I love this Country.
~Emily

Stop by the pavilion inside the park and get geography and history lessons on the Georgia coast. Take notice of the intriguing displays that recount the lives of Ice Age animals that once roamed the area, along with information on the native peoples who occupied the land—the Timucua and Yamassee tribes. With easy access to the tidal creek and salt marsh habitats, anglers can try their luck at catching red drum, spotted sea trout, mullet, whiting and many other species.

Stand just on the edge of this sleepy Southern coastal town and take in the soft, blue-green marshlands, considered some of the most extensive, productive and famous in the world. The Marshes of Glynn Overlook Park allows you to experience to the fullest this unique stretch of the southeast Atlantic coast, beyond which you can also discover the white sands and tropical feel of St. Simons, Jekyll and Sea islands.

 With a four-square foundation symbolized by four downtown statues and an abundance of art, Charlotte, the Queen City of North Carolina, also teems with spectator sports.

By Irwin Speizer

The giant gold miner, pan in hand, is likely to be the first thing that catches your eye as you approach Independence Square, the intersection of Trade and Tryon streets in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the mythic heart of the city, an ancient Native American crossroads now crowded with skyscrapers that all seem to have sprouted yesterday. The miner looms 25 feet high, a bronze sentry standing guard over the bankers and financial wizards hurrying to the next deal. He is part of a family of four sculptures by Raymond Kaskey, one on each corner, that serve as a homage to the city’s near past and its emerging future. They are also a convenient guide to Charlotte’s arts and culture.

The Statues at Independence Square are earnest and direct, like the city they represent, and to make sure there’s no mistaking their meaning, each one displays an engraved title in its base. The miner symbolizes commerce; the woman mill worker, industry. The railroad worker stands for transportation. And the mother hoisting her child to the patch of sky visible between the office towers represents the future. Follow the hints offered by these statues and you get a pretty good overview of Charlotte’s heritage.

The Art of Downtown

You don’t need to look far to find examples of the marriage of commerce and culture. It’s in the modernistic architecture that dominates uptown, and in the lobbies of those buildings, which serve as showcases of the generous support of the arts that characterizes the compact downtown business district.

Step into the lobby of the tallest building in Charlotte, the 60-story Bank of America Corporate Center which dominates Independence Square, and you face a vibrant fresco by North Carolina native Ben Long, depicting a swarm of humanity hard at the task of building the future. Commissioned by the bank, the fresco consists of three panels, each 23 feet high by 18 feet wide, keeping at least a couple of visitors spellbound at any given moment. Just down Tryon Street is another Long fresco, commissioned by the bank for the arcade dome of the Transamerica Square building.

Another modern office building worth a visit is the Carillon Building, about two blocks east on Trade Street. The local offices of the U.S. Attorney are in this building, but you’d never guess it from the avant-garde art in the lobby. The centerpiece, titled Cascade, is a 40-foot-high Rube Goldberg–inspired mobile of rusted gears, wheels, animal skulls and other odd relics combined by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely into a perpetually churning piece of mechanical art that anchors a permanent collection.

Two uptown museums that provide a kind of cultural counterpoint are the new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. Both are within a stone’s throw of each other, making a day of art and culture rather convenient.

Riding the Rails, Panning for Gold

The sculpted railroad worker recalls Charlotte’s long history as a transportation and commercial crossroads, which picked up speed with the coming of the railroads. At one time, the city also boasted a streetcar system. The Charlotte Trolley is no longer the transportation staple it used to be, but you can certainly ride Car #85 on part of the Norfolk Southern railroad between Tremont Avenue in Historic South End and uptown’s 9th Street if you so choose. The only difference now is that the Charlotte Trolley shares the tracks with The Lynx Blue Line, Charlotte’s light-rail service and the only light-rail service in the state.

The Charlotte Trolley’s Powerhouse Museum, where you can take a self-guided tour, is situated in Historic South End. This area of old red-brick cotton mills that, although renovated into shops, restaurants, offices and apartments, still contrasts with the sleek modernism of uptown. South End was once the industrial heart of Charlotte, the place where the mill worker depicted by one of the Statues at Independence Square might have spent her days toiling over spinning machines. Back in uptown, Levine Museum of the New South explores the heritage and culture of Charlotte and the South since the Civil War, with permanent and changing exhibits that invite visitors to find out more about such things as the textile industry, race relations and cotton.

