Jekyll Island is located off the coast of the state of Georgia. It is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and run by a self-sustaining, self-governing body.
The famous Jekyll Island Club Resort is the original hotel for the island dating from the 1890’s.
In the late 1800s, Jekyll Island became an exclusive hunting club for families with names like Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and Baker. The once private retreat is now part of The Jekyll Island Club National Historic Landmark District, one of the largest preservation projects in the southeast.
Our hero at the Island for the Christmas light show.
Every Christmas the Island is decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights and you can do a self drive through the Island Historical District and see the homes that were once owned by the families of America’s Glided Age lite up for the holidays. Covered in over 35,000 lights, the Great Tree has more lights per square foot than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City. Along Shell road, visitors can glimpse the Twelve Days of Christmas light displays from the Great Dunes Beach Park to the Historic District.
The island is covered with old Live Oak trees that have thousands of lights on them. The span of some of the trees is 100 feet or more.
The entire island is covered in Christmas lights during the holidays. The holidays are wonderful here- carriage rides, trolley tours, a free museum & history movie. Not really “shopping’ on Jekyll, but on St Simons there are lots of quaint shops (about 20 min). No wonder the Vanderbilts & Rockefellers lived here all winter! Check www.jekyll.com frequently. There is a great, updated events calendar well in advance. Enjoy! Extremely quiet, laid-back, more residential with history on one side, and then beach places on the other. But the entire island is a national park, so there are no go cart rides or normal beach “strip” type of things. Upscale & wonderful place.
Enjoy the beautiful ancient trees covered in lights and Spanish moss, then head to the hotel for hot chocolate and pastries is the way to end a December evening on Jekyll .
A city that I visit frequently is Atlanta, GA, and one of the places that I have never been in Atlanta is their world-famous Georgia Aquarium. So one winter afternoon I walked over from my Airbnb condo in mid-town Atlanta to this amazing complex and was absolutely enthralled with how it is set up, the size of their main aquarium and the five giant whale sharks that they have swimming around.
Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium and is home to hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries which contain over 10,000,000 US gallons of water both fresh and saltwater.
The Whale Sharks are a major attraction since they are so rare in captivity. They are members of the shark family, so they’re not mammals like whales. They are a slow-moving filter feeding carpet shark and they do not hunt or eat other fish. They will not attack you. They do eat plankton like whales, so they have that in common along with their size.
They’re not whales but they are the world’s largest fish. These huge creatures can grow up to 40 feet long but despite their size, whale sharks are often referred to as gentle Giants. The largest known whale shark ever recorded came in at around 62 feet long.
And for those of you who are offended by aquariums, these sharks do not do tricks. No creatures in the entire facility do any kind of tricks for humans or human audiences. The aquarium is an observation and study space for all creatures both freshwater and saltwater. Whale sharks are not well known as they keep to themselves and are usually solitary. These five make up the most whale sharks in one place anywhere in the world that are in an aquarium setting.
The aquarium is not inexpensive to get into. My ticket ran me $39.00 with online service charges because during Covid this is a non cash facility only accepting debit and credit cards. You must buy your tickets in advance and only online. Tickets may be purchased at this address. https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/tickets/
Parking is another $18.00 per car. However inside they have a full restaurant and bar offering cocktails, wine and many local craft beers from the Atlanta area. They have a petting area where children and adults can touch and feel the texture of starfish and various other sea creatures. They have albino alligators; they have flesh eating piranha from the Amazon River, they have fish and sea snakes and sea eels from all around the world plus they also have a freshwater section for fish that you would find in streams in North America. Of all the aquariums that I have visited including Long Beach, CA’s Aquarium of the Sea this is by far the most extensive and largest aquarium facility I have ever seen.
They also have an extensive collection of Penguins from various parts of the world and they are considered one of the best facilities for rescue and treating injured and orphaned fish and sea mammals in the world. Oddly enough, they are considered the top rehabilitation facility for rescued orphan and injured California sea otters.
An as an added bonus for $350.00 you can go scuba diving in the main aquarium area with an experienced diver as your guide. There are no sharks in this particular tank although they do have a very extensive Shark Tank filled with nurse sharks, hammerhead sharks, and tiger sharks. All of these are deadly predators.
