Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club and join our Travel Community for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

Make it a travel goal to visit some National Parks in 2013! With 398 National Parks around the country, find a National Park near you to explore the beauty and history of the United States. Use the Travel Goal Getter iPad App to keep track of your National Park visits using the "My Experiences" feature where you set your goals and check them off when completed.

Take advantage of free days this year where entrance and other fees are waived:
► April 22-26 - five days during National Park Week
► August 25 - National Park Service Birthday
► September 28 - National Public Lands Day
► November 9-11 - Veterans Day weekend

For more information about free entrance days and planning your trip, visit National Parks Free Entrance Days. Also, if you miss the free entrance days, there are discounts available to seniors and military members and their families. Additionally, keep in mind that 265 of the 398 National Parks do not charge an entrance fee!

Please note:
Some National Parks may be impacted by the sequester cuts.

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club and join our Travel Community for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

Author: Eric
This year we have followed the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 11 and the finale left me wanting to learn a foreign language (or at least learn how to say hello and goodbye in more than a few languages)! Read on for the full story.

The final map! Racers ended up visiting 3 continents (Asia, Europe, North America), 9 countries (Bangladesh, China, France, Indonesia, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Turkey, United States), and two US states (California, New York).

All teams flew to Barcelona, Spain where they boarded a train to the Loire Valley in France. Josh and Brent had a slight advantage because Josh could speak French. Teams first had to pick up 8 empty crates from a cafe and then drive them to Chateau de Villandry which is home to the worlds largest ornamental gardens. Teams then had to find their next clue at a stone dog which directed them to Leonardo da Vinci's final resting place, Chateau d'Amboise. 

Since Natalie and Nadiya finished in last place on the previous non-elimination episode, they had to complete and extra task called a speed bump. The speed bump involved lacing up a corset on woman who was getting dressed in an 18th century outfit. They finished this task quickly, and proceeded to catch up with the other teams.

This season was filled with a lot of team cooperation which was different from past seasons where teams would be much more reluctant to help each other. For example, even with the race nearly over, some teams agreed to follow each other to the next stop where teams had to choose between the tasks "plow" or "chow".

► In plow, teams had to use a traditional horse and plow and till four rows on a field. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James plowed and they finished rather quickly.

► In chow, teams had to make a daily meal for a pack of hunting hounds which involved sorting and removing the bones from various cuts of meat. Brent and Josh worked strategically by selecting the cuts of meat carefully in order to save time while Natalie and Nadiya did not finish as fast.

Next, the clues instructed teams to drive to La Cave de Roches. We learned that many of the castles in the Loire Valley were constructed from locally sourced limestone. Many caves were left from the quarried limestone which now provides an ideal environment to grow mushrooms. Teams had to search the caves and find 10 mushrooms of three varieties. Trey and Lexi and Jaymes and James were nearly neck and neck completing this task. Likewise, Josh and Brent and Natalie and Nadiya were nearly neck and neck as well. 

Jaymes and James ended up finishing first while Trey and Lexi came in second. Despite leaving the caves last, Josh and Brent finished third because Natalie and Nadiya had some navigation trouble and went the wrong direction to the pit-stop.

1) Jaymes and James - each won 2013 Ford Escapes
2) Trey and Lexi
3) Josh and Brent
4) Natalie and Nadiya - eliminated

FINALE TIME!
All teams flew to New York, New York and were instructed to go to Coney Island. At Coney Island, teams had difficulty finding the clue which was part of a sign. Trey and Lexi found the clue first, Josh and Brent second, and Jaymes and James about 15 minutes after the other teams left. The clue instructed teams go to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

At the Navy Yard teams had to complete the roadblock, "Amazing Escape". This roadblock was adrenaline inducing in that racers had to hang upside down, in a straight jacket, suspended 15 stories from a crane! Trey, who conquered his fear of heights finished quickly. Brent who was the second to go up also finished quickly and Jaymes finished very fast as well. I was actually very surprised that panic did not set in for any team members which is what I thought would happen being that they were upside down, in a straight jacket, 15 stories up! I also learned that in order to get out of a straight jacket you need to get your arms over your head. Hopefully, I will never find myself in that predicament!

