World By Charlie

National Geographic Explorer, tall person, creator of WorldByCharlie's "Nature Boom Time" premiering on Nat Geo WILD on March 5th. 

[charlieengelman]

New movie about arguably the cutest and strangest dog I have ever met. You can catch the rest of it here: https://youtu.be/LpKkn7lGqAE

[charlieengelman]

I met this little dog named Rudy, he is the greatest. This is the story of how we found out just a bit more about him. You can watch the rest here: https://youtu.be/LpKkn7lGqAE

[charlieengelman]

Coming at you with a new episode of the greatest nature show in all the land!! Nature Boom Time! New episode dropped on the Nat Geo Kids YouTube page. It's all about giant, enormous, massively incredible superstar trees. Boom:

[charlieengelman]

Another episode of our show - "Nature Boom Time!" - has been posted on the Nat Geo Kids YouTube page! This one is all about petrified wood, paper volcanoes, and National Park thieves! Check it out!

[charlieengelman]

The greatest nature show ever is now online! AHHHHH!!! People are rioting, women are giving birth, puppies are being adopted! It's a truly glorious day!!! Here are the links to our show, Nature Boom Time:

Whole season on Nat Geo Kids website: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/videos/nature-boom-time/…

Episodes released on YouTube throughout the summer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68VdWyMGJM

[charlieengelman]

Super super super excellent news!!!! Our show, Nature Boom Time, is now online! You can watch the whole series on the Nat Geo Kids website! Here is a link to the first episode:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/videos/nature-boom-time/…

They'll also be released on YouTube throughout the summer. Here's the first video released on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/k68VdWyMGJM

AHHH EXCITEMENT!!!

[charlieengelman]

Day 29: Sequoia National Park, CA

It’s our last morning in Sequoia National Park. Today we head to Whitaker Forest to meet up with our friends from Cornell. Next up: climbing some Giant Sequoias, but first - a final visit to Beetle Rock and one more look at this nice view.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Early wake up, hammock moment by the river before packing up. Headed out to Whitaker Forest in CA. Super janky dirt road to arrival. Little cabin with loads of sequoias. People are super nice and quiet: Bug Man (Hong Kong), PHD super dude, Justin, just to name a few. Hung out, went on walks. Late dinner before bed - camping next to Whitaker’s grave.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 28: Sequoia National Park, CA

Our campsite might be the best campsite in the entire world. I absolutely love it here. Right by the river, close to General Sherman and the trails, bears all over the place, excellent.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Beautiful and sunny wake up next to a river. Made coffee while the boys slept. Chilly night, not Utah chilly, but still cold. Called home on a payphone at the visitor’s center. $1 for 4 mins, 4 very short minutes. Spent the day filming - Congress Trail, the President, the House, Congress, and General Sherman. Beautiful, sunny, and low 70s. Lunch at “the House” grove of sequoias. Headed to Beetle Rock for some narration - an incredible overlook, we stayed and sat for a bit. Last shot we needed was the sign shot. Drove down windy General’s highway, but found one! I’m writing this while the boys search for firewood.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 27: Monterey, CA

Time to head to our next destination! We’re on our way to Sequoia National Park today to shoot our third episode - “Giant Sequoias vs Coastal Redwoods,” but first we need to do some laundry.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Worked on scripts at the laundromat while we do laundry. Packed up, on our way to Lodgepole, our new campsite. We spotted 2 bears. Set up at Lodgepole - awesome spot right by the river. Hammocks by the river too. Headed to General Sherman + the Congress + the House. Seriously impressive. While on Long Trees Trail we saw another bear-idiot family that got WAY to close. The trail was dotted with sequoias all surrounding a meadow with wild hastas. When we’re heading back a crowd had gathered literally around a bear, traffic stopeed. We stayed way back. Ranger charged the bear, it latched onto a tree. Drove to see the unrecognized, equally impressive General Grant. Headed back to camp, saw 4 more bears at camp. Boys made fire, dinner, bed.

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 26: Monterey, CA

Our last full day in Monterey! Today we’re wrapping everything up for the kelp episode. We went around town snagging up some maps and pamphlets to use as props and also filmed some narration on the beach. This is a nice place. Patrick doesn’t want to leave.