This is one fun day to spend with the fishes! This is something that the whole family can enjoy or a couple looking for something different to do on a romantic outing or just a solo trip by yourself to enjoy the amazing Georgia Aquarium.
The aquarium is located at 225 Baker St NW Atlanta GA 30313. Phone number is 404-581-4000. Website is www.georgiaaquarium.org.
Again I apologize for the lateness of this follow-up article on Zion National Park. As you know from my last blog, my short film Divorce During Pandemic is getting a lot of activity on the film festival circuit and I have been busy with that. Also because of the length of time between the first blog on Zion and this one I’ve decided to combine day 2 and 3 of the trip into one blog.
The 2nd morning I woke up at my hotel in La Verkin and drove the 17 miles to Springdale to the official entrance to the park. The 1st day I took the more difficult Watchman Trail but today I was taking the Pa’rus Trail which serves as the main trail into the interior of the park. If you recall from the previous blog the only way to get around the park is to walk, rent a bicycle or take one of the shuttles. And you can only get the shuttle pass the night before online for a dollar. You cannot purchase them at the park. If you miss the online sale then you can get a free ticket at 3 PM in the afternoon from one of the rangers at the shuttle pick-up and drop-off point. Other than that you’re on your own and all the really interesting sites and trails like the Emerald Pools Trail that leads to both the upper and lower pools and the Riverside Trail are farther into the park about 4 to 5 miles. You can only reach them by hiking in on foot or renting a bike. It behooves you unless you’re in there for an all-day hike is to take the shuttle which have several drop off and pick up points inside the park. For the shuttle schedule you can find that online at https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-canyon-shuttle-tickets.htm or pick up a shuttle guide from at the park headquarters at Zion.
Now the Pa’rus Trail is a much easier trail than the Watchman. It’s paved and it follows the course of the Virgin River as it runs through the park. It’s 1.75 miles in length (doubled to 3.5 round trip) and it’s not strenuous at all. However since it is paved, it’s the only pathway that bicycles can reach deep into the park so you are sharing the trail with bicycles so be cautious of that. There are some lovely views as you walk this trail. You also see a couple of waterfalls that are man-made. They are part of a water system that both the national park and the town of Springdale have worked out for them both to share the river and to keep it clean and flowing. Springdale uses the river of drinking water and other uses.
So I walked the full length of the Pa’rus Trail and got to the end of it where it joins the road that the shuttle buses use to take you further into the park when I realized I had made a mistake by not renting a bicycle originally. So I turned around and took a very leisurely 1.75 mile walk back the way I came. I had lunch at one of the restaurants that are very near the gateway to the park and then went and rented a bicycle. Now they can be rented on 2, 4 or 8 hour schedules. I asked the lady who ran the bicycle concession about the safety of the bicycle since they did not provide a lock or a chain and she told me that that theft inside the park are very rare. There are places to park the bikes at each trail head but you didn’t have to worry about them being stolen. If your bicycle actually was taken, then just take somebody else’s or let one of the shuttle bus drivers know that your bicycle has been taken and that they would take you back to the beginning of the park where you can tell the bicycle concession what happened.
So firm in that knowledge, I rode my bike back up the Pa’rus trail to where it meets the shuttle bus road that takes you further into the park. At this point the road is all uphill. Now I’m not as young as I used to be, and the elevation of this point is anywhere from 4000 to 6500 ft plus above sea level. You have to be aware to altitude sickness or just plain shortness of breath if you live in a lower area like myself. I live in Los Angeles which is at sea level, so I made it about another mile and half before I gave up. I cannot tell you what the Emerald Pools or the Riverside Trail look like but I understand they’re absolutely gorgeous. I turned around and rode my bicycle all the way downhill to the Pa’rus Trail and then on toward the park opening with stops along the way to pause by the waterfalls. The water looked inviting but there was a poisonous algae bloom in the water at that moment the was harmful to humans and deadly for dogs to drink. So it is VERY IMPORTANT to check all park postings before entering the park for possible dangerous situations. I dropped off my bike and drove home. All in all I walk or biked that day about 8.6 miles. It was a good day.
