by David Burn | Sep 2, 2007 | Place, The Environment
I just finished reading John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley In Search of America, which is appropriate since our trip to Alaska was a journey towards self and our selves are thoroughly American. Yet, we’d like to think we are somehow separate from the mindless hordes that consitute “American†with a capital A.
Emerging from the Savage River Loop in Denali National Park on Tuesday, a middle-aged woman and man were standing at the trailhead talking. Upon our approach the woman asked, “Are you Americans?â€
“Yes,†we replied.
“Oh, thank god,†she snapped. “This place is crawling with foreigners.â€
Appalled once more by the attitudes of our fellow Americans, we didn’t hesitate to walk on and find a nice German couple observing a caribou through binoculars, which they kindly offered to share—the very thing Mrs. America refused to do. Allow me to add that Denali is a park with six million acres and only one lightly travelled road.
In Steinbeck’s travel chronicle he doesn’t find fault with the characters he encounters so readily. I believe he was a man of great compassion. In my narrative the faults compound and compete for supremacy.
After meeting the Germans, we boarded a loaded bus back to the Wilderness Access Center. Before we could get underway we had to contend with camera-slinging tourists fighting for window space along the right side, where the caribou we had been casually observing was wisely escaping up the embankment. A few miles down the road things really heated up when a bull moose was spotted. One over-zealous white shoed cameraman had the gall to bark orders at the moose. “Come on. To the right. That’s good. Head up. That’s it.†When he was satisfied that the moose was safely trapped inside his digital tool, he said to no one in particular, “I’m glad that moose showed up. I was gonna ask for my money back.â€
Alaska is a stunning place. We expected that. What was unexpected was how the beauty of the place would provide such stark contrast for observing those who visit it. A lot has been said about Americans and our essential character. More will be said. But one thing we know for sure, “Americans†(in the pejorative sense) are an ugly people living in a beautiful land.
Of course, we can’t in good conscience find fault with others without also seeing it ourselves. For no one in the country is totally immune from the sins or arrogance, ignorance and detachment from nature. It would also be half-baked not to mention the good people encountered on this trip, for there were many. My hope is this kind of raw exposure to the land and the beasts who are supported by it, including humankind, fuels our will to be better, kinder, smarter people. America certainly is “the beautiful.” Let’s learn from the land and be beautiful too.
by David Burn | Aug 25, 2007 | Place
We’re on the Island Princess at the moment along with 2000 other guests and 1000 crew. When this floating city pulls up to the dock as it has done in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway over the past three days tourists flood into these little Alaska towns, multiplying the daytime population by two, three, four, even five times.
Many cruisers make their way to Princess-owned jewelry stores for reasons beyond my comprehension. Others go sight seeing, fishing, hiking, bicycling, dog-sledding, zip-lining and the like. Whatever the case, it’s hard to “escape completely,†despite Princess’ claims to the contrary. Thus, we were incredibly fortunate to see Juneau and Haines with the help of our friends Gary O’Quinn and Tony Tengs, respectively.
On Wednesday morning we rode mountain bikes nine miles around Auke Lake to Mendenhall Glacier where we were greeted by a brown bear and her two cubs. After a tour of Alaskan Brewing Company and lunch at The Hangar, we took a cab to Auke Bay to meet up with Quinn and J.J., who is visiting from Colorado. We boarded Quinn’s 22-foot skiff and took off across the bay to Lynn Canal to check his shrimp pots. His wench wouldn’t start, so Quinn decided to pull the pots up by hand from a depth of 350 feet. A hungry man will do these things. Thankfully, there were over two-dozen giant shrimps (pardon the oxymoron) in his third of three pots. When we got back to Quinn’s cabin after an afternoon of salmon fishing off Douglas Island, he steamed these newly acquired sea creatures like the true sportsman that he is. The lobster-like meat was delicious and it’s the first time I’ve had shrimp caviar. Quinn also tossed some Halibut cheek in the frying pan for our tasting pleasure.
