Eudora Welty’s 100th birthday and historic landmark house

by Jamie Rhein on

“Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it.” –Eudora Welty.

Today is Eudora Welty’s 100th birthday. Welty, the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist for The Optimist’s Daughter, besides having a totally cool name, is a person who has inspired people to think, read and embrace the arts. Along with being a writer, Welty was a traveler and photographer. Throughout her life, Welty’s roots remained firmly in the American South.

As with other southern writers who remain beloved after their deaths, Welty’s legacy continues. One of my friends, who is an avid traveler, recently visited Eudora Welty’s house in Jackson, Mississippi and came back in a glow.

Welty’s house, a National Historic Landmark, is now a museum that is open for guided tours. Here is where Welty lived and wrote from 1925 until her death in 2001.

Along with being a place where one of the United States’ literary greats wrote, the house is one of the best intact examples of an American writer’s home. The Tudor-style home looks like it did when Welty was growing up here when she lived here with her parents and her siblings, and afterward when she penned her masterpieces.

Visiting her house is only one of the options for honoring Welty’s 100th birthday. There are several exhibits and events throughout the year.

The Eudora Welty Foundation Website lists several. Two exhibits are being shown at different venues.

“Welty” is a combination of Welty’s 1930s era photographs and excerpts from her writing to “show the relationship between her source material and her writing.”

You can see this exhibit through May 22, 2009 at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia; from August 3 to September 25 at Bryan Public Library; and from November 10-January 2, 2010 at The Triangle Cultural Center, Yazoo City, Mississippi.

The other exhibit “Eudora Welty: Other Places” is a collection of photographs that Welty took took in New Orleans and New York City from 1936 to 1939. This exhibit is being shown at Sardis Public Library, Sardis, Mississippi through April 26 and at The Hernando Public Library, April 27-June 19.

According to the Website, as more exhibits and events are planned they will be added. Click here for Calendar of Events that also has contact numbers for the various locations.

Limited prints of Welty’s photo “Window Shopping” you see here are being sold to raise money for the foundation. My friend says that the home, as wonderful as it is, needs work in order to keep it up and running.

Peeps contests: The world through marshmallow bunnies and chicks

by Jamie Rhein on

Perhaps you’ve browsed through the “Peeps in Places” photo contest entries at Intelligent Travel. People have been snapping pictures of marsmallow chicks and bunnies in a variety of spots for a chance to win a Lenox China Peep or other Peeps related prizes. [Click here for larger view of Caesar Peep by citizenkafka.]

Along with being a cool idea–wish we’d thought of it–watching the slide show is a lesson in landmarks, interesting angles, and people’s cleverness. The deadline has been extended until Monday if you get some inspiration and manage not to eat all of your Peeps before you pull out your camera.

Intelligent Travel’s Peeps contest isn’t the only one. The Washington Post runs the Peeps Diorama Contest where Peeps are featured in a variety of 3-D ways.

This contest asked entries to be related to an event or concept from the past, present or future. Last year’s winner was inspired by a trip to an Egyptian exhibit. Out of last year’s 800 entries, 37 were used in this slideshow. Clicking through it is like clicking through popular and high brow culture and news stories. The Andy Warhol inspired one reminded me of the Warhol exhibit I saw three times at the Wexner Center from last August to this past February.

This year’s winner, just up today, was inspired by Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks. You’ll recognize the similarity as soon as you see it. Here’s the link to this year’s Peeps Show.

The Chicago Tribune also had a Peeps contest. The “Peeps on Parade” winner this year happens to be from Columbus, Ohio. Randy Rowe paid tribute to the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz with “Wizard of Peeps.” Click here for the slideshow of the entry. Yes, you can dress up Peeps to look like Dorothy and her pals.

This contest was similar to the Washington Post contest, although the results are very different. If you look through all of this year’s entries you’ll recognize some of the top news stories.

For the first time, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review got in on the Peeps action. For their first annual contest, people were asked to create a shoebox sized scene that tied into popular culture, history or the movies. This year’s winner S’Mores Motel is a clever nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. A couple of these entries made me laugh. Click here for the slideshow.

This morning my kids found Peeps in their Easter basket. My mind is working overtime. There’s months to come up with something good for next year. I do have an idea for Intelligent Travel’s contest though. Maybe I’ll get an entry in under the wire.

If you’re going to be traveling this year, take Peeps along with you. They’re light, and they can’t possibly melt, although they might squish a bit. Put one in a margerine tub for safe keeping and have some fun at a famous landmark. Maybe you’ll be next year’s winner, but expect some competion from yours truly.

