Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala

Todays random city from geo-pick.com is Ciudad de Guatemala. Guatemala City for those that are Spanish language challenged.

A very intriguing city with much of interest. For instance, within the city limits of the modern city lies an ancient city of the Maya called Kaminaljuyu. Kaminaljuyu was first inhabited well over 3000 years ago. Unfortunately during the growth of the last century a lot of the ruins were built over before the government starting protecting what is left. There are still a number of ruins including a ceremonial area of the ancient city. Guatemala City is also the location from which Central America declared it's independence from Spain.

The city sports an enormous number of sites and cultural activities as well as a film festival featuring Central American films.

Planning a trip should take into consideration the weather. Guatemala has a rainy season similar to other tropical and subtropical countries which runs from May through October. While it does not rain continuously for that entire time it rains a lot and believe me if you have never been in a country with this type of weather there are times when it not only rains but it RAINS!

Do not let that keep you away. If you can afford to travel hen by all means this is a country and city that I would say should be seen. Should I have the financial ability to do so I will absolutely be travelling here some day.

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Oberholzer, South Africa

This is my first post based on geo-pick.com’s random town of the day. From what I can tell Oberholzer is actually a neighborhood of Carletonville, South Africa. According to my research there are few businesses there but very few and no information at all about what the town is like and why someone would want to travel there if at all.

Anyone that has perhaps been there please send me an email with any info you can provide and I will update this post which is rather sparse in information and probably does not do justice to the area at all.

Technorati Tags: random town,carletonville,target,email,south africa,neighborhood

A gift of the Best Perfume!

For those who like to wear or give gifts of the best perfume you can buy, there is a site that can provide a wondrous selection of non toxic, cruelty free perfumes made 100% in the United States from natural & essential oils.

The scents are brilliant creations and there is absolutely no animal testing involved. These are creations that are fabulously decadent scents without being hideously expensive and can quite easily claim to be some of the best perfume around.

Imagine headed out on the town with a perfume that brings images of the ancient Kasbah with the scents of Sandalwood and Myrrh. Perhaps something that makes you long for the tropics with a hint of Meyer Lemon and Satsuma Mandarin or a walk in the country with Summer Forsythia and Pink Plumeria.

You can get samples of a number of the scents and the site boasts “Real Perfume for Real Women” and with this selection I would have to agree with them. You can also sign up for an email list to be informed of the newest best perfume out there.

Give it a try. I suspect that you will be quite happy with the results of their best perfume list.

Technorati Tags: satsuma mandarin,target,forsythia,kasbah,plumeria,animal testing,real women,myrrh,sandalwood,scents,essential oils,perfume,tropics,email list,images

New Format

I am changing up the format a bit. Still researching and giving thoughts on what to see on theoretical vacations but using a web site I just found. Geo-Pick.com is a pretty cool site in that it brings up a random town from about 4000 in it’s database when you go to the site so I will be researching those towns as they come up.

If nothing else I should have a pretty good amount of knowledge of cities around the world should I ever have enough money to actually do any serious travel.

Technorati Tags: random town,cities around the world,cool site,enough money,vacations

Vacations This Summer.

I wonder just how many people will not be able to take a vacations this year. Gas prices are at an all time high for this early in the year and they will inevitably go up over the summer. When the cost of the fuel to get you there is equal to or even close to the price the rest of the trip will cost then I am certainly not going there.

This will be a good year to practice the staycation by learning what you have available near you. I will touch on a few areas that I am familiar with that are reasonably close to where I live. By reasonable close I mean you can get there and back on just a couple tanks of gas.

Home for me is the South Central Pennsylvania area in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Gettysburg area. There are loads of things to see and do very close by and quite a lot to see and do within about a 4-5 hour drive.

First, easiest and certainly least expensive would be the very local. Harrisburg itself has a number of very interesting things. The John Harris/Simon Cameron Museum. This is a mansion used first by John Harris Sr. who worked as Ambassador to the Native Americans for William Penn from whom Pennsylvania gets it’s name.

Just a very few miles north of Harrisburg you will find the Rockville Bridge which to this day remains the longest Stone Arch railroad bridge in the world.

About 20 minutes east of the city is a town with a name known by almost everyone in the world. Hershey is a very recognized word and where the first manufacturing facility for Hershey’s chocolate was built. Of course you also have Hershey Park and adjacent to the park is Chocolate World which will take you on a ride through the acquisition of the cacao beans and the process used to create the wonderful; masterpiece known as chocolate.

If you continue on a bit further east you come to Lancaster County which is home to a large number of Amish and has a number of sites and attractions to allow you to learn of them.

From Lancaster we move Southwest and arrive in York, PA which has the distinction of having been the capital of the United States for a short period of time near the beginning of this nation.

From York we move to the west and we come across the site of perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg and the National Military Park in and around it can give you days of exploration for those who enjoy history. The battlefield has over 30 miles of roads you can drive while following the signs for a self guided tour or you can get a tape or CD that will narrate your trip. You can also go on a bus tour of the battlefield and for those who like a bit more personal attention there are licensed guides you can hire.

This is a good start to the staycation and I will post more on this shortly.

 

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