Sexy Savanah

posted by Savanah on Mar 31

Austin is full of great cultural attractions and of course its music scene is, as they describe it, the best in the world. Meanwhile, the opportunities for outdoor activities and recreational pursuits is also one of the great things about the city and the surrounding area and the lakes, great hikes and beautiful parks entice many of the guests staying in Austin. Luxury hotel concierges and front desk attendants will have good information on the best place to hike, bike ride or rent a boat and go out on one of the beautiful lakes.

Lady Bird Lake is one of the most popular lakes and recreational areas in downtown Austin. It is fitting that the beautiful reservoir that adds to the atmosphere and dynamic of downtown be named after the First Lady who was intent on beautifying the nation. In addition, she had a hand in the revitalization of the lake in the mid 1970s after the area had become run down and degraded. Lady Bird Partnered with the then Mayor Roy Butler to establish the Town Lake Beautification Committee. A series of hike and bike trails was established and the area has become one of the city’s most prized recreation centers.

Zilker Park is adjacent to the lake and is largest park in the downtown area. Numerous musical events and festivals take place here including the famous Austin City Limits Music Festival . In addition, there are various water sport and recreational facilities to rent canoes and other equipment. The University of Texas Women’s Rowing Team practices on the lake all year long. It is extremely popular with all crew teams. Barton Springs Pool is a great fresh water pool that runs into Lady Bird Lake. It is a favorite for swimmers. The lake is also easy to find and tourists either arrive there by accident, as they follow the sounds of the concerts, or they seek it out intentionally. It is a perfect place for a mid afternoon picnic or a brief break from all of the activities of downtown.

posted by Savanah on Mar 29

The mythological symbol for Singapore is the Merlion, represented by a statue in Merlion Park inside Marina Bay. It’s worth a trip to this landmark to see the half fish/half lion creature that pours water from its mouth into the city-state’s river. In fact, the statue draws in a million sight-seers a year, providing a place for people to relax and watch from terraced chairs the excellent views of the Singapore skyline, as well as taking in the waterfront. Your trip to the Merlion may be easily remembered by any one of a number of trinkets and souvenirs, such as Merlion refrigerator magnets and t-shirts and key chains. The Merlion statue is the representation of the Merlion Malay: Singa-Laut, a fictional animal with the body of a fish and the head of a lion. It commemorates the city’s original name and its present one: Temasek, which means “sea town” in Javanese, and Singapura, which means “lion city.” For any traveler to Singapore, the Merlion Park is a great place to start.

To explore a part of Singapore’s past involvement with British colonialism, then a visit to one of the historic buildings is in order. Pass by Istana , once known as Government House, where you will find the office of the President of Singapore. The building was constructed in 1867 to 1869, one hundred and forty-one years ago, by the first Governor of Singapore, Sir Harry St. George Ord. It’s architecture is in style of Palladian Anglo-Indian and its landscape and yards contain a 105 mm cannon from Japan, a statue six feet high of Queen Victoria, sculpted from Sicilian marble, an old well and four ponds. The grounds are open to the public on special days of the year, usually celebrating Chinese New Year or Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa, National Day, and Labour Day.

Following a stroll past the historic sites, you might come across an historic market place known as Lau Pa Sat (also known as Telok Ayer Market). The market was started in 1894, one hundred and sixteen years ago; today, it’s well known as a hawker center. The building is historic, Victorian in nature, and may be found in the center of Singapore’s business area. During the day, you’ll find office workers at lunch. At night, the street closes and vendors fill with with food stalls, where you can find a great evening meal of charcoal-grilled satay, roti prata, nasi goreng, seafood barbecue, and chicken wings. If you want a number of great choices for dinner, then Lau Pa Sat is the place to go. You’ll find it near the Raffles Place MRT Station.

After a full day of sight-seeing and dining, you’ll probably be ready to return to your hotel room for a relaxing night’s sleep. You may find a great place, simply by clicking here .

posted by Savanah on Mar 26

Have the kids gotten old enough to sit in the car for longer periods of time? Is it time to load them up and hit the road with the dodge caravan repair manual by your side and see some of the amazing sights. Which Highway is it going to be? There are many fantastic American highways to travel. If you haven’t made it up Highway 1 along the California coast maybe this would be a good time.
Maybe you would rather leave the kids at grandma’s house while you take this road trip. Maybe you would rather run it with a nice sedan or an old classic Ford Mustang. Just make sure you have the reliable manuals  you need to keep it running smoothly. There are some great sights to see along the way.
If you start out in the Los Angeles area it will be at the Santa Monica Pier which is a great stop. This is also the end of the Route 66 that comes across the country from Chicago. The pier is a historical marker for Santa Monica. From there the drive takes you through Malibu Beach and on up to beyond San Francisco. Some say the best place to start is San Francisco or Monterey because following the highway south give a better view and easier road side stops for photo ops. The north part of the drive is really some of the most beautiful parts of the drive. The drive itself is a state of mind. One has to be in it just for the drive itself and not worrying about when the next stop will be. Turn on some great music that motivates you and take in the fresh air and sights with an open heart and you will be in driving bliss.

posted by Savanah on Mar 23

Las Vegas is a world unto itself, where almost any experience is possible. To begin your journey just choose a hotel. North Las Vegas has some great ones, for example. Then start figuring out what you’d really like to do. Gamble? No problem. Spa and resort? Check. Lively, even risque entertainment? Absolutely. The ability to achieve zero gravity without leaving the Earth’s atmosphere? Thanks to the Zero G Corporation , Las Vegas even offers this once impossible thrill.