As for that gold miner, his vocation is probably closest to Charlotte’s distinction today as a banking and finance center. Charlotte grew up as a gold-mining town, complete with its own branch of the U.S. Mint in the 1800s. That building is today Mint Museum Randolph. Mint Museum Uptown is slated to open later this year.

To find out where the old Charlotte Mint got its gold, head to the Reed Gold Mine, about a 30-minute drive east of Charlotte, where farmer John Reed touched off the nation’s first gold rush when his son found a 17-pound gold rock on his property in 1799. The mine offers tours and lets you test your luck at finding your own gold—and perhaps feel your own “gold rush”—by sloshing sandy water around in a pan just like that miner at Independence Square.

Serious About Sports

The one item missing from the sculpted group is a statue for Charlotte’s love of big-time spectator sports. Charlotte is the acknowledged capital of NASCAR, and no trip here is complete without a stop at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a half-hour drive northeast in Concord and Uptown’s NASCAR Hall of Fame (http://www.nascarhall.com/). Major races draw crowds in excess of 100,000, but during off weeks you can take a tour of the track, which puts you in a van for a lap around the track. Many NASCAR race teams in the area are open to visitors, such as Dale Earnhardt Inc. in Mooresville and Hendrick Motorsports in Harrisburg.

Charlotte’s other spectator sports include the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise and the Carolina Panthers NFL team. The city is also home to a pair of minor-league professional teams, the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League and the Charlotte Knights Triple-A baseball team. The Knights play in a stadium about a half-hour drive south, in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

More than 200 years ago, George Washington went through Charlotte and dubbed it a “trifling place.” These days, Washington wouldn’t have slept here—there’s just too much going on in Charlotte.

Writer Irwin Speizer covers the topics of business, politics and culture.

Early in the morning before sunrise, the last stars shine on the blue-black back of Lake Superior. To paddle on such a morning among the Apostle Islands is to kayak among the constellations. By Jeff Rennicke

From June through early October, these 21 islands sprinkled like stars off Wisconsin’s north coast (a 90-minute to two-hour drive from Duluth, Minn., are rainbowed with colorful kayaks. Sandy beaches, black bears and bald eagles, and the lee shores of wild islands, make this one of the best freshwater sea-kayaking destinations in the country. Paddling the islands can be a connect-the-dots affair. A good nautical chart is a must. You can find one online at the Office of Coast Survey site. GPS and compass skills are helpful.

The most popular paddle is a day trip to the Mawikwe Sea Caves, a mile-long maze of burnt orange cliffs carved by the waves, with some caves as big as cathedrals, others as small as a kayak.

Farther out, lighthouses—the largest collection in any national park—and wilderness beckon. Trips to the outer islands are overnight ventures, ranging from a half-day to two weeks—14 days is the camping limit set by the National Park Service (NPS).

 At Raspberry Island you can step back in time as you tour the island’s lighthouse with a National Park Service ranger . Tour the historic Manitou Island fish camp, or walk the silent hallways of old brownstone quarries.

Outer Island, Devil’s Island and some of the more distant destinations sport big waves, wild shores and a designation as national wilderness areas. Still, there are trips suitable for any skill level. Paddling alone beyond the inner islands is best done by moderately experienced paddlers. Those with less skill can go safely with a guide.

Local adventure companies such as Living Adventure offer equipment rental packages with everything you need, including kayaks, life jackets, paddles and paddling instruction. Rental packages start at $32 for eight hours, depending on the type and size of the boat.

Guided trips range from half-day excursions starting at $59 per person to overnight adventures starting at $294.

Campers on the islands will find varying accommodations, from the developed sites of Stockton Island, complete with picnic tables and fire pits with grills to primitive back-country sites (camping permits and a fee required; contact the NPS). But from any camp among the Apostle Islands, paddlers can slip their boats into the early morning waters, silently push off and, with barely a ripple, find themselves paddling among the stars.

Kayaker and photographer Jeff Rennicke is the author of Jewels on the Water: Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands. www.jeffrennicke.com

Somehow, after 60 years, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club remains one of the best-kept secrets in golf. Not only is it the premier course in Myrtle Beach, it is part of golf history. In 1948, when the legendary Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed it, he was not yet legendary, and there were only two other courses in Myrtle Beach. But what set The Dunes apart was the 13th hole, the first “signature hole” in golf. Today, this term has become commonplace, and almost every course is designed with the idea that one hole will be worthy of reproduction on magazine covers, but when Jones’ firm began advertising with the slogan “Give your course a signature,” he was making history.

