The Perpetual Tourist

If a fun day in San Antonio wasn’t enough to undo my bitterness toward Texas, my trip to the Gruene Historical District in New Braunfels certainly cemented my love of the area. My husband arranged this trip as my birthday present this year (thanks, Z!), and I’ve never had a better birthday. Not knowing exactly where we were going or what kind of traffic we’d encounter, we left early for our jaunt to Gruene. We wanted to arrive in time to secure good seats for a day of music at Gruene Hall, starting at noon, but when we got to town before 11am, we had plenty of time to explore.

The small German community was founded in 1845 and has seen little change since then. The town is situated on the banks of the Guadalupe River between Austin and San Antonio. Specialty shops selling handmade goods and gourmet foods line the main drag, which comes to an end at Gruene Hall, Texas’ oldest dance hall. The hall hosts music events almost daily, and many of the shows are free, as was the one we attended on Sunday.

I attend lots of concerts, and at every show, I can generally look forward to about 90 minutes of great music, but Gruene Hall’s schedule was a huge part of the reason we traveled all the way to Texas for this birthday concert. Two of our favorite artists, Rod Picott and Slaid Cleaves, were scheduled for back-to-back sets of 3+ hours each. All of Gruene Hall’s shows are this long — it must be hard on the artists, but it’s great for fans like me who can never get enough of the music!

The venue was constructed in 1878, and it has a great old-time feel to it. On days with nice weather, they remove the boards along the sides of the building so the place is more like a covered pavilion than a room. I can’t speak for what it’s like in the peak of summer, but on temperate days like Sunday, it’s a very comfortable space.

Gruene Hall serves beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks, but no actual food, so between sets, it’s convenient to walk next door to The Gristmill River Restaurant and Bar. The restaurant was converted from an old cotton gin, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The food was tasty and the service was good, but again, the vegetarian selection was, well, non-existent. (I had cheese quesadillas for three meals in a row, and they were good, so I’m not complaining, but I don’t think a vegan would make it here.)

If you’re visiting New Braunfels, you have lots of bed and breakfasts to choose from. It seemed like the area had more B&B’s than residents — I wonder how they keep them staffed. We were staying in San Antonio with friends, but if we’d needed a room for the night, I probably would have chosen Gruene Mansion, based on what I saw of it and some praise from the locals. In fact, I had such a blast at Gruene Hall that I am looking forward to another opportunity to visit, probably when another of my favorites is playing an all-day show at the dance hall.

I’d recommend Gruene Hall to any music lover, and I’d recommend the Gruene community to anyone who loves anything at all — places like this simply make your heart smile.

I have to start this post with a confession. I have always harbored a not-so-secret hatred of Texas. When I was in high school, I competed in the Destination Imagination Global Finals my junior and senior years, and even though all fifty states and many countries were represented, the Texans were everywhere, and they really dominated the competition. I’ve harbored resentment ever since, and the fact that our current president is from Texas has done little to improve my views on the state. I admit all this because only now can you truly understand just what it means for me to say that I love it here.

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, our first order of business was to fill our stomachs. We decided to drive downtown and just pick something that looked good, then spend the afternoon sightseeing. For a big city, traffic in San Antonio was a relatively minor issue. The roads were never too jammed, and there was plenty of parking wherever we went, which was a pleasant surprise after spending the weekend in Traffic Hell, aka Washington, DC.

As we approached downtown, people were lined up on the streets for a parade, and there was some sort of street fair going on. We soon learned that we’d arrived in the middle of Fiesta, an annual city-wide celebration featuring several parades, parties, and other festivities. We parked and wandered through the street vendors peddling cheap souvenirs and classic Texas food and drink, which is mostly meaty Mexican food and daiquiris the size of bird baths. So far, Texas was a lot of fun, but my one complaint was the difficulty finding vegetarian fare.

