This can be explained by “earworms,” which are melodies that get stuck in your head. Advertisers use this with catchy melodic jingles. If you find yourself walking around singing the Baby Back Ribs commercial, you are the victim of an earworm.

Now, a series from Berlitz called Earworms Learning has put this annoying phenomenon to good use, by creating audio CDs designed to drill a foreign language into your head. They do this by using the same catchy melodies utilized by advertising agencies.

Are you a skeptic? Quick: How do you say, “Do you want to sleep with me tonight?” in French?

In case you’re too young to know the answer: “Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?”

For you geeky types who need to know the science behind everything, according to the Earworms Learning website, extensive research has been conducted by the Bulgarian physician Georgi Lozanov, who discovered that “music puts listeners into a state of relaxed alertness, the alpha state, the ideal state of consciousness for learning.”

The Earworms Learning Program comes in two volumes. In volume one, you’ll learn basic travel dialogue, that will help you order at a restaurant, shop, ask for directions and other useful conversational tidbits. Volume two teaches you to hold a conversation and actually talk about yourself. Courses are available in French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and more.
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I first read about this in Uptake Blog: Explore the Natural Side of Las Vegas, and I’m sure glad I did!  It’s a wonderful place - better than I had anticipated.

Did you know that Las Vegas is Spanish for “the meadows”?  You sure wouldn’t guess it looking around today at this concrete city in the desert - it doesn’t look much like meadow territory!  But until the mid-20th century, a natural spring here created a little oasis in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  Various native tribes lived here or camped here over many centuries, and in the late 1800s other people started arriving too.  The spring became a regular stop for anybody crossing the desert.  Eventually, as people started moving in, drilling wills and tapping the underground aquifer, the spring ran dry.

From the geology of how the mountains and springs were formed, through the animals, plants, and people who lived here at different times, the Springs Preserve takes you all the way to today’s desert life, with its water and sustainability issues.  There are displays, movies, interactive exhibits, and games, and it’s done in an imaginative and interesting way.

On the train to Las Vegas, early 1900s

One part I thought was fun was an old train car from the early 1900s.  You enter, and there are life-size statues of people on some train seats, and there’s also a seat you can sit on, to take your place on the train.  As the train “leaves the station”, the scenery outside the train windows starts to move, and the sound effects make it seem like you’re really riding the rails.  The “people” on the other seats start talking to each other about traveling to Las Vegas, and details of their plans there.  It’s so much more engaging than a simple display would have been - it puts you right in the middle of the history.

There’s also an area of trails through the desert, that visit a few ruins along the way, like the old spring house that was built to cover and protect the spring.  It’s unusual to be walking through the desert of mojave yucca, creosote bush, and prickly pear cactus, with the high-rise towers of modern Las Vegas right behind.

Desert trails in the middle of Las Vegas

Next time you’re in Las Vegas and want to escape the sound of slot machines for a couple of hours, I highly recommend the Springs Preserve.

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You can find some great deals right now on Las Vegas hotels, especially if you’re able to do weeknights.  I’m staying at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, and have a lovely view of the lights of the Vegas strip from an 18th floor room.  Best of all?  Sunday night stay is just $25!  You can’t get a Motel 6 in a dumpy section of Phoenix for that price.
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(If video doesn’t show for you, click here to view on YouTube)
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What’s the solution? Click here… Protect yourself, or consider as an inexpensive gift for your travelling friends. They make great stocking stuffers.

And most important… You can avoid those toothbrush nightmares forever!

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In the course of my travels, I run across numerous travel problems, and products that solve them (or claim to).  I’ll give you the straight scoop on my findings (with a touch of humor!), in our Travel Gear section. Stay tuned for more!

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Now this is a road sign you don’t see every day!  How many places can claim to have a turtle crossing?

Tybee Island is just a short distance from Savannah, Georgia, and it’s known as “Savannah’s beach”.  There’s a long sandy beach, a picturesque lighthouse, and…  turtles!

Every year, endangered loggerhead sea turtles return to this area to nest on the beaches of Tybee Island, between May and August.

The turtle population declined over the years enough that the loggerheads were listed as endangered.  Though human activity, lights, and pollution are all still problems for the turtles, there’s now a monitoring and nest protection plan in place. Volunteers check every day for new nests, and protect them from harm.  Sometimes they need to carefuly relocate a nest to a safer spot, to give the youngsters a better chance for survival.  Their odds are tough enough - only about one in a thousand reaches adulthood.