The 575-yard par-5 has been alternatively described as a boomerang, U-turn or horseshoe. It is more accurately thought of as a “V” with water in the middle. When you stand on the tee the green is off to your right, almost at a right angle. The line of play would be right at the green, but the lake is too wide to carry here, so you play down the fairway, away from the green. The options are to hit your tee shot down the right, as close to the water’s edge as possible, then play across the narrower end of the lake to get within a hundred yards of the green; or to play safely to the center, then around the bend on the second shot, and face a much longer approach with the water along the right. An amazing hole, it broke new ground for the use of water hazards. The short par-5, one that can be reached in two shots, has been around for more than 500 years, but Jones added a new wrinkle. Most reachable fives had the risk on the second shot, so the player could hit his or her drive and then decide whether to go for the green based on the result. Jones’ signature hole at The Dunes (and many after it) takes a completely different tack. Players who want to go for it in two must decide before they hit their tee shots and play as close to the water’s edge as they dare.

The Dunes is more than just a one-hole wonder. The variety is staggering, with short forced carries over water on two holes, a heroic risk/reward carry choice on another, and a pond in front of the green on the par-5 18th. The second hole doglegs so severely that to have a decent chance of reaching the green in two, the tee shot must be played over the tall trees of the corner, a shot rarely demanded in golf.

After a round at The Dunes, make sure to drop by Greg Norman’s Australian Grille, one of the first fine dining restaurants in the nation owned by a golf legend, for dinner or a selection from the lengthy wine list.

Golf writer Larry Olmsted is the author of Golf Travel By Design and has appeared as a golf expert on NBC television, ESPN and CBS radio, and MSN.com.

Open your senses to the pastoral charm of southwest Michigan.

Sight Delight in the vision of the late 19th-century covered bridges that dot the roads near Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.

Sound Dance along with Grand Haven’s Musical Fountain as it performs its nightly water, light and music shows.

Taste Sip wine along the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail.

Touch Sift the sand at Warren Dunes State Park, while hang gliders take off overhead.

Smell Inhale the aroma of blueberries, fresh-picked or in scented soaps, candles and other products, throughout South Haven.

Road Rules

Residents of a foreign country, that signed the 1949 United Nations Convention on Road Traffic who are temporarily in the United States, may drive in Michigan with a valid International Driving Permit and home country license. The vehicle’s registration and proof of insurance or rental agreement must be in the car at all times.

BlogHer ‘10: Life Well Said starts on Thusrday night, and I’ll be departing the hot and humid Midwest on Thursday for New York City… bright lights, big city… more heat and more humidity!   I can’t wait to meet all the bloggin’ mamas that I’ve become friends with this year… and of course, learn more about how to make www.talkofthecountry.com the very best it can be.  Follow me on twitter (@CountryInns) to see what I’m up to – especially if you’d like to connect. 
The sessions should be fascinating … covering topics ranging from basic HTML and online security, to how to blog for brand-building purposes, to the “Change Agents” sessions with all these wonderful mommybloggers.   And of course, the keynote speakers will be outstanding!

For those of you watching from home, you can follow @BlogherAtHome to feel like you’re in on the action. 

I’m off to the City that Never Sleeps… but after each day of hoofing it around New York City, mingling, mixing and networking, I’m sure to rest easy at night!

I love this Country.
~Emily

Here’s where to go for the perfect fit:

TaylorMade: This technology was once available only to the company’s touring pros, but TaylorMade now offers it to everyone at the following locations:

Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club — North San Diego

Reynolds Plantation — Greensboro, Georgia

Grand Cypress Academy of Golf at the Grand Cypress Resort — Orlando, Florida

Olympia Fields Country Club —  Chicago

JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort — Palm Desert, California

The International — Bolton, Massachusetts

Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate — South Africa

Al Badia Golf Club by InterContinental — Dubai

Ping: More than 10,000 golfers visit Ping’s factory in Phoenix each year for factory fittings. Ping was the first large clubmaker to specialize in custom fitting, and today the majority of its sales are made to order.

Callaway: The company offers fully computerized factory fittings at its Carlsbad, California headquarters, and its Performance Centers in London; Tokyo; Seoul; Victoria, Australia; Ontario; Golf Academy St. Andrews in Scotland; and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Most teaching pros recommend custom clubs for players of every ability. Golfers spend huge amounts of time and money on lessons, so if you could improve your game in just
a half-hour fitting, why wouldn’t you?