Next, teams had to figure out that the pizza restaurant recognized as America's first was Lombardi's. Jaymes and James ran into trouble when they realized their taxi had left which kept them in last getting to Lombardi's. At Lombardi's, teams had to deliver three orders of pizzas to addresses that they memorized. Trey and Lexi arrived first and completed the task on their first try. Josh and Brent zoomed through the task but they messed up the orders and had to redeliver. Jaymes and James arrived last but finished quickly and made no delivery errors.

Their final roadblock task led them to the United Nations. If you were paying attention this season, you will remember that at each pit-stop, racers heard "hello" and "goodbye" in the native languages of the countries they were in. This task required teams to match up the correct hello and goodbye words and join them with the correct country flags. Once completed, they could raise the UN flag which lowered their final clue. Teams struggled with this task and at one point the show flashed that it had been over 2 1/2 hours into the task. Prior episodes had similarly difficult final tasks and this was no exception. Josh had the upper hand and used his language skills to match up the words the quickest.

Although Josh and Brent did not win a single leg prior to the finale, they won the most important one and were declared the winners of season 21.

1) Josh and Brent - won a million dollars!
2) Jaymes and James
3) Trey and Lexi

Read all our posts from Amazing Race Season 21:
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 1 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 2 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 3 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 4 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 5 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 6 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 7 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 8 Recap
Amazing Race Season 21 Episode 9 Recap

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

Author: Eric
This year we are following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 10 left me surprised that this was the first leg in which racers had to do some car navigation! Read on for the full story.

Amazing racers flew from Amsterdam to Barcelona in this second to last episode adding another country to their list.

The teams departed Amsterdam in this order:
1) Natalie and Nadiya
2) Jaymes and James
3) Trey and Lexi
4) Josh and Brent

Despite the teams taking different flights from Amsterdam, they were all able to catch up to one another due to the overnight ferry to the island of Mallorca leaving as much as 12 hours after the first teams arrived. While the teams were waiting, they were able to spend some time at the beach in Barcelona.  After the ferry to Mallorca, teams took taxis to Dalt Murada to get their next clues from fire breathing demons and devils that were shockingly scary both in appearance and with the demonic screams and screeches they were vocalizing.

After getting their clues, teams had to drive themselves to the Centro de alto Rendimiento sports complex. It was at this point that I was reminded, much to my surprise, that this was the first time this season that teams had to drive themselves and navigate.  In past seasons of The Amazing Race it seemed like teams had to drive themselves everywhere. We learned that Nadiya, who took a crash course in driving a manual vehicle prior to the race, had difficulty getting the car into gear. I immediately had flashbacks to learning to drive a stick-shift with my sisters and how sore my neck was after trying to learn!

Teams encountered the leg roadblock where they had to return 20 tennis balls served off a professional tennis machine.  If they ran out of balls before hitting 20, they had to start over again. Teams arrived at the complex not far apart from each other (except Natalie and Nadiya), and it was obvious that Trey played tennis before. He finished on his first set of balls and completed the roadblock quickly. James hit 6 balls on his first set, had to start over, and returned his 20 on his second set of balls. Josh, who had hurt his ankle on the previous leg while running to the ditch jump, struggled with this task.  After a sit-down break, Josh returned his 20 after only hitting 10 balls on his first round. Natalie and Nadiya finally arrived after their slow driving. Nadiya hit 8 balls her first round and finished 20 on her second round.

Their next clue took them to the Coves de Campanet where teams had to search the caves for music. After following the music which led to two guitar players, teams received their next clue which was a detour.

Teams either had to do "Spin-It" or "Bull-It":
► In "Spin-It", teams had to repair windmills by bolting on blades.
► In "Bull-It", teams had to dress in a bull costume where one team member was at the front and couldn't see while the other team in the back directing them towards bull fighters. The task was completed once teams went through eight bull fighters and hit a target within 2 minutes.

All teams but Trey and Lexi did "Spin-It". Trey and Lexi finished their detour on their second try and after Lexi cut herself on the bull costume. They switched positions so Lexi was directing Trey and they finished with 45 seconds to spare. Jaymes and James and Josh and Brent breezed through the windmill repair task but Natalie and Nadiya struggled. Even though Natalie and Nadiya arrived only slightly after Josh and Brent, Natalie and Nadiya took too long with the windmill repair and could not catch up.

