I didn"t think that I would like Las Vegas.  I don't gamble, and I prefer natural attractions like geological wonders and wilderness beauty to any man-made features.  I thought that I would be revolted by the crass commercialism and the over-the-top glitzy excess.

Instead, I was pleasantly suprised when I first saw Las Vegas over ten years ago.  It was gaudy, glitzy and excessive beyond description.  It was over-the-top and tacky.   Here was a modern-day Babylon of sensual delight constructed on a monumental scale in a barren desert converted into a commercial playground.  It was fueled by greed, corruption and the insatiable thist for gratification.

I felt like an ancient pilgrim entering the valley of kings in Egypt to marvel at the immense pyramids and architectural wonders.  Or, like a country farmer from the far-flung provinces of the old Roman Empire upon first entering the imperial city of Rome with its unfanthomable splendor.

As I drove down the Strip for the first time, I gaped at the immense glass pyramid with its larger-than-original Sphinx entry, at the scaled-down version of the New York skyline complete with Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty, at the tropical island paradise surrounding a faux volcano that spouted fiery eruptions every hour, at the full-sized Piazza del Marco and at the half-sized Eifel Tower.  I marvelled at the miles of neon lights and the multitude of fountains and waterfalls gracing this converted desert wasteland.  There is no other place like it on this planet.

Here was the world's most unique monument to excess and greed, but it was great fun.  You could partake of culinary feasts and a plethora of entertainment diversions at reasonable prices.  You could gawk at faux architectural splendor for free.  All this is provided to you by the great gambling casinos in hopes of enticing you into their gaming halls.  I love it! 

Since Las Vegas is the favorite destination for most US native tourists, the airlines provide a wide selection of inexpensive flights to the city from everywhere in the USA.  For the same reason, car rentals and hotel rates are frequently available at bargain prices.  I just spent a few days in Vegas, and was amazed at the numerous bargains available.  Even the newer, fancier casinos were offering rooms at less than $100 per night on weekdays.  The older, less popular hotels were offering rooms at less than half that price.  I even saw some rooms advertised as low as $29 per night.

Nearly all of the casinos were offering package deals that included meals at their restaurants and entertainment tickets for a single bargain price.  If you don't gamble and lose your money at the gaming tables, Las Vegas can be a bargain vacation.

I love Las Vegas for another reason.  It is centrally located in the Southwest part of the USA in the midst of some of the most spectacular natural scenery in the world.  The Grand Canyon or Sedona are less than a half-day drive from the Strip. Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon are about the same distance.  Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire and Death Valley are even closer.  

On this most recent trip, I took advantage of the cheap airfares, inexpensive car rentals and bargain priced accommodations to fly into Las Vegas, to see a Broadway style musical, to have dinner at a fine restaurant, then went hiking in the scenic beauty of Red Rock Canyon.  It was great fun and it was inexpensive.

Contrary to popular international beliefs, we do not eat only fast food in the USA.  It is true that fast food is very popular in the US, but we also have many traditional sit-down-and-eat restaurants including some really fine-dining establishments.  These restaurants tend to fall into several loosely-defined categories.

The chain restaurants are owned and operated by large corporations, and they have numerous facilities in various cities and towns across the country.  Their menus are typically similar in every location, and their quality is quite consistent.  if you frequent these type of restaurants, you can be fairly sure of the type abd quality of food that you will be served.  I go to such restaurants when I am looking for casual unadventuresome dining.  The chain restaurants include: TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Houlihans and Chilis offering traditional American fare; Red Lobster and Joe's Crabshack offering seafood; the Olive Garden with Italian cuisine, or the Cracker Barrel with southern cooking.  There are many others.

When traveling, I often prefer to seek out more adventuresome dining experiences such as sampling the regional specialties in popular local restaurants.  I usually find those restaurants by asking for recommendations from the people I meet in the area.  They frequently tell me of some obscure local restaurant that offers the best fried chicken, the best barbeque, the best home made meatloaf or the best apple pie in town.  These restaurants often have names like "Mom's Diner", "Bubba's Barbeque", "Charlie's Chicken Shack" or the "Kettle Cafe".  I have found some wonderful food in such places.

