Joy Domain

Duration: 11/24/2022 – 11/30/2022

Outline: San Diego – Joshua Tree National Park – Palm Springs – San Diego

Many of my friends had recommended San Diego and they said it’s the most beautiful and comfortable city to visit or stay. I have also read a lot of travel blogs and heard praises about San Diego of their April wildflowers and family attractions. But as you know, I am not a big city fan, so this time I choose San Diego as my Thanksgiving vacation destination is just because of the warm climate and its vicinity of the Joshua Tree National Park.

We spent 7 days in total, but the first and the last day were mainly on flight. The airflow was very unstable in Sierra Forest area, so our plane experienced quite a bit turbulence. After we arrived San Diego, we drove two and a half hours to Palm Springs. We spent the 2nd day at Joshua Tree National Park, visited two attractions near Palm Springs and went back to San Diego on the 3rd day. We stayed at San Diego for the rest of days.

I might be accustomed to the laziness brought by the pandemic, which caused the travel journal that was supposed to be done in July to delay. Now I want to conclude that trip.

Three months ago …

We wanted to try sth different from our normal travel style – which was always filled with outdoor activities – thus we chose to experience a two-days leisure trip at the Biltmore Estate during the Independence Day holiday weekends. Biltmore Estate is located at Asheville, the north western part of state of North Carolina. It’s about 5 and a half hours drive from Louisville Kentucky.

If you come to Asheville and you will only visit the Biltmore Estate, then I highly recommend you to book the estate packages. The estate official website usually provides several different packages depending on the seasons. At the time we visited, we purchased the Monet & Friends package, which included house museum admission, Monet & Friends exhibition admission, exhibition keepsake, unlimited wine tasting, and two nights accommodations with breakfast. They also have packages for Leonardo De Vinci exhibition, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. We chose to stay at Village Hotel, which is relatively cheaper compared to other two hotels on the estate. The restaurant of the hotel was really good.

Now I’m going to share the highlights of this trip.

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is located on a forested peninsula between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake in West Kentucky and Tennessee. The attractions include Elk & Bison Prairie, Homeplace 1850s Working Farm, Golden Pond Planetarium, Woodlands Nature Station. It also provides multiple outdoor opportunities: 106 miles of horse trails, 100 miles of trails for off highway vehicle, 70 miles mountain biking trails, 100 miles hiking trails for relaxing walks and backpacking, 22 boar ramps for sport fishing, and 250 days a year for season hunting.

Duration: 11/23/2019 – 11/28/2019

Outline: Everglades NP – Coral Castle – Biscayne NP – Turtle Hospital – Robbie’s Marina – Dry Tortugas NP

Keyword: Road trip; Lighthouse; US 1 Highway; Miami; Deep sea fishing

Florida state has three national parks: Everglades, Biscayne, and Dry Tortugas. Everglades NP is well-known for its unique tropical wilderness and ecosystem; 95% of Biscayne NP area is under the sea; Dry Tortugas NP has a massive Fort Jefferson which was the third largest costal fort in US. In overall, these national parks offer completely different views than others.

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Girl in Gray-Blue (1889) by Renoir

今年九月底去费城开会，抽空参观了一个集中收集印象主义和后印象主义画作的艺术博物馆 – Barnes Foundation。更准确的说，应该称之为一个致力于艺术教育的基金会。

创始人Albert Barnes出生在费城。自获得医学学位后，游历德国转攻化学。回国后投身于药企，发家致富，从此开启了收集画作和艺术教育之路。基金会至今已经收藏了900多幅画作，涵盖范围之广包括印象主义，后印象主义，现代主义，写实主义，非洲，埃及和希腊艺术等等。

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Duration: 05/25/2019-05/27/2019

Outline: Cades Cove Loop – Ripley’s Odditorium – Synchronized Fireflies – Skylift Park – Clingmans Domes – Salt & Pepper Museum

Keyword: Road trip; Biking; Synchronized fireflies; Cades Cove; Clingmans Domes

Great Smoky Mountain has been the most visited national park for at least 70 years, which beats Grand Canyon NP and Zion NP as the second and the third.^[1] I guess the biggest reason might be it closes to major cities and small towns. We drove from Louisville, passed through Lexington/Knoxville, and arrived at Friday night before Memorial Weekends.

The park has two main entrances by connecting with Highway 441: Gatlinburg, TN on the north, and Cherokee, NC on the south. There are many accommodations in Gatlinburg area as it’s very close to the north entrance and has various restaurant options, but be prepared for the crowds especially for holidays. Not recommend to stay in Pigeon Forge town, as you might get stuck on the road to Gatlinburg due to the traffic jam in Gatlinburg!

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最近因为工作原因，博客停更了近半年。乘着这次回国探亲，和家人一起去了趟三亚，用文字记录下这次旅行～

先简单介绍一下海南这个海岛。它是我国最南端并且唯一的热带海岛省份。之前被广东省管辖，直至民国时期才升级为省。GDP处于中下等水平，但由于地理位置优越有着丰富的海洋资源。尚未充分工业化，自然风光吸引大量游客支撑起旅游业^[1]。海南省旅游的交通状况还算乐观，一般可以考虑直接飞往三亚凤凰国际机场，或者飞往海口美兰机场再乘坐动车或租车环岛去三亚。如果时间充裕，租车自驾东线是比较推荐的路线（西线还在开发）。海南环线高速公路（G98）不收取费用（油价高～），从海口到三亚途径文昌（东郊椰子林，铜鼓岭天晴拍月亮湾美翻），博鳌（亚洲论坛永久会址），万宁（加井岛，石梅湾，兴隆咖啡庄园），陵水（分界洲岛～人少版蜈支洲）。

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