River of Starlight - Puerto Rico

I'm pretty confused about the people feeling driven into depression after seeing Avatar because "it showed something we don't have here on earth."  Really?  Step out of that basement and live.  Save a little at a time and you can go somewhere miraculous, or –for free– you can find the miraculous in the world around you.  I dunno, maybe I'm easily entertained but I can lay on the grass for hours meditating on the microcosm.

I'm in Puerto Rico right now and got the chance to experience a moment I wrote about in THE DEEP WITHIN.  Mayuri and Alorah traveled through a river of starlight, like the milky way.  Below them, glowing greenish fish flit around their boat.  As cool as I thought that was, the reality was even better.

I went on an excursion to the bioluminescent lagoon in Fajardo.  Thankfully, I'd been kayaking several times before or I would have been crashing into the mangroves in the dark!  We paddled down a narrow channel with nothing lighting our way except the red light at the back of the tour guide's boat.  I'm afraid of the dark and terrified of black water but our tour guide, Anthony, kept me laughing.  He told us that the green light at the front of the boat would help him come and save us if a chupacabra jumps out and starts sucking our necks!

At some point in our journey, I started to scrutinize my paddle.  It was bright green.  I thought it was far too bright to be the little single-celled creatures we were looking for, that it must be just a reflection from our lights.  But when we passed into further darkness under tightly knit trees, each paddle stroke lit up not just the paddle deeper and deeper swirls in the surrounding water.  By the time we reached the lagoon, a blue-green aura circled each kayak.  I saw something jump into the water with an explosive glow and fish lit the water like comets.

Anthony asked us to throw water on ourselves.  The splash looked like a burst of tiny fireflies trailing down my leg.  Then he continued the tour by saying, 'these flesh-eating organisms require a steady temperature year-round…'  <3  While we couldn't swim in the water because our body oils can hurt the organisms, we were allowed to dip our hands in.  A bubble of light burst from me, more beautiful than any CGI magic I've seen.  

This is a moment I've checked off my bucketlist and I highly recommend you put it on yours, especially if you're a fantasy geek searching for that hint of something more in real life.

Future Adventures - Bucketlist

http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org

I never thought I’d have a reason to visit Ohio. It just seems like one of those empty states that doesn’t have anything particularly unique going for it. So I thought, until I stumbled on the Waterparks show on the Travel Channel. There is an entire waterpark resort there! Including a surf simulator, a giant corckscrew, an upward slingshot

Cat Cafe - Japan has an answer for those of us too busy/poor for the joy of taking care of an animal. Sip tea and hang out with some kitties to relieve your stress.

I want to go clubbing in Europe. Apparently the music is much more my style and they play Rogue Traders - The Sound of Drums

Who doesn’t have a goal of swimming in the Dead Sea?

Sand tobboganing! Honestly, that’s what sold me on the Best Job campaign

I’ve swum with trained dolphins but I think it would be even more awesome to swim with wild dolphins

A step up from that would be swimming with whale sharks =O

I want to take some crazy romantic holiday in Belize where you can overnight in a luxurious(!) cave

If I win the lottery, I want to go to Bora Bora after hearing from cruise ship crew that it is THE most beautiful place in the world. You only live once, why pass that up?

The one thing I loved about history class was exploring ancient cultures–Greece and Egypt (pyramids!) are top on my list

I’m envious every time I see kite boarders but I don’t know that my arms are strong enough to handle that…

On that note, I want to learn to surf since I do love me some boogieboarding.

The bioluminescent bay looks like something out of a fantasy world. I’m SO in.

After scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, I’d like to scuba dive Arkansas. At least, I think it’s Arkansas. I read an article that there is a landlocked dive site where you can see some Native American ruins.

I don’t have the coordination to walk straight so I doubt I’d ever look like this but I’m signing up for belly dance lessons. This also means I must visit Morocco.

I’ve always been fascinated with Pompeii

I want to take an EPIC ROADTRIP with the best gal friend I don’t have playing 80s music on 11. Maybe a waterslide tour, a book tour, or just an awesomeness tour–there’s more to the US than I thought at first glance

See the aurora preferably in the Arctic/Antarctic

Get published of course, though the journey is as much of an adventure as anything ;)

I want to learn Japanese. I’ve got a good start with Rosetta stone, Pimsluer, and a local meet-up group I run

I want to be a lead singer in a band. Even if we’re a crappy band XD

I want to go to a crazy bachelorette party which involves a strip club. Not because I want to see strangers strip. But just because it is bizarre and hilarious.

Death Valley National Park, Calif.

The Mystery: People have long scratched their heads over the “Sailing Stones,” which mysteriously move across the sandy playa’s surface on their own, leaving visible tracks in their wake.

Fact: Given that these rocks chart a new course once every three years, it’s no wonder no one has ever seen them in motion. Some theorize that, in winter, wet clay and strong winds—which can reach speeds of up to 90 mph—are to blame, but no one is 100 percent certain what causes this curious natural (or unnatural?) phenomena.

Oregon Vortex

Gold Hill, Ore.

The Mystery: Measuring 165 feet in diameter and known for producing intense feelings of vertigo, this curious site in southern Oregon has attracted visitors since the 1930s. Here, balls roll uphill, brooms stand on end, and people appear to grow and shrink inside its centerpiece, a former gold mining outpost called the House of Mystery.

Fact: Whether caused by gravity anomalies, a concentration in the Earth’s magnetic fields, or paranormal presence, the Vortex’s strange phenomena is well documented, and animals still refuse to enter its sphere. Native Americans referred to it as Forbidden Ground.

The Paulding Light

Paulding, Mich.

The Mystery: For more than a century, on clear nights, unidentified spheres of light appear like clockwork on the horizon of this four corners town. To date, there’s no logical explanation for the luminescent red, white, and green balls that dance on the edge of the forest, but they are rumored to be the ghost of a railroad brakeman who met his fate on the tracks.

Fact: Locals and the curious regularly line up by the dozens for the bizarre light show; the Michigan Forest Service has even posted signs guiding sky-gazers to the best viewing spots.

Coral Castle

Homestead, Fla.

The Mystery: Made from 1,100 tons of megalithic-style limestone boulders — some heavier than the Pyramids’ and bigger than those at Stonehenge — this unusual structure, located 25 miles south of Miami, was built from 1923 to 1951 by a single man, a diminutive Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin, as an homage to the love of his life who left him on the eve of their wedding. But how did he do it?

Fact: Leedskalnin claimed he knew the secret to the Great Pyramids’ construction, and was once witnessed levitating stones. Other construction details—no mortar, precision seams, impossible balancing acts—have also stumped scientists for decades.

Ringing Rocks Park

Bucks County, Penn.

The Mystery: Deep in the woods in this 128-acre park is a large field of mysterious boulders that, when struck, sound like bells, as if they are hollow and made of metal. Each summer, hundreds of visitors flock here, hammers in hand, to perform their own “rock concerts.”

Fact: While scientists have determined the stones are made from a volcanic substance called diabase, there’s no explanation for their unusual ringing properties, nor for the eight-acre field itself, which is situated high on a hillside, not at the bottom, ruling out that it may have been formed by a glacier or avalanche.