The cost may seem a bit steep at a starting fee of 4,950 dollars a person, but that cost includes the experience of weightlessness twelve to fifteen times in a trip, as well as your own Zero-G flight suit and products, as well as photos, video, a weightless completion certificate (so you can prove you actually went to friends and family), as well as something the company calls a Regravitation Celebration, which sounds very much like a party upon your return to the land of gravity.

Zero gravity on Earth may only be achieved in an aircraft; in this case, the Zero G Corporation uses a modified Boeing 727, known as G-Force One, to engage in flight maneuvers known as parabolas. A parabola is achieved when a pilot flies to a height of about 24,000 feet, then pulls up, angling at 45 degrees, and reaching a height of 34,000 feet. Passengers will feel an increased pull of gravity of about 1.8 g’s; so, temporarily, you’ll weigh nearly twice what you might weigh on the Earth, but then, as the plane pushes into the next segment of the parabola, for approximately twenty to thirty seconds, everything and everyone aboard the plane will become weightless. As the pilot pulls out of the parabola, then floating passengers will return to the floor of the plane.

G-Force One will repeat the parabolic maneuver twelve to fifteen times high in the skies above Las Vegas. You’ll want to reserve about five hours for the experience. Unless you decide to become an astronaut, it’s the only way to find out what it’s like — even for a half minute at a time — to be free of one of the great natural forces in the world. All you need is the cash or the credit, and to find your way to McCarran International Airport in the middle of Vegas. Check with Zero G Corporation before you go, though, to confirm their scheduled flight dates.

posted by Savanah on Mar 19

New York is supposed to have a reputation lately for recent turns to vapid interests among the locals, and a general lack of depth in thought. Who knows why, perhaps it’s because it was held so high for all things intellectual and complex for so long. However, it can’t last long, and it won’t last long, because this is New York, and the people who live here are always testing each other.

It keeps things fresh, and it keeps minds sharp, and sometimes it makes for excellent art. These are some of the reasons why hotels like these continue to attract visitors wanting to see if the energy is still strong here. For those of us who are paying attention, it obviously is. And there are lots of splendid local things to see, and work to enjoy. One of the best things about the city is that you can sit in a small club, and hear a band play live music, and the sound is so good you wonder why they’re not famous. But then you discover that they are famous, and just want to play some small gigs for their fans here.

This is how groups like the Hold Steady seem to operate, and it’s great news for their peers at home. Based in Brooklyn, the Hold Steady are quietly picking up steam, and their music is making its way through the world.

This is good news for the world as well as for the band, because this is pretty smart and catchy stuff. With the members quoting Kerouac and talking about Beat culture in depth, we return to another New York again, where the anti-intellectual seems to be taking a back seat in favor of reason, and we get to enjoy moments of articulate bliss. The style is by turns sloppy and well-coordinated, but always slick and intentional. High energy rules their shows, and there’s no sense here that this is a boy band.

Looking more like your friends at a barbecue than supermodels turned into pop stars, there is a camaraderie here that commands an open ear, and a sharp mind.

posted by Savanah on Mar 16

Almost everyone has a tire changing story. There are lots of memories connected to these moments, because they almost always come at the most inopportune moments. Whether it’s a high-speed blowout, or a simple little flat that goes unnoticed until the rain starts to pick up, we have all found ourselves by the side of the road at some point, trying to figure out how to work the jack. Some days are luckier than others, when some kind-hearted mechanic or police officer will stop to help, and other times it’s a solitary venture that seems to go on forever.

Moments like these remind us of how important it is to maintain your car tires , and sometimes a flat can be an excuse to finally get the trick new set of wheels that you’ve always wanted. Some of the inconvenience of having to change your tires is very much helped out by some of the best tire changing stories. It’s pretty hard for some of us not to think about Ralphie in the Christmas Story ‘s tire changing scene, and that little chuckle that always comes back can be enough to keep you a little bit warmer, or at least help to see the humor in these things.

That iconic scene, however, also reveals where we’ve come in terms of tire technology. It’s fascinating to see how things have changed over time, and it’s also interesting to see how films will try to create the past, even when they sometimes get some key details a little bit mixed up. The vintage tires in that scene are changed with nuts, when it’s only bolts that were on the wheels of that particular vintage. Special thanks go out to those who watch for anachronisms in classic films to point this out.

posted by Savanah on Mar 15

Traffic isn’t that bad in Philadelphia and parking was easy to find. Before we checked into our hotel, we went to the Independence Hall Visitors Center and picked up some great information. The center has this really cool touch console where we could view all sorts of local information. We could even print out (for free!) what we were interested in seeing and it comes with a map. We printed out the information about the Liberty Bell, which was right across the street.

