Intelligent Travel

Camping in a Winter Wonderland

Do you ever wish you knew how to carve your own Inuit-style snow goggles, or construct moosehide and canvas mukluks? Well now's your chance: the North House Folk School is offering their annual and wildly popular Winterer's Gathering and Arctic Film Festival on November 20-23 at their campus in Grand Marais, Minnesota. There will be classes in toboggan building and snowshoe-making, how to craft your own wood stove or felt your own slippers, seminars on winter wilderness travel and living skills, plus fascinating international films about Arctic life.      

Why do they call it the Winterer's Gathering?  North House Folk School explains:

The Winterers—or Les Hivernants as the early North American Voyageurs referred to them – were brave, experienced individuals who signed on after the summer’s end to work at winter outposts scattered throughout the ‘interior’ of North America. In respect for the skills, traditions and spirit of this devoted group, the annual Winterer’s Gathering happens each year at the North House Folk School campus on the shore of Lake Superior.

This year, the featured guest speaker is Garrett Conover, wilderness adventurer and expedition leader, and author of A Snowwalker's Companion.  Coincidentally, Garrett and his wife Alexandra were profiled in National Geographic Traveler in our April 2008 issue, when writer James Conaway picked them to lead him through the Lake Onawa region of Maine as part of his multi-part Walk Into America series. For more information, check out the Gathering's website here. This year, in addition to the workshops, they offer a Snowshoe Shuffle Contra Dance, a Great Gear Swap, and the Deep Freeze Chili Feed.

Photo: North House Folk School

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Hotel Confidential: Women Only?

There was a time (25 years ago, to be exact) when women traveling alone could spend the night in hotels with female-only floors. Not surprisingly, this special treatment eventually came to be seen as sexist, and ceased to be—until now. The New York Times reports that the new Crowne Plaza Milwaukee-Wauwatosa hotel has turned its seventh floor into a Women’s Executive Level. Here women will have access to a variety of girlie amenities such as Victoria’s Secret bathrobes, blow dryers, and vanity mirrors. The great equalizing factor is that men can book rooms on this floor too—if they want to. The Times points out that, in a sense, the Women’s Executive Level is an answer to most hotels’ concierge or club floors, which have traditionally been aimed at men.

Bill DeForrest, president of Lane Hospitality (which oversees three Crowne Plazas), maintains that the “Women’s Level isn’t really an exclusive woman’s floor. It’s simply designed to cater to the needs of women travelers, who are growing faster in numbers than male travelers. One of the things we’ve changed is to keep our fitness facilities open 24/7. So much of what we do, by the way, is applicable to both men and women.”

A Bike Powered Bar? Brilliant

There are a few things that get us going here at IT, and bikes and beer happen to be two of them. So when we heard about the bike-powered bar now roaming the streets of Amsterdam from the good folks over at Treehugger, we were instantly intrigued. Here's the gist:

The Fietscafe is a mobile pub, for groups up to 17 people per bike, who can transport themselves by moving the pedals. Not all guests do have to cycle; the Fietscafe is provided with 10 free wheels, so you can change seats from time to time. You need a sober driver and of course, the best bartender looks after the beer and drinks.

No word yet on whether these mobile pubs are serving local, organic beer, but apparently they're sprouting up in London (where it's called the Pubcrawler, appropriately enough) and Minneapolis as well. All we know is that this brings a whole new meaning to designating a driver.

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Conventional Wisdom: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Last week we revisited our Convention manual from our July/August issue to give you contributing editor Andrew Nelson's picks for the best of Denver. Since we are of course, fair and balanced, we now offer the rest of the article, where Andrew picks the top stops in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Spot the Guv
Political reporter for Minnpost.com, G. R. Anderson, Jr., suggests visitors tour the Minnesota State Capitol, inspired by Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Your goal: Locate the portrait of former governor and all-star wrestler Jesse Ventura.

