Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

« Older Entries

Different Types of Tourists Converge At The Greenbrier

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

The Greenbrier Hotel

Last weekend we visited the Greenbier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV to watch the Cast Iron Cookoff and attend a colloquium on culinary and cultural-heritage tourism in Appalachia.

The Greenbrier’s website describes it as an award-winning resort located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. As a National Historic landmark, The Greenbrier Resort’s classic architecture, exquisite interior design, carefully sculpted landscape, impeccable service and outstanding amenities have hosted distinguished guests from around the world since 1778.

In my last post titled What Type Of Tourist Are You I described 3 different types of tourists and their associated impacts:

  • Touring Style– is where the word “tourism” comes from: travel­ing to tour, to see and experience a place.  It’s typical of geotourists.
  • R and R Style– for Rest and Recreation – is resort oriented tourism
  • Entertainment Style – is self-contained—theme parks, convention centers, sports arenas, amusement parks, casinos, duty-free shopping malls, and the like.

While walking around the Greenbrier and taking in the majesty of the resort I realized that I was surrounded by two very different types of tourists.

Touring Style Tourists are attracted to the Greenbrier for:

  1. History
    • Early settlers were guided to the property’s sulphur springs by Shawnee Indians.  Since 1778, people have come to the Greenbrier to “take the waters” to restore their health. The sulphur water was purported to cure everything from rheumatism to an upset stomach.
    • The resort closed during the Civil War. During that conflict, both sides occupied the grounds using the hotel either as a hospital or military headquarters.
    • Shortly after the Civil War’s end, it reopened and with the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.  White Sulphur Springs was one of the classic railroad resorts in North America for the next one hundred years.
    • In September 1942 the U.S. Army purchased The Greenbrier estate, converted the hotel into a two thousand-bed hospital and renamed the facility Ashford General Hospital. In four years 24,148 soldiers were admitted and treated, while the resort served the war effort as a surgical and rehabilitation center.
    • In the late 1950s, the U.S. government began construction of an Emergency Relocation Center-a bunker or bomb shelter-to be occupied by the U.S. Congress in case of war. The classified underground facility was built in conjunction with an above ground addition to the hotel, the West Virginia Wing, between 1959 and 1962.  Bunker tours are now available.
  2. Sustainability
    • Amtrak offers regular service to The Greenbrier from major cities, including Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
    • The Greenbrier Farm grows produce without using chemicals for the Greenbrier Restaurant Collection.
    • Events like the Cast Iron Cookoff feature local chefs using local ingredients and traditional cooking methods.
  3. Nature
    • The resort is surrounded by the Allegheny Mountains which originally attracted visitors for the clean, crisp mountain air.
  4. Lewisburg
    • Just a few miles west of the Greenbrier, Lewisburg, WV was recognized by Budget Travel as one of America’s Coolest Small Town.  Charming, authentic, locally owned and operated shops and restaurants invite exploration.

Entertainment Style Tourists also flock to the Greenbrier for:

  1. The Casino Club at The Greenbrier opened on July 2, 2010.  The 103,000 square-foot venue is filled with world-class gaming at its finest.
  2. Lavish decor courtesy of Dorothy Draper and just about any amenity you can think of greet you at every corner.  There is not shortage of opportunities to be entertained.

I was intrigued by the fact that these very different types of tourists were able to converge in a truly unique setting trying to be the best of both worlds and cater to the experiences that would entice these various travelers.  On this day it seemed to be working.

Though the casino was unappealing to me, the history, event, natural setting, and proximity to Lewisburg I found to be of great appeal.

I can only hope that those attracted to the casino walked away with an appreciation of the history, admiration of the natural beauty surrounding them, better understanding of ways to live a little greener, and possibly found their way down to Lewisburg to spread their dollars throughout the community and get a greater sense of the local flare.

See you on the trail

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

What Type Of Tourist Are You?

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Happy 2012!  As we kick off the new year and make travel plans I ask you to consider what type of tourist you are.

When you see tourists walking down the street or getting out of their car or off a tour bus it’s easy to think they’re all the same.

They’re not, of course.

Geotourism was proposed and coined in 1997 by National Geographic senior editor Jonathan B. Tourtellot as a strategy to sustain or enhance the geographical character of a place – it’s environment, heritage, aesthetics, culture, and the well-being of its residents. Tourtellot describes three different types of tourism:

  • Touring Style– is where the word “tourism” comes from: travel­ing to tour, to see and experience a place.  It’s typical of geotourists.
    • It involves all aspects of character of place—scenery, history, culture, nature, people.
    • Its effect is to spread tourists and their economic benefits broadly through the local economy, with minimal harm to the character of the place.
  • R and R Style– for Rest and Recreation – is resort oriented tourism
    • It involves only physical character of place—beaches, sun, white­water—not necessarily culture, history, or nature.
    • Its effect is to concentrate tourism in the resort area, especially profitable overnight tourism. The problem is that much of the profit often leaks out of the community.  When badly managed, R and R Style resorts and vacation homes can take over seacoasts and scenic areas. Prices often rise until local people must move out. If well planned and restricted, though, R&R can fit nicely with the existing community.
  • Entertainment Style – is self-contained—theme parks, convention centers, sports arenas, amusement parks, casinos, duty-free shopping malls, and the like.
    • It involves no character of place at all. It can happen anywhere, even on a ship out at sea.
    • Its effect is to concentrate large numbers of tourists in or around the attraction. Its tourist crowds come for the attraction, not the locale and typically leave knowing little about the host community. It needs major airports, roads, and utilities.  It is often very energy intensive.  It involves large companies and provides a lot of jobs, although employees and profits may not come from or stay in the local economy.

If a place doesn’t plan properly, Touring Style tends to drift towards Entertainment style.  As Touring Style geotourists discover a place and talk about it, more and more tourists arrive then developers buy up all the best land to build resorts and houses, transforming the place into an R&R style destination.  Larger hotels move in, selling lots of cheap rooms.  Other companies now add Entertainment Style facilities – discos, casinos, tacky souvenir shops.

By now the place has become repulsive to affluent Touring Style geotourists.  Even though the numbers of tourists have gone up, the benefit per tourist has gone down. Tourists in high quantity tend to drive away the tourists of high benefit.

It is important that tourism success be measured, not by counting heads, but by counting the economic, environmental, and social benefits to the region.

What type of tourist are you?  Do you visit Appalachia for its unique qualities?  Do your travel experiences connect you to the character of this region?  This type of connection helps to sustain the unique character of place and keeps money that is spent in the region.

Will your travels allow you to see and experience a place in 2012?

See you on the trail.

Posted in Blog | 3 Comments »

Experience Cumberland, MD

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Our holiday travels take us from Fayetteville, WV to eastern PA.  Fortunately for us Cumberland, MD is just about half way.  We’ve recently spent a few nights in this charming, historic community.  Here’s a few reasons you also might want to stop in Cumberland if you’re passing through or make it a holiday vacation destination.

  • I-68 passes right through downtown Cumberland so within minutes you can get off the interstate and be downtown where you’ll find historic buildings and local restaurants and shops as opposed to the neon signs, gas stations, and chain restaurants of the typical interstate exit.
  • The downtown is a glow with holiday lights and decorations.
  • Friendly people.
  • The downtown is very walkable, actually some of the brick lined streets prohibit vehicles.
  • It’s a Preserve America community

Stay

We stayed in the Fairfield Inn located right at the juncture of the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage trails and just a few blocks from downtown.  It even has a bike wash station to accommodate trail users.  We were glad to see them participating in the Clean the World program, now just wish they would do something about all of the plastic and styrofoam disposables at breakfast.

Eat & Drink

Numerous unique restaurants and pubs to choose from.  Get some homemade ice cream at the Queen City Creamery, homemade pork barbeque and crab soup at the Crabby Pig, wet your whistle at the Baltimore St. Grill, or drive just a few miles east and have some wood fired pizza and brew in a restored Civil War hospital at Puccini’s .

Do

Walk the historic downtown and check out the architecture dating back to the canal and railroad days and other historic sites, visit art galleries and performing art venues, walk or ride east on the C&O Canal or west on the GAP, or take a train ride on the Santa Express.

Special events this holiday season include Midnight Madness tomorrow night where the stores will be staying open until midnight with special discounts, refreshments, and music and the New Years Eve Ball Drop.

Have you been to Cumberland, MD?  Know of any other authentic Appalachian holiday destinations?

See you on the trail?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, TGA's Travelogues | No Comments »

Buy Local This Holiday Season

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

If you’re like me your wallet seems to stay open from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

It’s a time to be festive – to spend time with family and friends, and to buy stuff.  Go out – eat, drink, and be merry.  Tis the season!

With the abundance of stuff tempting us to purchase I find myself having to take a step back and remember how important it is to look local first.

According to the 350 Project:

  • When you spend $100 in a national chain only $43 stays in the community, the rest leaks out to the national headquarters or suppliers which are located elsewhere
  • When you spend the same $100 in a locally owned independent store $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.