Trey and Lexi finished first and won a trip to see the Mayan Ruins of  Chitzanetza in Mexico.
Jaymes and James finished second.
Josh and Brent finished third.
Natalie and Nadiya finished fourth.

Natalie and Nadiya were spared as this was a non-elimination leg and the final four teams will race on the two-hour season finale with Natalie and Nadiya having to complete an extra task called a speed bump.

As a side note, at the pit stop there was another strange character, a headless person sitting on a chair in a suit. This is the second strange pit stop character this season with the first being the man in Indonesia with 10 inch (or longer!) nails. I am looking forward to the final episode!

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

You might also like...

Author: Eric
This year we are following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 9 left Phil asking Josh and Brent if he should eliminate them even though they didn't finish last!? Read on for the full story.

Teams left Moscow and added another country to their travels, the Netherlands. This episode was fairly predictable.

► Natalie and Nadiya begged a ticketing agent to get a flight via Rome despite a one hour connection. The ticketing agent did not want to sell the ticket with that short of a connection in Rome. Their pleads worked and their decision proved to be profitable.

Here is the recap of arrival times which pretty much set the tone for this leg of the race:
-Natalie and Nadiya, 1130am arrival (via Rome)
-Jaymes and James, 1215pm arrival (direct flight)
-Trey and Lexi, 105pm arrival (via Larnaca, Cyprus)
-Josh and Brent, 435pm arrival (via Oslow)
-Abbie and Ryan, 1245pm or 205pm arrival (via Frankfurt)

Everyone arrived on-time except for Abbie and Ryan who were delayed in Frankfurt (just like leg 7). They hoped for the 205pm arrival but were delayed departing due to mechanical problems and had to switch planes (been there!). Natalie and Nadiya decided to go for the fast forward which allowed them to complete one task and skip to the pit stop. The fast forward task was to get on a bus and eat herring. Not kidding - I love herring! What was exciting about this fast forward was the bus was actually a hybrid bus/boat. It reminded me of the Ride The Ducks tour in Seattle. If you have a chance to ever ride in a car/bus/truck that turns into a boat, it is quite an interesting and strange experience. Jaymes and James tried to do the fast forward but ran into Natalie and Nadiya when they were just finishing the task. Natalie and Nadiya ate their herring and headed to the pit stop in seemingly record time.

Except for Natalie and Nadiya who were already on their way to the pit stop, teams had to decide between the detours "Back in Time" or "Organ to Grind".

► In "Back in Time" teams had to recreate Rembrandt's masterpiece "Night Watch" by dressing in character and posing other people in costume to replicate the painting.

► In "Organ to Grind" teams had to find one of three giant street organs, operate the organ and collect 30 Euros from pedestrians.

Jaymes and James (who ended up taking their shirts off to try and earn more money faster), and Trey and Lexi chose the organ detour and completed fairly easily and quickly. Meanwhile, Abbie and Ryan arrived and, because of their airplane delay, ran into Josh and Brent at the airport. They decided to run the leg together and they chose the "Back in Time" detour.

► Teams also had to complete the roadblock which involved them jumping over a water filled ditch using a pole. Teams had to complete this roadblock on a previous season and I think show producers thought it would prove difficult. However, teams finished this task easily and the only team member that got wet was Ryan.

After completing the "Back in Time" detour Abbie and Ryan found themselves "u-turned" and they had to complete the "Organ to Grind" task as well. They said there goodbyes to Josh and Brent and basically walked their way through the rest of the leg. Josh and Brent who felt bad that they had to leave their friends Abbie and Ryan behind, checked into the pit stop fourth. Because they didn't act very happy about getting to the pit stop via a u-turned Abbie and Ryan, Phil asked them if they would rather be eliminated - they declined.

The racers finished in this order:
1) Natalie and Nadiya - they won $5000 each
2) Jaymes and James
3) Trey and Lexi
4) Josh and Brent
5) Abbie and Ryan - eliminated

The lack of competitiveness at the end of this leg with Josh and Brent really had me wondering if they truly understand the meaning of the show. After all, racers are supposed to want to NOT come in last! Abbie and Ryan who won the first leg of the race had a shot at winning 2 million dollars. Instead, they left the show in tears blaming the Chippendale u-turn tactic as the reason they were eliminated. The race is winding down with only two countries more to go. The top three teams are strong and Josh and Brent seem to be begging to be eliminated from the race.