But wait, there’s more!  It’s not the sea turtles that cross the road, it’s their cousin, the diamondback terrapin.  Listed as a “species of concern” in Georgia, the diamondback is the only turtle in North America that lives exclusively in brackish salt-marsh water.  The females seek higher ground to lay their eggs, and that’s when they crawl out of the marsh and onto the road.

In 2005, over 250 diamondbacks died on this stretch of highway — mostly females heavy with eggs.  Volunteers now try to help them across the road, or scoop up turtles killed by vehicles, and try to save the eggs and raise the young turtles.

Video of students releasing baby turtles (Cuteness warning!)

In Arizona, this sign probably would have had more bullet holes in it than the few you see here.  Let’s just hope that the yahoos who shoot up the signs do this instead of killing the real thing.

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I’m in Savannah, Georgia now - putting the finishing touches on our new women’s tour to Savannah. I can tell you now that it’s looking like a fabulous fun time! Details will be ready for publication soon!
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Inside the baths, looking out

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The most famous must-see spot in the British Virgin Islands is The Baths. It’s an amazing beach!

As you approach The Baths (near the tip of Virgin Gorda), from the water, it looks very weird.  It’s like somebody just dumped a load of massive rocks there.  There are enormous boulders in a jumble, with some stacked on top of others, and some heading down into the sea.  They don’t look like they belong here, on this beautiful sandy beach, with the waving palm trees.

Actually, there are two beaches, with a trail that runs between them.  And you’ve GOT to take the trail when you’re there!  That’s the best part!

The trail winds through the boulders.  You’re walking on the sand, on the rocks, and through the water.  In places you have to scramble over or duck under house-sized rocks, sometimes holding onto a rope as you go.  There are numerous pools of water inside the rocks, making for unusual vantage points and incredible settings.

The whole experience is unique. and highly recommended!  Hopefully you’ll be there when it’s not too crowded, so you can take some time to savor it, without feeling like there’s a parade going by.  Even if the crowd are there though, it’s still a find.  A must-see indeed!

If you’ve got a little energy left at the end, try the other trail up the hill to a little open-air bar.  It’s a lovely place to grab a cold drink, sit in the shade, and look down at the view — islands, flowers, beaches, sailboats.  Sit back and think…  yes, this is paradise. 

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Our British Virgin Islands sailing trips always fit in a stop at the baths, and it’s a memorable highlight.  The first time I was there, I was totally amazed, and I bet you will be, too!
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Getting ready for our zip line adventure!

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On our Costa Rica trips, many people’s favorite part is the zip line adventure.  It’s very cool!

You get fitted out in a climbing harness, and given a little instruction on what to do. Then you climb up to the highest of a series of platforms.  They hook you onto a cable that runs between the platforms, then you fly along the cable to the next stop.  As you let go of the security of the first platform, there’s bound to be a little apprehension, but by the end of the final “zip”, you’re wishing you could go again!

There’s not much to it, really, and no physical strength required.  Gravity does all the work of getting you from platform to platform.  You just fly through the air, and enjoy the ride! 

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Our next Costa Rica tour for women is coming up in February.  If you want to get away to the tropics that time of year, Costa Rica is a beautiful destination — and be sure to try the zip line!

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The primary reason they cite is that for those of us in the US, things are apt to get better economically after the election is over.  I can’t say for sure if this is true or not, but there is some logic to it.  Whoever wins the election, it will accomplish two things for sure:  (a) usher in a change from the current unpopular administration, and (b) lessen the uncertainty level, once we know the outcome of the election.  In addition, the winner will have a incentive to make things better for normal Americans.  There are all those campaign promises, after all!

Travelogger:  Why you should travel in winter

Of course the other big reason to vacation in the winter is to escape the winter!  I lived up north enough years to know how appealing a warm, tropical getaway can be when January and February roll around. By then, winter always felt like “enough already”! 

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Gee, I hope they’re right, and things really do improve for us after the election!  Then people could stop dreading the financial news, and get back to the important things…  Sailing in the Virgin Islands, or exploring the Costa Rica rainforest… 
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No related posts.

There was an amazing sailboat in the bay at the time — the Maltese Falcon, reportedly the largest sailing yacht in the world.

Here’s the “before” picture, taken on Saturday, with the Maltese Falcon, and Angel Island in the background.

Maltese Falcon & Angel Island - day before fire

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Boat, Island, Fire

Here’s the “after picture, taken on Sunday. Same boat, same island. What a difference a day makes!

Burning photo is at Sailing Anarchy.  Click the thumbnail for the full amazing photo.

