Layoffs are rampant, gas prices are volatile, airlines are cutting flights, and Americans are feeling the economic pinch of a recession. As much as we hate it in this country of big dreams, big cars and Big Macs, we have to find a way to cut back. For many Americans, that means turning the Great American Vacation into a “staycation,” which is the big buzzword of the year, having appeared in articles everywhere from www.CNN.com to Newsweek. But what does a staycation really mean? Newspaper humor columnist and frequent staycationer Matt Wixon shares with readers the definition of a staycation as well as: Rules for a successful, satisfying vacation at home or nearby Motivation and encouragement for people who can’t afford the big, traditional vacation Ways to make the most of time off from work Strategies and experiences from more than a dozen staycationers, as well as hundreds of Internet links and specific ideas to help plan a vacation in your hometown. From alternatives to destination theme parks to making the most of out local amenities to reigniting the flame in a relationship, Americans will find this guide a humorous and invaluable guide to staying home on vacation.
Fuel your wanderlust with America’s best travel destinations and get inspired to explore the natural beauty and rich history of all 50 states. The title says it all: Get the top road trip vacations the United States has to offer, all in one book. From small-town pit stops and off-the-beaten-path adventures to renowned historical sites and breathtaking parks, the destinations highlighted in this volume emphasize the unique beauty and history that each state has to offer. Whether you are a nature lover, history buff, or veteran road warrior, the incredible photography in this volume, along with the included recommendations for nearby attractions, lodging, recreation, and more, will inspire you to get packing. Jump in the car or RV and share these experiences with the ones you love! WEST Road Trips from Anchorage, Alaska Pacific Coast Highway, California Peak-to-Peak Scenic Byway, Colorado Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii City of Rocks, Idaho Glacier National Park, Montana Lamoille Canyon, Nevada John Day Fossil Beds, Oregon Scenic Byway 12, Utah San Juan Islands, Washington Yellowstone, Wyoming SOUTHWEST Catalina Highway, Arizona Mesilla, New Mexico Elk City, Oklahoma Piney Woods, Texas MIDWEST Shawnee National Forest, Illinois Nashville, Indiana Northeast Region, Iowa Elk Falls, Kansas Tunnel of Trees, Michigan Caledonia, Minnesota Hannibal, Missouri Sandhills, Nebraska Casselton, North Dakota Ashtabula County, Ohio Black Hills, South Dakota Amish Country, Wisconsin SOUTHEAST Appalachian Highlands, Alabama MONAH, Arkansas Sanibel and Beyond, Florida Savannah, Georgia Horse Country, Kentucky Cane River, Louisiana Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Delaware Neshoba County Fair, Mississippi Flat Rock, North Carolina Hunting Island, South Carolina Cocke County, Tennessee Chincoteague, Virginia New River Gorge, West Virginia NORTHEAST Mystic Country, Connecticut Bayshore Byway, Delaware Highlands, Maine Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts White Mountains, New Hampshire Millbrook Village, New Jersey Finger Lakes, New York Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Trustom Pond Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island Mad River Valley, Vermont NATIONAL PARKS Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska* Lake Clark National Park, Alaska* Denali National Park, Alaska* Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Glacier National Park, Montana Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Everglades National Park, Florida* Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee* New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia *mentioned within a wider story
Backroads of the Great American West describes and details with full-color photos and maps the most scenic routes in the Rocky Mountains, Texas, Desert Southwest, California, and Pacific Northwest.
In this next bestselling title from Mark Teague, Ike's plans for a peaceful cruise with Mrs. LaRue are thwarted when their neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins, falls suddenly ill. While she recovers, Mrs. LaRue is taking her cats on a weeklong road trip vacation. Ike is beside himself and quickly takes up his pen to tell us why! Join award-winner Mark Teague on this romping road trip across America. Readers can follow along on the maps of the U.S. that span the endpapers. Teague drives us to the story's satisfying conclusion, and we are left with one profound question: Can cats and dogs really be friends?
