Today’s Tour Guide: Bunz
See
the USA
Off The Beaten Path in America
Are we tired of the same vacation trips year
after year? Beaches, mountains, amusement parks????? I
know I am! Here are some alternate suggestions slightly
away from the normal routine, but far more satisfying.
Flagstaff
If the strip-mall chintz of small-town Arizona leaves you
dry, drop in on Flagstaff, a cultural oasis in this
otherwise arid landscape. The historic downtown area,
harking back to the town's early days as a railroad
whistle  stop, comes as a
welcome relief from the region's dusty motels and
truckstop diners. In this neighborhood, antique inns
sidle up against vegetarian cafes and you're more likely
to hear strains of a local jazz combo than any rumble of
RV traffic. And as the novelty of nontouristy downtown
wears thin, there's always a visit to the Lowell
Observatory, where in 1930 the planet Pluto was
discovered, or a stroll through the 200 blissfully green
acres of the local arboretum.
Flagstaff makes a great base for daytrips since the
Southwest's greatest attraction, the Grand Canyon, is
less than a two-hour drive away. Within an hour of town
you can explore ancient Anasazi and Sinagua Indian
pueblos; marvel at the site of a mile-wide meteor crater;
hike, bike and ski some of the state's most pristine
mountains and forests; and even have your chakras
realigned in the New Age mecca of Sedona.
Wrigley
Field
Built in 1914, Chicago's Wrigley Field is the
third-oldest baseball park in the country and a quirky
slice of America's sporting pie. Known as 'The Friendly
Confines,' the tiny ivy-walled pillbox is one of the most
agreeable spots to while away a day consuming hot dogs
and beer, and undoubtedly the best place to learn the
meaning of die hard. The home team, the Chicago Cubs,
haven't won a World Series since 1908, but you'll never
meet anyone in the world as loyal as a Cubs fan. The
neighborhood around Wrigley stands as a testament to
this, with private houses donning additional rooftop
bleachers, and every bar within a three mile radius
serving as a secondary house of worship. Wrigley Field is
probably the only baseball diamond left in America where
the score-by-innings and pitchers' numbers are changed by
hand, and where putting in modish things such as
floodlights caused a backlash. One of Wrigley's
traditions is to fly a flag bearing a 'W' or 'L' atop the
scoreboard after a game. The white flag with a blue W
indicates a victory; a blue flag with a white L (all too
common) means a loss.
Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame
Janis Joplin may have wanted a Mercedes Benz, but instead
she got a Porsche - a kaleidoscopic, candy-colored acid
trip on wheels. You can see  it at the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland, Ohio, along with Elvis
Presley's black leather 'Comeback Special' suit and Ray
Charles' sunglasses. Why Cleveland? Because it's the
hometown of Alan Freed, the disk jockey who popularized
the term 'rock and roll' in the early 1950s - that and
some heavy lobbying by the mayor. If you're a fan of IM
Pei's architectural style, you'll love the record-player
shaped building.
( www.rockhall.com )
Preservation
Jazz Hall
The Society for the Preservation of New Orleans Jazz was
established in 1961 to provide hard core jazz musicians
with a home and jazz devotees with an appropriate place
of worship. In a tiny former tavern off Bourbon Street in
the French Quarter of New Orleans, the hall brings
together veteran jazz musicians twice a night to pay
homage to the art of Crescent City-style improvisation.
The most accurate words to describe the experience
include 'sweaty,' 'overcrowded' and 'unforgettable.' The
amount of space is so limited that patrons are forced to
flow out onto the sidewalk, where they fight to hear and
see through a fogged window that faces the musicians'
backs. Every set's combo of trumpet, clarinet, trombone,
drum and piano player is different, while a touring group
has been going out on the road for over 30 years,
spreading the virtue of Preservation Hall jazz.
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