Steak Houses are a typical USA specialty.  They all feature grilled beefsteak, but also offer a few other standard selections like chicken, and seafood.  If you visit the USA, I strongly recommend you try at least one meal in a good steak house.  I have traveled extensively throughout Europe and the UK.  I know it is possible to find a good steak dinner in those countries, but you must seek one out, and are likely to find it only in the more expensive restaurants.  The average quality of the steaks in most other countries seems to be inferior to what you are served in the USA.  Even the cheaper steak houses in the US serve some very tasty meals.  The higher priced steak houses serve some succulent steaks that are delicious beyond description.

Ruth's Chris Steak Houses, Morton's Steakhouses and the Capitol Grill are all high-end steakhouse chain restaurants.  They ate not cheap, but the quality of the steaks and the service is all top rate.  Landry's, Shulo's and a whole host of other local restaurants offer the same top quality at the same high-end prices.  If you can afford it, I suggest you try at least one meal featuring steak in one of these finer restaurants.  There is also a wide selection of more modestly priced steak houses that serve delicious steaks, but not quite as succulent as those in the higher priced steak houses.  Outback, The Lone Star Steakhouse and the Texas Steakhouse are popular steak house chains offering more modestly priced steaks.  The later two restaurants also feature cowboy-costumed staff that intermittently line dance for the entertainment of the diners.

We have some strange quirks in our restaurants throughout the USA.  On most menus, the term "entree" means the main course not the first course.  The first course is usually termed "appetizer" or "starter".  The side salad is typically not served along side of the main course.  It is served with the bread before the main course.  Coffee or tea are usually served with the meal, but can also be served after the meal in finer restaurants.  Most restaurants offer the "bottomless" cup of cofee or the "bottomless" glass of iced tea or softdrinks. This means that the waiters will continue to refill your coffee or softdrink throughout the meal, but will only charge for one drink.

The noonday meal or "lunch" is typically served between 11AM and 3PM at most restaurants and it is a smaller meal than the evening meal.  The evening meal or "dinner" is normally served between 4PM and 10PM and it is usually larger and more expensive than the lunch.  All restaurants tend to be very flexible, so you can order just an appetizer or two appetizers or just a desert if you prefer

Many restaurants offer vegetarian meals and low-calorie diet meals.  Dinner salads are quite popular.  These culinary concoctions are meant to replace the main course.  They usually consist of a large bowl of salad greens and/or vegetables topped with various meats cheeses or seafoods.  A steak salad has grilled strips of steak along with cheese and french fried potatoes atop the usual greens.  A chef's salad is topped with strips of ham, turkey and cheese.  A cobb salad has bacon, crumbled egg and blue cheese.  The grilled chicken salad, the salmon salad, the shrimp salad and the antepasta salad all have self-explanatory names.  Salad dressing is the sauce or salad creme served with nearly all salads in the USA.  Italian dressing is simply oil and vinegar with spices.  French dressing is a creamy, tomato-based sauce.  Thousand islands is more of a remoulade, and honey dijon is a piquant mustard based cream.  Dinner salads provide you with a lighter more healthful alternative to the usual fare, and they can be quite tasty.

Here are a few typically USA foods that you should sample on your visit to this country:  New England Clam Chowder, a white cream-based soup made from the meat of the sweet succulant shellfish found in our northern waters.   Maryland crab cakes made with the tasty flesh of the blue crab.  Barbeque pork spareribs and pulled pork barbeque served with differing regional sauces.  Sandwiches in countless varieties with infinite variations of ingredients.  Especially tasty are the submarine sandwiches or hoagies like the Philadelphia cheese steak hoagie.  Chili usually served as an appetizer, not in the finer restaurants, but in the neighvorhood cafes and diners especially in the Southwest.  Pies for dessert, especially those homemade confections found in local diners.  This includes fruit pies like apple, berry and cherry; cream pies like banana, coconut, lemon and chocolate; or regional varieties like pecan, key lime and shoo-fly.

During the summer months, fresh corn-on-the-cob is available in most areas.  You cannot find the good stuff in restaurants or cafes as it does not taste great unless it is very fresh and cooked immediately before eating. You can sometimes find it at festivals or at roadside stands.  If you have cooking facilities, you can buy some fresh corn directly from a farmer, boil it for a few minutes, smear it with some butter, sprinkle on some salt and eat it directly off of the cob.  What a great summertime delicacy! 