Super Delegate
A onetime bus depot, the music venue First Avenue is famous as the locale where the 1980s touchstone film Purple Rain was filmed. The Minneapolis pit stop still draws remarkable acts, and glimpses of the man formerly known as a native son. “I went fishing with a buddy on the Mississippi, then walked into First Avenue and saw Prince,” says Anderson about his encounter with the famous Minneapolis native.

Protein Candidate
Throw the electorate a bone and hit downtown Minneapolis for Manny’s, a high-end steak house decked out in wood and leather with portions as vast as the Midwestern prairie. Zagat’s declares it one of the top five steak restaurants in the country.

Meet the Voters
In St. Paul, flesh pressers should make a beeline for Mickey’s Diner, housed near the Xcel Energy Center. A well-loved greasy spoon housed in an old railroad car, Mickey’s is open 24 hours a day with a menu
perfectly suited for post-politicking—spicy chili or ham and eggs at 1 or 8 in the morning.

Wet your Whistle-Stop
The Muddy Pig bistro, up the hill from the convention site in St. Paul, is ready for thirsty delegates with 48 tap beers, including some local craft brews and a comfort-food menu (plates of pasta and burgers).

Mayor’s Choice
“What surprises visitors to St. Paul is the amazing variety of dining choices,” declares St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. “Taste the best spring roll you’ve ever had in your life at the Asian Market on Como Avenue. If you want a spectacular wine list and a beautiful wooded patio, I’m sending you to W.A. Frost and Company on Cathedral Hill. If you want a perfectly poured stout in an authentic Irish bar, it’s the Liffey right across from the Xcel Energy Center. And, if you want a $500 Scotch—or at least want to see somebody else enjoy one—go to the Saint Paul Grill at the historic Saint Paul Hotel, downtown on Rice Park.”

Photo: John Noltner for our Minneapolis Destination Guide

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The Long Weekend: Appleton, Wisconsin

The Houdini-themed fiberglass "Metamorph Lion" stands guard in front of Appleton's History Museum.

I had a sense of what to expect from Appleton, Wisconsin, when I visited the most wholesome of college towns in Middle America—and on Flag Day, no less. But the genial college town proved more surprising with each cheesehead I encountered (best surprise: cheesehead jokes never get old). Though I guess that’s to be expected when one of the key items on the agenda was a concert starring two freshly-minted female college graduates (one being my sister-in-law) rocking a famous Bach violin duet—on tuba. Needless to say, the stage was set for an unusual experience.

About 100 miles northeast of another great Midwest college town, Madison, Appleton sits on the Fox River in eastern Wisconsin and is the childhood home of the magic-wielding likes of Harry Houdini and Joseph McCarthy. (Check out the Houdini section of the History Museum for the secrets behind some of the icon's best escape illusions.) Other big thinkers get their starts at Lawrence University and its renowned Conservatory of Music, which anchors Appleton both in location and character (spot “This is Art” stickers speckled throughout town on trees, benches, and residents, courtesy of the liberal school’s arty students). 

Over the course of two and a half days in Appleton, I sampled a generous dose of local flavor up and down College Avenue:

Global Eye: Wisconsin

On Wisconsin

Photographer: Ralph Grunewald, Düsseldorf, Germany

Getting the Shot: I am originally from Germany (where I live now), but I spent the last year in Madison, Wisconsin where I studied and taught at the University of Wisconsin. One of the must-not-miss spots in Wisconsin is the Milwaukee Art Museum right at Lake Michigan. One part of the museum, the Quadracci Pavilion, was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava and is a light and structurally compelling hall that faces the lake. The large window front provides for wonderful backlight that transforms whatever moves in front of the windows into silhouettes.