"It is no secret that America is the No Vacation Nation. Our vacations nowadays consist of nothing more than a few long weekends a year...when we're not on staycations. Workplace stress and burnout in America are at all-time highs. That Americans are over-caff einated and sleep deprived is not surprising given that our work-leisure balance is so severely lopsided. Depression is epidemic. Chalmers' estimates that these seemingly isolated, yet wholly interconnected cultural data points cost the U.S. economy a trillion dollars a year in lost productivity...and may be shortening the life spans of Americans too! But it wasn't always like this in America...and it surely doesn't have to be either. A stunningly well-researched book, offering readers an explanation of why Americans are suffering from an acute case of Vacation Deficit Disorder...and what the unintended consequences mean to every American couple, parents, families, workers, bosses, and our nations economy. It explains clearly why Americans dont travel...and why they really should! What really makes humans happy; and offers profound insight into how the lucky few Americans who do take vacations can enjoy them better and reap their life-enhancing benefits. And it passionately explains how all Americans would benefi t from his 4% Solution prescription. This book offers a compelling American centric cultural narrative that explains in great detail and with erudite analysis just who stole our vacation.
A surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism. As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between -- including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids. As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.
"The Great American Hot Dog Book" reveals the inside story of how the hot dog became one of America's favorite food icons. This collection is also loaded with frank recipes from across the nation as well as recipes for out-of-this-world fries, sauces, sides, and more.
The world is getting faster. This sentiment is proclaimed so often that it is taken for granted, rarely questioned or examined by those who celebrate the notion of an accelerated culture or by those who decry it. Sarah Sharma engages with that assumption in this sophisticated critical inquiry into the temporalities of everyday life. Sharma conducted ethnographic research among individuals whose jobs or avocations involve a persistent focus on time: taxi drivers, frequent-flyer business travelers, corporate yoga instructors, devotees of the slow-food and slow-living movements. Based on that research, she develops the concept of "power-chronography" to make visible the entangled and uneven politics of temporality. Focusing on how people's different relationships to labor configures their experience of time, she argues that both "speed-up" and "slow-down" often function as a form of biopolitical social control necessary to contemporary global capitalism.
Profiles fifty sites across the United States that trace the cultural history of the country, discussing the people and events that led to each site's importance, from the National Mall in D.C. to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly affected our communication and lifestyle and upended all regular routines of daily life. Social distancing, economic disruption, and challenges to public health brought about a new order of government policies. Besides, social responsibilities adapted many new norms due to the measures taken by authorities to control the spread of the pandemic. The current global situation offers an opportunity for joint communal effort at national and international levels along with social awareness and commitment to official instructions. Significant enquiries given in this book, from Asian and Middle Eastern countries, address attendant issues concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and the specific roles played by government policy, public awareness, social behaviour, and the role of technology during the pandemic. Selected papers from Current Trends in the Middle East: Virtual International Joint Conference on COVID-19 Global Impacts (V-The 4th ICCTME 2021, 9 – 10 March 2021) discuss ‘how leaders at all levels battled the pandemic and their concerted efforts successfully confronted the crisis and avoided panic’. This theme implies several layers of strategic planning which as a whole have attempted at shaping the society in a way to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission while assuring integrity, obtaining national solidarity and reinforcing public trust in governments. Additional investigations in the book analyze the role of technology and pivotal approaches in accordance with the need to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0). We hope that this approach will open the floor for attracting novel contributions from great minds with an awareness of protecting cultural heritage. In particular, specific attention is given to examining the role of technology usage in mediating the interaction between people and institutions for sustainable living, including the interaction between all members of society and technology. Along the same lines, a connotative analysis provides insight into how and why the application of smart digital infrastructures into hospitals and houses might prevent contagious diseases in the COVID-19 era. Our authors highlight key trends and insights from different perspectives and discuss various strategies and roles adopted by local and international institutions. Willingness to learn from others is the idea behind this book. In the light of this idea, organized preparations and well-coordinated initiatives produced favourable results in this collection. Through its discussion of the current crisis management via a wide range of information and experiences in sharing knowledge, experiences, and skills from Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Palestine, this book aims to be a part of the scientific environment that deliberates to decrease the number of infections and deaths, in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic
