Mission Wisconsin

This is a pledge, that if all goes balls up and I lose either my job, or my mind, or both, I shall go to Wisconsin.
Upon careful study it has occurred to me that Wisconsin is the best state from whence to begin my great travel book '50 States in 50 Years'. Here are ten reasons why I should visit the Dairy State forthwith!

1. It's the Dairy State(well, actually its the Badger State apparently)! They make, live, eat, breathe, sing cheese. Endless jokes! Endless cheese!
2. Bradley Whitford, son of Madison. If they make men like that there, its my kinda state. (Also Frank Lloyd Wright and Houdini!)
3. They have a brilliant Senator.
4. They have great slang, they call water fountains "bubblers" and their border the "cheddar curtain".
5. A woman in a gorilla suit stole plastic bananas from a gas station in Wisconsin. Clearly they have a highly developed taste for humour.
6. Recent titling of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation "WTF?" debacle. Again, GSOH.
7. Its beside Iowa, when I get bored of cheese, I can hop over the cheddar curtain for some corn.
8. It hosts a scarecrow festival. And a giant pumpkin festival in a place called Nekoosa.
9. The amusingly titled Kickapoo Valley.
10. The world's biggest mustard museum.

Oregon, America's "Green" State

Oregon has long been at the forefront of environmental awareness and responsible travel and tourism in America, so much so that a campaign has been launched to change the state’s name from the Beaver State to the Green State.

Oregon has been pushing for environmental initiatives since the sixties, when Senator McCall passed the historic Beach Bill preventing private development along Oregon’s coastline. The subsequent Bottle Bill in 1971, was designed to control littering and boost recycling. Roadside litter dropped from 40% to the current 6% because of the bill’s enactment.

As far as business and sustainable investment go, Oregon is pushing boundaries and boasts a Governor who’s more than a little enthusiastic about green policies. 60 Oregon businesses are directly tied to the solar industry and the State was recently awarded a $1.34 million grant to invest in solar energy research which will be distributed between the University of Oregon and the Oregon State University to create the Photovoltaics Laboratory of the Oregon Support Network for Research and the Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing. Governor Ted Kulongoski also worked to apply a standard to derive 25% of Oregon’s energy from renewable sources by 2025. Rumours have it he also envisages Oregon as being an electric-car hub in the near future.


Having experienced an employment slump, losing many farming jobs across the state, Oregon is looking towards creating eco-jobs both in sustainable industries and within the hospitality trade as more and more green projects are put into motion. Travel Oregon and Travel Portland who both recently appointed managers for sustainable tourism are overseeing two major projects to add to the State’s high-level green credentials, the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway and the National Geographic Society’s project to create an interactive map of the Central Cascades area pinpointing local businesses and tourism resorts, nature spots and unique geographical features.


You can check out the Central Cascades website here www.thecentralcascades.com to plan your green tour of the green state!

New Yorkers green up their reclaimed urban spaces

Anyone who's been to New York knows that negotiating Times Square at any time of day is a bit like dodging bulls at Pamplona. A second's missattention will find you smushed under a yellow cab, falling down a pothole and definitely spilling your Starbucks skinny mocha-choca latte all over your Bloomingdale's Little Brown Bag. Affectionately known as the "crossroads of the world", New York's movie-famous landmark is a traffic gomorrah, the seventh-circle of automobile hell.

Not so after last week when entire sections of Broadway and sections of 42nd and 47th street which cross the Square were pedestrianised, leaving cabbies fuming in the fumes and irrate delivery men nost-to-tail under the glare of the flashing red ticker tape screens. Deckchairs were set up along the five block car-free road space and tables were laid out with food, music played and the notoriously workaholic, frenzied-lifestyle New Yorkers chilled out in the mid-day sun. An initative of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the enterprise has had a warm reception from... well, pretty much anyone who doesn't rely on four wheels to earn their daily bread. I for one, relish the thought of being able to sunbathe on a hammock on the very street where two years ago I nearly lost my limbs in a split-second moment of "Oooh, look at the big skyscraper!" distraction.

Another project that has me all excited is the High Line park. A former elevated freight railroad from the 1930s, the gutted remains have been an eyesore dominating the city's trendy West Village since the 80s since when they have been in disuse. THis summer, the first section of the High Line is due to repone, as a park and gardens. Due to open in June 2009, the park willb e accessible by stairs and elevator and boast flower gardens, grassy areas to picnic on and park benches. Eventually the park will cover an area of a mile and a half, the whole thing being designed by uber-cool landscape designer James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio and Renfro. A number of works by local artists will also feature along the High Line park seeing as it runs through arguably the heart of artistic and creative New York.

THe project is an effort by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. So if you're heading stateside this summer, pack your sunhat, lotion and a good book and look out for these quirky alternatives to Central Park. Click on the link for a Green Map of New York to help you find all those eco-friendly locations. [web link]

Photo courtesy of www.treehugger.com

Big Plastic Things in America

I am plotting many things at the moment... next holiday... world domination... AND my 50 years, 50 states concept trip of a lifetime. It involves visitng one US state per year (on average, if I can get Delaware done with in a day, that's fine by me...). Part of my fascination is the discovery that the US States are seemingly dotted with absurdities (isn't every country?) and my favourite of all these absurdities is the massive collection of "VERY BIG THINGS".

Take, for example, the WORLD'S BIGGEST POTATO at Blackfoot, Idaho. A huge replica model of a baked potato outside the thrillingly appealing Idaho Potato Museum. Now, in the short space of discovering the huge potato I have now had a popular myth debunked. I thought Idaho was the Corn State. Well, I guess its also a potato state. Fascinating, non? (I hear you drop to the floor in adulation).

ON the subject of corn. If I were to head to Rochester, Michigan, I would be confronted with a 151 FT CORN COB. On top of a water tower. As you do. WHich is why I would probably take a detour to ROchester, the kind of place you'd never otherwise set foot in. Whilst in Michigan, I could swing by the GIANT PICKLE BARREL in Grand Marais. It's a cottage, shaped like a huge pickle barrel (you know the story of the old lady who lived in a shoe?? check out HAINE's SHOE HOUSE, Pelham Pennsylvania). It's now, of course, a museum/oddity/waste of wood and paint/intriguing quirk on the Michigan map.

Inglewood, California - when its not being namechecked by Snoop Dogg as the kind of place you're likely to get shot in a drive by - is also home to the iconic and totally awesome Randy's Donuts, a traditional diner topped with... yeah, you guessed it, a GIANT DONUT!!! I'm there! Now! Whaddup!

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the Groundhog, made famous by Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, is about to be awarded with a lifesized statue of Groundhog Phil, on Groundhog Day. Not something to be missed I assure you!

Endless fun is to be had on the hunt for America's GREAT BIG THINGS. I for one, look forward to the challenge with baited breath, a camera, and a love of all humungoid things moulded out of plastic and dumped on a roadside. For more information, wacky photos and the novelty that is THE WORLD'S LARGEST HORSHOE CRAB... go to www.roadsideamerica.com.