The Details: I have been to shoot at the museum a couple of times and my archive is full of people and photographers pointing their cameras in all directions. I got back to the museum in March 2006, and I knew I had an opportunity when a class of students got up and moved from one corner to the other. I waited until they were in my frame and pushed the trigger. I knew this would be intriguing because of all the tired students dragging their feet. However, it was pure luck that I caught the moment when the boy pointed his arm up with one of his fingers extended. I looked at the screen of my camera and immediately thought "On Wisconsin" -  the first line of the official Wisconsin state song. If you look closely you can also see the light in the glasses of (I assume) one of the teachers.

We love how this shot makes the typical class trip into an artful experience. Want your own photo in Global Eye? Add your pics to the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool.

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Cinematic Road Trip: Michigan

John Ur introduces us to the fine films from the land of lakes: Michigan.

"Mishigama," or "Large Water," is the original name the Ojibwe people gave to Lake Michigan, and it's where state of Michigan, bordered by four of the five Great Lakes, took its name. The state seems to stick out from the rest of the States like a sore thumb, or as the Lower Peninsula is more commonly known, a “mitten.” Not only is it geographically unique (is it Midwest? Is it East?), but did you know that Grand Rapids was the first city in the U.S. to put fluoride in their water?

While you’re sitting at home, pondering the glass of water you’re drinking and thinking to yourself,“Fluoride? I didn’t know I was drinking fluoride,” I’m going to jump quickly into Michigan movies. If I were an immoral man, I would recommend Grosse Pointe Blank, which is set in the small town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. But only one scene in a house and an aerial over Lakeshore Drive were shot there. The rest was shot elsewhere (mostly in California). Dear Grosse Pointe government officials: If you do not allow movies to be shot in your town, I cannot put your town in this column and you won’t find any tourists heading your way. Thank you.

Tourists who do make it to Michigan will find that the Wolverine State has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world thanks to the unique formation of its land boundaries from two different peninsulas. The largely forested, and sparsely populated, Upper Peninsula is a different world from the Lower Peninsula. The “U.P.,” as its often called, contains the Porcupine Mountains, which according to some definitions are the oldest mountains in North America. You’ll also find here Isle Royale National Park. The namesake island is the largest in Lake Superior, and its wolf and moose populations are studied closely as an example of a predator-prey relationship in a closed environment.

The Lower Peninsula is flatter and known less for its natural landscape than for its ability to produce automobiles. You can catch the beauty of the Lower Peninsula in Sam Mendes’s 2002 period drama, Road to Perdition. It was filmed mostly in and around Chicago, but the end scene with Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) and his son (Tyler Hoechlin) took place on the shores of Lake Michigan. At the end of their long journey attempting to escape the outstretched arm of gangster retribution, Sullivan and his son head to Perdition (a fictional town filled in by Saugatuck, Michigan, not far from Holland). They climb over sand dunes in Saugatuck Dunes State Park and hang out on the beach watching the tiny waves of the lake lap against the shore.      

Michigan's Sustainable Music Festival

Unlike Carolyn I’m actually heading out of town this weekend for some good wholesome Fourth of July fun in the Midwest. I’m on assignment checking out the first-ever Rothbury Festival in Michigan, a music festival with an overtly green theme. As the daughter of a man who made his way to Woodstock (and who will never grow tired of telling me what it was like to wake up to Jimi Hendrix playing  "The Star-Spangled Banner"-- which you can watch here) I'm excited to take part in another piece of concert-festival history. In addition to cobbling together an impressive lineup of acts (including John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Thievery Corporation, and the Traveler-related acrobatic burlesque super-duo Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey), Rothbury is doing its utmost to put on a sustainable show, and they've got a slew of smart practices that will hopefully set the standard for future large-scale music events in the future. Right now they're anticipating thirty- to fifty-thousand attendees, says Carrie Lombardi, the Rothbury spokesperson. "It is our goal to be a leader in the evolving art of greening a large-scale event," she says. "Sustainability initiatives are a huge part of that."

Here's a sneak peek at some of the green planning that's in place.

