embly

In 1998 we drove from Seattle heading for the Nova Scotia, and the engine started knocking just as the monument came into view. We got stuck in Bennington for a week while our engine was replaced, but the fall colors were lovely. There are worse places to be stranded.

I went to see the Ellis Marsalis Quartet on my last night in N.O., and it was a great way to end the week. Great music and a comfy bar to wait in before the show. They have a dining room on one side, bar on the other, and a separate 2-level showroom in the back. They have the music and a video feed piped into the bar, but it’s worth buying a ticket for the show as the sound is of course way better from inside. It’s a cozy venue that lives up to its name.

I went to Preservation Hall for Brass Band Thursday and saw the New Birth Brass Band. Hooray! This was one of the best places I went in my 5 day trip to New Orlleans. There are very few seats – 2 or 3 rows of benches at the front (20 seats?) and standing room at the back and out in the hallway. We arrived 30-40 minutes before the 8pm doors opened, and we still ended up standing up at the back. It was a cool night in March and the place was pretty warm with all those bodies. I can’t imagine what it would be like in July! Unlike most places in the French Quarter, they don’t serve food or drinks – only great music! I’ve read that the building has been standing since the 1700s, and it sure looks that way. Definitely worth the $10 ticket and waiting outside in line for half an hour or more. It was fun just people watching on the street, and you can have a drink on the sidewalk while you’re in line :)
I definitely recommend this place to anyone interested in jazz or just looking for something besides the mayhem of Bourbon Street.

I worked just outside the park for 3 summers in the late 90s, and the experience was unforgettable. Wildlife, great people from all over, and of course a vast and awe inspiring landscape. I think the best time to go is late August/early September. Northern lights are visible at night (May-July it doesn’t really get dark), the fall foliage colors are comparable to Maine or Northern Minnesota, and by that time the mosquitoes are gone. It is cold by then though, so pack your long underwear! Of course it’s neat to go for the summer solstice, but the black flies and/or mosquitoes will drive you insane even if you use industrial insect repellent. Definitely a place to go for an extended trip, since the weather can be foggy/rainy/crappy for many days at a time & some folks go for a week and don’t see anything! If you’re camping (the best way to truly see Alaska!) beware of bears and other critters and never keep food in your tent!!
I’ll ditto what others have said – find the Denali Foundation! They are wonderful people who know the area well and care about the future of the park.

If you drive from Fairbanks, AK, heed the warnings about taking extra tires and be wary of the big trucks barreling through. You’ll soon understand why Alaskans tend to have cracked windshields! There’s really not much out there but tundra and the big pipe, but it’s cool to go so far and feel so very very small…

Good selection especially in fiction and children’s books, and they buy & sell used books too. They have author events about 3-4 nights a week and a big community space with a stage and several restaurants called Third Place Commons. In the summer there’s a farmer’s market in the parking lot. The bookstore is pretty big, comparable to a Borders or Barnes & Noble but independently owned. I always like the random gifty items they carry.

On Fridays they will give each patron a free double shot of espresso, as long as you’re willing to drink it straight… Really fantastic coffee! I was a regular there for a long time. One of the saddest parts of moving out of Bellingham is that I can’t get my daily caffeine intake there! The baristas are swell too.

I used to go for the lunch special: personal pizza & salad for about $7… I loved the chicken potato pizza so much that I couldn’t bear to order anything else. They drizzle it with a balsamic glaze that’s ou of this world! Also they put roasted pumpkin seeds in the salad – hooray!

I decided to move there! I lived there for 7 years! It’s lovely, very bike-friendly too.

There are actually 3 used bookstores on this block in downtown Bellingham. Michael’s is a labyrinth of shelves, stacked to the ceiling with used books in just about every subject. A great place to go for browsing, especially fiction. They don’t keep an inventory, but the staff really know their stock.