USA Travel Guide

I support the “observance” of St. Patrick’s Day in Washington D.C., I really do. I think liquid medicine is just about the only remaining course of action up on Capitol Hill. (Besides, under current healthcare, it’s the only medicine most everyone can afford). I want all the Senators, Representatives and of course Mr. Obama to drop all the pedantic nonsense, get crazy drunk and proceed to hash things out bro-style.

It’s gonna look awful. C-SPAN meets Jersey Shore. But when all is said and done, we might just have our country back.

You can celebrate the season, too, at the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Washington D.C. (and if you’re heading in, we’ve got the perfect hotel, so check that out below).

D.C. is a city known for fabulous parades. With so many incredible buildings to set the scene, how could it not be? But without a doubt, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the annual favorites. A spectacle in every sense, the parade culminates popular music, fantastic floats, military reverence, color guard, dance, drums, celebrity guests and a keg-full of Irish swagger.

When I saw that the founder of Chase Bank had been made Grand Marshal, I almost puked out my own intestines, but then I read closely to find that it was actually the founder of Chevy Chase Bank, a D.C. local institution (now owned by Capitol One). That made me feel a little bit better.

Back on message: the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Washington D.C. will be held Sunday, March 14, and run along Constitution Avenue from 7^th to 17^th Streets. You can watch from anywhere along the parade route, of course, or you can purchase grandstand tickets for a comfy seated view of the action. Sitting down is nice, but for $10 a person, I’d rather just stand. The parade is only two and a half hours long anyway.

Learn more about the Washington D.C. St. Patrick’s Day Parade here.

Have fun at the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Washington D.C.

If you’re anything like me, you didn’t much care about the La Brea Tar Pits until Arnold Schwarzenegger took a face plant into them in Last Action Hero. Turns out there’s, like, a whole museum and stuff. Do something different the next time you cruise L.A.’s Miracle Mile and visit the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park.

Compared to the massive dinosaur skeletons you’ll see at the flagship facility, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Page Museum has a relatively modern collection. The oldest of its finds, a chunk of wood, dates back only 40,000 years, and all of its once-mobile specimens date back only 10,000-40,000 years. This is as much a warning as it is a fact: at the Tar Pits, you will not see dinosaurs!

What you will see is an exhaustive collection of remarkably preserved and perilously restored bird, mammal and plant fossils fished from the inky depths of La Brea. Well, they dig them out of the ground like a normal excavation, but the process in these asphalt-strewn pits is not without considerable challenge. It’s something you’ll learn a lot about at the museum.

At the park you’ve got the pits themselves, many of which you can explore free of charge and at your leisure, and then you’ve got the Page Museum, which does carry a small free but benefits you by adding some context to all the holes in the ground. Inside the museum you’ll see the very best specimens from an enormous collection of over 3 million bones and fossils.

Fossils on display, bits and whole skeletons, include the remains of Harlan’s ground sloths, American bison, American mastodons, Columbian mammoths, saber-tooth tigers, dire wolves, California condors, mountain lions, prehistoric skunks, mice, rabbits, several kinds of bear, and the partial skull of one human.

Until recently you could watch a live excavation at Pit 91 during the summer months, but the dig has gone on temporary hiatus with no set schedule to restart. It’s definitely a missed feature for you summertime visitors.

The Page Museum is located at 5801 Wilshire Boulevard in Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Make it to the museum, you won’t have any trouble finding the Pits. The Page Museum is open daily except for select holidays, offers daily tours as park of the Hancock Park guided tour, and charges an adult admission of $7. Learn more.

Hotels in Los Angeles, CA
If you’re traveling in, stay well and for not too much money at either of today’s recommendations:

• Holiday Inn Express – Century City Hotel – This surprisingly chic HI Express is never overpriced and is located just 5 miles from the pits. Stay “green” with their hybrid car package.
• Holiday Inn LAX Airport Hotel – Stay simple in Los Angeles at this airport hotel which was recently renovated up to a more than modern standard. The hotel is 100% smoke-free and offers an airport shuttle.

Have fun visiting the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California.

The travel industry produces a prodigious portion of mankind’s ecological footprint, which is why USA Travel Guide loves to feature “green” or eco-responsible hotels, resorts and attractions as much as possible. When we looked to do a piece on Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, we found we couldn’t have timed it better. The esteemed museum is soon to celebrate its 10^th anniversary, and that means great one-time-only programming for guests.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in North Chicago, Illinois is a “Green Museum”. While all that technically means is that the institution employs eco-sustainable practices and features conservation-minded architecture, the Peggy Notebaert follows the path of many green museums that opened in 1990s by focusing its subject matter on conservation and the natural environment.

Don’t worry. It’s a lot cooler than I just made it sound.

Several permanent exhibits and an ever-renewing catalog of traveling exhibits explore the precarious relationship between nature and the manmade. Extreme Green House, for example, lets visitors examine a 100% green bungalow, complete with hands-on kiosks and activities for the curious-minded. The outdoor exhibits are among the most popular, including the 17,000 square feet of rooftop gardens and the restored native prairie land.

In addition to those exhibits meant to fascinate, educate and even implore, the museum features traditional animal and science exhibits, beloved by children and adults alike. The butterfly haven and bird sanctuary are year-round favorites, as is the animal lab, where scientists and volunteers study a variety of animals in public view.

Open year-round, only the cold-averse could find a time not to visit the Nature Museum, but right now the moment is particularly opportune. From October 23 to November 1, 2009, the museum will celebrate its 10^th anniversary with 10 days of free admission and special family programming. Animal adoptions, recycling drives, charity walks, guest speakers, children’s games – every day brings a new event. View the calendar.

If you can’t make a free day, don’t fret. Regular admission is only nine bucks, and besides, you should be donating at least as much on free days anyway.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park across from the Lincoln Park Zoo. Learn more.

A green museum deserves a green hotel. The Hotel Indigo Vernon Hills is a boutique North Chicago hotel with an extensive sustainability program covering everything from the bottling standards of the in-room bath amenities to the construction of the hotel itself. Read more about their green initiatives.

Have fun and stay cozy in Chicago, IL.

A buddy of mine earned a free trip to L.A. through his work about a month back, and you can bet he and his wife did it all: Hollywood, Universal Studios, Disneyland – all the biggies. We went to dinner when they got back, and they wouldn’t shut up! This was awesome, and that was more awesome, but this was the most mega-awesomest of all!

“I know,” I said, “I’m a travel writer.”

Oh, but you didn’t see this!

Well, when you’re right, you’re right! Los Angeles really is one of the top summer vacation destinations, and it’s no challenge accounting why. Incredible history, one-of-a-kind sights, iconic landmarks, world-class amusements parks, museums, restaurants and hotels and, of course, the beach. That’s a lot for one destination to offer.

Let’s take a closer look at some fun summer vacation spots in Los Angeles: 

• Universal Studios Hollywood – The original rendition of our #7 Amusement Park in America, Universal Studios Hollywood dazzles young and old alike with the magic of the movies. While the park now has many theme rides (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Simpsons Ride^TM is killer!), our favorite attraction is still the back lot tram tour.
• Hollywood – Footin’ it down the Hollywood Walk of Fame is like a pop culture rite of passage. Plus, there’s tons to do during your tour. Head by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to see the concrete hands, take a studio tour and don’t forget the famous Hollywood Wax Museum. Speaking of which…
• Hollywood Wax Museum – Located in the heart of Hollywood (if you’re walking the stars, you can’t miss it), the original Hollywood Wax Museum houses nearly 200 startlingly lifelike wax figurines of the biggest faces in show business. Kids love it!

  __(’Read the rest of this entry »’)

How do you know a guy from New Jersey has gone green?

He hides dead bodies in the trunk of a Prius. Oh!

(Forgive me)

In all seriousness though, there is a fine bunch of Jerseyites that actually have gone green over at the Crowne Plaza Englewood Hotel in Englewood, New Jersey, and since we’ve mentioned this place before, we loved the opportunity to brag once again.