The next day I decided to visit the back country of Zion National Park, an area called Kolob Reservoir. If you want to experience the solitude and grandeur of Zion National Park without all the tourists that gather around the gateway in Springdale this is the place for you. Here you will find lovely high-country meadows, brilliant vistas and back country hiking and camping where it seems that you are the only person around. The park headquarters is where you get permission and licenses to use much of the remote back country of Zion but if you follow Kolob Terrace Rd which just off Utah 9 located in the town of Virgin. It is about about 10 miles from Springdale you will be able to drive all the way up to the reservoir through rolling pastureland, brilliant vistas, plateaus, ravines and canyons, and forests. This side of Zion is much greener then the red rock desert setting around the park headquarters. This area is more used for pasture land for the many ranches that dot this part of Utah. The road is in fairly good shape especially when you are crossing through the park. However sometimes it goes out of the park and crosses private land, and the quality of the of the road is not quite as good . But overall it is a safe drive that elevates from about 4000 feet to about 8000 feet which is where you will find the Kolob Reservoir which was created when they dammed Kolob Creek.
Along Kolob Terrace Road are many trails trailheads that lead off into the back country, and in this part of the park you will find trails like the East Rim, Hop Valley, Wildcat Canyon and The Narrows all trails worth hiking if you are into serious hiking. Some of these trails are 10 miles long, so please consult the Wilderness guide that the park provides for you so you know exactly what you’re getting into.
Because I was returning to Los Angeles that evening, I took a very short hike on a beautiful trail that wandered through a pine forest and scrub brush scenery. The views were amazing. Although it was October it was still 89 degrees in the day and the sun was blazing hot. So after about two hours, I headed back to my car and on toward LA.
The beauty of Zion is undisputed and the ability to be out in nature after being cooped up in my house for months because of the pandemic was exhilarating. I would do Zion National Park again in a heartbeat. And whatever you want to experience – paved trails like the Pa’rus Trail or crowds that you would find at the opening of the park or backcountry trails where you’re the only one there – Zion National Park can provide it. The people are friendly, the scenery is incredible and being out in nature is amazing and healthy for us especially during these strange times.
I am sorry for the delay in my short feature on Zion National Park in Utah. The final article is coming soon.
Online Virtual festival dealing with films that are about the Pandemic and its effects.
I have been taking care of the overwhelming response that my short film, Divorce During Pandemic has generated. In the last 3 weeks, my film has been accepted into 5 festivals and been invited into over 300 more. Now films have to pay a fee when you submit to a festival but when get accepted there the possibility of awards plus notice and the opportunity for other work if people like your film. So to be invited to over 300 festivals is very rewarding but also time consuming to read about each festival and decide to attend or not plus stay within the festival budget for a small film with no stars, just very good actors.
Famous festival based in La Jolla, California
The logos that you are seeing as part of this article are the laurels that you receive from a festival when your film is selected as an Official Selection. If you win an award, then you get another laurel stating what you won. The laurels may not seem like much but they are what the industry uses to let people know that this film is doing well or worth seeing. Many more films receive no laurels than get one.
Festival promoting film work in south Georgia, USA.
So this platform will return to travel related articles very soon, but as the progress of this film continues, we will also let you know about that as well.
Festival in Istanbul, Turkey
Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
Yet another festival in Istanbul, Turkey.
James Carey, Senior Writer,Tripswithjames.com and Director of Divorce During Pandemic.
I’ve lived in California for over 30 years and I have been to Las Vegas at least 25 times, yet I had no idea that Zion National Park was only 2 1/2 hours away from Vegas in south-western Utah. So it was with great excitement that I decided to travel to Zion National Park when my wanderlust had become overwhelming.
View inside the park
First, I stopped off in Las Vegas for an evening before driving all the way to Zion which turned into two days when I woke up the next morning with a bad case of food poisoning that of course made me think I was suffering from COVID-19. After spending the entire day in my room recovering, I woke up on the third day hungry and refreshed. Two and half hours later, as I drove across the desert out of Nevada and across the northwestern corner of Arizona, I entered Utah. I had not been in the state of Utah for 25 years, and I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful it is.