Now in this day and age you know it’s not hard to spend $100 on a night out or Christmas gifts for family and friends.  Through the course of the holiday season most of us can multiply that several times over.

The 350 Project has a 2011 holiday campaign called Keep The Cheer Here.  Look for banners flying at participating businesses.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently posted a blog about the importance of buying local highlighting 3 national campaigns that give us gentle reminders to show our mom and pop’s some love:

  • Shift Your Shopping – If you join us in shifting your holiday shopping dollars to locally owned, independent businesses, we’ll all generate 2-3 times as much economic activity in our community than if we had spent our money at a national chain.
  • Plaid Friday – celebrates the diversity and creativity of independent businesses. Plaid Friday is the fun and enjoyable alternative to the big box store “Black Friday”, and is designed to promote both local and independently owned businesses during the holidays.
  • Small Business Saturday – Your support on Small Business Saturday® helped make the day a huge success! Continue your part and keep the Shop Small movement going strong year round.

Now I know that the big box and chains are easy to find and are flooding us with advertisements but a little searching and you can find stores that specialize in local arts, crafts, beer, wine, etc.  Southern West Virginia CVB gave us a nice list of art galleries in West Virginia.

Listen to the buzz around town and you’ll probably find an open house at a local artists where you can buy your Christmas gifts directly from them like we did.

Painting by Fayetteville artist Winter Dawn Marie

Stained glass from Mountain Art Glass

 

 

And if you’re traveling overnight look for a bed and breakfast instead of a chain hotel to get that local flavor.  They may be offering specials to lure you in like the New Year’s Eve package at the historic Thomas Shepherd Inn in Shepherdstown, WV which includes tickets to see a local band (The Hillbilly Gypsies) at the Shepherdstown Opera House.

You could also come to my town – Fayetteville, WV – and catch our local band, the Wild Rumpus, at our New Years Eve bash at the Historic Fayette Theater and stay in one of our beautiful, historic Bed and Breakfasts.

Most of all have a safe and happy holiday season!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Green Travel Tips | 2 Comments »

Do You Think Before You Go?

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

If you’re like us you’re on the road for the holiday, off to visit with friends and family.

At some point in your travels you have to stop to eat and drink, right?

As we drove down the road passing the signs for nearby eateries and attractions I realize once again how abundant and easy it is to settle for Anywhere USA and the stale, meaningless experience you get when you settle for a chain.

Not only is the experience less rich but your money doesn’t support the community you’re passing through.

According to the 350 Project:

  • When you spend $100 in a national chain only $43 stays in the community, the rest leaks out to the national headquarters or suppliers which are located elsewhere
  • When you spend the same $100 in a locally owned independent store $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.

With a little forethought we can plan our stops in communities that offer a local, authentic experience.  It’s not necessarily easy but if you think about it and do some planning and research you too can find some great experiences.  Keep your eye’s peeled because the authentic places might not be on the highway sign, or better yet, stop and ask some locals where they go.

Here’s a few on our route from Fayetteville, WV to Lancaster, PA:

  • Fairmont, WV – Country Club Bakery is the home of the pepperoni roll
  • Morgantown, WV – good coffee at the Blue Moose or grab a burrito at the Blackbear
  • Cumberland, MD – historic downtown at the juncture of the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal.  Get some ice cream or a sandwich at Queen City Creamery or some wood fired pizza at Puccini’s.

Do you think before you go?  Do you seek a local, authentic experience even if it’s just a pit stop?

We made a pit stop in Cumberland, MD a few years ago.  Now we stop almost every time we pass through because there are so many rich, authentic things to do, see, eat, and drink.

Looking forward to seeing our family and friends in Lancaster, PA and maybe a stop at Central Market, the longest running local market in the U.S.  Then off to Allentown for a pit stop at Yocco’s.

 

Happy Holidays and safe travels!

 

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Green Travel Tips | No Comments »

Is Green Travel An Oxymoron?

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

The Worldwatch Institute Vision for a Sustainable World offers 10 Ways To Go Green which include:

  • saving energy,
  • saving water,
  • using less gas,
  • buying local food,
  • no bottled water,
  • thinking before you buy

The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.

Seems it would be pretty well impossible to be a tourist and not use much energy or water or gas or produce waste.

According to the UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network,

  • tourism = 5 percent of global CO2 emissions
  • which is more than the emissions produced by billions of people living and working for one year in big industrialized countries or emerging economies.

To truly be “green” should you not go anywhere beyond the range of what it takes to meet your essential daily needs?

I’m pretty lucky that my “usual environment” is the New River Gorge where I can leave my house on foot or bike and access a beautiful gorge, trails, and historic sites.  I can also walk to a charming small town and buy local food at the farmer’s market and local stuff at local shops.