On Thursday, we poked around Skagway in the morning, drinking coffee and tea, writing postcards to our parents and talking to a Spanish couple on a six week bike trip of BC and Alaska. Then we boarded the native-owned Fast Ferry to Haines, where Darby camped in a tent 16 summers ago. In Haines, we were met at the dock by Darby’s old friend Tony Tengs. Tony, a Haines native and present day operator of the Chilkat Cone Kitchen in Juneau, took us to the Bamboo Room for lunch. The restaurant and its sidekick Pioneer Bar was run by Tony’s parents until recently when his sister took over. The Halibut fish and chips is legendary and now I know why. Freshee!
After lunch Tony drove us out to the sacred ground where Darby camped all those summers ago. Tony then introduced us to two local artists in their gallery workspaces before heading over to the White Fang movie set. Inside this Hollywood set are working Haines businesses, including the Haines Brewing Company. We tasted the hoppy goodness there and bought a litre of Spruce Tip Ale to take back to the ship. I’m about to enjoy some now, thanks to the kindness of friends.
by David Burn | Jul 24, 2007 | Food & Beverage, Place
Thanks to a business trip to NYC, I was fortunate to dine at Gotham Bar and Grill last night. I opened with Black Bass Ceviche made with purple Peruvian potatoes, red onion and avocado in a pineapple aji amarillo emulsion. For my main course, I chose organic salmon with jasmine rice and yard beans in an eggplant and cilantro coconut lime broth.
Then today on the plane back to Savannah, I read in the Business section of The New York Times how Singapore Airlines is serving chef Alfred Portale’s food in first class, including the ceviche dish, which I can now attest is out of this world.
by David Burn | Jul 7, 2007 | Literature, Place
In cultural terms, New Orleans is arguably the most important city in the United States. I’ve been there five times and there is no place like it—not in this country. Which is why I find Dan Baum’s reports from New Orleans so vital.
Painting by James Michalopoulos
Baum, a staff writer at The New Yorker, arrived in New Orleans two days after Hurricane Katrina and has reported on the disaster and its aftermath ever since. Earlier this year, he returned for four months, filing daily dispatches from New Orleans and working with his wife and writing partner on a book to be published in 2009.
In his final blog post on The New Yorker’s site, Baum dives into cultural insights about the Crescent City, noting just how different the place is from the rest of America.
New Orleans endures as the national repository of the loose-jointed Huck Finn spirit we Americans claim to cherish. While the rest of us pare down our humanity in service to the dollar, New Orleans is a corner of America where efficiency and maximized profit are not the civic religion. As I drive past endless repetitions of Wendy’s, Golden Corral, Ethan Allen furniture, Jiffy Lube, Red Lobster, and the like on my way back to Colorado, I realize that I haven’t spent a dollar anyplace but locally owned business in four months. A long time ago, David Freedman, the general manager of the listener-supported radio station WWOZ, described New Orleans to me as a kind of resistance-army headquarters. “Everyplace else in America, Clear Channel has commodified our music, McDonald’s has commodified our food, and Disney has commodified our fantasies,†he said. “None of that has taken hold in New Orleans.†In the speedy, future-oriented, hyper-productive, and globalized twenty-first century, New Orleans’s refusal to sacrifice the pleasures of the moment amounts to a life style of civil disobedience.
Baum goes on to descibe Boulder, CO–where’s he lives–as “a city full of high-achieving software engineers and real-estate brokers who have built a fabulously well-organized community, with excellent schools, thriving businesses, and immaculate parks, but who can’t find the time to sit a spell on the porch, let alone enjoy a second beer.”
Sounds like he’s going to miss New Orleans.
[via Evelyn Rodriguez]
by David Burn | May 8, 2007 | Art, Music, Place
We visited downtown Asheville on Saturday. After securing a healthy start (comprised of fresh squeezed apple juice, organic coffee, tempeh scramble, grits, toast, fruit, etc.) at Over Easy Breakfast Cafe, we sauntered over to The Courtyard Gallery for the 13th annual Twin Rivers Media Festival where we watched four shorts–Siren, The Little Gorilla, Buoy and Press Play. Afterwards, Andrea Lee Higgins, a singer-songwriter from Columbia, SC performed some of her originals.