View from Springdale
Turning off on Utah State Highway 9, I wandered through the towns of St. George and Hurricane and La Verkin and Virgin until I reached the gateway to Zion National Park which is Springdale, UT. I had started looking for a hotel to stay starting at La Verkin, and the prices increased exponentially the closer I got to the entrance to the park. I finally settled on a slightly rundown but comfortable hotel in La Verkin about 17 miles from Zion called the Hotel Zion Inn. The hotel had seen some hard times but had recently been taken over by an Indian family who was rebuilding it slowly. The hotel was a huge complex with four separate buildings but at the moment they only had about 50 rooms available. The beds were comfortable, the air conditioning was great, they had wonderful cable television and the hotel was clean if not a little dated. And the price was perfect if you weren’t looking for luxury at $34 a night. The price including tax was $117.00 off Hotels.com.
Theories about the origin of La Verkin’s name suggest that it may be a corruption of the Spanish la virgen, after the nearby Virgin River, or possibly an error in the transcription of the term “beaver skin.”
Oldest store in Virgin, UT
The next morning after a simple breakfast at the hotel I drove the 17 miles to Zion. Along the way I passed through the very small-town Virgin, Utah. The first settlement at Virgin was in 1858. It’s also the name of the river that carved out the canyon that creates Zion National Park.
Very interesting rock on the Watchman Trail.
Arriving in Springdale you immediately become aware the town is set up completely to service the tourists that visit Zion National Park on a daily basis. The elevation is 3800 plus feet and the average hotel price in the town is around $230. There are several restaurants, bars and art galleries and other things to do both family related or otherwise in the town so there is a bit of a nightlife there.
Views on the Watchman Trail
Parking is quite easy in Springdale because there is a free shuttle that runs from the edge of town all the way up to the opening of Zion National Park. However there are a few peculiarities about the parking situation. Everything is based on a credit card and there are three choices. Parking is a dollar an hour in all areas and you can choose one hour, two hours or twelve hours and nothing in between. Those are the only choices. There is parking inside Zion but there is no driving in Zion. Everything is either by shuttle or hiking or by bicycle.
Vista from the end of the Watchman Trail
There is a shuttle inside the park which is a one dollar ticket, but you must (https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-canyon-shuttle-tickets.htm) buy the ticket online the day before and have verification either with a paper print out or on your phone or iPad when you show up at the park. For those people who did not know how to get a ticket they start handing out free shuttle tickets on the day of on a first come first serve basis at 3:00 PM in the afternoon. The shuttle will take you deep into the park to Riverside Trail, the Emerald pools both lower an upper and to other trails. It is not recommended to hike to those places because some of them are literally 10 miles in one direction. So unless you’re going to stick around the entrance of the park the only way to see those other sites is either by renting a bicycle or taking the shuttle.
The Watchman
Around the entrance of Zion National Park are two trails one is the Watchman trail and the Pa’rus trail. Both are 3.5 miles round trip, but the Watchmen is a grade two trail that goes up the face of the Watchmen a singular tower of stone that kind of feels like the sentinel or guard for the park hence the name the Watchman.
On the Watchman Trail
Starting in between the Visitor Center and the South Campground, the Watchman Trail heads up to a viewpoint on top of the first layer of cliffs roughly 300 feet above the canyon floor. While the trail doesn’t actually take you to the top of the Watchman, you can still get a good view of the famous and photogenic peak to the south as well as a good bird’s eye view of the canyon and Springdale below. The trail is mostly family-friendly but keep a close eye on children as there are a few cliff edges to pay attention to. This trail is completely exposed to the sun, so during the hot summer months, this hike is best done on a cloudy day or in the morning when this side of the main canyon is still in the shade. The trail is not paved and there are lots of rocks and strenuous areas to get through. The view is worth the hike.
More of the Watchman Trail
Part 2 of this three days In Zion National Park will focus on the Pa’rus Trail and trying to get to the Emerald Pools and the Riverside trail.
Part 3 will focus on the Kolob Reservoir on the backside of Zion National Park where there are really great trails away from the crowds and the commercialism at the entrance to the park.