But if that’s all I could do it would get boring especially knowing that there is a big, beautiful world out there.

Richard R. Niebuhr in an essay titled “Pilgrims and Pioneers” writes that tourists are those who “dabble,” making their rounds and traveling into new territory, but not allowing that territory in any way to change or move them.

Pilgrims, on the other hand, make their rounds with a purpose and allow the terrain they cover to move them, indeed to change them.  Pilgrims see things, interpret what they see, and can potentially be influenced by their experiences.  As a result there is an “enlargement of oneself”.

Bruce Kirby writes on The Globe And Mail, – on an individual level, travel is a basic force for good. In our increasingly connected yet isolated existence, exploring wild lands and foreign cultures can create understandings and shrink differences in ways no web page can match. I can’t help wonder what our world would lose if everyone just stayed home.

So it seems to me we should all try to live green while allowing ourselves to venture out of our “usual environment” in hopes that the terrain we cover will move us, indeed change and influence us while leaving unchanged, or perhaps even better, the destination we’ve ventured to.

I guess we could safely say that would be traveling greener than the typical tourist.

One way to travel greener is to pick a destination closer to home, rather than those far flung exotic destinations.  Appalachia is withing 500 miles of 2/3 of the U.S. population.

Maybe you should come check out my “usual environment” and I’ll come check out yours.  And while we’re there we’ll try to:

  • use a little less energy
  • use a little less water
  • use a little less gas
  • buy local food and support local businesses
  • use a reusable water mug
  • think about the impact of where we go, what we do, and what we buy in hopes that we can not only enlarge ourselves but also the destination we’ve been fortunate to experience.

If each of 2010′s 940 million international tourist arrivals did that then maybe we could get tourism down to 4, 3, 2, or 1% of global CO2 emissions?

See you on the trail

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Green Travel Tips | No Comments »

Are Your Travels Ephemeral?

Monday, October 31st, 2011

This time of year makes me think about the ephemeral nature of things.

Here in central Appalachia we’ve spent the last month watching the leaves change from the “green rolling hills” we’ve grown accustomed to over the summer to the vibrant yellow, red, and orange hues we see in fall.

It’s a fairly short-lived six weeks of a rainbow pallette on the hillsides that ends pretty abruptly as the colors get dull and then the leaves fall off.

This year I finally caught peak foliage on the Highlands Scenic Highway.  I’ve been trying to get there on my road bike for several years but couldn’t get my timing just right for the peak.

National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations describes three different types of tourism:

  • Touring style tourism relies on the human and physical character of a place.
    • Activities include sightseeing, history, hiking, and local shopping.
    • Characteristics include diffuse impact, supporting small businesses, and requires protecting nature and heritage.
  • R&R tourism depends only on the physical character of a place.
    • Activities include coastal resorts, ski resorts, and golf resorts.
    • Characteristics include risk of sprawl, imported labor, and potential for environmental impacts.
  • Entertainment-style tourism is manufactured attractions that do not depend on character of place.
    • Activities include theme parks, outlet malls, amusement parks, and casinos.
    • Characteristics include changing the nature of the locale, mass tourism, high traffic, high potential for environmental impacts.

Touring style tourists seek out an authentic travel experience knowing that the window of time for the epic experience often lasts for just a brief period, is short-lived, so the timing of the trip and the circumstances have to be just right.  Sometimes they are and some times they aren’t, but when they are its nothing short of spectacular.

If you seek Entertainment you can pretty much book your trip anytime and expect to get the same experience.  The price may change occasionally but the timing and circumstances don’t change much because it’s a manufactured experience which takes things like weather, flora, and fauna out of the equation.

Now my timing has been off in the past making the experience less than epic but that’s the fun of it, not knowing just exactly what’s going to happen.

Do you take a left instead of a right to seek out the local restaurant?  Do you look for that unknown trail that just might lead to a spectacular overlook?  Do you stop to chat with the locals in hopes that you might learn about something or somewhere you hadn’t thought of?

As I pedaled back to my car in the twilight glow as the sun set behind the Appalachian mountains I felt a sense of euphoria knowing that the leaves and the weather would be different tomorrow and that my gamble had paid off with a spectacular ride in a spectacular place.

Are you willing to take gambles in search of authentic experiences so you can feel that sense of euphoria when your gamble pays off or do you seek manufactured, entertainment-style experiences?

See you on the trail

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Green Travel Tips | No Comments »

Appalachian Fall Foliage

Friday, October 21st, 2011

According to Rodney Bartgis of West Virginia’s Nature Conservancy, “The Central and Southern Appalachians support the most diverse temperate deciduous forests on earth”.

