| Kentucky's Welcome Centers help you plan this year's mini vacations | | Posted Tuesday, February 06, 2007 12:56:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | One advantage to staying close to home in the winter is that you can start making your spring, summer and fall travel plans. And even if you don't feel like venturing far afield in 2007, there are literally hundreds of travel destinations right here in the Bluegrass State. The Kentucky Department of Tourism has just published its 2007 Official Visitor's Guide, a full color, 176-page magazine loaded with information about attractions and arranged by regions. It's fully indexed by areas of interest (such as hiking, hunting, museums, crafts, golf) and by city. .... | |
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| | | May the Porsche be with you | | Posted Friday, January 26, 2007 3:01:48 PM by Blog57 Team | | As I bank my Porsche Carrera 4 across a particularly hairy uphill turn, I feel the back end of the car fishtail out from under me; the wheels spin across the packed snow and ice, kicking up a shower of crystals. Oversteer in the opposite direction its counterintuitive, but just do it, barks Nico Rondet, a French race car driver. His voice crackles over a walkie-talkie mounted on the dash. Now, give it the throttle. Now! I do as he says, letting the cars weight shift and using the power transfer to propel me out of the turn. Everything clicks, I roll the throttle and the humming Porsche suddenly roars onto the straightaway, sending prickles up the back of my neck while I prepare to drift into the next slippery curve. This must be what James Bond feels like every day.... | |
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| | | Sunrise, sunset | | Posted Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:58:48 PM by Blog57 Team | | Seven years ago, when I was a newly hired Columbian reporter, the boss sent a photographer and me across Washington to mark the longest day of the year. Our goal was to follow the sun from the time it popped above the Snake River at the state's eastern edge in Clarkston until it dropped into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. Over the course of nearly 16 hours of daylight and more than 400 miles, we talked to the people and sampled the places across our diverse state. Later that year, the boss wanted a story about the shortest day of the year. He wanted to duplicate the longest-day idea -- except, because of the shorter day, we'd obviously cover a much shorter distance. And instead of driving a car across the state, I'd sample a chunk of Clark County by foot.... | |
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| | | John Paustian Jr. column: Pops' lessons remain with us | | Posted Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:00:44 PM by Blog57 Team | | Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of my father, John L. Paustian. He worked for the Appleton Post-Crescent for 37 years, 27 of which as sports editor and assistant sports editor. He retired in 1987. Not much has changed in that year, if one measures it on a statewide sports timeline, as my father would: The Brewers had yet another disappointing season; the Packers (in all likelihood) will miss the playoffs for a second consecutive year and the Badgers football program had an excellent season. But his true love was high school sports. My father covered more than 800 local high school games, from football to baseball to basketball to track and field. He was also a pioneer in giving girls' sports equal coverage in the newspaper. By his estimates, along with his high school games, my father covered 700 Appleton Foxes (now Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) games, 200 college events, 150 Packers games, 50 golf tournaments and wrote more than 2,000 personal or opinion columns.... | |
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| | | OBSERVER ANALYSIS: Carolinas execs fly on shareholders' tab | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 6:57:03 PM by Blog57 Team | | Like many retirees, former Bank of America Chairman Chad Gifford did a lot of traveling in his first year out of work. His trips, however, were by corporate jet. Paid for by his former employer. Gifford in 2005 racked up flights valued at $655,242, part of a retirement package that included $16.4 million in severance. His jet perk was the largest of any executive or director at 50 of the Carolinas' biggest public companies, according to an Observer analysis. Executives get big paychecks, stock options and extras that range from country club memberships to home-security systems. But personal trips on the corporate jet are often the most expensive and exclusive perk disclosed by companies in annual securities filings. Corporate jets help executives visit far-flung factories, avoid delays at the airport and work while airborne.... | |
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| | | Hunting down last-minute deals | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 7:08:13 PM by Blog57 Team | | Cold-weather destinations fight for your business. Right up to the very last minute it's possible for you to get on a plane or hop in a car and drive to ski country. If you have the flexibility to take spontaneous trips, your biggest problem could be sifting through the avalanche of tempting choices. Empty rooms are bad for resorts, good for you. There are lots of ways you can find deals that resorts and hotels wrap around unused rooms inventories and transportation. Always remember when searching for great last-minute deals, keep checking--and checking and checking yet again. When you find the right one grab it fast, before someone else beats you to it, and the room or trip is gone. Here are 10 ways to find last-minute deals: 1.... | |
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| | | Work starts on $200 million resort | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:14:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | CARLSBAD ---- Grand Pacific Resorts Inc. said Thursday that construction had begun on a 56-acre, $200 million complex that will include a 350-room hotel and 350-unit time-share resort next to Legoland California.The hotel, called the Sheraton Carlsbad, is scheduled to open in late 2007 with 250 guest rooms, 13 suites and 25,000 square feet of meeting and conference facilities. An additional 100 guest rooms are scheduled to be added to the hotel within the next five or six years. Room costs are estimated to average between $160 and $180 per night. Tim Stripe, co-president of Grand Pacific Resorts, said the hotel would cater to families and executive business travelers. .... | |
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| | | Grand Opening of Play-a-Round Golf, Philadelphia's Only Inclusive Year-Round Golf Club for Every Skill Level | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 6:57:53 PM by Blog57 Team | | Play-a-Round Golf, the Philadelphia area's new, premier destination for convenient, affordable and inclusive golf opens November 17, enabling anyone from golf novice to expert of any age to learn, practice, play, and enjoy golf year-round in a unique, climate- controlled, indoor environment. This one-of-kind 13,000 square-foot facility features 10 state-of-the-art 3D simulators, each with realistic replications of Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and 20 other world-famous courses. Unlike arcade simulators, indoor driving ranges, and hitting golf balls into nets, actual golf play is the most realistic ever achieved indoors. Golfers use every club in their bag and course management skills on the same courses featured on PGA and LPGA Tours. The simulators also provide "practice areas" for honing driver, iron, and short-game skills, and computerized readouts of swing, club contact, and ball flight for game improvement.... | |
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| | | Hilton opens Atlanta business hotel, begins developing Hawaii ownership resort | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 6:59:40 PM by Blog57 Team | | Hilton Hotels Corp. has opened its newest property the Hilton Suites Atlanta-Perimeter and began construction on King's Land, the second Hilton Grand Vacations Club timeshare project within the Waikoloa Beach Resort on Hawaii's Big Island, the company said Friday. The Atlanta hotel's owner has invested $8.5 million in the renovation and conversion of the public areas and 224 suites in the hotel. It is operated by Proc GA, L.P., an affiliate of the Procaccianti Group, under a franchise license agreement. Procaccianti Group also manages the hotel. It is located at 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Atlanta, Ga. In Waikoloa, Hawaii, Hilton's timeshare division Hilton Grand Vacations Co. has begun construction on King's Land, the third Hilton timeshare project to launch in recent months.... | |
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| | | Unique auction Saturday funds Catholic schools | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 11:09:19 PM by Blog57 Team | | A gathering of some of the most unique items ever auctioned locally will highlight this years benefit for Catholic education in North Platte. The auction, set for Oct. 28 at the Quality Inn and Suites, features European and Hawaiian vacations, a Canadian fishing trip, a flight to and round of golf on the Jack Nicklaus designed Dismal River Golf Club for six and even a trip to Las Vegas just a few of the trips offered. .... | |
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