Remember, waiters and waitresses are usually paid very low salaries in the expectation that they will earn sufficient tip money to supplement those salaries.  If you get good service from the wait staff, you should add a generous tip to your reimbursement.  Good service means that your server pleasantly greets you, is attentive to your needs, makes helpful suggestions on choices, checks back frequently to insure you are kept satisfied and aplologizes for any delays.  Fifteen percent is normal, twenty percent is generous.  Anything less is either stingy or indicative that you were not satisfied with the service.  If you pay by credit card, there will be a space at the bottom of your bill where you can pencil in an additional tip amount.  It is also acceptable to leave tip money on the table as you depart. 

There are at least a million retired people living in Florida.  Most of them own small houses, mobile homes or condominiums in one of the many "Golden Age" communities scattered about the state. They typically spend their summers in the northern states visiting their children and grandchildren.  Every Spring in April or May, these retirees pack up their belongings, close up their Florida home for the Summer and head north to the homes of their children and grandchildren in New York, Cleveland or Detroit.

They spend the summer months playing with their grandchildren, taking them to the beaches and parks, buying them ice cream and spoiling them.  They help their children with gardening and housework.  They keep the grandchildren occupied while their children go off to work.

At the end of summer, in September or October, these "snowbirds" begin their seasonal migratory return to their Florida homes.  They may take a quick trip back up to the frozen northlands during December to further spoil their grandchildren with lavish Christmas gifts, but they otherwise spend the winter half of the year at their Florida homes, where they can relax around their swimming pools, play golf or tennis, or congregate with their Florida neighbors.

Thus, the permanent population of Florida decreases during the summer as the snowbirds head north, while the transient population of tourists floods into the state.  Summer can be hot, humid, wet and miserable in Florida, and is considered by the residents to be the least desirable season.  Nevertheless, most families with school-age children will travel to Florida during the June, July, August school holiday season. They will crowd the amusement parks, create long lines at the attractions and fill the beaches.

If you must go to Florida in the summer, here is what you can expect.  It can get hot. Very hot.  Not the dry desert heat of Arizona or Nevada, but a wet, humid heat of a steamy jungle.  The midday sun will bake your head and burn your skin while your sweat will roll down your face and soak your clothes.  Every afternoon, storms will roll in from the Gulf of Mexico, and amid flashes of lightning and clashes of thunder, will drench you with copious volumes of rain.  By evening, it will usually calm down and cool down to become downright pleasant, except for the mosquitos, bugs, lizards and other vermine that creep out of the jungle.

You can still enjoy Florida during the summer months, if you follow these few simple tips, that were gifted to me by a long-time snowbird in Southern Florida. 

First of all, awaken at sunrise and go to the beach or amusement attraction very early in the morning before the heat becomes oppressive.  Start no later than 8AM and stay out no later than noon.  Thus, you will get plenty of sun to create a golden tan without turning your skin lobster red.  You will beat the crowds to the amusement parks and avoid waiting in the blistering sun to get on the most popular rides.

At noon, go to a comfortable air-conditioned restaurant for a leisurely lunch.  Go shopping or visit some indoor attractions during the oppressive midday heat.  Go to a waterpark and spend the hot afternoon in the water, or go back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon siesta.  You will avoid the midday heat and most likely avoid the late afternoon thunderstorm.

After five or six in the evening, it will be safe to once again venture out into the sun.  Hopefully, the afternoon thunderstorm will have cooled the temperatures a bit. You can go back to the beach for a sunset swim or stroll,  You can go back to the amusement parks for the evening festivities without the oppressive heat.  You can even golf, boat or play tennis in the cooler evening.

I tried following these tips when in Florida during a hot August, and found that they improved the quality of my vacation time quite a lot.

They call it Emerald City, the green gem in the Northwestern corner of the USA.  Seattle is a wonderful place.  It sits on a series of rocky hills almost surrounded by the blue waters of two mountain-fed lakes and a broad Pacific Ocean Inlet.  From various vantage points throughout the city, you can catch glimpses of the snow capped peaks of the Cascade Mountains to the east or the Olympic Mountains to the West.  The southern horizon is dominated by the immense snow capped volcanic cone of Mount Rainier.. 

Baskets of multicolored flowers hang from the lamposts of the downtown streets.  The sidewalks are crowded with casually-dressed young people hustling along to their high-tech jobs at Microsoft, Adobe, or Amazon.  Bookshops, organic food stores and shops selling outdoor gear attest to the fact that this is a city of healthy, well-educated and environmentally conscious people.  Yet, all is not well in Emerald City.

