Where else but New Orleans do history and cocktail mix?! The Museum of the American Cocktail features 200 years of cocktail history.  From vintage cocktail accoutrements, to Prohibition-era literature, to vast varieties of other cocktail memorabilia, it’s a little American history told in cocktail form.  The museum claims to be “part museum, part bar, and part Victorian bordello.” While the museum serves as a tourist attraction depicting a fun bit of Americana, it’s also an educational institution that serves professionals in the beverage industry.  It is a nonprofit organization that provides exhibits and education that advance the profession of mixology, while still stressing the importance of responsible drinking.  Proof positive that history really can be fun! The Museum of the American Cocktail is located in the Southern Food & Beverage Museum at the Riverwalk Marketplace, 1 Poydras Street, Suite 169 […]

It the food part of your travel budget is running a little low, but you just can’t face one more trip to the local grocery store for bread and peanut butter, try heading to a nearby college campus to find a hot meal for a reasonable price. While many students take their meals in their dorm dining halls, most campuses still have other student dining facilities.  Whether it’s a snack bar, cafe, full restaurant or bar, the prices are geared to a student budget.  Of course, the food is geared to a student palate as well, but if you’ve been subsisting on a diet of cold snacks, a burger may seem pretty darn tasty. Most non-dorm dining facilities are open to the greater campus community – meaning visitors as well as students.  Plan on using cash, as not all accept […]

A couple hour drive west of Boston, nearly to the New York state line in Stockbridge, is the Norman Rockwell Museum.  The site was Rockwell’s home for the last 25 years of his life, and was turned into a museum housing over 700 of his paintings, drawings and studies (the largest collection in the world), along with a huge collection of personal artifacts. Rockwell is perhaps best known for his 321 Saturday Evening Post covers, with his first in 1916, “Boy with Baby Carriage.”  His inspiring “Rosie the Riveter” and “Four Freedoms” series remain lasting visual tributes to World War II, and his holiday images take us back to a kinder, gentler era. Although many art critics and historians do not consider Rockwell a “serious” artist, there can be no doubt of his immense public popularity, and he is one […]

One morning I get up and I’m on the west coast, and when I go to bed that night I’m on the east coast.  And I think nothing of it.  So it’s easy to forget that at one time cross the country wasn’t quite so easy! The Theodore Judah Monument in Sacramento (Second & L Streets), celebrates a time when we crossed the country by railroad.  Judah was the engineer responsible for creating the plan that became the Transcontinental Railroad.  So set was he on seeing this plan come to fruition that he became single-minded in his focus on this seemingly impossible project that he became known as “Crazy Judah.” If your in downtown Sacramento, take a minute and look at this monument – before you head off on that transcontinental flight!     Photo credit:  flickr _____________________________________________