Jaunted

Super Cute Travel / Animals / Washington DC Travel / Pittsburgh Travel / Oakland Travel / California Travel / Zoos / Zoo Travel / Green Travel / → All Tags

Three Zoos for Visiting Baby Otters This Summer

The National Zoo, which is mere feet away from Jaunted's Washington DC offices, just put all 11 members of its otter family on exhibit. The clan of Asian small-clawed otters had been transported from Southern California to take up residence in the nation's capital, and the 9 pups are by all reports simply adorable. The Zoo has an extensive photo gallery confirming those reports and persuasively demonstrating that baby otters are indeed very small and very cute.

But what if you can't make it to Washington DC this summer but still want to see otter pups up close and personal? Or what if you can make it but don't want to because, like everybody else, you refuse to set foot in the city because DC's July and August are unlivable? You're in luck.

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Pizza Shops / Zachary's / Oakland Travel / College Towns / Food Travel / → All Tags

Zachary's Pizza In Oakland Tastes Like Life Has Just Begun

Last month we mentioned that Oakland was one of Five Cities With a Bad Rap that really deserved another chance. Aside from visiting the land that shaped MC Hammer, we urged you to check out some of the city's noteworthy neighborhoods and restaurants including the Pican restaurant with its gourmet take on Southern comfort food.

But another reason to hit up Oakland is for Zachary's Deep Dish Pizza on pedestrian-friendly College Avenue.

Now we know deep dish pizza is best left to the Chicago folk and we're not trying to tread on their territory here but Zachary's is Chicago-style deep dish (they call it "stuffed") and its founders Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel came from Wisconsin and Chicago, where they learned the art of the deep dish.

And indeed Zachary's is deep. And thick. With perfectly roasted tomatoes and plenty of cheese and whatever topping your gluttonous heart desires. Above, witness the perfection that is a large stuffed pizza with pepperoni and garlic.

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Bridges / San Francisco Travel / San Francisco / Oakland / Oakland Travel / Public Transportation / Accidents / → All Tags

When Bridges Attack: SF's Bay Bridge Closes Indefinitely

Where you perhaps planning on driving over to Oakland from San Francisco to check out why we named Oakland as one of the Five Cities With A Bad Rap worth visiting? It's too bad you'll be cut off from the goodness for who knows how long, after steel cables snapped last night, hitting three cars on the roadway below and stopping up traffic for over two hours.

There were no injuries when the bridge cracked its metal whip, but repairs and general safety issues will keep the region's busiest bridge shut down at least through tonight. Granted, the pieces that snapped were themselves an emergency repair made over Labor Day weekend, but now we're generally worried about bridge fatigue; perhaps we should be putting pennies into boxes for "Save The Steel Bridges" instead of Ronald McDonald House?

Public transporation options, after the jump.

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Five-Bad-Rap-Cities / Bad Rap Cities / Oakland Travel / Urban Travel / → All Tags

Five Cities With a Bad Rap: Oakland, 2 Legit 2 Quit

Some locales can’t seem to shake their less-than-sparkling reputations despite efforts to lock away the skeletons of yesterday. We’ve decided to highlight five of these Bad Rap Cities that are making moves to shed their grimy and gritty images in hopes of becoming more tourist-friendly. Maybe, just maybe, after reading this series you'll be willing to take a chance on them. Enjoy.

Bad Rap City: OaklandWhy Go?
Despite what you may have heard, Oakland isn’t a head-to-toe gang-riddled Dodge City. In fact, the word out now is that many parts are super chill and exemplify the real California state-of-mind, more so than high-energy San Francisco, less than 30 minutes away across the bay. True there’s evidence of poverty and homelessness on major streets like Broadway, but you’ll find that element in any Big City, U.S.A.

Here, blue and white-collar professionals live side-by-side, with more blending of races than ever before. There have been plenty of renovations in the city, especially in tourist-friendly Jack London Square (JLS) and the Oakland CVB’s website is a wealth of info on all that’s new in the city.

Another plus? It’s often cheaper to fly into Oakland than SFO thanks to Southwest and JetBlue (psst..there are rumblings of Ryan Air joining the low-cost carrier mix). Besides, how can you not visit the city that brought us MC Hammer? C'mon, you know you liked him, too.

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