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Top 10 US whale watching sites
Dave G. Houser Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementFew wildlife watching experiences can match the sighting of a breeching whale for pure excitement. There's something just plain magical about seeing these massive creatures in the wild. Perhaps it is because we are so small compared to them (blue whales can measure more than 90 feet and weigh 150 tons or more). Or maybe it is that most of us rarely get the chance to see a whale. Whale watching can be a hit-or-miss proposition — and there's never a guarantee you'll see them in the wild. There are, however, some ways to improve the odds of spotting these majestic animals.
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An April snow in the Black Hills
Steve and Diane Owens Recreation & LeisureDiane and I first visited Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota with our young son on a cross-country trip in the summer of 1967. Much has changed and much has remained the same. Since that trip, we have returned several times since retiring. It’s such a wild, wonderful countryside that keeps drawing us back. We arrived at the Game Lodge Campgrounds in the Black Hills on a Thursday afternoon. It was a beautiful warm spring day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the trees were showing a bit of green. It’s amazing how quickly conditions change, because in the morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. It snowed all night and morning, leaving at least 4 inches of snow covering my vehicle.
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U.S. Senate passes sweeping public lands act
Michelle R. Matisons Civil & GovernmentDespite the historic levels of partisanship we've seen out of Washington, D.C., recently, there's been some surprising bipartisan activity in the Senate regarding public lands expansion: the National Resources Management Act (NRMA). Now the Act heads to the House, which is expected to pass it next month with an endorsement from a supportive President Trump to codify it into law. Like anything optimistically sold as a bipartisan green initiative, this package (NRMA) is a mixed bag of tricks to be sure. But that gives us something to work with, right? For starters, nothing short of 1 million acres of newly protected land in the West is included in the package.
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How social media has changed the way we travel
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementIs social media addictive? It sure is. Even if we want to go through a social media detox and break away from it all during a trip, we find it really hard to do so. Intrepid brands like Ibis Hotels have come up with the perfect solution for this dilemma. The Switzerland-based hotel chain is offering its guests an "Instagram sitter" while they travel and take a social media detox. The "sitter" will monitor, post and keep guests' social accounts up to date as a part of the hotel's rather quirky service called "Relax We Post." Ibis is not the only brand to cash in on the social media fervor. Last year, the Conrad Hilton Resort in the Maldives introduced the concept of "Instagram butlers."
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Going big: The Sig Sauer SHOT Show experience
Joshua Fry Law Enforcement, Defense & Security"Wait until you see what we have in store for the SHOT Show, our new machine gun is going to change everything," said Tom Taylor, the chief marketing officer and executive vice president for Sig Sauer, when I last saw him at the Sig Sauer Academy in New Hampshire. In seemingly perfect timing, we could hear the new machine gun rattling off in the distance at the off-limits prototype testing range. Tom politely denied our requests to see it in person and promised us it would be worth the wait when it debuted at the 2019 SHOT Show Sig Sauer Industry Day. It turns out Tom actually undersold and overdelivered the experience waiting for us.
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Travel2020: Love Las Vegas-style with daring I do’s
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementLas Vegas and weddings go together like neon signage and beehive hairdos. That may be because Las Vegas pronounces more marriages per capita than any other city in the world. In 2017 alone, 78,187 marriage licenses were issued in Las Vegas — which makes for roughly 214 per day or nine marriage licenses an hour on a 24/7 clock. And 2017 was a down year for Las Vegas, which has seen as many as 128,000 weddings in a year, as happened in 2004. Based on the most current data available from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), 4 percent of Las Vegas visitors, or 1.7 million people a year, come to Las Vegas to celebrate their own wedding or someone else's.
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Visiting the Grand Canyon during winter
Dave G. Houser Recreation & LeisureGrand Canyon National Park celebrates its centennial season this year, and the nation's second most popular national park is expected to draw a record number of visitors — a figure that could top 6.5 million. So, if you'd like to join the 100th birthday celebration for the majestic canyon's national park, we'd strongly suggest you beat the crowds with a winter visit. While the canyon's North Rim closes to the public during the winter, the South Rim remains open, and the park's scenic drives, viewpoints, trails, lodgings and RV campgrounds are delightfully uncongested.
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Winchester unveils .350 Legend at 2019 SHOT Show
John McAdams Recreation & LeisureThe big outdoor companies quite often announce their new products at the major trade shows in January and February. While it was far from the only significant announcement at the 2019 SHOT Show, Winchester made a big splash when it rolled out the brand-new .350 Legend cartridge this year. Using a modified, straight-walled .223 Remington case that's 1.71 inches long, the .350 Legend pushes a 150 grain .357 caliber bullet at a velocity of 2,325 feet per second using a 20-inch barrel. That works out to about 1,800 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
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Travel2020: Bucket list travel for 2019
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementFor those who keep a bucket list, there is no time like the new year to check off the progress. For experienced wanderers or experienced dreamers, there are plenty of special places yet to be crossed off on life's to-do list. According to a recent survey conducted by AARP, travel is the top aspiration for Americans of all ages, not just baby boomers. Research shows that boomers are expected to take four to five leisure trips in 2019 and spend more than $6,600. Gen Xers are forecast to spend $5,400, and millennials $4,440. For those in need of some inspiration or timely recommendations, here’s a starter list to spark the imagination.
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Is retirement bad for your health?
Patrick Gleeson Medical & Allied HealthcareFloating out there somewhere in the vast Sargasso Sea of unexamined opinion is an idealized conception of retirement — that most Americans plan on retiring; that there will be enough money for retirement when the time comes and that it will be a fulfilling and happy time of life. No short article can hope to treat the full complexity of the subject, but some of these opinions are simply wrong. Recent research suggests that continuing to work past retirement age isn't a bad idea: that it may positively affect both your mental well-being and your physical health. Among other possibly surprising benefits: those who continue working live longer.
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