Larry Olmsted is the founder of The Golf Insider and writes the weekly “Life on Vacation” column for USA Today.

 GALVESTON, Texas (July 9, 2010) – Carlson, a privately-held, global hospitality and travel company, today announced the further expansion of Country Inns & Suites By Carlson^SM in Texas. The opening of Country Inn & Suites, Galveston Beach, Texas marks the brand’s accelerated expansion in the region as part of its Ambition 2015 growth strategy and is the brand’s first beachfront location in the state.

“With 17 Country Inns & Suites hotels in the state and more than 220 locations in the southern United States, the brand has established a strong footprint in the region,” said Steve Mogck, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. “We are focused on building momentum in North America and India as we increase our portfolio of hotels over the next five years.”

Country Inns & Suites offers caring, consistent, comfortable hospitality with a touch of home, and many distinctive product and service innovations, such as the Friends Hosting Friends^SM employee training program that has generated tremendous employee engagement scores and high guest satisfaction. 

“We are thrilled to be joining the Country Inns & Suites family and are confident that the consistency, value and leadership of this brand and the Carlson Hotels system will result in a successful future for this hotel,” said Dimplejit Singh, owner and general manager of the Country Inn & Suites, Galveston, Texas. 

The 100 percent non-smoking hotel features an indoor pool and whirlpool, a fitness center and meeting space for up to 20 people.  The 60-room hotel features whirlpool suites, one-bedroom suites, studio suites and guest rooms featuring complimentary wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, microwave, refrigerator and flat panel televisions. 

Galveston is located 55 miles south of Houston. The hotel is on the famous Galveston Seawall Boulevard at 29^th St.

For reservations and information, visit www.countryinns.com or call toll-free +1-800-456-4000.

By Annette McGivney, Cyril Manning and Larry Rice
 

 

Grand Canyon National Park

You’ve marveled at scenes like this on postcards and in coffee-table books, but when you actually lay eyes on the Grand Canyon—with its sea of red and orange rock towers rising from the abyss—it is almost too spectacular to be real.

Protected as a national park in 1919, the Grand Canyon exposes more of the Earth’s history than anyplace else on the planet. As you stand at various overlooks in the park, you can take in canyon views that are a mile deep and 18 miles wide, giving you a glimpse of more than 2 billion years of geology.

Tourists have been coming to gawk at this giant geologic phenomenon for more than a century, ever since the Grand Canyon Railway first made the remote landscape accessible to the general public in 1901. Today, with too many cars and too few parking spaces in Grand Canyon National Park, the train is still the ticket for getting to the heart of this natural wonder. 

Your journey begins at the Grand Canyon Railway depot in Williams, 30 miles west of Flagstaff. You’ll arrive at the national park’s historic Grand Canyon Depot around noon. You’ll have a little more than three hours of exploration time before boarding the train for the return ride. The depot is located in Grand Canyon Village and just a stone’s throw from canyon overlooks, shops and restaurants. Consider packing a picnic lunch and stretching your legs on the Rim Trail. This mostly flat path winds through pine forest and leads to spectacular overlooks. Keep your eyes peeled for ravens riding canyon thermals. 

For a pleasant three-mile round-trip hike, pick up the Rim Trail, due north of the train station, and follow it northwest to Maricopa Point. From the point—an excellent picnic spot—you can watch hikers directly below snaking down the switchbacks of the Bright Angel Trail. And about 2,000 feet farther down on the Tonto Plateau, you’ll see the cottonwood-lined oasis called Indian Gardens. If you peer some 5,000 feet down to the canyon’s bottom, you’ll catch the glint of the Colorado River’s green waters. Stare at this canyon panorama long enough, and it can play tricks on your sense of scale. Landmarks on the North Rim, 20 miles away, will look closer than features right next to Maricopa Point.

After your hike, get something cold to drink back in Grand Canyon Village. Or shop for Native American crafts, such as turquoise jewelry, at Hopi House, a pueblo-style building next to the rim just north of the train station. Before you know it, the whistle is blowing and it’s time to board the afternoon train.

Author Bio: Annette McGivney is the Southwest editor for Backpacker magazine.

