Visit? America's Greatest Train Rides

The Parade magazine from a recent Los Angeles Times had an article titles "America's Greatest Train Rides."  What child has not had a fascination with trains at some point in their lives?

The article has brief descriptions of longer routes such as Chicago to Los Angeles.  It also has some Day Trips by Region.

Related sites:

• Click here to view possible items of interest on Amazon
• Click here to go to the article
• Click here to view a slideshow from the trains
• Click here for the LA Times  

Yahoo! Finance: Top 10 Investor Traps / I Dodged the Reserve Fund

The article summary

Yahoo! Finance had an article provided by CNBC that listed the top 10 Investor scams.  They are as follows:

1. Ponzi schemes
2. Gold bullion and currency scams
3. Natural resource investments
4. Life settlements
5. Private placement offerings
6. Real estate investment schemes
7. Entertainment investments
8. Short-term commercial promissory investment notes
9. Speculative inventions and new promises
10. Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).

Dodging the Reserve Money Market Fund

I would like to add one that I dodged for my mother.  She was "recommended" to move her dormant cash from a regular Money Market fund that was earning about 2.5 percent to a "Reserve" Money Market Fund that was earning about 4.5 percent.  When I reviewed the prospectus to find out what they were investing in, the red flag to me was that it was a "leveraged" Money Market fund.  They listed that they would borrow up to 25 percent for additional investments.  The purpose of a Money Market fund is stability and you do not get that with leverage.  

In 2008, it caught up with them and the "sacred" dollar value was broken.  

Advertisements on KNX1070

Obviously no one is going to advertise that they are selling a Ponzi scheme, but I frequently hear advertisements for Gold bullion and Life settlements.

List of related websites:

• Click here for the full article on Yahoo! Finance and details on each trap.
• Click here to be taken to the Reserve Funds website.
• Click here to read a USA Today article about the Reserve Fund falling below the dollar value.
• Click here to go to KNX1070.

Visit? Catalina Zip-line Eco Tour / Catalina Express

I ran across a story about a zip-line that has been installed on Catalina Island.  It drops from an elevation of  about 500 feet to 60 feet.  There are five separate zip-lines which are up to 1,100 feet long.  Overall it takes about two hours and there are stops between each zip-line which provide information about the island.

Just looking at their website I saw some ticket prices for $92.50.  While this may be cheaper than a trip to one of the Costa Rica Canopy Zip-line tours, it is not at the level of an "impulse" expense.  If we were to take the Catalina Express from Long Beach, it would cost $66.50 for each of the parents and $51.00 for each of the four children.  This comes to a total of $337.00 just to get to Catalina.  Then add the expense of the zip-line tour and other incidental expenses (food, souvenirs, etc).

Is it worth the thrill? Not now...

Click here to read more at this zip-line tour and to order tickets.

Click here to view the Catalina Express website for rates and schedules.

Visit? Carlsbad's The Flower Fields

A friend of ours recently visited The Flower Fields in Carlsbad.  They feature 50 acres of flowers and it looks like the kids would have loads of fun there.  There would be plenty of opportunity for taking pictures as well.  Be sure to see my recent pictures on my photoblog (click the link on the right side of this blog).

Tickets are $10 for adults ($20 for a season pass), $5 for children 3 to 10 years of age ($10 for a season pass).  Children 2 and under are free.  I guess when you turn 11 years old, they consider you an adult?

Click here to visit their website.

Visit? Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve

Here is another place to view wildflowers per Sunset Magazine's April 2010 issue.  I am currently getting this for free.

This Reserve is near Big Bear and is free to visit.  It looks like a short walk of about one mile.  What will take a while is getting there since it is on the north side of Big Bear.  It is at a pretty high elevation of 7,000 feet.  If going, plan a half-day of day trip there to include at least one meal.

Click here to subscribe to Sunset Magazine for 1 year or 2 years.

Click here to visit the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve website.

Visit? Limestone Canyon and Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park

This is in Orange County.  It also is listed in Sunset Magazine (which I get for free as of the time of this post) as a place to visit in April.  I guess the fire in this area was in 2007 so it is "bouncing back" with its own assortment of flowers.  It lists $3 for parking.

Click here to to subscribe to Sunset Magazine for 1 year or for 2 years.

Click here to go to the park's website.

Visit? Darwin Falls in Death Valley

Among the magazines I am receiving for free is "Sunset."  They have some recommendations for April. 

One of them is Darwin Falls in Death Valley off of State Highway 190. This stands out for me because I have never been to Death Valley and would like to go at some point.  The visit times are probably limited due to the extreme heat during the summer time.

Click here to support me and subscribe to Sunset Magazine for 1 year or 2 years

Related websites:

• National Park Service's Death Valley website (Planning your visit)
• Wikipedia entry on Darwin Falls