For those of you like me who had to look it up, deciduous means the leaves fall off the trees when winter comes.

As all of you who live here or have visited between about mid-September and the 3rd week of October know the days are starting to get shorter and cold fronts start moving through dropping the temps.

According to Science Made Simple this tells the leaves to bail but before they do the cholorophyll in the leaf disappears allowing us to see the small amount of yellow, red, or orange that was green with chlorophyll all summer.

For me, it’s a time of the year where it’s hard to keep your eyes on the road or the trail or keep your body in the office.  Here’s a couple of recommendations for getting out of the office and enjoying fall from a few of this years fall forays:

  • Take a road bike (or drive) to the parkway portion of the Highland Scenic Highway in Pocohontas County, WV, one of West Virginia’s signature byways, which rolls on for 22.5 miles where elevations reach 4,545 feet, commercial traffic is prohibited, the max. speed is 45 mpg, and 4 spectacular overlooks await you.

 

 

 

 

Take a drive on one of West Virginia’s many Scenic Byways

 

 

 

What about you?  Got any recommendations of places to enjoy fall foliage in Appalachia?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, why Appalachia | No Comments »

Fall Flavors in Appalachia

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

So you know some reasons why Fall is so awesome in Appalachia right – foliage, perfect weather, awesome whitewater, but one part of the equation that I think gets little recognition is the delicious fall dishes and libations that present themselves during the fall harvest.  Here’s a few of my favorites.

  • Lets start with the obvious – Octoberfest!  This fall I’m satisfying my thirst with a keg of Octoberfest from our local brewery – Bridge Brew Works.  I’m guessing many of you have a local brewery brewing up this seasonal brew.
  • Pumpkin soup – get a pumpkin at the farmers market.  My wife makes a mean pumpkin soup each year in mid October.  Goes great with a pork loin.  Seek out a local hog farmer for some fresh, flavorful pork.  Just do a google search for pumpkin soup and you’ll find lots of good recipes.
  • Pumpkin pie, of course.  I stopped by Wildflour Bakery this week on a morning stroll through Fayetteville for a big chunk of pumpkin pie crumb  cake.  Now I can end my fall day with pumkin pie and start it.
  • Chili – I use the recipe in the Whitegrass cookbook and add some ground beef from a local farm and sweet potatoes which gives it a fall flavor.  Like chili?  Then you’ll want to stick around after Bridge Day for downtown Fayetteville’s Chili Cookoff where you’ll find a wide variety of recipes.
  • Speaking of Octoberfest, for a sampling of a variety of seasonal libations find an Octoberfest celebration like the one in Bramwell, WV where you can drink good beer and tour Bramwell’s Millionaire Row Historic District.

How about you.  What’s your favorite Appalachian fall flavor?

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, why Appalachia | 2 Comments »

Tree City USA

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

The Liberty Oak

You know what we remember from each of our summer beach trips to Hilton Head Island, SC?

Not the golf courses or the Salty Dog Cafe – the trees!

Hilton Head Island has held the Tree City USA designation for 9 years thanks to its progressive tree ordinance.  The tree ordinance states “No person shall cut, destroy, cause to be destroyed, move or remove any tree within the Town limits of Hilton Head Island without first obtaining a tree protection approval”

If you ask me that’s pretty freakin’ awesome.

Here’s five reasons I like travel destinations with trees.

  1. shade, of course.  It’s hot as you know what down there
  2. wildlife – we spent lots of time watching the squirrels and little lizards scurry around on the trees
  3. they’re not billboards
  4. oxygen – it’s kinda important, don’t you think
  5. watching my kids climb on their branches

The Town of Hilton Head states that trees provide stormwater retention, wildlife habitat, and reduced energy consumption and encourages the planting of native vegetation which is drought tolerant reducing the need for irrigation.

So, why do many travel destinations want to cut the trees and replace them with concrete?  I guess they think buildings and pavement have more economic value than trees.  Planners in Hilton Head think otherwise going all the way back to Charles Fraser in the late 50′s and early 60′s.

I can remember trips to Ocean City, MD as a child where rows and rows of buildings and pavement stretch from the ocean well inland.  I don’t recall a single tree though I’m sure there had to be some, right.

What do you prefer – buildings and billboards or trees?

If it’s trees then check out other Tree City USA communities.

You know why we’ll return to Hilton Head Island next year – the live oaks, sea pines, black gum, magnolias….

 

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, TGA's Travelogues | No Comments »

« Older Entries