At 3:30pm, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant along the San Antonio Riverwalk called Casa Rio. Even at 3:30 in the afternoon, the place was packed. In fact, we’ve been eating at odd hours each day that we’ve been here, and no matter when we enter a restaurant, the places are full. Either Texans eat round-the-clock, or we selected all the best restaurants in the city. The latter is quite possible, as Casa Rio had some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had (albeit a limited selection of vegetarian options, which was typical of everywhere we ate), and by far the best margarita I’ve ever tasted.

Whereas getting to tourism hot spots in many cities means lots of driving and searching, the best of San Antonio is all right in one convenient area downtown. The Alamo, the former mission and fortress, and site of the famed 1836 Battle of the Alamo. Tours are offered daily, and admission is free.

After taking in the local (and national) history at the Alamo, the San Antonio River Walk is nearby. Also free, the River Walk is made up of two sidewalks that run along the banks of the San Antonio River one story below street level. Lined with shops, restaurants, and bars, the River Walk will guide you along some of the city’s finest architecture and landscapes. If your feet are too weary for the walk, or if you just want a guide to explain all the sights to you, maybe a boat tour is what you’re looking for. Rio San Antonio has daily tours leaving every 15-20 minutes.

I was in San Antonio for less than one full day, but thanks to the convenience of everything, I was able to take in most of these sights in a single, delicious margarita-fueled afternoon. I had other engagements outside the city for the rest of my trip to Texas, but I’m really looking forward to an opportunity to return here. It’s been a lovely visit, and I’m starting to see why Texans are so proud of this place. If only there were more vegetarian options and fewer Bushes…

Anyone who’s been following along knows that I am a bridge player. I’m one of the handful of young people involved in the game today, and I love it. Computer and console gaming have really pushed bridge out of the social scene for kids, which is a real tragedy, because young people have so much to gain from the game, from scholarships to networking opportunities and — you guessed it — travel.

Duplicate bridge is a card game of skill (the “duplicate” part means luck is all but completely eliminated) that takes a few hours to learn the basics and a lifetime to master, if mastery is even possible. It’s great for anyone who loves competition and challenges, and because there are so few young people in the game today, the American Contract Bridge League and the World Bridge Federation are working hard to lure fresh faces to the bridge world. This means free lessons, free money, and lots and lots of travel. You don’t have to be a champion to take advantage of all that’s offered to juniors (bridge players under 26), and you don’t have to be a junior to get a lot out of the game of bridge, either.

There are four main competition formats in the US. First are club games, which are weekly games run by local groups of anywhere from three to fifty tables. These are social events as much as they are competition, and you tend to make a lot of good friends playing regularly in a bridge club. Use this page to find a bridge club near you — visitors are always welcome. Sectionals are small tournaments, usually held annually, that draw crowds of nearby players for the two to four day events.

Regional tournaments are where the travel side of bridge really picks up. Regionals are week-long tournaments with several concurrent games, so you can choose your format of competition and your level. Because of their size, regionals are usually held in big hotels in big cities that are easy to get to, since people will travel from all over the world to attend these tournaments. For me, going to regionals is like going to camp. You form social groups with the others that you meet at the tournaments, and you may not see each other for months in between, but whenever you meet up again, you pick up right where you left off, usually staying up into the wee hours having a good time. It’s not just bridge we love — the after hours social scene may involve dozens more card games, usually some booze, and maybe even a little philosophy.

The biggest tournaments in the ACBL are the three annual North American Bridge Championships. The locations change each tournament, but these events are usually held in North America’s favorite cities — Las Vegas is next on the agenda, Boston is coming up, and other stops include places like Orlando, Honolulu, Chicago, and more. Some of the game’s most elite events are held at the NABC’s, but you don’t have to be an elite player to enjoy these tournaments. Games are available daily for beginners and all levels of skill up to world champions. If you want to improve your game, NABC’s are a great place to study, as you can attend expert panels and lectures and watch some of the premier competition live. There is always free entertainment at these tournaments, and of course you’re visiting some of the greatest cities on Earth, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find your own entertainment for the times you’re not throwing cards around.