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

You might also like...

Author: Eric
This year we are following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 8 left me laughing over split pants. Read on for the full story.

No new countries were added this week as the racers were still in Moscow. The second part of Amazing Race Season 21's to-be-continued episode had racers in class, on the dance floor, and shaking it up with some of Russia's historic figures. But first, Josh & Brent (the goat farmer team) were still trying to finish the synchronized swimming task from last week while Abbie and Ryan graciously watched. Because the pool was closing, Josh and Brent were given one more chance to complete the task. Although they were close to completing the routine, they did not finish and ended up being penalized 4 hours which was assessed at the start of the next leg. If you recall from the last episode, the other team that was having major trouble was James and Abba who lost their bags and a passport. They were the last team to arrive at the pit stop, but since it was a non-elimination leg, they could continue to race until they came to a point where they needed to produce their passports again. To recap, Abbie and Ryan finished 4th, Josh and Brent finished 5th, and James and Abba finished 6th.

► Teams first caught taxis to the Agriculture Academy to find their next clue which then took them to the road block at a nearby classroom. The task involved racers figuring out a Russia time zone map that flashed across the screen at the front of the classroom and then calculating the times of Russian cities that flashed across immediately after. Jaymes and Lexi teamed up on the roadblock and finished after 12 tries. Ryan finished after 25 tries, and the sister team, Nadiya and Natalie decided to use their express pass to skip the roadblock and move on to the next task. Brent had no trouble with the task and finished on the first try.

Next, teams had decide between Movers and Shakers.

► In movers, teams had to learn and perform a Russian soldier dance. James struggled with this task because of a hurt ankle but ended up completing the dance with sweat pouring down his face. Lexi and Trey and Abbie and Ryan also completed the task without too much trouble. Nadiya and Natalie had some laughs (along with me) as Natalie split her pants a couple of times trying to get the dance down - there is just something hilarious about someone else splitting their pants.

► In shakers, Josh and Brent had to find 7 historic Russian figures at a cocktail party by identifying look-a-likes. Despite Josh and Brent being in the rear most of this season, they find moments to enjoy themselves. Their enjoyment might be explained because they think they are going to be eliminated so the race pressure is reduced.

The pit stop was at Sokolniki Park and the teams finished in this order:
1) Jaymes and James: won a trip to Costa Rica
2) Trey and Lexi
3) Nadiya and Natalie
4) Abbie and Ryan
5) Josh and Brent
6) James and Abba - realizing they could not locate their passports, they went to the pit stop and were eliminated.

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

You might also like...

Author: Eric
This year we are following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world with states visited, countries visited, and continents visited and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences. One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21, Episode 7 left me wondering, how many years has it been since I used a card catalog? Read on for the full story.

 
The Amazing Racers added an additional country, Russia to their visited countries list. They flew from Istanbul, Turkey to Moscow, Russia. Six teams remain on this "to be continued episode" in which two teams had travel difficulties (flight delayed and missed their connecting flight in Poland) and they fell behind 10 hours.

First, the teams did some navigating via taxi making their way to the Zurab Tsereteli Sculpture Park to get a clue. Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect who holds the office of President of the Russian Academy of Arts. Next, they made their way to the Moskvoretsky bridge to get another clue from "Ivan the Terrible" guard in period costume. The teams then had to choose between the detours, Synchronize or Alphabetize.

► In Synchronize, teams had to learn a choreographed routine from the gold medal winning Russian Synchronized Swimming Team. Not a surprise but the Chippendale dancer team, James and Jaymes finished quickly while the sister team Natalie & Nadia finished after several attempts. James and Abba took much longer but finished after 10 attempts. The two teams that were 10 hours behind, goat farmers Josh and Brent and dating divorees, Abbie and Ryan decided to complete the tasks together and because the library closed at 4pm, had no option but to swim.

