Mexican food authority, cookbook author, cooking show host, Top Chef Master, and all-around culinary badass Rick Bayless debuted his new O’Hare eatery, Tortas Frontera, over the weekend.
As its name implies, Tortas Frontera is devoted to the deliciously messy Mexican sandwiches, here served on bread from nearby Labriola Baking Company. Alas, as reported by Grubstreet, it’s located past security in Terminal 1, leaving non-travelers tortaless, margaritaless, and bereft. We can only hope that Bayless’ use of local and fresh ingredients (he’s a longtime champion of small family farms) will inspire other airport restaurants to follow suit.
Bayless is the chef/owner of Chicago’s acclaimed Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and Xoco. His second O’Hare restaurant is scheduled to open in Terminal 3 later this winter.
When it comes to buying gear for our various outdoor adventures, most of us are restricted to making purchases from speciality retailers such as REI or big box sporting good stores like Sports Authority. But if you happen to live in a town with a locally owned gear shop, you probably have witnessed first hand just how different the experience can be. Often those shops create a sense of community with their clientele and deliver a different level of customer service than you get with the larger retail stores. Such is the case with a great little gear shop located in West Yellowstone, Montana called Freeheel & Wheel.
West Yellowstone is a sleepy little town of about 1200 residents that sits on the edge of Yellowstone National Park. You wouldn’t typcially think that such a small place would be home to a good gear shop, but then again, West Yellowstone isn’t like most towns its size. Its location puts it smack dab in the middle of some of the best outdoor environments on the planet, with plenty of rivers to paddle, mountains to climb, and forests to hike, all within a short distance. The town bills itself as the “snowmobile capital of the world,” but it also offers great cross country skiing and mountain biking along the Rendezvous Ski Trails, and it is home to one of the few biathlon courses in the entire country.
Located right on Yellowstone Avenue (where else?), Freeheel & Wheel isn’t an especially large shop, but that doesn’t stop them from offering plenty of services. You’ll find a nice selection of outdoor clothing from companies like Patagonia and Prana, not to mention a variety of mountain biking and nordic skiing gear as well. There is also a full service bicycle repair and ski tuning shop inside too, and a fantastic coffee bar that has enough options for any caffeine fiend.In the summer months, the shop rents bikes and has plenty of recommendations for rides throughout the area, including into Yellowstone Park as well as the Gallatin National Forest. Similarly, in the winter months, cross country ski rentals are also available and the staff has even more suggestions on where to go. They’ll even provide ski lessons if necessary. Vistors can drop by seven days a week to grab a bike and hit the trail.
The story behind Freeheel & Wheel is just as good as the store itself. The shop was founded by Kelli Sanders and Melissa Alder, who met as college freshmen at the University of Montana at Missoula more than twenty years ago. The two became fast friends and have been nearly inseperable ever since. After college, Kelli and Melissa knew that they wanted to go into business together, but weren’t sure exaclty what that business would entail. A visit to the Outdoor Retailer show, a bi-annual convention for gear companies, gave them the direction and inspiration they were looking for, and the rest is, as they say, history.
West Yellowstone is great little community with plenty of things to do all year round. The town, located a couple of hours drive south of Bozeman, is a hub for outdoor adventure activities and serves as a gateway to the national park right next door. If you’re in the area, and looking for something to do, be sure to drop by Freeheel & Wheel and ask for suggestions. The girls will be more than happy to help out, and even if you’re not up for an adventurous day in the surrounding wilderness, they’ll serve you up a mean cup of coffee before sending you on your way.
Walt Disney World’s marketing push for 2011 is all about making memories, and the theme park behemoth put more than 500 of them on display on its most famous icon, Cinderella Castle, Tuesday night.
A new nighttime show, called “The Magic, The Memories and You” was previewed for media at the Magic Kingdom near Orlando, Florida.
The show features images captured daily by Disney’s PhotoPass photographers – those guys and gals who ask you to stop so they can take your picture – and projected on to Cinderella Castle in a show set to music. At least, that’s what I was expecting. What I saw was way more elaborate than that.
Through the use of animation from 16 different projectors, the castle’s turrets spin, vines wind up its walls, and flames engulf it, all while photos dance across the facade. It’s visually stunning, dramatic, and, well, a bit trippy. One guest at the media preview said the show reminded him of performances of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”“It’s a heck of a lot more than a slideshow on a castle,” said Alan Bruun, associate creative director for Walt Disney World Entertainment.