Bridge has opened so many doors for me, and I can’t praise it enough. I met my husband, a professional bridge player, at a tournament a few years ago, and since latching onto him, I’ve been able to tag along wherever his clients hire him to play. I never participated much in the junior scene, but when McKenzie was a junior, he traveled on a sponsor’s dime to Ireland to compete in a junior championship, and other young friends of mine have played bridge in China, Thailand, Italy, Germany, and all over the world. Bridge organizations worldwide are working hard to get kids into the game, and trips like this are part of the appeal — these are all paid for by sponsors. Learn more about opportunities for juniors here.

Even though I’m not (yet) good enough to play professionally, and I’m not young enough to compete in most junior events, I still get a lot out of the game, and would recommend it to anyone with time enough to learn the rules. (Admittedly, there is a lot to learn when you first get started.) This competition — this card game, this hobby — has taken me all over the world. I go to places I love with people I love, playing a game that I love. If there’s a better way to live life, I don’t know it.

If you’re interested in reading more about life as a young bridge player, my friend Mike keeps a great blog about his experiences here. If you’re interested in bridge lessons, you can find a teacher here. And if you ever want to hire a pro, well, I might just know someone…

See you at the table!

In honor of Earth Day 2008, I’m going to use this space to talk about travel and the environment. You probably know that almost all major methods of transportation have a huge ecological impact. Hotels are notoriously inefficient and wasteful, as well, so unless you’re planning on biking to your next vacation destination and then camping out the whole time, you’re probably going to be increasing your carbon footprint when you travel.

If this rubs you the wrong way, you don’t have to scrap all of your vacation plans. Simply do a little research to find ways to reduce and offset your negative impact while you vacation. For instance, did you know that each flush of an airplane toilet costs enough fuel to run a car for six miles? Who knew that timing your potty breaks could save the planet?

More helpful hints like this one are all over the internet. For simple green travel tips, Divine Caroline has a good list here. These are common sense and easy to work into your itinerary, like renting a hybrid car if you need a rental vehicle — it’s nice for the environment because it won’t burn as much gas, and it’s nice on your wallet, because you won’t buy as much gas. It’s win-win.

You may think that staying in an eco-friendly hotel means that you’ll be sleeping on dirt floors and bathing in a creek in the woods. Not so! Lots of big, luxury hotels are going green — it saves them money to do so, after all — and you’ll still find the comfortable accommodations you’re used to. Check out It’s A Green Green World or Green Hotels to find eco-friendly accommodations at your next destination. These sites list places to stay all over the world.

As travelers, we have a huge influence over lots of businesses throughout the travel industry, because by taking our business only to the greenest vendors, we encourage the competition to step up their conservation efforts as well. When you tell a rental car company that you won’t be patronizing their business unless they can give you a hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicle, you’re sending a very clear message. Of course, this is true not just when you travel, but any time you spend your money. Hopefully you are always careful to support only businesses with the best environmental track records.

Local governments all over the US are starting to tighten environmental laws to ensure that their cities have clean air and water, as well as businesses that you can feel good about supporting. If you want to reward these areas with your tourism dollars, check out this Popular Science article about America’s 50 Greenest Cities. Various publications do annual rankings, so you may find some other lists out there, but you’ll see most of the same cities on all of the lists, and this is the most recent I found, published in February 2008.

Earning top honors on Popular Science’s 2008 list was one of my favorite cities, Portland, Oregon. I’ll be headed back there in a week, after a short stopover in another green city, Austin, Texas, which came in at number 10 on the list. Hopefully I’ll find some green experiences to report back on.

Happy Earth Day!

Every year since 2004, I’ve been coming to Gatlinburg for a week-long bridge tournament in April. The Gatlinburg Convention Center is the size of a small city, and it’s always filled to capacity with bridge players when I visit. The bridge tournament is really spectacular, for sure, but if you’re a bridge player, you already know all about it, so we’ll skip that part and talk about the area instead.

Nestled in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg is a really ugly city in a really beautiful area. Truthfully, there’s a lot to hate about this place — it’s the tackiest place on earth, full of tourist traps and crowds everywhere you go — but there’s a lot to love, too. I always have a blast when I visit.