Cape Cod National Seashore

On Cape Cod at this time of year, every smell says summertime—from the lobster rolls and clams served up at countless roadside shacks, to the sweet smell of coconut sunscreen and the cool, salty air that takes the edge off the sun-baked days. But Cape Cod National Seashore offers far more than beach umbrellas and sandcastles. These 40 miles of pristine coastline envelop a delicate, 40,000-acre ecosystem defined by its relationship to the sea.

Your gateway to the Seashore is a two-hour drive from downtown Boston. Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh introduce you to the beauty of this crooked peninsula, where more than 350 glacial freshwater ponds coexist with the rolling tides. Here you can pick up information on lighthouse tours and the area’s heritage of pirates, shipwrecks and sea rescues.

From here, take a leisurely hike along Nauset Trail and watch blue heron, osprey and other shore birds swoop through the grassy fields and swampy forest, plucking their meals from the streams and tidal creeks that cut through the land. By mid-morning, the trail will bring you to Coast Guard Beach, where you can survey the dramatic march of marshland toward the sea, enjoying the view in relative solitude.

Next, head to Wellfleet, where you can lunch on lobsters, oysters and clams at Beachcomber, just steps from the silky sand of Cahoon Hollow Beach. To explore this part of the shoreline, rent a kayak from Jack’s in Wellfleet and launch from the town pier. The mellow water here makes it easy to glide across the bay to Great Island, one of the park’s best-kept secrets. You won’t run into many other visitors as you skirt the sandy dunes and sloping stands of pine that mark this shoreline, but you’ll see plenty of shore birds, hawks and red-winged blackbirds.

You’ll also find plenty of quiet landings to beach your kayak, rest in the sun and hunt for fiddler crabs. This is the seashore at its most intimate; paddling back to town, now backlit by the dipping sun and framed against the immaculate harbor, your sense of the Cape is far richer than sunscreen and sandcastles.

Back on dry land, you’ll find no better place to wind down than at Race Point Beach, an old seafarers’ outpost at the tip of the Cape. Here, watch the setting sun wash the sky in tangerine and pink—locals and tourists alike attest that this is the most spectacular show on the Cape.

Author Bio: Freelancer Cyril Manning specializes in adventure, travel and health articles.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Heading northwest out of the Mile High City, you’ll soon reach the gateway
to “Rocky,” as the Rocky Mountain National Park is known to locals. The air is suddenly cool and sweet with the aroma of pine and spruce. And moving on—whoa, flatlander!—just as suddenly, you become aware that you’ve entered a very special place, a mountain kingdom to rival anywhere on this planet.

The temptation is to see everything—right now! But take some time to orient yourself before you set out to explore the park’s 416-square-mile wilderness.

First, stop in at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, near the park entrance. A free movie there gives an overview of the park’s features. Be sure to browse the bookstore for natural and cultural history books, as well as games and toys for the kids. (The Trail Ridge Road Adventure Sticker and Game Book is a favorite.)

Now you’re ready for the adventure to begin. Strap on those seat belts and get ready to take one of the most breathtaking drives in the national park system. Stretching 48 miles between Estes Park Village on the park’s eastern edge to Grand Lake on its western side, Trail Ridge Road (U.S. 34) is the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Eleven miles of this highway wind above the tree line, the elevation near 11,500 feet where the area’s evergreen forests come to an end, replaced by a rocky alpine world. Climbing to its high point at 12,183 feet elevation, Trail Ridge Road provides views of dozens of peaks, glimpses of animals (bighorn sheep, mule deer and elk are commonly visible), and dramatic wildflower displays, all from your comfortable car.

Set aside at least a half-day for the road trip, but leave time to stretch your legs. With 359 miles of trails, Rocky Mountain is a haven for hikers. The most popular trails begin along Bear Lake Road. Although most of the hikes in this area are short, the rewards are many. From the Bierstadt Lake trailhead, it’s an easy 1.5-mile jaunt to Bierstadt Lake, where the 19th century painter Albert Bierstadt created one of his dramatic images. Farther up the road is the Glacier Gorge Junction trailhead.

A lure here is Alberta Falls, a half-mile in. A little over one mile from the Bear Lake trailhead is Dream Lake, a favorite of photographers. 

Indeed, there’s so much to do in Rocky you will surely want to return on another day in the not-too-distant future, ready to renew your exploration of America’s mountain roof.

Author Bio: Writer, photographer and outdoor enthusiast Larry Rice has traveled to seven continents from his home in Buena Vista, Colorado.