skiing and snowboarding. When the day is over though, the place to be is on historic main street with all of the local shops and an abundance of restaurants to choose from. The architecture is what you’d expect from a historic mountain town and even in the off-season, like when we went, the streets will be busy with tourists. Most of the resorts are either in the Mountain Village, which is just a few blocks away from main street or in Canyons Village, which is where we stayed. Regardless of where you are staying, the town of Park City provides free bus transportation to get you around.

View from the Center of Historic Main Street

We went to historic main street a couple of times during our week-long stay in Park City and there were so many options of places to see. Whether you want to do window shopping or go into one of the many art galleries and novelty stores, you can definitely find something interesting to take home with you if you desire. At least for us, it was all about finding unique places to grab a bite to eat and there are more than a couple of dozen choices on or just off of main street to choose from. When visiting Utah, it is important to understand that their liquor laws are different than most other states. For example, if the establishment only has a restaurant liquor license and not a bar liquor license, you are required to get food if you want an adult beverage.

Regardless of whether you want to shop, eat at a restaurant, or just people watch, there is plenty to keep you occupied on historic main street. Sitting in the valley and surrounded by the mountains, the views are wonderful both of the town as well as the surrounding tree-lined ski slopes. Since it is autumn, the trees had changed, making the scenery even more dramatic as we walked along the street. Our last day was on a Saturday and although we drove down main street, we chose not to stop as the crowds were a little bit more than what we prefer to deal with.

Walking the Street When No Tourists were Around

Making the Most of Your Time in Nairobi, Kenya

On September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Kenya4 Comments

We spent a couple of days in Nairobi in order to relax before heading home after our safari and we really enjoyed our time there. If you have a day or two in Nairobi, there are several places that are definitely worth visiting during your time there. Our hotel was located in the heart of the city and getting out to see the attractions was certainly a time consuming proposition due to the traffic in Nairobi, even with trying to avoid the heavier traffic times. We scheduled a Nairobi City Tour with our guides, but obviously these places could be visited on you own without needing to use a guide, but it helps to have a driver who knows how to get around the city.

Karen Blixen Museum and Gardens – It is hard to explain the impact that Karen Blixen had on the city of Nairobi and Kenya in general. The Baroness is best known around the world for her autobiographical story of her time in Africa titled Out of Africa as well as the movie with the same name. To the people of Kenya, she is known for providing healthcare to the people and providing inspiration to the women of Kenya. Although the book and movie romanticize her time in East Africa, the story and her life were rather tragic. The museum, which is the house she lived in and the gardens that surround it, is the location of their failed coffee plantation and features some of the farm equipment as well as photographs of the people in Karen’s life. There is also some memorabilia from the movie as it was filmed on location in Africa.

Just Like a Kid Pushing a Friend into the Pool

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Elephant Orphanage – One might have thought that we had seen enough elephants during our safari considering that we saw hundreds of them, but we were actually excited to visit the elephant orphanage in Nairobi. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is dedicated to rescuing orphaned elephants and rhinos, raising them and possibly rehabilitating them, and then returning them to the wild. The baby elephants come from all of the various national parks and animal reserves where, unfortunately, poaching still sometimes occur leaving the elephants orphaned or sometimes they become orphaned for other reasons. Pretty much every baby animal is cute and adorable, but baby elephants are especially cute and precocious.

Kazuri Bead Factory – Although it is referred to as the Kazuri Bead Factory, it is really an artisan workshop where the beads for necklaces and bracelets as well as other pottery are created. Everything created by the artisans for Kazuri are handmade and hand-painted based on a preset pattern that each of the workers follow. In addition to creating beautiful jewelry and pottery, Kazuri provides work for mostly single mothers and provides free medical care for their employees and their immediate family. Buying items from Kazuri, which are sold worldwide, is really an opportunity to get some something beautiful and help the people as well.

