Intelligent Travel

Strange Planet: Mike the Headless Chicken Festival

Here at IT, we love a good tale of chicken grit. No, we don’t mean chicken and grits, but rather the industrious and absurd tale of Mike, the headless chicken of Fruita, Colorado.

Legend goes that on Sept. 10, 1945, an almost six-month-old Wyandotte rooster was looking especially delicious to his owners, the Olsens. Lloyd Olsen swung his ax just so as to leave a “generous neck bone” in the hopes of pleasing his mother-in-law, who would be joining the family for the bird feast. But for whatever reason (perhaps the water in Fruita is extra-fortified?), the chicken shrugged off the assault and “returned to his job of being a chicken,” albeit a bit shorter and with two fewer eyes for navigating the barnyard.

Besides officially ruining dinner that evening, “Mike” persevered to live for another 18 months, growing from a paltry 2.5 pounds to a plump eight. After about a week of feeding Mike grain and water with an eyedropper, Lloyd Olsen drove him to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to be scrutinized by some skeptical scientists, who determined that the ax blade “had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was in a jar, most of his brain stem and one ear was left on his body. Since most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain quite healthy.”

Mike went on to achieve fowl fame, appearing in sideshows from New York to Los Angeles and features in Life and Time magazines, not to mention an obligatory Guinness World Record (you can watch a video about his life here). Today, the “Headless Wonder Chicken” is celebrated with an annual festival each third week in May (that's this Friday and Saturday!). Hightail it to Fruita for all the trappings of a kitschy small-town festival you could ask for, from a car show and eating contests (of, no doubt, a few of Mike’s less-fortunate relatives) to a chicken dance contest and the 5K “Run Like a Headless Chicken” race.

Photo: A sculpture tribute to Mike on Fruita's Main Street, by Andy Orr

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We Can't Make this Sh*t Up

Friend of IT Amanda Jack lived in Austin, Texas, for several years, and she recalls her favorite saloon's Sunday afternoon chicken show. (Shouldn't all saloons have a Sunday afternoon chicken show? We think so.)

A true measure of any sustainable establishment is how well it uses its recycled waste. Every Sunday afternoon at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon (North Burnet Rd.) in Austin, Texas, the savvy visitor will find the bar in the throes of a sustainable celebration. Of course, it's not quite in the way one might expect.

At Ginny's, a long time Austin establishment (its motto: No Fussin', No Cussin', No Hasslin', No Wrasslin') far from the frat packs of the popular 6th Street, small monuments of fowl feces (pun intended) are found plopping their way onto a large grid covering a wooden board set on the pool table. Cheering the chicken on as it lays a less celebrated specimen are hoards of regulars and instantly hooked first-timers clutching a number that just may be the lucky square chosen for defecation target practice.

Ginny's Sunday standard, Chicken Shit Bingo, has branded itself into the hearts of a faithful following and is not to be missed if you are in town. Participants hope to turn their $2 into $100 via this popular crap shoot, and the crowd spills out into the parking lot as a surprisingly calm chicken does her dooty for the mid-afternoon onlookers.  Most Sundays, local country legend Dale Watson serenades the winners and consoles the losers with his true country voice that makes you sway even if you've never seen the two-step.

While Sunday afternoons are a special treat, this tiny stalwart of an establishment will please any day of the week. Cowboys of all ages swing their partners in tight circles, expertly navigating tables and bar stools as more sedentary patrons stomp a foot in time while chugging down longnecks of $2 Lone Star beer. Once the Poultry Queen has expelled the last of her marker-pellets, continue the adventure by walking down Burnet Road to a smattering of thrift stores. And if the fecund fecal display hasn't turned you off it, grab some grub at the nearby Austin Diner, where the only chicken around is served as dinner.

Amanda Jack likes traveling and cheese, but not necessarily the cheese she finds while traveling.

Photo: Bingo at Ginny's, by Casey Moore via Flickr

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Positively Portland

Oh, that we should all get this kind of a send-off on our travels...

Traveler's assistant art director, Stefan Caiafa, recently ordered a CD from CD Baby, an online music store based in Portland, Oregon, that buys music directly from musicians, digitizes it, and sells the CDs from their warehouse. The musicians get paid more per album than with the big-name labels, and you get the satisfaction of listening to unique music and supporting independent musicians at the same time. Anyway, CD Baby just sent Stefan an email confirming his order, along with this heartwarming message:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, April 25th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh...

Stefan wonders: Do you think they put something in the water in Portland?

