It might surprise you to know that the first and oldest planetarium constructed in the Western Hemisphere may be found in Chicago.  In 1930, eighty years ago, the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum was founded and built by Max Adler, a philanthropist and American businessman (Vice President of Sears Roebuck & Co.), along with Philip Fox, the planetarium director.  Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Adler Planetarium stands alongside the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History on Northerly Island.

Living in Los Angeles, I’ve always appreciated the Griffith Observatory on Mount Hollywood, as well as the Mount Wilson Observatory, which Albert Einstein used.  My few experiences with those astronomical structures have left me with an interest in planetariums in general, and when I have the chance, I’d love to find my way to Chicago, find a hotel, and spend a few days taking in the sites available on Northerly Island.  Like most planetariums and observatories, the skies and the wonders of the solar system will open up to you: At the Adler Planetarium, for instance, you’ll be able to see Saturn’s Rings or Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.  You’ll be able to take in shows that help us take in the infinite nature of the Universe.  They’re now playing a number of shows, including 3-D Vision: Imaging the Universe, which takes a look at how science visualizes the universe, allowing us to look at the surface of Mars, all the way back to the Big Bang (the beginnings of the Universe), to galaxy formation with the stars numbering in the hundreds of billions.

There are programs, too, aimed for kids, such as One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure, which is a planetarium show based on Sesame Street.  Or IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System, which follows scientists as they investigate precisely where our solar system ends and the rest of the galaxy begins.  If you’d like to know more about the solar system, the galaxy, or the universe in general, I recommend taking a look at Space.com; and, once you do, find your way to the nearest planetarium, whether that’s the Adler or not!

We arrived in San Francisco airport and with heavy bags draped over our shoulders and smaller bags in hands, we managed to take the Metro into the city and find our very inexpensive accommodations that we booked for three nights; here the link: http://www.sanfranciscocheaphotel.com. Our hotel turned out to be just what we were expecting, full of young travellers like ourselves.

Our first order of business was to find a true American burger, and with a little search on-line, we headed to a place called Pearls. It is the current winner of the San Francisco’s best burger award and when we took our first bite, we totally agreed. The burger was big, tasty and had tons of toppings, plus it was cheap! After being totally satisfied, we headed back to our hotel in need of much sleep, Jet-lag hit us hard. My travelling companion, didn’t quite make it back to our room for almost an hour after I did. She was waylaid by a German boy wearing a pair of tight pants in the lobby of our hotel. The next thing I know, there a Dutch guy in our room! Did I mention my travelling companion is quite the flirt?

In the morning, I did notice there were no men in our room and only a sleeping companion. Whew! We got ready and went out to find some cheap pancakes. We didn’t have to go far, right next to our hotel was a great breakfast cafe’. My pancakes were especially good. After breakfast and tons of coffee, we went on a ‘free’ walking tour into Chinatown. The tour was giving by a guy my travel companion met at a hostel right next to the breakfast cafe’. I knew she’d come in handy. He took us to sample dim sum and fortune cookies. Then we went over one of the mammoth hills were we good get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and of Alcatraz.

As my travelling companion bid farewell to our free tour guide, we headed towards Fisherman’s Wharf. It was here where we would purchase tickets to Alcatraz, unfortunately, Alcatraz was sold out for the next week! Even my travelling companion couldn’t muster up some tickets from people lining up to board the ferry that would take them over the the Island. This really stunned her and put her in a daze. I ended up dragging her to Pier 39 to see and smell the sea lions soaking up the sun. This put a smile on her face, she was back and ready for our next adventure!

There are some really nice hotels throughout Gettysburg that act as a nice resting space for those who have come to this city for a connection with America’s history. This is the city of the battle that gave a victory to the Union Army as they ended the invasion of General Robert E Lee. It was the bloodiest battle of the whole conflict which made it the best place for President Lincoln to make is famous Gettysburg Address speech. The place were so many had fallen from both sides all for the freedoms of all people no matter the color of there skin.

