The Creole Queen is one of the delights of New Orleans, chugging up the mighty Mississippi bringing back memories of a bygone era, no trip to the city would be complete without a ride on one of the city’s beautiful steamers. The paddle steamer was introduced into service in 1983 and is one of the largest paddle steamers on the river. The vessel is 200 feet long, 40 feet wide and has three decks and can handle 1000 passengers. The Creole Queen is an authentic paddle wheeler she has two 24 foot diameter paddlewheels and is fueled by a diesel electric engine. The interior of the craft is absolutely beautiful bringing all the beauty of the past with some modern comforts. The lovely Victorian draperies and fittings and parquet cypress floors help you step back in time.
Lincoln Park Zoo is as the name suggests in Lincoln Park in the heart of Chicago and dates back to 1868 when a pair of swans joined a bear cub. Today the zoo is home to about 1250 animals which popular exhibits include gorillas, monkeys, seals, birds of preys and reptiles. The zoo also has a huge children’s area where kids can get up close to farm animals. The zoo has a large conservation duty and also carries out an extensive school program where the young can learn about the animals and the challenges they face in their natural habitats. One of the highlights of the Lincoln Park Zoo is the Robert R McCormick Bear Habitat where you can see Andean Bears, Malayan Sun Bears and the beautiful Polar Bears. The Polar Bear exhibit features one of the largest exhibits in the world with a quarter of a million gallon tank for their pleasure. Visitors can see these massive and graceful creatures behind glass frolicking in the water. The zoo is open every day and best of all its free. Read the rest of this entry »
Liberace was one of the pioneers of entertainment in Las Vegas, he brought a new type of glitz and glamour to the strip with the most over the top and lavish stage shows ever seen. He arrived on stage in jewel encrusted vehicles and had rhinestone covered pianos and his costumes were the most amazing and outrageous with sequins, jewels and diamonds. Stripped away from all the flamboyance Liberace was one of the world’s greatest performers and his classical piano playing was second to none, but it was the glitz and glamour for what this mega celebrity will be remembered for. Today Liberace is no longer with us but his legend lives on in Vegas with a huge collection of his pianos and vehicles including a mirror tiled Rolls Royce and rhinestone laden roadster are on display with many of his costumes, the amazing jewelry and the entire story of his performing life. The museum itself is larger than life just like the superstar with huge neon piano on the roof. There’s a great gift shop and the trust which runs the museum puts the money into the Liberace Foundation which invests in performing arts scholarships for the young, a cause Liberace was so deeply involved in. Read the rest of this entry »
Cadillacs are one of the motoring icons of America and in Amarillo Texas they are a tourist icon. Cadillac Ranch is a project by a San Francisco art collective called Ant Farm who have buried 10 Cadillacs halfway into the ground back in 1974. The Cadillacs are buried nose first and are some of the more classical models from 1949 to 1963 and look like a metal Stone Henge or something. Cadillac Ranch has been embedded into American culture, you might remember seeing them in the Pixar Disney classic Cars and even features in one of American rocker Bruce Springsteen’s 1980’s hits and plenty of other places in the US are jumping on the band wagon and making their own version. Read the rest of this entry »
On May 9 1950 Sam Walton opened a variety store in Bentonville Arkansas, 50 years later Sam became the richest man in the world and now his three sons are in the top 10 richest people in the world owning the huge Walmart variety stores. Exactly forty years after opening the Bentonville store the WalMart Visitors Centre was opened by then Governor of Arkansas former President Bill Clinton. The visitor centre attracts in the vicinity of 60,000 people a year and traces the amazing story of the Walton family and their stores. The centre has thousands of pieces of history from the retail giant’s history and quiet an insight into the Family including Mrs Walton’s wedding dress.
The Library Hotel in New York is kind of a theme hotel based on the dewey decimal system where each of its 10 floors is catergorsied into one of the standard library catergories with each room devoted to a particular subject. An example is that the room one on the seventh floor would have an “architecture” theme while the second room would have a “paintings” theme as the seventh floor is part of “the arts” catergory. The book Lemony Snicket’s The Penultimate Peril had a hotel in it called the Hotel Denouement that was modeled after the Library Hotel. Interestingly the owners of the Dewey Decimal System trademark once sued the Library Hotel for trademark infringement, now the Library Hotel is allowed to use the system in its hotel and marketing in exchange for making a donation to a nonprofit organization promoting reading and literacy among children. Read the rest of this entry »
You might remember we did a story on Dolly Parton’s Dollywood themepark at Pigeon Forge a few days ago, well we found another great attraction at Pigeon Forge- The world’s largest private collection of Elvis memorabilia. Founder Mike Moon has been collecting Elvis stuff since the king himself gave him a belt. The museum is jam packed full of great Elvis memories, theres cars, clothing, jewellery even Elvis’s guns and a orange toilet seat cover which Elvis once owned. The guy has everything, he even has his swim trunks and a set of Elvis’ bibles and encyclopedias and even some bottles of his aftershave and cologne plus his final set of sunglasses and even his last tube of toothpaste. There’s hours of kitsch fun here and guess what the exhibition has a great gift shop where you can buy your very own Elvis memorabilia. The Elvis Museum is at 2638 Parkway, Pigeon Forge in Tennessee.
Jack Daniels is a American as apple pie and is also the country’s oldest distillery beginning way back in 1866. Producing sour mash Tennessee Whiskey which is loved all around the world. The tiny town of Lynchburg in Tennessee is home to the distillery and has under 400 residents. The distillery has a fantastic tour of their facilities which includes a guided tour of the slow process to produce this fine whiskey which is made from cave spring water and sour mash then charcoal mellowed in special oak barrels. Tours take a little over an hour and start every 15 minutes between 9 and 4. They operate every day except some holidays. Interestingly the county is a dry county and no liquor can be purchased but the White Rabbit Bottle Shop is just down the road and they have some great Jack Daniel’s merchandise to purchase.
You might not recognize the name Toms Restaurant but I’m sure the picture looks familiar, does Monks Cafe bring back memories. Well Toms or Monks was the restaurant used in the hugely successful Seinfeld TV show of the 1990’s It is actually a real restaurant and can be found at 2880 Broadway in Manhattan, New York on the corner of 112 street. The outside street scape was used in the TV show but a studio was used for the inside shots. Now Seinfeld wasn’t the first time Tom’s Restaurant became famous, it featured in a Susan Vega song a few years earlier, and has since appeared in a novel and is often seen in some of the New York police dramas shot in the city. The restaurant has been ran by the Minasizoulis family since the 1950’s.
Las Vegas’ Stratosphere is the tallest free standing structure in Nevada at at 350m high its home to 3 thrill rides for those that have no issues with vertigo. The Big Shot is the highest ride in the world and shoots people up and down the towers mast. Insanity the Ride, opened in 2005, is the second highest ride in the world and dangles people over the edge while spinning them forcing them up and looking down to the ground. XSCREAM is the third highest ride in the world and it is like a rollacoster car that travels a short distance and gives you the feeling its going to keep going straight over the edge. A rollacoster once wound its way around the tower but was removed in 2005 to make way for Insanity the ride. Read the rest of this entry »