• A "Green Team" is going around the site distributing 200 bins for concert goers (who are can camp or stay in lodges) to separate out recyclables, compost, and trash
• 9,000 personal ashtrays are being passing out to smokers to cut back on cigarette litter
• Keeping everyone hydrated while cutting down on water waste was a tough challenge - they're meeting it by providing free jugs for refillable water bottles, and selling Earth Water, a brand that donates 100 percent of its proceeds to the United Nations Refugee Agency to bring accessible, clean water to third world countries. 
• They'll be serving organic and vegan food, and encouraging people to bring their own reusable plates and silverware to cut down on waste
• The stages will be solar-powered or run on biodiesel fuel

That and there will be a sustainability Think Tank, a world record-attempting "cansculpture", and "spiritual gansta yoga." (Which I'm anxiously waiting to try, and be assured you'll get a full report.) It may not be Jimi, but I have a feeling my dad might even be jealous.

We at IT love to meet our readers! Are you going to Rothbury? Leave a message with your cell phone number at the media tent and I'll give you a call.

Photo: Wagon Wheel Cabin at Rothbury, courtesy Madison House Publicity

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Carbs, Conversation, and Fancy Footwork

Editorial Projects Director Lynn Ackerson coordinates the Photo Seminars for Traveler, which means she's jet-setting most weekends to host our photography workshops in cities across the country. But just because she's working doesn't mean she can't have a bit of fun. She shares her favorite spot from a recent visit to Minneapolis.  

Sunday night is tango night at the Loring Pasta Bar in Minneapolis. What could be more fun than downing some pasta and then dancing it off? Since my job at Traveler keeps me on the road nearly every weekend, I try to find a surprise of a place to check out in each city I visit and Loring has become my Minneapolis favorite. Opened by Jason McLean in 2001 in the revitalized Dinkytown neighborhood -- a 'hood filled with funky, eclectic shops – the easily accessible location and reasonably priced menu draws locals and tourists alike. 

While the outdoor dining area is relaxing and spacious, the real enjoyment of visiting the Loring Pasta Bar is the imaginative decor inside, €”it'€™s a little like entering an Alice in Wonderland production. The recycled brick walls twist and turn in improbable curves that keep opening into new spaces. Near the entrance, a guardian eye watches over patrons at the bar while they enjoy a wide selection of boutique beers, good wine, or more fast-acting imbibables, and munch on salsa Italiano with sourdough crostinis.  Swerve around a curved wall into the main dining room and more tempting smells waft out from the kitchen. Navigate the crowded room toward your table, where a sumptuous meal and great conversation await.

Minnesota Greenroutes

Writer and  National Geographic Green Guide "Ecopolitan" blogger Jay Walljasper often contributes to Traveler's Destination Watch Department, and today he sends along a dispatch from the wilds of Minnesota.

While Lake Wobegon is a figment of humorist Garrison Keillor’s imagination, the small towns he celebrates each week on his show A Prairie Home Companion are real. A drive through the Minnesota countryside introduces you to a land of Old World Lutheran churches, cafés with daily hot-dish specials, and other charming local attractions. Now an innovative website devoted to authentic travel, Greenroutes.org, can help you plan such a trip. It’ll guide you to Spring Grove, where you stroll down a Main Street that feels more Norwegian than American, then to a tour of a more than 100-year-old plant where soda pop is made the old-fashioned way (with cane sugar...and no caffeine). It’ll also direct you to a Native American café at a highway crossroad on the White Earth Reservation, which has buffalo and wild rice on the menu.

Greenroutes.org is the brainchild of Minnesotan Brett Olson, who conceived the idea after going on camping trips in the West and on a voyage exploring beyond-the-guidebook sights in Europe. He and several friends thought it would be fun to do the same thing back home and went to work finding unique attractions that promoted environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The site now details more than 110 unique locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, which was just added recently. Next up on the Greenroutes.org agenda: the states of Washington and Arizona, and upstate New York.

Photo: Early Morning Minnesota, courtesy Brett Olson