Amanda Harness

gamerbunny



Residence: Southern California
Occupation: Accountant (of sorts)

I love travelling as much as the next guy on TravelBlog. I wish I could fill my map with cities and countries from all around the world. But there is something to be said about travelling locally...and repeatedly.

These days it makes sense for me to travel within the United States. As you can see from the number of blogs I have posted on it, I really enjoy visiting the Oregon Coast. It's like watching a movie over and over. So much is missed on the first go. You see so much more on the second and third sitting. Typically tourists see something once, take a picture of it, and move on to the next thing. This always makes me feel a little guilty. I want to see a place again and again so that I can really appreciate it.

In my travels I like to learn about what makes my destination unique. Culture, history, geologic makeup, whatever. To me these are just as important as what I did when I was there. You will find a lot of detailed information in my writing.

NOTE: I try to be as factual as possible in my blogs, but I am still not citeworthy!



Travel Blog Posts


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gamerbunny
April 7th 2013

They say that canoeing is a true test of a relationship. I don’t know who “they” are but they were right. And you know what – we passed! My boyfriend, Jon, joined me in here in Central Florida for a short stay. My boyfriend’s mini-vacation turned into a mini-adventure fast. Two days ago we went for a canoe ride on the Wekiva River, beginning and ending at Wekiwa Springs State Park in Apopka. (My last url=../../North-America/United-States/Florida/Wekiwa-Springs-State-Park/Wekiva-River/blog-776633.htmlpost actually follows my last visit here.) Following that we ate lunch at Lake Lotus Park in Altamonte Springs, partially hoping to see more alligators. The overcast sky kept the alligators' basking in the sun to a minimum. Yesterd... read more



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March 15th 2013

Today’s excuse for hanging out by the river: reunion with an old friend. Don’t get me wrong, I would have met her at a coffee shop – the river makes it all the sweeter. Especially the Wekiva River – we go way back – just as me and my friend, Nicole. (Nicole and I go all the way back to middle school. We are in our late 20s now. The last time I saw her was in high school.) She loves the outdoors which makes me a very happy person. We were struggling to find something to do for the day. I just so happened to visit Wekiwa Springs State Park two days ago with my dad and had posted some photos on Facebook. Apparently she was going to suggest this park but I had beaten ... read more



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February 21st 2013

From sea to shining sea – 2,500 miles east of our hometown in Southern California – my boyfriend and I finally made it to the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine, FL. To be technical, our first glimpse of the ocean after that 3.5 day drive on I-10 was at Ponte Vedra Beach just north of here – but this is about St. Augustine, not Ponte Vedra. Our stay here has been short – just two days. As we are on our way to somewhere else, we decided to work in a mini vacation. I’ve wanted to come back here for a while now and St. Augustine is on our direct route. I’m from Florida originally. In the 5th grade our class went on a field trip to Castillo de San Marcos and I thought it was ... read more



Pit Stop in Toronto

Published: September 9th 2012North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto
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September 6th 2012

Who here has ever visited a big city and only had 5 hours to look around? *raises hand* Me and Jon. Our train really did arrive 5 hours late into the Toronto train station this afternoon. We were pretty bummed but what can you do. So what did we do in our micro time frame? We went to three places that I was familiar with. We went on up to Casa Loma and Spadina House anyway. Even though they were closed we could still view the outside. I really wish Jon could have seen inside of Casa Loma. It has such an interesting history. We walked to the harbor front. It isn’t much to look at. If we’d had more time we could have taken the ferry on over to Toronto Island or gone to one ... read more



Last Day and a Half on the Train

Published: September 7th 2012North America » Canada » Ontario » Toronto
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September 6th 2012

Good morning world. I’m hailing to you all the way froooooooom – the train – VIA Rail “The Canadian” heading East for those who don’t know. Yes, we are still on the train. Unexpected bumps in the road always make for such good stories. Currently it is 12pm. We were due to depart the train at 9:25am. Our new expected arrival time in Toronto is 2:45pm (if we are lucky). Which really, really stinks because Jon and I will have so little time to do anything in Toronto. However, we had planned for a large train delay by spending the night in the city and flying home tomorrow. Two days ago we were delayed two hours because an engine blew so we were only running off of one engine. It was kind of eerie (and cool) ... read more



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September 4th 2012

Yesterday was our second full day on the VIA train heading East towards Toronto. As I mentioned, we passed through Saskatchewan and part of Manitoba. We mostly saw vast fields of wheat and the occasional odd farm (including a farm of jumbo-sized sunflowers). The day started out looking like it’d be lazy and uneventful but it actually ended pretty darn awesome. We hung out most of the day looking out the window or talking to people. We met this one couple at dinner from Ottawa, Ontario. We hit it off pretty well with them. We talked about the usual travel stuff. But particularly we talked about history. I learned a little more about the War of 1812 and the Declaration of Independence. They had lived in New Hampshire for 11 years so they knew quite a ... read more



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September 3rd 2012

Last night we got on our VIA Rail train “The Canadian” which is taking us from Vancouver to Toronto. This train is so cool! VIA Rail is so much better than Amtrak. I just thought I’d put that out there. Jon and I have what’s called an upper and lower berth. As with our last train, we sit facing each during the day but at night our area will have an upper and lower bed with thick privacy curtains. Since there’s no door or privacy curtain in the daytime, we are open to the world. But it really doesn’t bother us. Sleeper car passengers are good about minding the invisible boundaries. This also forces us to live in the train instead of in our rooms. Our “section” mates (the other people sharing the “berths” section on ... read more



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September 2nd 2012

We’ve had a very short stay in Vancouver. And I mean short. We arrived at our hotel at about 1:30am this morning. We didn’t leave our room until 2pm. Thank you late check-out. With that said… Vancouver is such a cool city! Talk about awesome city planning. Mind you I didn’t visit any part that wasn’t attached to the water. It’s a modern city with forests and beaches and lots of clean parks. If you have a doggy this place was made for you. This is my first impression of this place – so far so good. :) I knew we wanted to visit a beach so the pedestrian bike bath made this easy. It runs around the entire North and South side of the water. If you have a dog or even a bike this ... read more



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September 1st 2012

Train travel in the days of yore was the preferred way to travel by land. But of course, trains gave way to airplanes and highways as the preferred ways to travel today. Traveling by train nowadays is usually more expensive and time consuming than either of these other two options - at least in the U.S. and Canada. It is now more of a novel mode of travel in the same way as traveling by a cruise ship. Why do we do it? Because it’s fun. We don’t have to pay attention and it allows us to disconnect (mostly) from the world and reconnect with life if ever so briefly. Who knew being so connected and living at a break neck speed would drive us to slow down. Currently we are on the Amtrak Coast Starlight ... read more



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April 14th 2012

It has been 100 years since the Titanic sideswiped that iceberg. If she had hit it dead on then there wouldn’t be as much interest in her because she wouldn’t have sunk. She would have limped her way to New York. There wouldn’t be so many books, documentaries, and dramas about her. We wouldn’t have the theme parks and we wouldn’t have the exhibits. I’ve been absorbing all that I can these past couple of weeks through word and video. The centennial of the infamous plunge into the pond has sparked my interest. I love history and the Titanic is endlessly fascinating. What more appropriate way to indulge my fascination than with a visit to the Titanic exhibit at the Natural History Museum (theNAT) in San Diego. I got lucky that the centennial fell on a ... read more






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