P.S. from Stefan: The CD I ordered, Young@Heart's Mostly Live, is equally heartwarming, and possibly means that whatever exists in the waters of Portland also runs in the waters of the East Coast. At the very least, it seems that the spunky septuagenarians and octogenarians who sing on the CD regularly parade through the streets of Northampton, Massachusetts, spreading positivity. If you aren't in Northampton, however, try catching the excellent Young@Heart documentary recently released nationwide.

Photo by Paul Tamburro via Flickr

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Antarctica's White Noise

During college, I spent a couple of sun-blistered summers as a camp counselor in eastern Iowa. One of my all-time favorite things to do while leading hikes was to tell my charge of campers to cozy up to a cave and listen carefully. As they snuggled with the limestone, looking expectantly, I'd say, "Hear that?" They usually burrowed a bit deeper, with me standing by, encouraging. Just as a confused and defeated expression shadowed their faces, I'd explain: "Nothing! It's the sound of nothing!"

Though the gimmick generally garnered nothing more than eye rolls and groans from my troop of hikers, the concept was rooted in something inherently special: Out there in the middle of nowhere, you really could appreciate the sounds of nature—which, more often than not, meant a blissful lack of noise. And I swear I can still remember the particular strain of white noise that emanated from those caves.

Scientists at the Perennial Acoustic Observatory in the Antarctic Ocean understand this concept, and have bottled the sounds of the Antarctic for the world to appreciate with "an acoustic live stream of the Antarctic underwater soundscape."

BLDGBLOG explains:

This "live stream" is recorded via hydrophones attached to "an autonomous, wind and solar powered observatory located on the Ekström ice shelf." ...its purpose is "to record the underwater soundscape in the vicinity of the shelf ice edge over the duration of several years."

As BLDGBLOG points out, the Institute strangely reminds listeners that the live stream is not intended for entertainment, but rather for scientific research. Even so, the Antarctic's white noise beats the keyboard tap-tap-tapping from neighboring cubicles any day.

Photo: Dave Walsh

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Marilyn's Miscellany: Austentation

Disconnecting Flights: Jason at InFlightHQ writes about the increasing perils of trying to make connecting flights, urges readers to book nonstop, and offers some tips on alternatives.

Grab Your Parasol:  The sixth annual Jane Austen Festival is coming to Bath, England in September, and this year the Regency Ball and Supper will be held in the grand Assembly Rooms, just as balls were in Jane’s time. If, like Mr. Darcy, you don’t care to dance, download the Austen walking tour to your iPod and check out the houses where she lived in Bath and the settings for the novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.  Or have a guide from the Jane Austen Centre show you around town.  Still have your heart set on the ball? Sense & Sensibility is a site that offers Regency-style dress patterns and even on-line sewing classes for tea gowns and more. And if you want to join the costumed Promenade along the grand Georgian terraces of Bath during the festival, you can order a ready-made bonnet in a variety of styles at Austentation.

DIY Electricity: From Jorge Chapa at Inhabitat:  “Researchers at Simon Fraser University Locomotion Laboratory in Burnaby, Canada, have created an accessory that attaches to your knee to generate power with every step that you take.”

Photo: Bath, England by Patbreana via Flickr

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How Aware Are You?

Transport for London has released a fantastic reminder that it's easy to get distracted while concentrating on the task at hand. Click on the image below to watch the video campaign:

As you know, we whole-heartedly support cycling as a sustainable mode of transport whenever you travel. So remember: Watch out for all the characters you might encounter on the road.

Marilyn's Miscellany: World Beach

Get Stoned: Artist Sue Lawty at the Victoria & Albert Museum has started the World Beach Project, which invites people around the world to create patterns with beach stones, then take a photo and upload it to their site. Each photo has a little description of the place where it was taken, and they will post it on their interactive map for others to enjoy. The design above was created recently at Seapoint, Monkstown, County Dublin by Derek, Patricia and Olivia Masetti-Nolan, who said, "We started with one single orange stone and thought it would look great on a black background! It was freezing cold but we had a lot of fun."

No Photos, Please:  It turns out those rules about no photographing in public places in NYC are a lot of hooey, according to NewYorkology, a great travel blog about New York. So if you're trying to take a photo on public property and someone wants to see your I.D., with few exceptions, you're under no obligation to hand it over.

KitKats of the World:  IZReloaded, my favorite blogger from Singapore, discovered this Flickr photoset of KitKat bars from Japan and around the world. Did you know there's a Brandy-and-Orange variety of KitKat, and a striped Choco-Banana, and Fruit Parfait?  Now you do!