We then walked up the hill to Malaprop’s Bookstore where author Elizabeth Gilbert was speaking to a packed house. Add to this a little shopping at Hunk’s and Rags Reborn Eco Chic Boutique, dinner at Savoy and live entertainment at Westville Pub later in the night and you’re talking about a heavy hit of culture courtesy of this funky southern mountain town.
by David Burn | Apr 24, 2007 | Food & Beverage, Place
On Saturday night we had the opportunity to dine at Flagler Fish Company in Flagler Beach, just north of Daytona. The restaurant is a converted surf shop with an open kitchen. I noticed right off that they had organic wines and kind brews from Cali. Plus, I liked how they display their fish for retail, a move that reminds diners of the freshness factor.
If you’re having fish you simply choose your favorite type grilled, seared or steamed and then you pick a sauce—Sweet Thai Tomato Coconut, Salsa Verde, Hong Kong or Brown Butter Lemon Caper and Tartar.
The restaurant also has a cool tagline: Food To Knock Your Flops Off.
by David Burn | Mar 20, 2007 | Place, Politics
We just spent 10 action-packed days in Austin for SXSW. Austin is a great American city (GAC)—one we hadn’t visited in four years. During South By there are a million places to be and even more things to do. It’s a challenge to shrink it all down to manageable portions. But one way to do this is to focus on a neighborhood. To go hyper local, as it were. And there’s no better place in Austin to do this than on South Congress Avenue.
Less than a mile from downtown, South Congress or SoCo, offers a multiple block strectch of retail establishments, hotels, restaurants and music venues—all of which rank as some of the best in Austin. The Continental Club is arguably the anchoring establishment, with competition for that title coming from Guero’s Taco Bar, Hotel San Jose and Jo’s Coffee. Other noteworthy spots on SoCo include Allen Boot Company, Austin Motel, South Congress Café and Home Slice Pizza. Further south, we found Magnolia Café—an all night munchie palace with tons of local flavor.
The hilly neighborhoods that flank the east and west sides of South Congress are populated with street after street of classic bungalows built in the 1920s and 1930s. Many have been remodeled. Others wait for the tender loving care of new well-heeled owners.
Given that we live in a gated community with strict regulations requiring conformity, it was a pleasure to see Austinites freely flying their freak flags. We rented a lovely cottage in Travis Heights for our stay, and while there the neighbor across the street placed a sign in her yard that read, “No War. No Empire. No Occupation.†I want one of those! We can’t place it in our front yard for all Rose Hill to see, but we can place it in our front window to remind ourselves that we’re not alone in the fight to save America, and maybe our sanity in the process.
by David Burn | Dec 24, 2006 | Place
Zack Klein and Jason Kottke have both recorded lists of the cities they visited (and spent at least one night in) this year.
I think it’s a good way to look back at the year, so here’s my list of cities:
- Asheville, NC
- Charlotte, NC*
- Athens, GA
- Winston-Salem, NC
- Live Oak, FL
- New Orleans, LA
- Chicago, IL
- Lyons, CO
- Boulder, CO
- Jacksonville, FL
- Atlanta, GA*
- Charleston, SC*
- Las Vegas, NV
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Macon, GA
- Kansas City, MO
- Marco Island, FL
- San Diego, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
*Visited more than once
by David Burn | Nov 30, 2006 | Food & Beverage, Place
There’s a restaurant in downtown Naples, FL attracting a ton of attention–from patrons, the most important food critics in the world.
I’ve been there twice and can say the place has great energy, good food and good service.
While I’m motivated to talk about Campiello here, others have been inspired to paint the scene.
“Afternoon Light at Campiello Naples” by Jim Freeheart
Here’s how the owners describe their venture:
Like Italy, its inspiration, Campiello is a study in contrasts. The restaurant is both urban and rural, sophisticated and casual, old-world and strikingly new.
Campiello is owned and operated by D’Amico & Partners, one of the nation’s preeminent restaurant developers and management companies. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the privately-owned company operates 18 Italian restaurants, plus a catering division.
by David Burn | Oct 3, 2006 | Place
I was fortunate to visit Salt Lake City last week, where I saw live music, close friends and mountains ripe with color. Here’s my photoset from the trip.
