New York City

We think Frank Sinatra said it best when he sang "New York, New York".



So to end our series on day trips we will be focusing on a city every needs to see at least once in a lifetime, New York City.

There are a variety of ways to get to NYC -- airplane or car or train -- depending on how long you want to spend in transit. A car ride from the Washington D.C. Metro area is around 3 1/2 hours; train ride is around 3 hours ; and an airplane ride is a short 1 hour and 12 minute trip.

New York isn't our most population destination, but it isn't a statistical anomaly either. Recently we had two clients request rides from Bethesda and Washington D.C. to JFK airport and the Bronx, respectively.

NYC is home to some of the most iconic American landmarks. We would personally like to recommend two: the Guggenheim mueseum and the United Nations.

The Guggenheim Mueseum -- http://www.guggenheim.org -- is located on 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street) New York, NY 10128.

The United Nations Headquarters -- http://www.un.org -- is located on an 18-acre site in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhatten. Guided tours are operated daily and you can even get your own UN stamps!

In order to prepare you for your trip to NYC we have included two more videos. The first video describes how not to look like a tourist; a must for those who try to blend into their environment.


The second video gives a few insights into how to do NYC cheap: only $35 a day.



In addition, part of our plan for expansion includes an office in Park Avenue, Manhattan.

Pennslyvania

Continuing with our current theme on places to travel we plan on peering into Pennslyvania and, in particular, the city of Gettysburg.

Unlike the other states we have surveyed, Pennslyvania does not have much of a coastline. It does, however, have 56 cities including Philadelphia (population: 1,547,297) and Pittsburgh (population: 311,647). It is also the home of Scranton -- the setting of the hit NBC sitcom The Office.

What many people think about when they think about Pennsylvania is Gettysburg: the home of one of the bloodiest battles in America's history. The Battle of Gettysburg is considered by historians to be the turning point of the Civil War and there are many places commorating this battle.

Gettysburg National Military Park is located in Adams County, Pennslyvania.

https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

For your viewing pleasure, and to whet your interest, we have a video clip from the 1993 film Gettysburg.

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Wild Outdoors

With the summer coming to a close it might be time to consider going to a National Park.

The U.S. Department of Interior manages one-fifth of the land of the United States and has a large network of national parks. Every year more than 271 million people visit one of the parks managed by the National Park System. Normally, 146 of 392 national parks charge entrance fees ranging from $3-$25. The other 246 do not charge for admission. However, on August 14-15 they will waive entrance fees to the other National Parks.

One nearby park that is a relatively short drive from the Washington D.C. metropolitian area is Gettysburg National Military Park in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
http://www.nps.gov/gatt


In Maryland and Virginia 6 and 10 parks, respectivly, are participating in the program.

Maryland:
Antietam National Battlefield
Assateague Island National Seashore
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Fort McHenry NM and Historic Shrine National Monument
Fort Washington Park
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

Virginia:
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
National Memorial
Assateague Island National Seashore
Colonial National Historical Park
George Washington Birthplace National Monument
George Washington Memorial Parkway's Great Falls Park
Manassas National Battlefield Park
Petersburg National Battlefield
Prince William Forest Park
Shenandoah National Park

Catoctin Mountain Park

The park is open dawn to dusk all year round. There is also a visitor center with the following hours:

Monday -Thursday: 10:00am - 4:30pm
Friday: 10:00am -5:00pm
Saturday -Sunday: 8:30am - 5:30pm

http://www.nps.gov/cato





Other Parks
Flag Ponds Nature Park in the Chesapeake Bay area is another park in the vicinity of Maryland.

King's Landing Park, along the shore of the Patuxent River, has a rich history that streches back to the time of Captain John Smith
http://www.calvertparks.org/

Mason Neck State Park is another park in Virginia that offers a multitude of activities for the outdoorsy person. It is located 20 miles away from Washington D.C. and takes about 45 minutes to get to by car. Hiking, biking and self-guided trails are available; kayaking and canoeing are accessable; and picnic shelters and cabins are easily attainable.
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov

Great Country Farms
Great Country Farms is a 200 acre working farm on the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside the village of Bluemont, Virginia. It was named the "Agribusiness of the Year" for their unique innovative way of farming in a difficult climate.
http://www.greatcountryfarms.com

Baltimore

*This is our second post on our series of places to visit.

Some people think there is no better place to be than Baltimore. They might be right. Reflecting that sentiment we will be examining a few options to entice our readers to explore the area.

To begin, Baltimore is 45 to 50 minutes away from Washington D.C. and has its own airport: BWI-Thurgood Marshall
http://bwiairport.com/

Inner Harbor

During the 1700's Baltimore's Inner Harbor was a major seaport and now, with help from the government, it has been revitalized and has become a verifiable tourist attraction. The Inner Harbor is home to the Baltimore Convention Center, National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, and is a short distance from Camden Yards. If you have children, the Port Discovery Children's Museum, with its dragon-shaped paddleboat, or the Maryland Science Center, with its dinosaurs, will be sure to entertain and edify.

http://portdiscovery.org/
http://mdsci.org/

Black History in Baltimore
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture is located west of Fells Point and takes visitors through centuries of the black experience. The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park is another spot to see.

http://africanamericanculture.org/
http://douglassmyers.org/


Beaches in Baltimore

The Baltimore Sun reported that Bay and coastal beaches in Maryland and Delaware ranked among the cleanest in the nation, at least according to a survey released by the National Resources Defense Council. The focus of the article was on the fecal bacteria found in the water. The following numbers indicate how often water samples exceeded the safety levels.

