Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World!
May 23, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
In one wonderful respect, the United States is becoming much more European. The summertime music festival, a mainstay of European culture for quite some time, is spreading across the US. There are now a bunch of festivals where you can see your favorite bands under an open sky. Seeing a concert in a hall is great for powerful acoustics and light shows, but it’s not so great for hanging out. Outdoor festivals are perfect for both—seeing music and spending quality time connecting with your friends. Because you feel a greater connection with the crowd, you feel a greater connection with the musicians, too. And since the musicians have a ton of fellow performers to hang out with, they feel more connected, as well. An outdoor festival is conducive to overall community in ways that a concert at an indoor venue can never be.
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival: Manchester, Tennessee
This festival is imbued the spirit of the 1960s and the sounds of now. In fact, the spirit of the ‘60s at Bonnaroo is even better than it was in the actual ‘60s. Stephen Stills, who famously left the Woodstock Festival in 1969 after playing with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, in order to jet off to the Dick Cavett Show and talk about how great the festival was, declared from the Bonnaroo stage in 2011, in between Buffalo Springfield songs, that had Woodstock ’69 been as good as Bonnaroo ’11, he would have blown off the Cavett Show and stayed for the whole festival. Every year, the folks at Bonnaroo improve on an already great thing. This year’s festival, which takes place from June 13th-16th, features a startling line-up of legends who are as relevant now as they ever were: Paul McCartney, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Swans among them. There is also, of course, a whole slew of innovative contemporary acts: Mumford and Sons, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Matt & Kim among them. Then there’s the comedy stage, where you can laugh like a rock star to the jokes of David Cross, Bob Saget, Eric Andre, and others.
Lollapalooza: Chicago, Illinois
During the ‘90s, Lollapalooza brought indie music to the people in a manic, sometimes carnival-esque roadshow. Started by Perry Farrell in 1991 as an epic, rolling swansong for his band Jane’s Addiction, the festival introduced many teenagers to such essential ‘90s acts as Pavement, Beck, and Nine Inch Nails. Just like the people in those bands and their fans, the Lollapalooza festival has grown up. Like many grown-ups, Lollapalooza has settled down. No longer going from town to town to spread its rock-n-roll fairy dust, Lollapalooza now calls the city of Chicago home—taking place in spacious, green Grant Park, which commands a great view of Chi-Town’s skyline. Despite being older and settled, Lollapalooza is as hip as ever—if a little less hyperactive than it was in its younger years. This year’s festival features mope-core legends The Cure, Afro-pop influenced songsters Vampire Weekend, and full-on rockers Band of Horses. And since this is a late-starting festival, you can explore Chicago during the daytime. Rock on!
When the rocking-out day is done, nothing is more satisfying than laying your head on a comfy pillow and calling it a night. The perfect place to unwind and recharge is a hotel with the feel of home but none of the chores—like an Extended Stay Hotel.
Take a Hollywood Blockbuster-Inspired Vacation
May 7, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Get ready for the season of blockbuster movies. This year, Hollywood is pulling out some really special stuff. A lot of people get down on Hollywood for working with stories that have already been told—like Spiderman, King Kong, and Arthur. But I think it’s really interesting seeing new spins on old tales. The same way that no two people will tell a story the same way (different people will emphasize different details, tell different jokes, etc.), no two directors will tell a story on film the same way. Directors are like snowflakes—all very different from one another. The movies they make, despite family resemblance, are like snowflakes, as well. This year, there’s a veritable snowstorm of great films to see. Two that I’m really looking forward to are Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (starring Leonardo DiCaprio) and Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger (starring Johnny Depp). In celebration of these two exciting films, I’m going to discuss vacation possibilities inspired by them.
Great Gatsby Vacations
Have you ever dreamed of visiting East Egg and West Egg, the rich towns on Long Island (the island that juts out eastward from New York City) where the action of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby takes place? Well, you can’t—not exactly. Fitzgerald made those cute town names up. But they are based on actual places. East Egg is based on the village of Sands Point, and West Egg is based on the village of Kings Point. If you want to get up close and personal with this area and its relation to the novel, I recommend the Great Gatsby Boat Tour, given seasonally by Great Gatsby and western Long Island expert Eleanor Cox. Cox will point out all the mansions and the yacht clubs on shore that date from the Jazz Age days of Prohibition, when The Great Gatsby is set.