Kirby’s daily notes: Woke up, bagels for breakfast. Worked on scripts. Filmed narration at Breakwater - so many divers because of a scuba event at the beach. Also saw a massive sea lion.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 25: Carmel, CA

Our final dive day. This day proved to be one of the best. Clearest water, amazing shots of kelp. Truly excellent. And I think we finally got this scuba thing down.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Denny’s for breakfast, headed to Carmel for our last day of diving. We were the only divers there. Saw some otters at the surface, The water was insanely clear - the kelp columns were the most massive we’ve ever seen, easily the most beautiful dive yet. Drove all of our gear back to San Jose, hung out a bit. Dinner at In & Out burger. Couldn’t find a cheap motel (needed to shower). Finally found the Roadway Inn.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 24: Carmel, CA

Dive day #2 at Point Lobos. We had enormously high expectations for this day - the location was supposed to be incredible. Unfortunately the visibility was really low underwater. At some points, we could barely see two feet in front of us. On a more positive note, a seal showed up and swam with us throughout the majority of our second dive! Despite the low visibility, an extraordinarily fun day.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Denny’s breakfast. Headed to Point Lobos. Beautiful park area. 2 dives, only 2 other divers there. Visibility was low, underwater was very dark. Not too chilly. Harbor seals swam around with us for a while. Decided against a third dive because of visibility. Met some BBC photographers, used their mega lens to shoot some otters. Visited Monterey Aquarium - super cool how natural everything looked.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 23: Monterey, CA

Dive day with our guides Alex and Sabine. They were an enormous help, getting us comfortable in the water, working the cameras, we could not have asked for better guides.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Early wake up, packed up, headed to Monterey to dive day 1. Chilly, cloudy morning. Water was low 50’s. Made two dives, visibility was super great. Kelp was seriously beautiful. Spent almost an hour underwater during one dive. Gonna be honest, felt pretty legit being in such a public place. Amazing day.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 22: Monterey, CA

Today we made the long drive to Monterey, our shoot location for Ep. 2: Kelp Forests.

Kirby’s daily notes: “5:30 on the road to CA. Got stopped crossing into CA to see if we were traveling with any fruits or plants. Mohave went on and on forever. Stopped at the cheapest gas station that was insanely busy. Arrived in CA, set up camp before wandering around Monterey for a while. Fell asleep to someone playing taps on a trumpet.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 21: Holbrook, AZ

Last day filming in Petrified Forest National Park. There was a little drizzle in the afternoon so we spent some time practicing with the glidecam. Next stop: Monterey, CA for our shoot in the Kelp Forest.

Kirby’s daily notes: “Early wake up, finished shooting, hit the gift shops. KOA relax / prep for travel later. Boys snorkeled in pool, I read. Played basketball for a while. Packed up the car for tomorrow.

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 20: Holbrook, AZ

Kirby’s taking some notes detailing the day’s work. Here is Kirby’s entry for that day:

“Pancake wakeup was excellent once again. Headed off to the park to shoot. Spent most of the day in the backcountry portions of Jasper Forest (our primary shoot location). Didn’t see another human all day. Found super old tin cans and pepsi bottle. After lunch, which we had on 500 million year old fossils, we went back to our cabin to go through the footage. Jealous of University of Northern Colorado’s ice cream machine they’re rocking next to our campsite.”

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD

[charlieengelman]

Day 19: Holbrook, AZ

Check out our little cabin! It’s absolutely adorable! There were a few potential campsites around Petrified Forest National Park. Unfortunately, the closest ones didn’t have water or restrooms. We were going to be here for a couple days, and there was room in the budget, so we splurged for a cabin at the Holbrook KOA. KOAs are excellent. Over the course of our trip we ended up staying in four: one in Florida, Arizona, Washington, and Montana. They’re quick, easy, have clean showers, washing machines, and usually a pretty sweet breakfast deal - like the 1$ all-you-can-eat daily pancake breakfast in Holbrook.

Our first location scouting trip to Petrified Forest National Park proved to be a complete and utter success. We met with a ranger who clued us in on some sites less frequented by visitors that have some truly enormous petrified wood deposits. The landscapes were incredible. The amount of petrified wood on the ground was mind-boggling. This is going to be a great episode.  

“Nature Boom Time!” March 5th, Nat Geo WILD