Great Lakes: 13%
New England: 8%
New York: 6%
New Jersey: 6%
Maryland: 3%
Delaware: 2%
National Average: 7%


Baseball in Baltimore

One of the most popular destinations for our clients has been Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles. If you want to watch baseball -- and honestly, who doesn't -- we have listed the upcoming games for this week.

August 3: Los Angeles Angels
August 4: Los Angeles Angels
August 5: Los Angeles Angels
August 6: Chicago White Sox
August 7: Chicago White Sox
August 8: Chicago White Sox

Baseball teams alternate between home and away and all of the upcoming games are at home.

For more information visit: http://mlb.mlb.com/bal/ballpark/index.jsp

Day Trips

*We plan on doing a series of blog entries on off-beat places to go in the future.

There are certain advantages to being a local: you know the people who inhabit the area; you know the local history; and you know by heart the local "hot spots". However, you can only take your kids to the White House, for example, so many times until you yearn for something new, something out of the ordinary, something memorable. In today's blog we will be going over a few day trip ideas that can help you spice up your summer and help you break out of summer monotony. There are other things -- besides going to the Smithsonian -- to do in Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Vineyards

Virginia vineyards may not carry the same cachet as those in Europe, but many of them have award-winning vintages. The harvest season for wines typically falls between August and October.

On the website, http://virginiawine.org.com/, you can search for different vineyards in Virginia; a cursory search brought over 156 wineries. They cluster on the eastern seaboard.

Not to be outdone, Maryland also has its own fair share of wineries. http://marylandwine.com/ lists them by name and by region. Maryland's lower Piedmont area (north of D.C.) is renowned for its wine.

Hot Air Balloon Rides

As you might have surmised -- it shouldn't come as a surprise -- we have devised a plan for a taking a balloon ride.

Delmarva Balloon Rides is a local company that specializes in hot air balloon rides. They are located at 1137 Little Creek Road, Chester Maryland, 21619.
http://www.delmarvaballoonrides.com/

Beaches

Virginia has over 5,000 miles of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Hence, lots of beaches. The most well-known of these is Virginia Beach with its 38 miles of shoreline. Colonial Beach -- in Westmoreland County -- has the second largest beachfront.

Maryland also has many beaches. Worcester County is the home of Ocean City -- an Atlantic Ocean resort city -- and is a popular destination for tourists. It extends over 9 miles from the southern inlet to the Delaware line. You can find more information at the Ocean City website.

http://www.ococean.com/

Hiking

Catoctin Mountain Park -- home of the presidential retreat at Camp David -- has a variety of lodging opportunities for visitors. It is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. You can find a lot of information, such as vidoes and maps, on their website: http://nps.gov/cato

Another famous park -- Shenandoah National Park -- is located 75 miles away from our capital. Entrance fees are around $8 per person in the summer. The website is: http://nps.gov/shen

*As always, if you need transportation to any of these places, we will be happy to oblige.

Oil Spill Aftermath

BP's oil spill might be old news -- considering that the initial explosion occured on April 20 -- but the effects, especially regarding travel, will likely linger for a long time. Today BP has claimed that it has capped off the well. This, hopefully, will stem the flow of oil so they can get to work cleaning up the oil spill.

For a bit of background information the source of the leaking oil lies less than a hundred miles from the Mississippi Delta in the Gulf Of Mexico. According to the NYTimes, for the first month of the spill the oil stayed mostly in the gulf. Starting in the last week of May waves of oil began washing into Louisiana's wetlands and beaches. Then, in June, oil landings were being reported to the states east of the epicenter -- Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida -- with varying degrees of oil. Heavy oil is located, particularly, south of New Orleans and on the Chandeleur Islands. In addition, the Coast Guard reported that oil had entered the Gulf's Loop Current and would carry the oil toward Florida's west coast and down the Florida Keys to Miami's beaches.

In the Panhandle some hotels have seen a 50% cancellation in hotels because of oil spill related concerns. However, the Keys and South Florida do the bulk of their tourism from fall to early spring so it shouldn't wreck too much havoc on their economy.

The future is always uncertain and it is hard to extrapolate accurately but a computer model released by marine scientists predicted that a ring of oil might encircle the entire Florida peninsula by the end of the month. Only time will tell.

The link below shows an interactive map of how much oil has been spilled.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/27/us/20100527-oil-landfall.html?ref=us

Summer Travel: Part II

There really are no secrets to securing a sweet travel deal, it mostly comes down to simple economics: supply and demand. If you are seeking someplace special to go this summer, timing your trip to coincide with days that are not during peak travel times can help you avoid long lines and other inefficiencies.



We have already surveyed the major Internet travel websites in older posting and would like to take the time to present a few new websites that might be of interest:

One interesting site, Couponmap.com, is a mashup that embeds Google Maps onto its website and automatically populates the map with a list of coupons from various companies.

http://www.couponmap.com/



Another interesting website, sidestep.com, is a traveler's search engine that is similar to other popular search engines. They aggregate their data and provide information on hotels, flights, cars, deals, vacations and cruises.

http://www.sidestep.com/


Making data driven decisions can help you determine where you want to go. There are many variables that come into play -- price, location, time -- but one, at least during this time of year, especially sticks out: temperature.


As you can see from the map, the tempertures that we have been experiencing are all within the normal range.

The map above shows the average weekly temperature. Good luck planning your trip.