Pattern and photo: Derek, Patricia and Olivia Masetti-Nolan, 2008, World Beach Project

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Marilyn's Miscellany: Minibar Spies

Touch It, It's Yours: Mark Ashley, who writes the travel blog Upgrade: Travel Better ("living the first-class life ...at coach prices") warns of motion detectors in the minibars at Wynn Las Vegas, as well as a weight-sensitive tray of goodies on top of the minibar that knows when you've lifted anything off it. What happens in Vegas, you pay for.

Norwegians Say "Takk": How to say thank you in over 465 different languages.

Slow Pizza: Ecofabulous raves about the wood-fired pizzas at Small Shed Flatbreads in Mill Valley, CA; they're "local, sustainable, organic, and nitrate & hormone-free," not to mention delicious. A cozy place to stop after hiking on Mount Tamalpais, says the Slow Food Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Running Rampant: My husband spotted this website called Go Run Easy sponsored by Reebok that helps you plan good running routes in various U.S. cities. I plugged in the zip code 20036 (where National Geographic headquarters is located) and found 20 runs suggested by readers, from a .36-mile Dupont Circle lunchtime run to a 4-mile "Cathedral to Embassies" run to a 19 miler. Each route is plotted on a Google map, with little cameras indicating scenic spots (check out the 3.11-mile Tidal Basin run). The site also offer playlists that other runners have recommended.

Photo: courtesy Mark Ashley

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Marilyn's Miscellany: Geo-Pizza

Pies Across America: Adam Kuban at Serious Eats has posted a compendium of all the regional variations of pizza around the U.S. he's ever encountered. Anybody for a Trenton Tomato Pie? Check out his list and let us know if he missed your regional favorite.

Getting There: JapanItUp takes the worry out of taking Japanese subways.

Flatware Flak: Peter Moore in the Guardian gripes about funky airline flatware for babies and catches flak for it.

Going to Great Lengths: Are your kids still wishing Santa brought them Wii? You could fly to Europe, where the stores are full of Wii, say Charlie Sorrell and David Becker of Wired. If that seems like an extravagant waste of jet fuel, perhaps you could come back on a wind-powered container ship, as Andrew Revkin reports on Dot Earth.

Pastry Lust: And last but not least, ukulele-playing travel writer Pam Mandel of Nerd's Eye View ponders her love affair with Seattle's Bakery Nouveau: " Is it the mocha cheesecake, dense as a truffle and twice as rich?"

Photo: Courtesy Serious Eats.

 

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Marilyn's Miscellany: Bermuda Sports

Marilyn starts off the day with a bunch of items to get your heart pumping...

Bermuda Sports

My new Bermudian son-in-law-to-be informs me that for an authentically Bermudian good time, you can't beat Cup Match, a two-day cricket competition between the east-end and west-end cricket clubs on the island, commemorating the end of slavery in Bermuda in 1834. At more than 100 years old, the event has become so popular that the government declared it a two-day public holiday, when businesses shut down and families set up tents and camp in parks and on beaches (not allowed at other times). There's a wacky Non-Mariners' Race where participants construct ridiculous and barely seaworthy floats and generally have a good time.  This year the event falls on July 31-August 1. Bermuda scores three for sustainability: Those attractive, white, stepped roofs on houses channel rainwater to underground cisterns, gas costs about $7 per gallon, and only one car per family is permitted on the island, so most people ride scooters or take the cute pink-and-blue public buses or high-speed ferries.

Flight of the Platypus

I knew about the knitting bloggers like Lolly, but did you know there's an organization called Motorcycle Bloggers International?  One of my favorite members of this group is Flight of the Platypus, which records the author-physicist's motorbike travel escapades in Chile, including some impressive photos of the Chilean alps and an alarming encounter with a cow.

Walking the Basho Walk

Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, the inventor of haiku, took a 1,200-mile hike in 1689, and along the way he composed magical poems that future generations of Japanese schoolchildren would recite by heart. Basho spent five months wandering the mountains, villages, and shores of Japan, carrying nothing but a knapsack, a change of clothing and writing materials. His book, Narrow Road to a Far Province, describes a spiritual journey as much as a physical one, but contains some funny travel commentary about staying in guesthouses:

“Fleas and lice biting; / Awake all night / A horse pissing close to my ear.”