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, in Montgomery, Alabama, is housed in the only residence in Montgomery where F. Scott and his wife Zelda lived that is still standing. All the others have been demolished. This museum honors their life together as well as the writing of both (Zelda was as novelist as well) though photographs, paintings, letters, and excerpts from their writing.
Lone Ranger Vacations
A lot of the filming of The Lone Ranger took place in Cimarron Canyon State Park and in the town of Angel Fire—both in New Mexico. The film is the story of the Lone Ranger told through the eyes of Tonto, his companion. As Tonto is a Native American, the film tries to communicate a Native American point of view. In the town of Taos, only twenty-four miles from Angel Fire, there is a magnificent collection of Native American art at the Millicent Rogers Museum. Expressing the ways of life and outlooks of the tribes of the southwest, the beautiful objects in the collection were both practically and spiritually useful for the tribes who owned them. On view are a variety of baskets, clothing, jewelry, and pottery.
After a day of living the movies, you’ll be ready to kick back at a cozy hotel and maybe watch some movies. That’s why you want a hotel with a TV, a kitchen to pop some popcorn, and free Wi-Fi. That way, you can watch exactly what you want.
Take a Tasty Vacation for National Hamburger Month
May 3, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May is National Hamburger Month. What a tasty idea! The hamburger, while it may have originated in Germany, like the hot dog (or frankfurter), is as American as apple pie. We eat hamburgers on every occasion and in many forms. They charm kids in their Happy Meals, and they are a welcome reward to adults for a hard day’s work. The burger has the unique distinction of being both extremely efficient and extremely satisfying. You don’t need silverware to eat one, or even a plate; and they can be eaten very quickly. Eating a great burger can make you feel like you just spent the day at a beach resort being pampered. You get that kind of endorphin rush. A great burger experience that nearly all Americans have shared is the fast-food burger experience.
McDonald’s First Store Museum: Des Plaines, Illinois
In 1955, Ray Kroc opened a little restaurant called McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois. This was not the very first McDonald’s. That distinction belongs to a long-gone hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California, opened by the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac, in 1940. It’s not even the oldest McDonald’s still open for business. That McDonald’s is in Downey, California—and I will tell you about it shortly. The McDonald’s First Store Museum is a re-creation (as the original restaurant was demolished in 1984) of the first McDonald’s to open after Kroc, who took the company global and made it what it is today, took over. McDonald’s represented a streamlining of the popular drive-in restaurant theme when it opened. The difference at a McDonald’s was that you carried your food to your car yourself, and you got it much faster. This waiter-less form of fast-food restaurant thrived, and the traditional drive-in faded away. The McDonald’s First Store Museum has the original sign, adorned with the “Speedee” mascot, which represented the company’s game-changing assembly-line process of food preparation. All the original food-prep tools are inside, tended to by mannequins wearing 1955 uniforms. If you find yourself hungry after checking out the museum (a definite possibility), just head across the street to an operating McDonald’s and enjoy a burger or two—or three or four.
Downey, California’s, McDonald’s looks just like the First Store Museum from the outside, except it’s a still-operating McDonald’s. The reason for the old-time look at this location is that this restaurant was a rebel of sorts. It did not affiliate with the mother corporation until 1990, by which time it had already established its retro identity. It has been said that the burgers at this location just taste better and more authentic. And I don’t doubt it. True to tradition, they only serve burgers, fries, shakes, and sodas here.
Kansas Museum of History (Fast Food Exhibit): Topeka, Kansas
Kansas is responsible for a fair amount of hamburger history. The very first chain to specialize in this wonderful food, White Castle, began in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921. The fast-food ball got rolling with White Castle (which had uniform restaurants and cooking methods 20 years before McDonald’s was the dream of the McDonald brothers). You’ll learn quite a lot at this exhibit about Kansas’ outsized role in the fast-food revolution and work up quite an appetite.