There wasn’t a long line at the Liberty Bell and the line moved fairly quickly, even with all the security in place checking purses and bags. We imagined the bell to be larger than it really is, but it was still pretty cool. Afterwards, we walked down a few blocks and tried to take a tour for Independence Hall, but the only place to get tickets was back at the Visitors Center, so we walked back to where we started and found out that the next tour for Independence Hall was 3 hours away.

We decided to find a good place to eat lunch and get a Philly cheesesteak. We found a place called By George located in the Reading Terminal Market. We both ordered a Philly cheesesteak and after a few bites realized that we could’ve ordered one Philly cheesesteak, because one sandwich feeds at least three people! But, somehow we both managed to finish our cheesesteaks and down an apple fritter that we bought from the Amish bakery located in the same market. Reading Terminal Market is huge and mostly has food places that serve almost any kind of meal imaginable.

We figured we still had time before the Independence Hall tour, so we decided to get back into our car and drive to one of the best luxury Philadelphia hotels in the whole city. Our hotel wasn’t far from where we were, so after we checked in, we walked down to they Besty Ross House for a tour. It was a self-guided tour and it only cost $3 each, the tour isn’t bad at all. There are people dressed in clothes of the period telling stories of Betsy Ross. We still had a bit of time before the Independence Hall tour, so we walked down to Penn Landing, then finally headed to the tour, which was worth the wait and very informative. It lasted approximately 30 minutes.

We were still so full from lunch, we didn’t do anything for dinner, didn’t need to, our stomachs were still reeling from a pound of Philly cheesesteak.

posted by Savanah on Mar 8

For many people there a just a few selections of words or phrases that will come to mind immediately when asked to name something associated with the city of Rome. I actually tried this on a few different people, in different places and from different demographic backgrounds and aside from my brother, who said, pizza, they all responded by saying the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pope , the Catholic Church or architecture. Okay, a few more people said pizza than my brother. In fact quite a few said pasta, pizza, Italian food or wine. I was just anticipating that they would all say something from the above-mentioned list. And while many, maybe even most did, there was actually a much larger percentage that first thought of the food and drink of this historic city than what I expected.

So, it turns out that Italian food isn’t just popular in the United States, it even has quite a following right there in Rome. And there are plenty of cafes and restaurants that serve the finest of local cuisine as well as great food from around the world. However, for my brother and other individuals in my study, not to mention the many guests in some of the historic suites in a Rome hotel , pizza, pasta and dessert and wine are on their minds.

Da Baffetto is one of the local pizzeria’s that is perfect for eager tourists who want to enjoy some of Rome’s best pizza as well as take in the city’s ambiance. This is also an inexpensive and affordable place to enjoy a delicious pizza and there is seating both indoors and out on the sidewalk. It is covered and heated during the colder winter months, but is open and a great place to sit and enjoy the passersby as you eat your pizza. Trattoria Monti is a great option for a wider variety of pastas and foods and most of its selections are based on the regional offerings of the Marches, which is located just northeast of Rome. And while so many people are interested in the great food of the city I’m sure that as soon as they’re finished eating, they’re planning on running straight over to view Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel.

posted by Savanah on Mar 8

I drove out from Albuquerque and got to witness tons of hot air balloons in the sky, I knew the city was known for its hot air balloons , but I had no idea just how much; there must be a festival going on this weekend. They were beautiful floating up in the sky; kind of made me sad I was leaving, but I was on my way to San Antonio, Texas.

After about 200 miles driving through New Mexico, I entered into Texas. Texas is approximately 870 if you continually drive through on the I-10 interstate, San Antonio is only 572 miles, which is still pretty far, especially the drive is pretty boring going through desert nothingness. When I drove only about 100 miles, I was stopped by a US Customs station! That really perplexed me, I mean, what was a Customs station doing in the middle of the I-10? It’s not like I anywhere near the border, or that I crossed the boarder to get here, really confusing. So, I pull over and the Border Control agent asked if I was a citizen of the United States and then wanted to know where I was going! I can’t believe my taxes are paying for this!

I told her I was heading to San Antonio, and then she wanted to know why, and then where I was going after that! She then wanted to know why I was going to Baton Rouge! Then she asked if my bags are with me in the car…I mean, really! I can see that it’s important to make sure no terrorist are crossing our borders, but this is not the border! She asked to see what was in my trunk, I popped the trunk open for her and she saw that my bags were indeed in my trunk. She came back around and told me I could go. I drove through California, Arizona and New Mexico, all on the I-10, and there wasn’t a US border station in any of those 3 states. Texas really is in a different state of mind.

I finally arrived in San Antonio and I got all confused, the I-10 splits with an upper level and a lower level, my GPS didn’t help me at all. So, I pulled over and pulled up the map that my hotel provides at this site and saw that I was heading in the right direction. I found the hotel with no problem after bringing up their map online. After I checked in and went to my room, I took a nap and had all these strange dreams about being in Texas. I just hope that San Antonio has a different atmosphere then what I’ve experienced of Texas so far. If the hotel staff is any indicator, then I believe I’ll have a great time.