Pilgrims today follow his trail, which has changed a lot in 300 years. In the February issue of National Geographic, novelist Howard Norman embarked on his own journey in Basho’s footsteps, and discovered a a mix of cell phones and temples, sweatshirts and teahouses, pilgrims and Godzilla. Photographer Michael Yamashita relished the challenge of shooting this story, having photographed the trail once before in the 1980s for Nikon. This time around he noticed that “Even in the countryside Japan has prospered so much in the last 20 years it’s unrecognizable between then and now.”

Photo: courtesy Chris Fagg

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Where in the World?

Our technologically-savvy friends at National Geographic Maps have been quite busy in the past few months. They've taken the 416-page, 12 1/2 x 18 1/2-inch Atlas of the World and created Atlas Explorer for the Web, without compromising the quality and depth of the maps. Check out the Geophysical, Geopolitical, or Human Footprint views and be sure to zoom in on your areas of interest using the + or - buttons on the side. They've also started publishing a fascinating Map of the Day with map-related news and historical events for each day of the year pulled from the Society's archives. You can follow the route that British explorers used on their doomed trek to the South Pole, or see what Georgetown looked like on the day the university was established.

And if you have a little extra time on your hands, be sure to check out the Atlas jigsaw puzzles. With 23 different puzzles and a satisfying "click" sound when you fit the pieces together, you'll be a geography whiz in no time.

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Marilyn's Miscellany: Stopping Traffic

Another dose of what's popped up on Marilyn's radar.

Who Needs Traffic Lights? Neil Woodburn's series of dispatches for Gadling, "Infiltrating North Korea," offer some fascinating insights on his recent trip there, including this video he made of the "Sexy Traffic Girls of Pyongyang."

D.C. Most Walkable: The Brookings Institution "ranks the Washington region first among the country's major metropolitan areas in the number of 'walkable places' per capita, thanks to changes in just the past 15 years."

Moonlight Grunion Runs: The L.A. Times presents its list of "15 Places to Visit to See the Real California," including the Thousand Island Lake and Little Petroglyph Canyon.

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Marilyn's Miscellany

Marilyn's back with a new batch of goodies to satisfy our appetite for information.

Cool Down:  Hank Green of EcoGeek has an encouraging story about how the Internet will save billions of tons of carbon.

Warm Up:  Hotel Chatter tells us that Omni Hotels is offering a winter "premium artisanal hot chocolate program" with your choice of Abuela (traditional) or Spicy Mayan flavors, and toppings that include Plush Puffs, homemade gourmet marshmallows.  (I wish they served Homestarrunner's Fluffy Puff marshmallows instead –"Made From the Best Stuff".)

Enrich Your Travels: On Brave New Traveler, Lusine Stepanian gives five tips on how to meet local people on the road.

Share the love: Notice something new at the bottom of this post? You can now email and share your favorite blog posts from Intelligent Travel with your friends! Get to it!

Photo: Omni Hotels

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Baltimore's Miracle on 34th Street

I grew up in Charm City, the town in which many of director John Waters' ingenious films are based. Anyone that's ever visited Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood (the self-proclaimed "home of big hair") will tell you the area's brimming with characters. Never is this more evident than during the holiday season.

For as long as I can remember, the houses that line 34th Street in Baltimore have made a big to-do about Christmas. From late November to January 1, this tight-knit community transforms itself into a marvelous wonderland of kitsch and lights, where residents invite you onto their stoops and into their homes to see more model trains, dolls, Santas, and blow-up grinches than you thought existed in the universe. It's like a block party. In the middle of winter.

For 17 years (although residents have been stringing lights here for 60), thousands have traveled on foot (you can drive through, but hoofing it's more fun) through the tiny street of traditional rowhouses, resident "Mayor of 34th Street" Sharon Burke told the local television station in this video. Last year, 45,000 visitors came through, said Burke. This year, no less than 25 homes are lit up and plastered with holiday cheer. From the Christmas tree made out of hubcaps and angels made of National Bohemian beer cans, you're sure to find some holiday cheer in true Baltimore style.

While you're in the area, Hampden is also home to the cheeky, flamingo-covered Cafe Hon, where they sell all manner of tongue-in-cheek Baltimore memorabilia. They've even compiled an online dictionary of the Baltimore accent known as "Bawlmerese." After seeing the lights, warm up with a pastry and coffee at the New System Bakery, another Hampden institution, open until 10 p.m. all December long.

Photos: The Skipping Hippy, manahanwill

Marilyn's Miscellany

Who doesn't need a little Marilyn in their day? Welcome to Marilyn's Miscellany.

