Photo Gallery: Abandoned Americana

by Sean McLachlan on


The old America is all around us. Americans used to be farmers. They used to go to drive-in movies. They used to think Route 66 was the greatest highway in the world. Some still do.

If you drive out of the city and leave the strip malls and cookie-cutter suburban homes behind, you’ll find it soon enough. Head down a county road and you’ll pass dilapidated farmhouses and overgrown gardens, the handiwork of people from our grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ generation. Like this old farm in Clay County, Missouri, near the Jesse James farm. I was with a couple of friends on a Jesse James road trip and we drove many of the back roads of western Missouri, places where Jesse committed his crimes and hid out from the law.

Everywhere we went we found this old Americana. On the outskirts of Kansas City we found a drive-in movie theater unchanged since the 1960s, and still open for half the year. To the west of Lexington we followed a potholed country road that led to a tributary of the Missouri River. Half a century ago there was a ferry at the end, popular enough that this road was lined with gas stations, hotels, and nice homes. The ferry disappeared when I-70 was built, and one by one the homes and businesses were abandoned.

Then there’s route 66, half ghost highway and half tourist trap. And old boom-and-bust mining towns like Bodie, California, now a State Historic Park. Not to mention all the failed businesses, the empty big box stores and bankrupt shopping malls that are creating the new ghost towns of the U.S. Much of industrial Detroit looks like an archaeological site.

Next time you go on a road trip in the U.S., get off the Interstate and take a county road. drive slow and look around. You’ll find the old America that hasn’t quite left us.

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Host and experience budget-friendly local tours all over the United States

by Jessica Festa on

HipHost, a new “peer-to-peer marketplace for socially-hosted local tours“, not only gives travelers a way to experience new cities from a local’s point of view, but also gives people an opportunity to make extra cash.

Anyone who wants to share their local knowledge can be a HipHost and design a tour based on anything they find interesting. Some tour topics include art, culture, fitness, architecture, history, hiking, markets, music, and more. It’s free to sign-up and guests pay for tours in advance, so hosts don’t have to worry about losing money to no-shows.

Moreover, anyone interested in learning about a topic can search for affordable tours and see a region from a local perspective without paying big tour company prices. Afraid you won’t enjoy your tour? HipHost guarantees a full refund if customers are not satisfied.

Some of the many tours being featured right now include:

And many, many more. Click here to sign-up for and/or host a tour.

National Park Service announces fee-free days for 2012

by Kraig Becker on

The National Park Service has announced the dates of its fee-free days for 2012, continuing a recent, and very popular, tradition of waiving entry fees to national parks throughout the year. Next year, travelers will have 17 such days during which they can visit their favorite parks while saving a few dollars in the process.

Earlier this week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the fee-free days would include January 14-16 (Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend), April 21-29 (National Parks Week), June 9 (Get Outdoors Day), September 29 (National Public Lands Day), and November 10-12 (Veterans Day Weekend).

In addition to those 17 fee-free days for next year, there are still a few free days left for 2011 as well. All of the national parks will once again allow entry to travelers without paying on Veterans Day weekend, which is November 10-12.

For a complete list of the more than 100 parks that take part in the fee-free program click here.

The concept of not charging for entry to the parks was designed to inspire people to visit these amazing destinations. Considering that attendance has been at record levels the past few years, I’d say it has been successful. Announcing the dates this early also helps travelers to plan around these days, both to take advantage of the free entry or to avoid the crowds that inevitably come with them. Either way, it’s a great opportunity to experience a national park, and I’m glad the NPS is continuing the practice again in 2012.

Photo of the day: Big Bend National Park, Texas

by Elizabeth Seward on

Big Bend National Park, near the Texas/Mexico border, is a lot of things. It is beautiful, but it is harsh. It is expansive, but populated by sharp nooks and crannies. It is dusty, but the Rio Grande flows through it. It is a backpacker’s dream and simultaneous nightmare. And that is why I love this photo by Keith Pennington.

As his backpacking companion sits on a jagged cliff’s edge, undoubtedly contemplating the edgy beyond, many of these elements are caught in this still. The gorgeous landscape is captured, but the tumultuous path is also illustrated. The obligatory bright, hazy Texas sky illuminates a terrain that is, I am sure, just a little bit more daunting through the night. Kudos to the backpackers who brave Big Bend. I hope to one day join their ranks.

‘Night School 4 Girls’ is Vegas’s newest learning vacation

by Melanie Renzulli on

Bear with me now as I attempt to tell you about the newest learning vacation available in Las Vegas. Night School 4 Girls, which we learned about from our friends at the San Francisco Chronicle, is a new class at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino that teaches girls the art of seduction, from pole dancing to burlesque to “more” – though the official website doesn’t explain exactly what “more” means. The 70-minute classes take place at the Excalibur’s Thunder from Down Under Showroom (I am not making this up) and are strictly for women. Uh, I mean girls.

Because it is a school, participants choose from four different party packages – Flirty Freshmen, Sexy Sophmore’s [sic], Juicy Juniors, or Sultry Seniors – all of which include an official diploma and NS4G souvenir photo. Pricier packages get you benefits such as VIP nightclub access to Cathouse, a party boa, open bar privileges, and other goodies to help you express your drunk…uh, I mean uninhibited…side.

E! Television star Laura Croft, the school’s headmistress, and four other instructors with backgrounds in dance, put students through their paces at the Night School 4 Girls. But, because of Laura’s “busy schedule of parties and appearances,” she will not be in attendance at every class. Lucky for us, she does offer some helpful party tips for visiting Vegas. For example, “Need a quick energy boost? Try a Jagerbomb” and “Only take your top off…when asked nicely.”

Would you look at that? I got through that whole post without making a pun of the Las Vegas Strip. But with a topic like Night School 4 Girls, those puns just write themselves, don’t they?

Photo © Night School 4 Girls