Lodging here is cheap, which is probably why it’s always so crowded here, and there’s a lot to do, for sure. Walking through town, you’d think the main drag was sponsored by Ripley’s. There’s the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Aquarium, Believe It Or Not Museum, Haunted Adventure, Mini Golf, Moving Theater — you get the idea. Speaking of tourist traps, the entire main strip of the city is one giant strip mall, featuring cheap (and not-so-cheap) souvenirs like airbrushed t-shirts and old-time photo studios. For just a few bucks, you can get some fun keepsakes. I’ll be forever envious of a friend who last year had a custom-made airbrush t-shirt featuring a grizzly bear fighting a kitty cat under a rainbow in the Smokies. It is simultaneously the most awful and most wonderful t-shirt I have ever seen, and it’s exactly the kind of shopping one should plan for in this town.

Did I mention Dollywood is just down the street, in neighboring Pigeon Forge? See, lots to do here.

I call this place Vegas away from Vegas because it’s like Las Vegas’ forgotten step-sister. There are no casinos here (this is God’s country, after all), and probably fewer prostitutes, but there are quickie wedding chapels, glitzy shows, and of course, all the aforementioned tourist traps. I checked out the Great China Circus here a few years ago. The advertisement made it look like a Cirque de Soleil performance with acrobats, contortionists, and various other performers with unique and impressive talents. It was kind of cool, but it left a lot to be desired. If it’s the shows that draw you in, I’d say you should go to Vegas instead.

One show here that certainly won’t be playing in Vegas is The Miracle, which I haven’t seen for myself, but I’ve deduced from advertisements that it’s a musical Jesus vs. Satan showdown — fun for the whole family!

Okay, so the Gatlinburg strip is a pretty wretched place — fun in small doses, but don’t plan to stick around in this part of town. The real vacation is in the national park. I read once that this park gets more visitors annually than all of the other national parks in the US combined. It is a gorgeous place for a hike, a camping trip, whitewater rafting, or just some quiet time in nature. Shame on you if you visit Gatlinburg without spending time in the park.

Peak tourist season is in the summer here, but it’s lovely in the spring and less crowded, which is definitely a plus. Not all the shops and restaurants stay open in the off season, but there’s always something to see or do, so you won’t miss much other than crowds if you come sometime other than summer. Despite all the crowds and all the tackiness, something about this place just keeps drawing me back, and I suspect I’ll continue to come each year for a long time.

The San Diego Zoo is a prestigious operation in Southern California, and rightfully so. It’s one of the best-run zoos in the world, and its best feature is the Wild Animal Park, an 1800-acre animal sanctuary, home to more than 3000 animals of more than 400 species, and over 3000 unique plant species as well.

The Wild Animal Park is not just a zoo, but a wildlife experience. The animals are housed in free-range enclosures rather than cages, made to closely resemble their natural habitats. Touring this park is like being on an actual safari, only safer and in more comfortable clothes.

Speaking of safaris, the most popular attraction at the park is its Journey Into Africa tour. You’ll get up-close glimpses of Africa’s diverse animal population, including giraffes, zebras, rhinos, antelope, and more, while learning about how the zoo is successfully breeding endangered species and its conservation efforts around the world.

You’ve probably heard about how a cheetah can run up to 70 miles per hour — but did you ever think you’d see it? The park’s Cheetah Run Safari is a live demonstration, as a mechanical rabbit lure sets the cheetahs in motion, exercising the cats while giving you a front row seat at the races. Unlike other zoos, you’ll have the chance to see animals as they are in nature, with the benefit of an experienced guide teaching you all about what you’re seeing.

This is another great vacation for whole families, as the information is fascinating to people of all ages, and the zoo has plenty of interactive exhibits and programs to keep little ones entertained. Trainers involved with the Animal Encounters program set up all around the zoo with animals outside their enclosures for Q&A sessions and a chance for guests to really get up close with the wildlife.

I always leave places like this wishing I’d gone into a career in zoology.

For ticket information, check here. Also note that the park offers birthday party packages and VIP tours for groups.