After investigating the hamburger (and eating one or two, of course!) and the interesting history of fast food in the US, you’ll be ready to experience another modern innovation—the convenient, amenity-rich, inexpensive hotel. The best example of this American innovation is Extended Stay Hotels.
Skateboarding, USA—Places You Need to Know
November 27, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Are you a skateboarder or the parent of skateboarders? If you are, then you know to what lengths serious skaters will go to to get to top-notch skating locations. They will travel great distances and even break rules in order to get access to spaces where they can take serious shots at skating glory.
In the days before skate parks, skaters in Southern California would sneak into neighbors’ empty pools to do their new, mind-blowing tricks. Luckily for them, there was a drought at the time.
Skateboarders are not any more or less into breaking the rules than the average teenager. If you give a skateboarder a legitimate place to do his or her thing (a skate park), he or she will gladly use it. If you don’t have an awesome skate park in your town, you owe it to yourself or your kids to visit one. There’s something great about skating among a community of fellow skaters. They help one another out and cheer one another on, giving each other the feeling of family and camaraderie found in team sports.
SkateLab: Atlantic Beach, Florida
SkateLab is an indoor/outdoor park. The park has everything you need for a full skating experience both inside and outside—vert half pipes, ramps and more rails than you can shake a skateboard at. This insures that, when the weather is good, neither the indoor park nor the outdoor park is too crowded. You’ve got plenty of room around you to get fancy and do your best Rodney Mullen impersonation if the spirit grabs you.
Another benefit to this indoor/outdoor design is that your skating day is not dampened (pun intended) by rain. If it starts raining (something that generally happens in intense but brief bursts in Florida), just head inside for a while and work on your kickflips, railslides and vert tricks in there.
Louisville Extreme Park: Louisville, Kentucky
This park isn’t messing around. It goes the extra distance (literally) with not just half pipes but a twenty-four foot whole pipe. At the Louisville Extreme Park, you break the right kind of laws. You are skating law-abidingly, since you are in a city-sanctioned park, but you get to break the law of gravity in this amazing pipe.
Located in the Bluegrass State, this is the New York City of skate parks. It never closes. It’s got lights, and it’s open 24/7. Do you want a skating fix at 11:30 on Christmas Eve? No problem, just head down to the Louisville Extreme Park. It’ll be a little chilly at first, but as every skater knows, one of the best things about skating in the winter is that after you get going, you warm up. You can strip down to a t-shirt in the sort of weather that makes your breath visible.
This park offers a great mix of street-skating, ramp skating and a fusion of the two. Located close to Louisville’s beautiful Waterfront Park and RiverWalk, you don’t have to go far if you are looking to drop your kids off there. Plus, when you’re done doing some world-class skateboarding, you’ll be ready for some world-class rest and relaxation.
There’s one place where you can always count on finding just that. At Extended Stay Hotels, you get a relaxing atmosphere, plus plentiful amenities, at a relaxing price.
Save 20% - Select Weekends at Extended Stay Hotels
May 31, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 06/01 through 06/04) and next weekend (stays 06/08 through 06/11) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like Denver, Jacksonville, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis and many others.
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Save 20% - Select Weekends at Extended Stay Hotels
May 23, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 05/25 through 05/28) and next weekend (stays 06/01 through 06/04) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like Denver, Orlando, Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle and many others.
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Rates from $30.99 /night - Weekend Stays at Extended Stay Hotels
May 16, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 05/18 through 05/21) and next weekend (stays 05/25 through 05/28) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like Los Angeles, Orlando, Minneapolis, Dallas, Seattle and many others.
For Arrival Dates 05/18/2012 and 05/19/2012
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Save 20% - Select Weekends at Extended Stay Hotels
May 9, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 05/11 through 05/14) and next weekend (stays 05/18 through 05/21) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Boston, Houston and many others.
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20% Off - Weekend Stays at Extended Stay Hotels
May 2, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 05/04 through 05/07) and next weekend (stays 05/11 through 05/14) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas and many others.
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20% Off - Weekend Stays at Extended Stay Hotels
April 25, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 04/27 through 04/30) and next weekend (stays 05/04 through 05/07) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save at least 20% on stays this weekend or next at your favorite destinations, like San Diego, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many others.
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