The last six weeks, I’ve challenged you to travel your own city to discover more about the areas that we live in and to find an answer to the ole “stay-cation”.  A lot of people seem to really like this idea and I wanted to put together a list of bloggers who have been participating and sent back their findings in blog form! If you haven’t joined in yet, check out how other bloggers are traveling their own cities and then start exploring yours! (And send me links when you do!)

First week’s challenge was View your city from Above! Bob and I made our way up to the Getty Museum on a crystal clear day in L.A. for some of the best views of this city I’ve ever seen.

• Laura at Go Mexico Guide discovered the view from above on the 42 floor observation deck at Torre Latino.  I have only been to Mexico City on a few hour lay-over, so this was definitely an interesting view of the city for me.  I particularly loved the view of Palacio de Bellas Artes. I would like to see it from ground level too!
• Cathy from Travels with Sweeny, found herself taking in the view from Marin Headlands, Coit Tower and Vista Point on Feb 16 2011. My favorite part was that all the pictures were taken during different hours of the day, giving a truly unique view of San Francisio.
• Action Jo_Jo of Action JoJo’s World, viewed her city from a little different point of view. She visited a museum that had panoramas from a state fair from the 1960’s! Definitely not your traditional view of NYC, that’s for sure!

Week 2 got us out of bed super early- before the sun even thought about rising so that we could capture a photo at sunrise. (Forget sunset- that’s so last week!)

• Again, Cathy and JoJo were ready for the challenge! Cathy captured the sunrise over the Easy Bay Hills and found out that the birds were ready for their close-up! JoJo ventured out to Queens for a beautiful surprise- a double sunrise!

By Week Three, I was starving! So, I set out to find a new restaurant in a part of the city I don’t visit that often.  I found two new, delicious dinner places that I have already returned to and suggested to travelers at the LA Times Travel Show!

• Cathy took the double challenge- which was to try a new Mexican Restaurant… only because that is my personal fav- and she had everyone craving burritos after they read her post! I can’t wait to read about when she visits a more authentic Mexican restaurant next time!
• JoJo needed someone to help her order all her food at the West Indian place she tried – and she’d do it again! I can’t wait to get to NYC and try this place… with the help of JoJo!

Week 4 took us outside to visit a local or national park. We stumbled across the most amazing rock formations that I’ve ever seen- it was like they were shooting out from the ground!

• Cathy spent a magical Friday in a park, San Fran’s Golden Gate Park.
• JoJo wandered around Fort Totten Park– to experience the rich history all alone.

Week 5, Bob and I took a walking tour of a relatively unknown area to us, Little Tokyo.  It was only a few days before all the devastation in Japan, and now puts those people and that area more at the forefront of my mind.

I was surprised when Bob drove me down to Long Beach for Week 6‘s challenge of “See animals in their natural habitat”, so we could see dolphins and whales migrating from the long winter. The whale watching tour was something I have always wanted to do and this was the perfect experience!

Now- What are you waiting for?! You can even do the challenges if you are traveling- maybe we are doing something you haven’t thought about, or just want to explore more. If you are just starting out- don’t worry, you have all weekend to complete 1-6 and we’ll do another one next Thursday! 🙂

Travel Tip: Staycations are a great way to save money, but, if you have seen all your city has to offer, try saving money by flying into a major city.  It’s easy to find cheap flights to New York for example because there are so many carriers that fly into there.