Photo of the Day (4.11.09)

by Brenda Yun on


For the past two years I’ve been in Latin America on the days leading up to Semana Santa (or Holy Week), and I’ve been completely astounded by the Colombian and Cuban people’s devotion to their faith. By way of contrast, here in Honolulu, I didn’t even get a day off yesterday (Good Friday), though most state businesses did. My students tell me that in Europe they observe a 4-day weekend during Easter or have their Spring Break coincide with the Easter holiday, which I believe should be the case for any Christian majority nation.

Regardless, Semana Santa is on my mind right now. For Christians around the world, today is that waiting period post-crucifixion and pre-resurrection. Easter Saturday activities this year range from bargain deals at grocery stores to Easter Eggstravaganzas all over the U.S. and Canada.

Our photo today comes from our friend from Montreal, epicxero, who appears to have traveled extensively around South America. This particular photo nicely contrasts the church tower with city as a backdrop.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Happy Holy Week/Semana Santa/Easter, everyone!

Gadling Take FIVE- April 4-April 10

by Jamie Rhein on

There are still travel deals out there and specials to keep your eye on. Plus, with spring comes certain events that can mean discounts. Here are Gadling posts from this past week that point to the diversity in travel pleasures from the free to the less expensive.

  • In Italy, from April 18 to 26, it’s Italian Culture Week. As Alison wrote, this means many attractions are free, and in some cases, the only time during the year when they are open to the public..
  • One trend that’s great news for travelers is the one where upscale restaurants are offering less expensive meals. Tom’s post on pris fixe menus is a reminder that these are the days when deals can appear where you least expect them.
  • Not only are higher end restaurants becoming cheaper, so is New Zealand. Grant outlined ten reasons why a person should go to New Zealand sooner than later.
  • One detail about spring is the loveliness of flowers that belong to every one who is lucky enough to pass by flowerbeds and/or flowering trees every day. In the Netherlands the tulips are everyone’s treasure. Scott has the scoop on KLM’s very own tulip. The tulip was acquired as part of KLM’s 90th year birthday celebration.
  • With wedding season upon us, Annie found a great deal for people who are looking for wedded bliss AND happen to have family and friends with money. The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain is running a wedding special that sounds divine. It does follow the adage, “it takes money to make money” or something like that.

And one more. If you haven’t watched this video taken at the Antewerp Belgium train station, you’ve missed out on a feel good time. It’s sort of a Sound of Music for everyone extravaganza. Here’s handing you a smile that will cost you nothing to get.

GuideGecko.com launches

by Brenda Yun on

Have you always wanted to write your own travel guide and market it yourself, in a way that is both profitable for you and useful to those interested in your travel savvy? Or are you heading to a single region of a country but don’t want to lug an entire country guidebook with you?

You’re in luck! No longer do you have to give out your travel tips (through Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum or WikiTravel) for free or carry the heavy guidebook that you only intend to use half of. If you’ve been slaving away at your own self-published travel guidebook or if you’ve been trying to find just the right guide to your destination, head over to GuideGecko.com and market your writing through its online shop and publishing platform.

A few months ago, GuideGecko‘s founder, Daniel Quadt, got in touch with me to get some advice on how to construct a website that would be both useful for travel writers with helpful insight and travelers seeking destination information. He and I spent a good hour on Skype (the sun was setting in Honolulu for me as it was rising in Singapore for him) discussing the best ways to make his innovative online travel resource benefitial for both parties.

Just a few weeks later, Quadt made some necessary tweaks and launched GuideGecko in late March. The result is a site that offers a variety of guidebooks — both mainstream and independently published.

The greatest part about GuideGecko’s collection is that you don’t have to be a well-known, published travel writer to submit your travel tips. As a member/user, you have the ability to upload, manage, market, and price your travel expertise as you see fit! Authors and publishers can offer their guides for download and as printed books. Guides can be updated at any time and customers will always get the latest version.

GuideGecko is an equally useful travel resource. It attracts customers with its large variety of guides, tailor-made search functionalities to help them find exactly the guides they need, and very competitive prices at up to 30% below the suggested retail price for commercially available guides.

The site already offers close to 2,000 guides on nearly 200 countries and 250 cities and regions around the world. The guides are classified into several categories that range from diving to dining, shopping to sightseeing, and trekking to traveling with children.

I encourage you to have a look at GuideGecko.com yourself. If you’re not completely satisfied, I’m sure Daniel is open to any kind of feedback or suggestion. In fact, I intend to interview Daniel on behalf of Gadling within the coming week to understand the inspiration behind GuideGecko as well as learn about his own travels, so stay tuned!