On a visit to Seattle last week, I was suprised at the number of homeless people drifting about this northern paradise.  They were lounging about the park benches and accosting pedestrians on the downtown sidewalks with their pleas for a few extra coins.  Even in the suburban parks, where children play and mothers take their babies for a bit of fresh air, one could find homeless men and women napping on blankets or sleeping bags under the shrubs and trees.  Their dilapidated cars and vans filled to the brim with bags of clothing and miscellaneous household goods were parked around the periphery of every park.

There were two varieties of homeless in the city.  The young slackers with their trendy clothes and expensive backpacks were there by choice.  They willingly fled their homes in cities and towns across the USA to seek the environmental beauty and adventure of the Pacific Northwest.  These young drifters cheerily approached the business folks and the tourists asking for a bit of spare change, so they might continue to live and play in this desirable city.

More piiable were the elder and clearly destitute folks that were reluctantly begging for a few coins to pay for some food or for a place to sleep.  In the suburban parks, they seldom begged for money.  One grizzled old man, dressed in ragged jeans and shod during thie summer heat in plastic ski boots, approached us with a ragged teddy bear asking if our grandson would like it.  He hoped, no doubt, that we would exchange a few coins for it.  When we refused, he quietly walked on.  In his other hand, he held a pair of cowboy boots, and went searching for someone with a need for them.  On the park bench nearby, a Native American woman with several plastic bags filled with clothing stuffed handfuls of dry breakfast cereal in her mouth and slowly chewed and swallowed it.

If anyone should doubt that this economic downturn has hurt people, I suggest they go to Seattle and visit a few of these parks.  It is sad that there are people reduced to this state, especially in a country that is so well endowed and so wealthy.

The days between the end of the Mardi Gras festival and the holiday of Easter is known to all Christians as Lent or the Lenten period.  It represents the period of Jesus' persecution, suffering and death before he arose and ascended to join God on Easter Day.  Many Christians choose to abstain from certain comforts or pleasures during Lent in honor of Jesus' self sacrifice.  Some desist from drinking alcoholic beverages, from eating chocolate or from participating in festivities during Lent.  In older days, the Catholic Church forbade its members from eating any meats except for fish on Fridays, and especially on Fridays during Lent. 

Most Catholics over the age of forty or fifty still remember the old prohibition when their parents cooked spaghetti, macaroni or fish every Friday.  They even used to refer to Friday as "fish day" because of this church rule.  That rule was rescinded many years ago, but old customs persist for a long time.  Today, many of the older Catholics, and even some Protestant Christians still eat no meat except fish on all Fridays during lent. 

Many of the local Catholic Churches in the USA have supprted this custom by instituting the "Friday Fish Fry" throughout Lent.  Volunteers from the local church usually gather to prepare vast quatities of fried fish, baked macaroni, cole slaw salad and home baked cakes and pies.  They convert their church social hall into a restaurant and offer succulent "fish dinners" and "fish sandwiches" to the public.  Everyone from the local community, whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Atheist, come to purchase a succulent Friday Fish Dinner. The proceeds of the sale help to fund the church's social activities.

This custom has become so popular in parts of the USA that it has spread from the Catholic Churches to many Protestant Churches and to local volunteer fire halls.  They all offer "Lenten Fish Dinners" or "Friday Fish Fries".  If you are visiting the USA during the Lenten period in early spring, and you see a sign in front of a church or a local firehall that says "Fish Fry",  stop and try it!  You will get a wonderful fish dinner for a very reasonable price.

After Easter when the Lenten period ends, the fish fries will all disappear.  Then, the local churches and firehalls will resort to their other fund raising activity, and you will see signs for "Bingo" in front of those places.  Bingo is a game of chance.  It is a type of gambling favored especially by older ladies.  They gather at the local church social hall or fire hall and pay a few dollars to play bingo.  If they are lucky, they can win free groceries, small appliances, gift items or even some cash. Many church repairs and even some new community fire trucks have been purchased with the proceeds from these bingo games.

Now, gambling is illegal in most states, and bingo is definitely a form of gambling.  Fortunately, the local police never seem to notice that gambling is occurring at these bingo games at the local church or the local fire hall. 