► In Alphabetize, teams had to find four library books at the enormous Russian State Library.  The library is the third largest in the world with over 17 million books! This task was difficult because the books they were trying to find were in Russian and because they had to find them the old fashion way, using a card catalog! This task proved difficult for rocker/brother team James and Abba. They gave up and went to the swimming task. However, Trey & Lexi "mastered" the Russian language and completed the task quickly.

► Finally, teams had to go to the Luzhkov bridge where they had to find the correct keys that unlocked a ribbon holding their next clue. The clue was on the back of a ruble, a picture of the Bolshoi Theater, the pit stop for this leg of the race. During this task, James and Abba realized they left their bags in the taxi along with passports. There was nothing they could do as the taxi was nowhere in sight so they decided to finish the task and go to the pit stop.

Lexi and Trey finished first, winning a trip to Maui. Second to arrive were Jaymes and James, a result of finishing the swimming task quickly.  Also finishing the swimming task quickly were Natalie and Nadia who finished third. Although they would have finished fourth, James and Abba did not have their passports and they could not be checked in.  The show ended with Josh and Brent struggling to finish the swimming task, Abbie and Ryan watching them struggle with the swimming task (having completed it and agreeing to wait for them to finish), and James and Abba wondering what in the world they would do in a city of millions to find their taxi holding their bags hostage.

I found this episode entertaining and the tasks more challenging to complete. Also, the decision for two of the teams to complete tasks together was compelling. I wonder what would happen if the two teams step on the pit-stop check-in mat at the exact same time? Would they both be last and eliminated together? I'll keep watching.

Do you have amazing travel goals? Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app. See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive guide to help you achieve travel goals. Looking for great articles to plan your next amazing adventure? See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world. Have you traveled to all 50 states, at least 6 continents, or at least 15 countries? Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift! Happy Travels!

You might also like...

Author: Eric
This year we will be following the travels and experiences of the Amazing Race Season 21 using the Travel Goal Getter iPad App which allows you to mark your own map of the world and keep track of bucket-list travel experiences.  One of our favorite travel related shows on television, Amazing Race Season 21,  Episode 4 left us thankful we don't have a rodent problem!  Read on for the full story!

The amazing racers left Bangil, Indonesia for Dhaka, Bangladesh, adding one more country to their travel map.

► The teams first had repair one of the 15,000 buses that transport people throughout the country each day.  They filled gaps with putty, smoothed and sanded their patchwork.  Most teams did not have a difficult time with this and it was fitting that the monster truck racing team (handy with vehicle body work) breezed through this task.  After the teams finished the repair, they had to remove three sets of seats from a bus.

► The long haired rocker and lawyer brother team decided to go for the fast forward which allowed them to skip the bus task and complete a different task to go directly to the pit stop.  Based on the episode preview, I was under the impression that the team would have to catch live rats.  Instead, they had to collect dead rats which oddly enough seemed "better".  This is when I thought to myself, "I sure am glad I do not have a rodent problem!".  The team collected the rats, a following of onlookers, and went directly to the pit stop as the first team to check-in.

► While the fast forward was being completed, the other teams had to choose between their second task of pounding metal or pounding cotton.  In pounding metal, the teams heated a metal rod and pounded it into a stake.  Not a brain tasker but definitely a muscle builder.  The other task, pound cotton, involved a bit more thinking.  The teams hit the cotton to separate it more and then stuffed the cotton into fabric, creating a mattress.  They sewed up the open end of the mattress and the task was completed.  I really thought the teams would struggle with this task more but apparently they paid more attention in home economics than I!

To catch up on past episodes, please watch Amazing Race on CBS.

Do you have AMAZING travel goals?  Check out a simple tool to help track of states visited, countries visited, and continents visited - see our Travel Goal iPad App to learn more about tracking your unique travel goals and your travel experiences and bucket-lists on your own travel goal iPad app.  See Achieving Travel Goals for some quick advice and a comprehensive primer to help you achieve travel goals.   Looking for great articles to plan your next awesome adventure?  See our Top Travel Blog Search Engine that searches only the top 150 most widely read and popular travel blogs in the world.  Have you traveled to all 50 states, all 7 continents, or at least 15 countries?  Become a free member of our All Fifty Club, 7 Continent Club, and/or Traveler's Country Club for FREE today or give a membership as a gift!  Happy Travels!

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