The National Military Park in Gettysburg Pennsylvania is the place to start your journey into the past. There is a new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center which was funded by many donations give to the Gettysburg Foundation. They opened the doors to the museum in September 2008. There is a gallery on the war as a whole as well as Gettysburg role. It is has some restored relics such as a Cyclorama as well as one of the largest collections of Civil War artifacts in the world. Visitors can enjoy some great multimedia exhibits of what happened during the battle.

Then there is the David Wills House which is were President Lincoln stayed the night before his big address. It is now a museum that tells the story of Lincoln as well as the planning of the soldiers cemetery and its dedication. Then there is the Camp Life: Civil War Collections which is dedicated to the soldiers life. It is filled with the photos and old possessions that many soldiers had in their camps. What a soldier carried and had in his tent was determined by the roll they played.

Well this is a little hard to believe in such a small town in Texas. If you find yourself in one of the hotels Grand Prairie (http://www.hotelsgrandprairie.com)has and you are not sure what to do, don’t worry. There are a few things to do while you are in the area. One of which is the unbelievable Louis Tussaud’s Place of Wax and Ripleys Believe It or Not. It is actually quite a fun place to visit. It is filled with many galleries, 10,000 feet of exhibits, any interactive displays and some crazy illusions. The fun is endless and you could be there a while.

This destination of fun is an extension of what Robert Ripley created. We was an odd man who liked the odd. We was many things from explorer, adventurer, collector to reporter, cartoonist and illustrator. He brought the odd things he had seen and created to life for all the world to see. We was an incredibly famous person in the early 20th century. Santa Rosa California 1890 is where his life began. He went on to become a semi-pro baseball player in his early teens and also found time to illustrate and create. He was a pro and getting paid for his cartoons by the age of 14. He ended up working at major papers in San Fransisco and New York.

As he continued he got more into exploring which took him to countries all over the world. Picking up strange souvenirs became his forte and turned into quite the attraction. Between the odd things he collected and the odd stories that he told his interests made for great entertainment. He was of course extremely eccentric and most people thought he himself was the biggest believe it or not. You can see some of his crazy collection along with a wax museum in the little town of Grand Prairie Texas.

This is the weekend that jazz lovers around the country wait for each year, and that is the weekend of the New York Winter Jazzfest. This is the sixth year for the festival, so it is a brand new kid on the block, but make no mistake, this two day festival is filled with some of the biggest names in the world of jazz music today. Not only is this a fun-filled and incredible weekend of performances for the general public, but it is a great time for the musicians themselves, for it is widely known that some of the largest jazz clubs in the city send out scouts, who look for bands and musicians to book in their establishments for the rest of the year, or longer as the case may be.

Excitement fills the streets, from the lounges of New York City’s finest hotels, to the corner pubs and taverns, jazz in the air. Tickets for the public are relatively inexpensive, coming in at twenty-five dollars for one night of shows, or a cool thirty bucks for the entire weekend. At the moment, Winter Jazzfest is the only totally mainstream festival for jazz in the city, and the lineup is out of this world. While it has been called mainstream, there is no shortage of variety, giving way for many different forms of harmony, texture and rhythm.

Lonny Smith, a master of the keys, will be playing his soulful music on his organ at Sullivan Hall. The more hoppin’ sounds of Jaleel Shaw‘s saxophone will have the audience at the Zinc Bar on their feet and dancing. The uber-modern big band of the Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and the chamber music of the Claudia Quintet, are just a few of the names and the sounds that stand testament to the eclectic mix that is the jazz music of today. This is a fine time to be in the city of Manhattan, in fact it’s a swingin’ time in the city if the truth be told.

Many people associate great theater with three cities: London, New York, and Chicago.  But Miami, Florida is also a good place to see a show, and has been ever since the city was founded in 1870, a hundred and forty years ago.  One of the more famous was the coconut Grove Playhouse, which was the first in the United States to premiere Waiting for Godot, and which served as a staging ground for a few others plays which transferred to Broadway, such as The Big Love and Sunshine Boys.

