It's been several months since Dan began his lease on his all electric Smart car. We were already Smart Car drivers, so I was used to the polarizing effect that our cars seem to have on people. It seems like nobody is neutral. We either get smiles and compliments or hateful comments. I'm used to it and I brush it off, but it's still bizarre to me that anyone would bother being negative towards what someone else wants to drive.

The funny thing is, it doesn't seem to matter what brand of car you drive, some people absolutely hate electric or hybrid vehicles. Again, I have no idea why they are so bothered, however it seems like certain people go out of their way to be negative or to stereotype us.

This issue came up a lot of message boards and personal blogs when I began to research laws regarding electric vehicle charging stations. Some people really hate the charging stations and we learned this as soon as we tried to use them.

We primarily charge our EV at home. I've not noticed a big leap in our electric bill, so being able to skip the gas stations has definitely saved us money. Dan uses the EV for his short commute to work and even though they have recently put in EV charging stations at his office, he rarely uses them.

The first day that we had our new car, we decided to take it to the Americana in Glendale to try out their EV stations. The Americana has six chargers run by the company, Blink. The cost is about two dollars per hour, which is consistent with the price of their competitors.

The primary problem with the Americana EV stations is the lack of enforcement for non-EV's. We pulled up and managed to snag a spot, but all of the other spots were taken by non-EV's. We let the concierge know about the problem, but when we came back an hour later, the cars were still there and they had not been cited. The spots are very clearly labeled, but people still park there. We have been back to the Americana several times and the spots are nearly always filled with non-EV's.

It's frustrating.

We charged our car a few times in Downtown Burbank at a Charge Point station.

The Burbank location has four spots for EV's. Burbank still has the problem of non-EV's parking in the spots, but it is much less of an issue. We used the Charge Point Station several weeks in a row to attend a weekly farmer's market and we noticed the same hybrid vehicle using the spots, but not charging. This is as bad as a non-EV parking in the spot.

The biggest thing that most people don't realize, is that these are not parking spaces. They are charging stations. After looking up the regulations online, the spaces are intended for vehicles only as long as they need to charge and then they are to be moved. It's like using public laundromats and needing to remove your clothes from the machine as soon as the machine finishes. Same concept.

As I explored the issue on the internet, I realized that this is where a lot of the EV hate stems from, the misunderstanding regarding the utilization of the spaces. Non-EV owners are upset because they think EV's are getting special parking spaces, akin to handicap parking. Fully EV owners are upset, because they think they should have priority over hybrid owners, who don't technically need to use the charging stations. EV and Hybrid owners are irritated when anyone parks there that isn't charging.

It's a mess!

To make matters more confusing, I take issue with something that I saw in the Venetian parking structure in Las Vegas. At the Venetian, tucked away on the upper levels of the parking structure are many spots reserved for "alternative fuel" vehicles. However, none of these spots have charging stations.

They are hardly prime parking spots ( another non-EV owner complaint), yet they still exist as being set aside for EV owners and don't actually provide a purpose. This just perpetuates the confusion and problems.

I wrote a letter to the Venetian over a month ago, but have not received a response. If they write back, I will update this post. I really wanted to know the purpose of the spaces, because as I see it, it only antagonizes the issue.

This is a hot button issue and as more EV's are on the road everyday, it needs to be cooled down and resolved.

I love National Geographic. My entire childhood the latest issue of the magazine sat on our coffee table on top of our two giant atlases, one of North America and one of the World. My mom loved geography.

Outside of briefly living in Germany and Virginia while my father was in the military, my mom didn't do a lot of traveling. Our family vacation was always to Maui. Not a bad family vacation destination, but it grew old over the years. My mom loved learning about the world and I always felt like she wished that she had seen more of it. She passed her love of the world along to me.

The monthly arrival of National Geographic was always an exciting mail day. When I was in elementary school, she subscribed to National Geographic World (in addition to National Geographic) a magazine for kids. One year, they ran a geography quiz contest with new questions in the magazine every month. My mom helped me discover the answers on our atlases. The contested ended up being a prize raffle for all of the kids who had the correct answers and although I didn't win, my name was put on a pull-out map in the magazine featuring all of kids that had the correct answers. One of my best friends also had his name on the map! Good memories.

When I think of National Geographic, I think of my mom and exploring amazing things with her from our couch. I was really excited to discover that the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas was hosting a National Geographic photography exhibit. The exhibit showcases what editors have picked as the fifty best or more iconic photographs.

We bought discount tickets to the exhibition at the Tix4Tonight booth in the Town Square Mall. The regular admission price is eighteen a ticket. The exhibit is amazing and wonderful, but not worth a full price admission.

Our tickets to National Geographic's 50 greatest Photos — Our tickets to *National Geographic's 50 greatest Photos*

We arrived late on a Friday, mid-afternoon and the exhibition was very quiet. We never had to wait to view a photo. The exhibition is located across from the Venetian Guest Check-In area, tucked away in a corner and a bit hard to locate. It has a small gift shop, which also serves as the entry to the exhibition.

The exhibition takes place in one big room, which is broken up by dividing walls in the center. The pictures are equally spaced throughout the walls with a small description of each photographed placed below or to the side of the picture.

Lighting is a problem. The lighting in the gallery is all fixed to enhance the photograph, which is great, however, in more than one case, it was too dark to read the information about the photograph. I felt like I was cheated on the experience. They should fix the lighting or hand out mini flashlights. Bring a mini flashlight, trust me.

The photographs are all very amazing and some are quite emotional. One that really caught me off guard was a photograph of a child of farmers whose sheep had been killed by a car. The kid is completely wreck with grief. I felt gutted looking at it.

I loved a picture of mountain climbers in a snow storm. They each are wearing a particular bright color, so that they can be easily identified during climbs. The picture showed the guys waiting out a severe storm. They are sitting in the snow and brilliant patches of vibrant pinks, oranges and blues on their outfits are peaking through the thick white.

There was a stomach churning picture of a dead bird and the contents of it's stomach. The bird had consumed all kinds of trash. The quantity of what was in this animal's stomach is mind boggling. They should do an anti-litter advertising campaign with this picture. It was very affecting.

One of my all time favorite photographs was included in the exhibition. It's a photograph of a chimpanzee touching Dr. Jane Goodall's hair. It's a beautiful moment that a photographer happened to capture.

The exhibition included several videos highlighting certain photographs and the photographers that captured the shot. This was the most interesting component of the exhibition.

In particular, I liked hearing the backstory behind a picture of farmers in Australia experiencing a drought. The picture was of a farmer and his children. The farmer was excited to check his fields after they had a rain storm. He was optimistic heading out, but when they arrived at the fields the area was still dry and damaged. The farmer was keeping strong for his two children, ran out around the truck, where the photographer was snapping pictures. She managed to get a candid shot with amazing framing using the truck's mirror. The video component really highlighted the story behind the picture.

As great as the photographs are, I wish that there had been more about the photographers. I find that the story behind the picture is often more interesting that the actual photograph. I wanted more of the journalism and not just the art.

We spent about an hour in the exhibition. I enjoyed viewing the incredible photographs, but was left feeling like the experience was lacking. It was almost as if they just threw the photographs up on the wall, without giving enough attention to the meaning behind the photos or to the photographers. Not terrible, just lacking. It's worth the trip if you can get discount tickets.

Official Information on 50 Greatest Photographs Exhibition

EV Charging Stations are NOT Parking Spaces

Las Vegas, June 2013- National Geographic: 50 Greatest Photographs