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This delightful topiary garden is just one of the many attractions on view at Montecito's Lotusland.

Montecito's Lotusland offers unique botanical tours

By • Catholic Online • 8/17/2010

The Ganna Walska Lotusland, more commonly known as just Lotusland, is a beautiful botanical reserve located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California. Established by the eccentric opera singer Madam Ganna Walska in 1941 and tended by her until her passing in 1984, Lotusland offers visitors a ...

By the 1990s, the gum alley had been there for so long that a request to clean the alley was politely declined.

Bubblegum Alley weathers all takes

By • Catholic Online • 8/16/2010

San Luis Obispo is a sleepy little California coastal town. The city can boast of a college, and many people from the Central Valley got to San Luis Obispo to cool off for the summer. One of the city's most famous landmarks is an alley which is coated in gum and gun wrappers, called "Bubblegum ...

Made of woven grass, Incan women braided small thin ropes which were then braided again by the men into large support cables, in the manner of a modern suspension bridge.

World's last hand-woven bridge is in Peru

By • Catholic Online • 8/13/2010

The world's last hand-woven bridge, the keshwa chaca spans 118 feet, and hangs 220 feet above a canyon's rushing river. It's the last remaining example of Incan hand-woven bridges on earth. LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Made of woven grass, Incan women braided small thin ropes which were then ...

Copper, gold, silver along with other minerals have been mined along the Rio Tinto for more than 5,000 years.

Spain's 'Red River' founded Bronze, Copper Ages

By • Catholic Online • 8/13/2010

The water that runs through "The Red River," or Rio Tinto, that winds through the Sierra Morena mountains of Andalusia, Spain is a reddish hue. Copper, gold, silver along with other minerals have been mined along the river for more than 5,000 years. The minerals, along with dissolving iron found ...

Scientifically known as 'North American Orfelia fultoni,' the Dismalites are the larval stage of the only bioluminescent member of Diptera, or the 'fly' order, containing mosquitoes, gnats, midges, and houseflies

Glowing creatures light up Dismal Canyon

By • Catholic Online • 8/10/2010

The popular definition of the word "dismal" usually means causing gloom or depression, dreary or dullness. This isn't necessarily true for Dismal Canyon, an Alabama tourist attraction which comes to life with countless indigenous glowing insects that come alive in the area's unique ecosystem. LOS ...

Pictographs from several distinct tribes and peoples can be found all over the Hueco Tanks, some dating to as early as 6000-3000 BC.

Hueco Tanks boasts large collection of face paintings

By • Catholic Online • 8/10/2010

The Hueco Tanks is a natural land formation found in Texas, near El Paso in the far reaches of the Chihuahua Desert. A collection of large natural rock basins, or "huecos," these unusual rock formations collect and trap water in an otherwise dry region. Rich in history, the tanks were used as a ...

The trapped lake underneath has a very high salinity and is rich in iron, which gives the waterfall its red color.

Waterfall in Antarctica gives forth blood red water

By • Catholic Online • 8/4/2010

Blood Falls, so named for the slow trickle of blood-red water that cascades down a glacier in Antarctica is a sight to behold. The five-story waterfall pours very slowly out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys. Geologists first believed the red color came from algae, when in ...

A magical, surrealistic place, Mount Roraima has inspired countless books, TV specials and was prominently featured in Pixar's 'Up.'

Magical place as seen in 'Up' -- Mount Roraima

By • Catholic Online • 8/3/2010

A magical, surrealistic place, Mount Roraima has inspired countless books, TV specials and was prominently featured in Pixar's "Up." Bordered by the three separate countries of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, these country's border lines intersect on the massive shelf. Mount Raraima is surrounded on ...

During the Civil War, Fort Jefferson was used as a prison, mainly for Union deserters.

Buried treasure lies beneath Dry Tortugas

By • Catholic Online • 8/2/2010

The Dry Tortugas is a popular shipping corridor that dates back to the time of Juan Ponce de Leon and his misbegotten search for the Fountain of Youth. The explorer first stumbled upon the islands in 1513, back when they were nothing more than clusters of coral inhabited by sea turtles. LOS ...

Visitation to Kalaupapa is strictly limited, and unless you are invited by a resident, tours must be arranged through Damien Tours or the Hawaii Department of Health.

Kalaupapa hailed as 'beautiful natural prison'

By • Catholic Online • 8/2/2010

Of the splendor found in Hawaii, Kalaupapa, Molokai, is a naturally beautiful prison. Cut off from the rest of the world by 1600-foot cliffs on one side and ocean on the other, the area formerly served as a leper colony - for those afflicted with what we call today as Hansen's disease. LOS ANGELES, ...