While the Grove Playhouse is currently closed, if you were to book yourself into one of the fine hotels Miami has downtown, you’ll still find a vibrant theater scene, including the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Biscayne Boulevard.  This venue is one of the pinnacles of performance in Miami and includes the Ziff Ballet Opera House (where the Florida Grand Opera and the Miami City Ballet perform), as well as the Knight Concert Hall, which is home to the Concert Association of Florida and the New World Symphony.

In addition, you’ll find the Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables, less than ten miles away.  This company performs at the Miracle Theatre and is a non-profit, critically acclaimed theater, winning awards for Best Musical Theater in South Florida for four years in a row.  The GableStage, also in Coral Cables, was once known as the Florida Shakespeare Theater and is now located at the Biltmore, presenting original and Shakespearean productions.

For history’s sake, you might want to check out the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, over at 174 East Flagler Street, where the theater opened originally as a silent movie house in 1926.  Today, it’s the site of The Florida Philharmonic, as well as the Miami International Film Festival, among others.

Finally, at the University of Miami, you’ll find the Jerry Herman Ring Theater, a venue for shows produced by UM, but also a venue for traveling companies, such as City Theater.  Nearby, The New Theatre is a husband-and-wife run company that’s been operating since 1986, and has a mission of bringing the theatrical experience to young people.

Clearly, no matter what your taste in theater, if you’re in Miami, that taste will be satisfied!

If you’re an outdoors person, you’re going to love the state parks in Georgia; however, if you’re like me, you’re also going to want to find one of the hotels Georgia offers its more “outdoors-challenged” travelers.  Even while staying in Atlanta, it’s a simple thing to make the trip out to the parks, to visit Whitney Lake or Fort Clinch State Park, Jeckyll Island or Cumberland Island.  Personally, I’d like to take a closer look at Amicalola Falls.

The word Amicalola derives from the Cherokee and means “tumbling waters,” which, when it refers to a 729 foot waterfall seems appropriate enough. In fact, they’re the highest cascading waterfall that lies east of the Mississippi River.  The waterfall is high in the Amicalola Mountain, where a river runs, sloping down on the western side, and dropping from a ledge off the Blue Ridge Mountains’ southern end.  There’s a trail that provides an easy hike to the falls, with signs and lights at night, offering excellent views of the Amicalola watershed beneath the falls.  If you drive up, parking on the west side might be limited; however, on the east side of the falls, there should be extensive parking areas.  There’s a deck that crosses the creek, allowing you to step out over the falls.  From this deck, you may see a view that takes in the foothills of the Dahlonega Uplands, or the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

The park and waterfall actually mark the Southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which extends from Georgia to Maine, a footpath leading over 2,175 miles long.   The idea of the trail was thought of in 1921 and completed in 1937, sixteen years later.   Each year, about four million people use the trail, hiking or sight-seeing.  Near Amicalola, there’s a five mile trail that will take you to a visitor center where you’ll see an Appalachian Trail display, live animals, and nature exhibits.  If you’re hungry, you might also try out the park’s Maple Restaurant, which people like for the terrific views and, on Sundays, a buffet brunch.  And, then, if you’re like me, after communing with nature, you can return to your hotel and the comforts of the city.

Hong Kong is the most modern city I’ve ever visited. Free Internet kiosks in all the MTRs, not a piece of chewed gum on the floor and scraps of paper blowing about. People politely line up to board the train, which comes every 2 to 3 minutes! That would be great if New York was like this, all clean and polite. There are outdoor escalators ready to whisk you away to an uphill destination. I’m thinking that it might just be possible to walk the whole of central Hong Kong without setting foot on the ground by making use of the elevated pedestrian breezeways that connect one building to the next.