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I was in San Francisco for our annual Napa Valley & San Francisco tour, and stayed an extra day to go sailing.  Little did I realize that about the time I was getting home from my trip, this fire was starting on Angel Island.

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Walls of Tuzigoot

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Not far from Sedona, Arizona, lie the ruins of Tuzigoot, an ancient Sinagua town that was abandoned centuries ago.

Tuzigoot National Monument (pronounced “too-zee-goot”) is part of the southwest US’s mysterious history. This small hilltop town was built by the Sinagua people about a thousand years ago, and there’s so much we don’t know. We don’t know what they called themselves, or called this place. We don’t know why they left, or where they went.

All the names we use would be foreign to them. Spanish explorers named these ancient people Sinagua “without water” since so many of their ruins were in dry, desert locations. The Apache named this site Tuzigoot “crooked water”, since it was by a bend in the river.

The people started building Tuzigoot about a thousand years ago. Generations of Sinaguans (or whatever their own name was) lived here, expanding the pueblo buildings over a period of 400 years. And then they were gone.

As you walk through the ruins, you can imagine it full of life. About 200 people lived here at its peak. The hilltop would have been full of people talking, children laughing, everyone going about their daily business. I can picture the women grinding corn in the plaza, exchanging gossip and tales about their children. The men would be out hunting, hoping to return with a rabbit, deer, or other meat for the family. Kids would be kids — surely they had more chores and work responsibilities than children now do, but I bet they were running around yelling and laughing and getting into trouble back then, too. Some of the older folks would be complaining about toothache (a common problem in those days, with no dental care).

When you’ve been living in a town for centuries, why pick up and leave? It’s one thing for some of Tuzigoot’s young people to take off for another nearby town. We know the Sinagua had an extensive trade network, and must have met people from other places. But why would everyone leave?

Tuzigoot was on top of this hill for 400 years — longer than the US has existed. It’s far longer than most of our present towns and cities have been around. So why would everyone leave?

This story, often called “the abandonment” is a recurring theme throughout the southwest. The great Anasazi cities at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon were abandoned, as were many others throughout their realm. The Sinagua did the same thing.

View from the Sinagua ruins at Tuzigoot

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What makes Tuzigoot especially puzzling is that the location here seems ideal. As you can see in this photo, there’s plenty of greenery around here.  By a bend in the river, with a small lagoon and marsh, this place is practically an oasis in the desert. Why leave this prime spot and travel across the hostile desert to who knows where?

Theories abound as to why they left, and where they went.  That could be a whole series of posts on its own!  Right now, there’s more mystery than solid fact, and that’s part of what makes Tuzigoot so fascinating.

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I’m in Sedona right now, on our women’s trip to Sedona. We visited Tuzigoot yesterday, and it’s such a cool place. A ranger here told me once that he believes we will eventually solve the mysteries through more advanced archaeological techniques. In the meantime, it makes you wonder…

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San Francisco Bay, from the Golden Gate Bridge

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A few days later, the scene was a bit more crowded! Fleet Week gets all the once-a-year boaters out on the water, and everybody heads for the middle of the bay. If you want to rent a sailboat for this time, book early, and be prepared for an extra-steep deductible, since the folks at the Modern Sailing Academy in Sausalito said this amateur hour leads to accidents every year.  It’s easy to see how!  There were hundreds of boats out here near Alcatraz, all jockeying for position, while craning their necks and peering up at the sky.  Some were anchored, some were motoring about, some drifted slowly with the current, and occasional show-offs tacked through the crowd under full sail.

Fleet Week crowd near Alcatraz

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And here’s what everybody was waiting for — the Blue Angels.  They were the featured act, following a number of other air show entries, which were pretty astounding in their own right.  But there’s nothing like seeing (and hearing) the angels roar over your boat as they zoom over the bay in impossibly tight formation.  They do a lot of stunts over the water, and from a boat on the bay, you feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.  Very impressive!

Blue Angels, buzzing the bay

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All in all, the day was a blast!  We had a nice sail on the bay, then lunch anchored by Angel Island (the day before the island burned, as it turns out).  Follow that with the thrills of the air show (and the attendant boat show), and you’ve got the makings of a great day!

Just one caveat.  If you go, make sure one person on board is keeping an eye on the boat traffic, and you’re not all shooting plane pix at the same time. It’s a zoo out there!

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I was in San Francisco for our annual San Francisco and Napa Valley trip.  We do some hiking, some sightseeing, some wine tasting - and even a sunset sail on the bay. Fall is the perfect time of year there, too!

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