
We hiked a few mountains in Japan, each with different flavored pathways. . .


the website of Mark S Bailen. . . writer, illustrator, and fake-nature photographer

We hiked a few mountains in Japan, each with different flavored pathways. . .



Rainforest Cafe is kid friendly, sort of? They have talking trees. Glitchy animatronics. Cartoon predators. And orange fake footprints that tell you where to go. And what happens if you stray off the footprints? You end up at a dark and creepy bar, sitting on stools with sheered-off animal-legs, beneath a giant magic mushroom. So there’s that.

Spent the weekend in Denver/Boulder. . . I really like this sign on the Boulder Creak Path. It’s faded, has painted-over graffiti, and shows an earlier version of Boulder. Not sure who it’s useful for. . . time travelers?


variations on a theme

Here’s a lousy photo of a small section of the Tempelhof, an old airfield turned into an over-900 acre park. These dudes were playing a massive game of four-square.
BTW, the Tempelhof was the proposed location for a giant fake mountain called the Berg. If they ever make this thing, I’ll move to Berlin.


nature trail made out of pavers at Rio Formosa Natural Park. . .

in the middle of this downtown park in Silves, is a giant concrete pad with a “LifeTrail” on it. . .


We visited the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (Sutter’s Mill). For ten bucks, we learned how to pan for gold. Step one was to buy our gear. Step two was to apply hand sanitizer. And step three was to pan for gold. Who knew it was so simple! I’m gonna be rich! Rich!