Hong Kong is actually made up of many islands and a peninsula from the mainland. All the skyscrapers of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island are in an area on the mainland peninsula stand off against each other across the Victoria Harbor and that is were I stayed. If it Kowloon and Hong Kong were in competition, Hong Kong would win, but Kowloon has most other cities in the whole world beat. At a distance, they both are equal bustling modern metropolises, but on most of Hong Kong Island the modern eclipses the traditional, and the opposite is true for Kowloon.

A fish food smell pervades through out Kowloon, it permeates everything. After a couple of day of the persistent smell, it has come to epitomize the contrast of the modern and the traditional here. Fish merchants gut the organs of live fish at the base of the gleaming skyscrapers. Alongside the tea sets are individually wrapped antibacterial wipes. Sooth Sayers and Fortune Tellers text during their breaks on their iPhones. It makes for a fascinating time of observation as I make my way to my Hong Kong hotel, which is a completely different world.

I’m in downtown New Delhi, having just arrived here a few hours ago via train from Mumbai. The whole experience has been a very dizzying one, to say the least. I’m in an Internet cafe and there are more Americans and Europeans than what I’ve seen all day.

My trip has be flawless, that is until I hit Mumbai. My Amtrak train was early! My plane took off early, so I arrived in Amsterdam early and arrived in Mumbai early. After going through customs, it was about 1am and there wasn’t a place to hangout until morning, so I got a pre-paid taxi and found a hotel Delhi India not far from Victoria Terminus Station.

The taxi ride, was…well, what a ride! I went through 15 miles of slums, a city still very much awake, no existing lanes, ignored traffic signals and to say the driving here is wild, is an understatement. At one point, when approaching a red light, my driver didn’t even let off the gas, he just laid on the horn instead. If anyone has watched the Youtube video on crossing the street in India, well, that’s exactly what it’s like! There is now no doubt in my mind that the most dangerous thing one can do in India is cross the road. The only saving grace is that no one can speed, too much traffic.

I don’t really know what to say about the 7 million people living in the slums of Mumbai. I suppose maybe the ‘seasoned’ traveler will think I’m too soft, uninitiated and innocent. I won’t describe it, word or photos can not capture just how bad the poverty is here, it’s worse than seeing your grandparents naked. Nothing, no guidebooks, or blogs will ever prepare you for what you’ll see, feel, hear and smell. So, I suppose I need to harden myself and hold back the tears. But, then I remember how Mother Teresa couldn’t hold back the tears, couldn’t harden herself. She let the full brunt of India smack her right in the heart to India and India poured itself into her.

Phillip had never been to Jackson, Mississippi before and was really looking forward to the opportunity to explore it. He had a cousin, Jerry, who had grown up in Jackson and had always mentioned some of the intriguing cultural aspects and attractions. Jerry moved away when he went to college and was now living in Boston, though he still missed Jackson and returned regularly for visits. This is related to the reason Phillip will soon be visiting. Their family is planning a large reunion picnic at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park. Phillip is a poker player and always thought this was a funny name for a park.

There were many places Phillip would like to visit and possibly see a performance at while he’s in Jackson. He had made arrangements with his brother Raul to share a room together in one of the Jackson hotels and hoped that Raul would be interested in exploring the city with him. And while it was true that Raul would in fact be interested in exploring Jackson, the two brothers had inherently different interests and tastes. They found that this was still true when Raul responded and said it would be great to see a production at the Mississippi Opera. And while they both loved music, Phillip was much more interested in attending the Jubilee! Jam since they were going to be there in June.

As it turned out, the brothers were able to do both of these and even more. The picnic was beautiful and it took place on a clear day with a gorgeous breeze. The humidity was low and it was a perfect day in the park. Phillip had a great time visiting with family members he hadn’t seen in years. He, his brother and their cousin Jerry spent a few nights out on the town and Jerry showed them the sights as he reminisced about his early days. It was nice for Phillip to finally have images to go along with the numerous stories Jerry told about his high school days at Wingfield High School. And he had plenty of them from his glory days playing football for the Wingfield Falcons.