The 10-minute show features familiar Disney tunes threaded around a new song named, aptly, “Let the Memories Begin.”
Show producers started by digitally mapping the castle, to ensure a truly 3D projection on its facade. The castle projection show was then storyboarded as if it were a short film, Bruun said. Animators made the story boards come to life, creating slots for 500 photos from that day in the park.
The 500 photos are hand-selected and cropped, but a computer ultimately decides which photo goes into which slot in the show.
“It’s an amazing and complex process,” Bruun said. “But it involves just as much high-touch as it does high-tech, as individuals select those photograhs before the computer populates the castle with them.”
While there are some large projections, many of the photos are used in photo-mosaic images, and are on the small side. So, you may not be able to pick yours out as they move quickly by. And if you’re worried about photo privacy at Disney, you can opt out and keep your photo from being considered for the show.
“The Magic, The Memories and You” will be projected onto Cinderella Castle each night, twice a night when the park stays open late.
A similar projection show will debut at Disneyland in California on Jan. 27. It will be projected onto the facade of the It’s a Small World ride.
When we think of using the Internet on a cruise the first word that usually comes to mind is “price.” Using the Internet can be expensive on board cruise ships. But of equal or greater concern should be security. Identity thieves are everywhere, even at sea, waiting for us to slip up and give them the opportunity to invade our privacy. Here are some tips for being secure using the Internet at sea.
Using your laptop
When using a wireless network on a cruise, first make sure you are actually using the ship’s network by asking a crew member for the specific names of the ship’s legitimate networks so you recognize them when you connect.
Anytime you enter a password, even for web mail or Face book through what appears to be the ship’s login screen, verify that you have a secure connection in the browser address bar. Look for https:// (the “s” is for secure) and the locked security padlock icon.
Better yet, change your password before leaving home to one just for the cruise. Your booking number is not a bad idea but not your cabin number where would-be thieves on board could find you later is not. Be sure to change back after you get home.
Internet Cafe computers
“If you’re using a computer in a ship’s Internet cafe, take extra care with your login and password information” says JustAskGemalto.com, a company specializing in digital security. They advise organizing for security protection before traveling, using one-time passwords, smart cards or USB tokens for added security.
Also, be sure there is virus software on those Internet cafe machines and that it works. Look for a familiar name like McAfee or Symantec and no red flags or alerts that something is wrong before using one of their machines.
Be sure to clear the “Remember My Passwords” check box if it appears and when you’re done with your Internet session, clear your browsing history at Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Delete Browsing History.
Oh, and about that pricey Internet package? You’ll probably have to just live with that. But for making cell phone calls, there’s a new plan from AT&T that can help with that. Called “Cruise Ship Passport“, the new plan for AT&T customers discounts rates at sea and offers 15 minutes of voice and 15 messages (text, picture or video) along with a reduced overage rate.
At the heart of the disagreement is “phase 2” of the O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP). The modernization of O’Hare started years ago and was badly needed – it included new runways, a new air traffic control tower and upgrades to the existing terminal buildings. Phase one of the program added runway 9L/27R – the first new runway added to the airport since 1971.
Now Phase 1 is almost complete, work on Phase 2 has started – and is expected to cost an estimated $3.36 billion. In Phase 2, the airport will rebuild two runways, extend one runway and build a new western terminal building. Problem is – the two airlines that provide over 80 percent of air traffic to O’Hare are not convinced the airport actually needs the expansions.
The two airlines made the rare move of joining forces to issue a combines statement about the changes, and filed their lawsuit in the Cook County Court. Whether or not the airlines get their way won’t matter – the lawsuit alone will probably become just another delay in the modernization program.
And if you feel sorry for the airlines – don’t – most of the money for the modernization program comes from “passenger facility charges” in the form of bonds – and these “PFC’s” make up a small chunk of every ticket sold. End result – O’Hare becomes one of the most expensive airports in the country.
Still, as someone who uses O’Hare regularly, I’m really not against paying a couple of bucks extra to improve the airport. Things (read: delays) have become more bearable in recent years, but there are still plenty of ways the airport can improve itself. If the airlines actually want to fix things, they can start by improving their own terminal facilities and lounges (hint: AA, your presence at O’Hare really sucks)