Mardi Gras, Fasching, Carnivale, or whatever you call it is not a big festival in the USA.  In most cities, a few local bars or nightclubs may feature a Mardi Gras party but wide-spread celebration is not common. 

That is not true of New Orleans, Louisiana or in the neighboring Gulf Coast city of Mobile Alabama.  In those places, Mardi Gras is the big event of the year.  They begin celebrating several weeks before "fat Tuesday" by holding nightly parades and culminate the festival with a weekend of revelry.  Social clubs from various neighborhoods throughout the cities have prepared months in advance.  Their volunteer members constructed elaborate floats and fantastic costumes, they practiced musical numbers and dance routines, and they purchase hordes of plastic necklaces, candy and party favors.

On individually designated nights, each social group hosts its parade and competes for the right to say that theirs was the best in the city. Elaborately decorated floats parade down the streets followed by marching bands and spectacularly costumed performers.  From the tops of each float, costumed helpers toss handfuls of plastic necklaces, candies, confections, and party favors into the crowds.  Along the sidewalks, thousands of spectators clutch for the free gifts and vie to see how many plastic Mardi Gras necklaces they can wear around their necks.

Why is Mardi Gras such a madness in and around New Orleans and no where else in the USA?

Perhaps, it is due to the fact that New Orleans is one of the most European influenced cities in the USA.  This Gulf Coast port was once a colony of Spain and also a possession of France before it joined the United States.  It bears the imprint of its Creole background and its Cajun immigrants. 

About three hundred years ago, New Orleans was a wild seaport of the New World, a refuge for pirates, a Mississippi River gateway into the inerior of a largely unexplored new continent. It became a magnet for the unlanded gentry of old Europe who came to seek their fortune in the new lands.  Many of these disposessed gentry settled in New Orleans and formed its Creole community with their European culture, European architecture and European cuisine.

About 250 years ago, England drove many of the French colonists out of Canada through persecution and intimidation.  Many thousands of French Canadians from the Arcadian Peninsula migrated south and sought refuge in New Orleans.  These Arcadians, who eventually became known as Cajuns, brought their own dialect of the French language along with their French Canadian culture and their unique cuisine.

Today, the Creole influence and the Cajun influence are still very apparant in New Orleans.  They are visible in its architecture, in its language and especially in its cuisine.  Combined, they produce a wondeful European, New World culture that is unique in the USA and perhaps in the entire world.  Maybe, that is the reason that Mardi Gras is so popular in this American city.

Times are tough.  We are facing an economic crisis that is the worst in over 7 years.  Our stock market is in shambles.  Our banks are near collapse, and our housing industry is burnt out.

Yet, the mood in the USA is optimistic!  It is not a wild, carefree optimism.  It is more a guarded, wait-and-see optimism. 

Having Barak Obama as our new president is a big part of that optimism.  At the end of eight years, nearly everyone became disenchanted with George Bush and his failed policies.  It was time for a change, so we elected an agent for change.  Obama is an idealist, who campaigned on a message of hope.  After eight years of divisive politics that pitted friend against neighbor, Obama has pledged to bring us back together as one unified nation.  This is the type of leadership that we have been craving in the USA for many years.  Now we have it.

Despite the rough economic times, the majority of the people in the USA now have hope.  They know that we must endure a period of tough life, but they look forward to better days.  Even the conservatives that voted against Obama are looking to him for improvement to our way of life.  Everyone realizes that our president is taking over at a very difficult time, and they know that his job will be very difficult, but they are all wishing him success.

If you come to the USA for a visit, you can find some excellent bargains.  Many of the hotels and tourist attractions are only half full.  The price of gasoline is low.  Transportation costs are down.  Tourist attractions are offering special deals in order to attract more visitors. 

You might be pleasantly suprised to find a very positive attitude from the people in the USA.  Even though unemployment rates are high, and the business activity is depressed, most people are still very optimistic.  They will welcome you into their communities.  They will appreciate your business support, and will share their optimistic views with you.

I recently returned from a short business trip to New York City.  I usually travel to the Big Apple at least two or three times a year, and I love it.  It is a huge vibrant metropolis with an immense selection of entertainment and cultural diversions. I like to attend one of the Broadway, or off-Broadway shows, to visit the museums or the other tourist attractions, to eat in one or more of the huge variety of restaurants and to just absorb the vibrant atmosphere of the city.  Like most US natives that do not live in New York City, I frequently say, "New York City is a great place to visit, but I would not wish to live there."