On a brief stay in Las Vegas recently, I came across this display at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. The Bellagio is known for doing amazing decorations but this whimsical re-invention of fall with a touch of Peter Pan and a pinch of The Hobbit is lovely and a lot of fun. Best of all it is free – so if you are in Vegas before Halloween check it out. They do a whole new display of All Hallow’s Eve.
When you are a director of either film or theatre, or any other type of live or filmed performance art form, the ultimate excitement is to be able to do your project with a truly excellent group of professionals. Professionals who are dedicated to their craft and actually know what they’re doing. That was my experience recently when I shot the short film Divorce During Pandemic, a short film script that I had written based on real events and I had the opportunity to turn into an actually short film.
Crew shooting a close up of the lead actor.
Of all the types of directing that exist in the performing arts, directing film is the ultimate experience for a director. In any other form of live performance as much as the director wants to control the final product they cannot, because it’s live and the final product will change every single performance. Live performance is up to the live performers not to the person who conceived it or directed it or produced it. Yet with film, the director gets to choose how to tell the story because they control the edit of how the film will look. Now of course they had to get the correct shots and coverage in order to be able to tell that story but once you have that you can tell a story out of sequence, or you can change the narrative of who the story is about, or really the possibilities are limitless given the imagination of the director and the amount of footage that they shot.
Director of Photography Fernando Madero framing a shot.
Divorce During Pandemic is exactly that. It’s a true-life story of what happened when a married couple that is breaking up exchanges divorce documents during the early weeks of the pandemic. That could be sad, but the situation could be surreal as well, because the couple is wearing masks and gloves and practicing social distance. The film could be funny or a comment on not only the breakup of the marriage but the distance that’s created between a couple when they’re forced to wear mask and gloves to deal with each other. So in the editing room I was presented with the opportunity to either make a dark comedy or a sad tale of two people struggling to move on with their lives. I’m not going to tell you which choice was made you’ll just have to wait to see the film. Yet the opportunity to work with skilled professionals – a director of photography, a sound mixer, a camera assistant, a grip, a production manager and first assistant director who were top notch and a team of producers who gave me everything that I needed to shoot my movie under budget was amazing. Who could ask for more!?
The director discussing the next setup with the DP.
Yet we had the added element of shooting during a world changing virus, so we had to be concerned for the safety of the cast and crew who were truly heroic in shooting this short. My producers provided us with all the PPE that we needed and tried to keep following social distancing, but shooting a film is so all encompassing when you are doing it that it is hard to always remember to stand 6 feet apart. Yet, we managed and all are safe and well, and the film looks great.
The talented Laura Walker (The Wife) waiting for her next take.
So the film is currently in post-production as we do color correction, fix the sound, and work on the opening title and closing credits. Hopefully, the film will be on the festival circuit in the next few weeks and we’ll be talking about it more here at TripswithJames.com. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my cast and crew for the outstanding work that they did that day, and to thank them for the amazing ultimate experience of directing – shooting a film with professionals on a script that you have written and watching it all come to life beautifully ! What more could have film artists ask for? My answer – absolutely nothing!
The gifted David J. Phillips plays The Husband.
More to come on Divorce During Pandemic in the coming weeks!
Special thanks to Corbin Timbrook, Shelby Janes, David J. Philllips, Laura Walker, Fernando Madero, Garrett Stone, Reece Miller, Genaro Magana, Kirk Bruner, Attic Studios.
Followers of this blog know that I am a director of stage and film, and I am proud to announce pre-production for my new short film – Divorce During Pandemic – loosely based on a true situation.
We start shooting on August 12th and we will be dropping info about the shoot and the film on this blog occasionally over the next few of months. So stay tuned!
No matter how you choose to view the 700-million-year-old Ayers Rock—from above by hot air balloon, across the desert on a motorcycle, hiking at the base during the technicolor sunset—witnessing its majesty should be on every traveler’s list.
Monterey cypress, is a species of cypress native to the Central Coast of California. The native range of the species during modern times is confined to two small relict populations near Carmel, California, at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and at Point Lobos. Credit – James Carey
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