According to their Web site, the hotel has adopted the EarthPact by Crestline Initiative*, an exhaustive program dedicated to sustainable and eco-conservative operations for hotels and resorts. Adopters are rated for compliance against a hefty list of guidelines set by EarthPact’s Energy Management Plan.

The page goes on, so I won’t repeat the whole list, but here are some steps that the Englewood hotel either has taken already or is in the process of enacting:

• Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs
• Recycling program
• Using non-toxic cleaning supplies
• Using low-flow water fixtures
• Training programs for staff
• Reducing paper use
• Purchasing recycled materials
• See the whole thing here

Support green hotels for you travel. Not only are they good for the planet, they’re good for business. Learn more about the Crowne Plaza Englewood Hotel.

*Crestline is a hotel management company, btw. They’ve got another one that you see us mention from time to time: the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington DC. Also a green hotel, come to think of it.

Hotel image used with permission

At USA Travel Guide, we focus on attractions, but every now and then we like to call out a hotel for something special, whether its for green initiatives or participation in charities or simply being unique.

Something else we love to see is pet-friendliness. Full-on pet concierge services with animal spas and grooming may go a little too far for me, but if a hotel is offering pet-friendly accommodations at reasonable rates, we say that deserves a shout out.

Our first choice for mention is the Holiday Inn Orlando Hotel – International Drive, which if you’ll remember was also one of our green hotels. The International Drive area of Orlando is already a great place for pet owners because you can take your dog up and down the Drive as well as to the nearby beach, and the Holiday Inn is adding even more value for out-of-town visitors.

A welcome relief from hotels that treat their pet-owning guests like outcasts, the Holiday Inn Orland Hotel – International Drive has Five Hundred pet-allowed rooms, each of them non-smoking for the consideration of pet and owner alike. Another cool feature for pets is direct outdoor access in bottom level rooms, meaning easy ins-and-outs at any time of day.

The property does ask you kennel all animals whenever unsupervised, but that’s a reasonable request and a good way for you to get your deposit back. Learn more about their pet-friendly accommodations here.

Couldn’t resist a button that says “Irish Green Goes Extreme” now could I?

The luxurious Phoenix Park, one of the most popular downtown Washington D.C. hotels, is the latest to join the growing number of hotels initiating environment-conscious “green” programs designed to limit waste and preserve energy. At USA Travel Guide, we feel it our duty to ferret out these properties and support them in their philanthropic efforts.

Actually, not philanthropic, not entirely. While these efforts are certainly good for the environment, both locally and globally, the fact is “going green” is just good business. It improves the travel prestige of the destination and makes the property less vulnerable to the whims of the energy market. It’s a win-win.

The Phoenix Park hotel has installed several energy-efficient, waste-reducing policies, including:

• Energy-efficient light bulbs
• Property-wide recycling
• Low-flow water fixtures
• Going paperless whenever possible
• Non-toxic cleaner materials
• Check out the rest here

Learn more about “Green” initiatives in Washington D.C. here.

Image of Phoenix Park Hotel used with permission.

At USA Travel Guide we’re committed to the sustainability and prosperity of the American hospitality, travel and tourism industries. Critical to this goal is the support of hotels, resorts and attractions that have embraced green initiatives at any scale, and we hope to highlight example-setters on a regular basis.

That’s why we couldn’t be happier to see that Holiday Inn Orlando Hotel – International Drive is going green. Not only has the property officially become a “Green Certified Hotel” under the regulation of the Florida Green Lodging Program (more about that here), it has enacted extensive recycling, water conservation and energy conservation efforts. It’s even in the process of debuting all-organic catering menus. Awesome!

One important misconception to field about green lodging is that it’s purely some philanthropic, ethical endeavor (though it’s that, too). Truth is, green hotels make more money in the long run because their practices are not as adversely affected by world events. In addition, several green hotels working in tandem can boost the travel prestige of a given destination, resulting in increased traffic and revenue at that destination. Better for the planet, better for the hotels – this is the very definition of a win-win.

And this isn’t something that’s going away. This will only grow truer and truer as the months and years pass.

We salute the Holiday Inn Orlando Hotel – International Drive and can only hope the other hotels in Orlando, Florida follow suit.