• Pie in the Sky: Between now and December 21, you can have mince pies and mulled wine served to your guests in your private capsule of the London Eye high above the city, if you're willing to spend $900 for the capsule and $33 per person for the wine and pies. Prices go up after January 1.

• Rainbow Bright Night Cycle: If you insist on biking in the dark, you can put your mom's mind at ease by outfitting your bike with the Down Low Glow kit, which creates an eerie neon cloud all around your bicycle that drivers can't miss. Make Magazine says: "A rare instance where something unimpeachably cool also enhances safety." They're made by the Rock the Bike shop in Berkeley, California, and available in Ice Blue, Envy Green, Hot Pants Pink, Fossilized Amber, Plush Red, and Royale Purple ($99 U.S.).

• Sonoran Lights: For great stargazing, try the Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is located on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in the Sonoran Desert 90 minutes southwest of Tucson, Arizona. They have a three-hour Nightly Observing Program (includes a box dinner) where they let you look through their dome-mounted telescopes. From Tucson, take Highway 86 west for 40 miles, turn left at the Kitt Peak sign onto Highway 386, drive 12 miles up the mountain until you see the giant concrete donut with the mural painted on it, where you turn left and park. Dress warmly! If you want to stay overnight, consider the nearby Paca de Paja B&B, a cozy, adobe-covered straw-bale house run by a former park ranger and visited by wildlife such as this cute little javelina.

Photo: Down Low Glow bike, Chugrad McAndrews

Marilyn's Miscellany

• Writing on the Wall: While I was trying to verify the price of silk at the South Bund Fabric Market in Shanghai, I came across the excellent blog Mad About Shanghai, and this funny sign taken on the Great Wall.

• More Bang for Your Buck: The L.A. Times and the Washington Post ran stories recently about which countries give you more for your devalued dollar (hint: avoid the EU). The Post highlighted Croatia, giving me another reason to love the kuna.

• Greening Antarctica: WorldChanging blog reports on plans to build wind turbines in Antarctica, the world's windiest continent, to replace/augment the generators using dirty aviation fuel. Josie Howitt of WorldChanging explains:

Antarctica is one of the most vulnerable parts of our planet to environmental change. And yet, paradoxically, electricity at New Zealand’s Scott Base is produced by two fossil-fuel powered generators, using 380,000 litres of aviation fuel annually. Hardly an ideal choice for sustaining the needs of scientists studying pristine natural systems and climate change impacts.

• Getting Things Done in Vegas: Scott Adams' Dilbert blog suggests how casinos can make things a lot easier for their customers.

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Photo: David Tan, Mad About Shanghai

Marilyn's Miscellany

If you aren't already familiar, please give us the chance to introduce Marilyn Terrell, Traveler Chief Researcher, whom we like to call our "human blog." Since it's almost physically impossible for us to get all of Marilyn's suggestions up online, we've asked her to pen a new column, highlighting some fun stuff found on the Web. Welcome to Marilyn's Miscellany.

• The Wall Street Journal had an article last week about the famous beer-brewing Trappist monks at Belgium's St. Sixtus monastery, and how their celestial beer and deliberately limited production provokes covetousness among beer fanciers, who rate their brew called "the 12" as the best in the world. Traveler scooped this story in our May/June 2006 issue, but this one's online.

• Among the 2007 Preserve America Presidential Award winners, I liked knowing about the Downtown St. Louis Revitalization project, where two private companies bought four historic buildings that were slated for demolition and restored them, creating new urban residential space and bringing economic vitality to a previously depressed downtown. And in Louisiana, Preserve America recognized the efforts of the Natchitoches-Cane River Region Heritage Tourism project, which has brought $47 million in private and $1 million in public investment for historic preservation and infrastructure improvements to the Natchitoches National Historic Landmark District, while preserving the history and living traditions of the French, Spanish, African American, American Indian, and Creole people who settled the area.

Natchitoches isn't pronounced the way you'd expect; it's NACK-uh-tish. The town is known for its Festival of Lights and for Natchitoches meat pies, which are traditionally served on Christmas Eve.   

• Lastly, our friends down the hall at NG KIDS magazine are trying to set a Guinness Word Record for the world's longest chain of shoes. You can help them win (and clear your closets at the same time) by sending them your old athletic shoes, which will later be recycled by the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program to make basketball and tennis courts and running tracks, which is better than ending up in a landfill. Postmark deadline January 22, 2008.

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