Giraffe Centre (The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife) – During our city tour of Nairobi, we visited the Giraffe Centre, whose official name is the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. Obviously the proceeds from people visiting the center go to the preservation of endangered animals in Africa such as the cheetahs, rhinos, and other animals. Having spent the previous eleven days on safari where we saw giraffes in the wild every day, we weren’t sure at first about visiting the Giraffe Centre. It is currently going under some renovations in order to improve the experience of the visitors and to make the center even more green. The highlight of visiting the Giraffe Centre is getting up close to the giraffes and feeding them.

A Maasai Market – Although we had visited an actual Maasai Village during our safari, we still took time to go to one of the Maasai markets that are in the city of Nairobi. Be forewarned that as you enter the market, there will be men offering to guide you through the market, but you should ignore them and tour the market on your own. They just want to get part of the money that you might spend and they are really pushy about trying to get you to buy something. We had something fairly specific in mind since we had already bought souvenirs, which we couldn’t find, so we didn’t end up buying anything, but enjoyed seeing the local artwork on display.

Nairobi National Park – We did not visit the Nairobi National Park since we had already spent twelve days going through the national parks that are part of the great migration route, but if you are only visiting Nairobi and not doing a safari, it would be worth visiting. The park has many of the same animals that you will find when going on safari without having to travel more than a few minutes from the city.

Thorn Tree Cafe with the Message Tree Where People (like Hemingway) Received Messages in Nairobi

In addition to visiting these locations in Nairobi, we also spent time eating at several different restaurants in the city. Obviously, due to the time of visit and travel restrictions because of COVID, there were not many other tourists in the city when we were there. We found the city of Nairobi to be quite interesting and enjoyed seeing it as much as we enjoyed our time on safari.

Mixed Feelings Regarding Our Visit to London During Our First Trip to Europe

On September 20, 2021September 20, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn England, Travel Tips6 Comments

Let us start by saying that we hope to visit London once again in the future as it is a wonderful city with an amazing history. During our first trip to Europe, many years ago now, we spent several days in London before going on to Stratford-upon-Avon and Manchester. We rented a flat on Kings Road and enjoyed getting around and visiting the major sites in London such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Tower of London, and Tower Bridge. Although we did have a wonderful time, when we look back on it after many, many trips since that time, we aren’t sure that we made the most of our time in London.

One of the things that was very different about our time in London compared to other places that we have visited is that we took the tube (underground railway) to get from one location to another. It was quick and convenient and who can’t quote what is aired over the intercom as the doors start to close, “mind the gap”. In hindsight, we felt like gophers who popped up from one hole here to see something and then popped up in another hole there to see something. Walking the streets gives you a much better sense of a city than just seeing a small section at a time.

We do have wonderful memories of our time in London. We went to the famous West End to see the play Wicked and the tour of Tower of London was quite fascinating. We also watched the pomp and pageantry of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and had some blue skies overhead as we walked around the Victoria Memorial in the roundabout just across from the palace. Certainly no visit to London would be complete without going to Westminster Abbey with all of the memorials to the historical figures of science, literature, and politics. Seeing the iconic clock tower at the Westminster Palace, commonly referred to as Big Ben is certainly a must as well.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon

After spending a few days in our flat in London, we continued on to historic Stratford-upon-Avon where we had the opportunity to have mulled wine and see the locals celebrate the start of the holiday season as it was late November when we arrived. Being the birthplace of Shakespeare, there is certainly plenty of history and we also enjoyed seeing Warwick Castle nearby town of Warwick. After a couple of nights, we took a train north to the city of Manchester where we would enjoy a murder mystery at a local manor house and then go to watch a football (soccer) game, which was a highlight for us.

As previously mentioned, we definitely have revisiting London on our list of places to go and will likely go back there in the relatively near future. We were actually fairly fortunate as far as the weather goes with our trip having been in November, but a visit during the summer months would definitely be a plus. Since we are more seasoned travelers now as compared to our original visit, we will likely do it quite differently and we would certainly take more photographs than we did back then.