It’s not exactly beach weather in most parts of the country yet, but it is warming up and I know I get antsy to get away this time of year. It’s the perfect time for an educational getaway, where you don’t need rays of hot sun to get the most of your vacation.

My home state of Virginia, “The Mother of Presidents,” has a rich history, and I’m lucky that I don’t have to travel far for these getaways. One of my favorite attractions here in the Old Dominion is the historic Jamestown settlement. First of all, when you take a trip to Jamestown, you’re within spitting distance of several other attractions including Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg, the College of William & Mary, and Busch Gardens Amusement Park. But we’re just going to focus on one thing at a time. We’ll get back to those others one day soon.

Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607. It’s where the story of John Smith and Pocahontas began — and it’s nothing like that Disney flick, so if you want the real story, you should come see for yourself. You can spend hours touring the new expanded museum at the settlement, and then take guided tours of the museum’s living history exhibits.

In these living history exhibits, historical interpreters show you how both the English settlers and the native Powhatans lived and interacted. At the Powhatan Village, you can step inside a Powhatan home and see what a day in the life of a Powhatan included, from food preparation to making tools and clothes, as well as entertainment. You can even play a game of corncob darts.

From here you can move on to the James Fort, which has all of the major buildings of the settlement. See inside homes, shops, the church, and watch demonstrations by the blacksmith, or see a live musket tutorial. If this isn’t the kids’ favorite stop, then the next part will be — help carve out a canoe at the Riverfront Discovery Area, then board the ships that brought the colonists to Virginia. If this area looks familiar, it’s because that Colin Farrell movie, The New World, was filmed here, using these very ships.

What makes Jamestown so great is that it’s not just a museum, but a hands-on experience. Kids don’t get bored here, and adults love it, too. After you’ve toured the settlement area, there’s just one more stop you’ve got to make, and it’s my favorite part of the visit. Just a short driving distance away from the main settlement area, you’ll find the Jamestown Glasshouse. Here you’ll find live glassblowing demonstrations using tools of the seventeenth century, and you can purchase the finished products as souvenirs. I could watch the glassblowers for hours, but each piece only takes a few minutes to complete. The process is mesmerizing.

Because of the area’s rich history and booming tourism, you’ll have no trouble finding a place to stay. I really enjoy Powhatan Plantation, a comfortable resort with a great activity center in Williamsburg.

Every time I fly, I fantasize about what it would be like to work on a plane, either as a flight attendant or pilot. It would be great to get to travel so much and see so much of the world, and the free travel benefits would be pretty sweet. But of course there’s a down side. You wouldn’t get to choose where you go, really, and it’s essentially a customer service job, which I know from too many years of experience is just about the worst possible field to work in. And the schedule would be a bitch. By the end of each flight, I’ve talked myself out of these career ambitions yet again.

Still, I’m always curious about that life. The cons may be enough to keep me from ever having personal experience, but I’d still love to hear more about the perks. And heck, as long as I don’t have to go through the bad stuff myself, I’d enjoy those stories, too. Which is why I’ve become addicted to The Cockpit Chronicles. Kent Wien is a commercial airline pilot who blogs about his job in this new feature series.

In the days before 9/11, airlines used to allow passengers to step up, take a look around the cockpit and chat it up with the pilot(s) for a while during a flight, but those days are long gone now. The only way you’re going to see the inside of a cockpit now is to become a pilot or read The Cockpit Chronicles. Wien talks about flight schedules, airplane technology and design, and shares humorous and interesting on-the-job anecdotes. He takes great pictures from the sky, too, showing views that you can only get from the front seat of the plane.

Reading these stories makes me feel like an especially savvy traveler, as Wien explains all the airline lingo and how they operate. If you’ve ever been curious about the life of an airline employee, Cockpit Chronicles is a must-read. One thing that surprised me is that even with 15 years under his belt with one airline, Wien is still pretty junior on the seniority ladder. 80% of the pilots flying out of Boston with him have more seniority — if 4/5ths of the pilots have stuck with their jobs for 15+ years, there must be something good about the work. I’ll keep that in mind next time I consider signing up for flight school…