The reason that I and many other non-New York residents, do not wish to live in the city is mainly due to the cost.  It is a very expensive place to live.  Houses, condominiums and apartments typically cost two or three times the price of similar accommodations in most other cities. The hotel rooms are typically double the price of similar accommodations in other cities.

It has always been a challenge to find decent accommodations at affordable prices in New York City.  After numerous visits to the Big Apple, I was finally able to find a few secret bargains at lesser known but nice hotels.  Every time I went there on a business trip, I stayed in those affordable hotels near the heart of the city in Manhattan.  Recently, it has become much more difficult to find such bargain accommodations.  Most of the inexpensive-but-nice hotels have either disappeared or have raised their prices to the point where they are no longer bargains.

The average price of decent hotel accommodations in New York is now about $300 per night.  There are still some Manhattan hotels in the $200 range but they are typically the less-desirable ones.  The under-$300 hotels are usually older, a bit more dilapidated and often in the inaccessible or insecure neighborhoods. 

For the past year or two, New York has been blessed with a healthy number of visitors vying for a limited supply of hotel rooms.  Most hotels filled up.  As their occupancy rates approached full capacity, the hotels began charging premium rates.  For the past few years there have been almost no "last minute" bargains.  The best prices were to be found only by booking well in advance.  Once any hotel neared full capacity, it usually began charging "last minute gouge the customer" prices. That may now begin to change due to the current economic meltdown.

On recent trips to New York City, I have been forced to look in other areas for bargain hotel accommodations.  Here is what I found:

If you stay outside of Manhattan, it is a bit less convenient, but you can still find bargain accommocations.  When I drive to New York City, I usually stay at hotels in the Secaucus New Jersey area.  This unremarkable little community amidst the commercial and industrial suburbs in New Jersey offers a nice selection of hotels with spacious rooms, free parking, modest prices, and easy access into Manhattan.  Secaucus may not be beautiful, but the accommodations are affordable  and the neighborhood is relatively secure.

Another bargain area for accommodations is the neighbohood surrounding Newark NJ Liberty Airport.  This area is likewise not beautiful but is affordable with easy access into Manhattan.  The commute from Newark to Manhattan is a bit longer than it is from Secaucus. 

I have also stayed on the other side of the city in Brooklyn and Queens.  Most of the affordable hotels in Brooklyn are located in the vicinity of JFK Airport.  These hotel rooms are typically more spacious than those in Manhattan, they are significantly cheaper and parking is much less expensive, but the neighborhoods do not appear to be very secure after dark.

I prefer the accommodations in Queens which are mostly located near La Guardia Airport.  The hotels in this area are typically more spacious than in Manhattan, the parking is cheaper and the neighborhoods are a bit more secure.  A few weeks ago, I stayed at the Wingate Hotel in Flushing New York less than two miles from LaGuardia terminal.  The neighborhood is oriental with Chinese Restaurants, Korean Barbeques, Japanese Sushi Bars and Noodle Houses on every block.  It is a relatively safe neighborhood even after dark.  My room was spacious, clean and in excellent repair.  It cost only $139 and parking was a mere $14 per day.  A similar room would cost $300 in Manhattan with parking adding an additional $35 per day.

I ate dinner at Joe's Shanghai Restaurant just two blocks from the hotel.  It was rated as the best restaurant in that area by Trip Advisor.  This modest establishment was crowded with local residents confirming it as one of the most popular restaurants in that area.  Wow!  It served some of the best Chinese food that I have ever tasted.

After nearly a year of incessant political campaining culminating with a frenetic last few weeks of countless television harangues from the two presidential candidates, the people of the USA have finally chosen a new president.  They elected Barak Obama as the first Afro-American president in the 200+ years history of the USA.

His impressive win included majorites of the voters in many states across the USA.  It included a broad base of support from white, black, asian and hispanic voters.  It included support from urbanites in the major cities and from citizens in small towns and rural communities across the land.  It incuded rich and poor, highly educated and less educated voters.  Such a decisive win indicates the widespread dissatisfaction with the policies of the current political administration and with the thirst for a change in the direction we are headed.

I hope and pray that he can deliver it.

I have been traveling to Europe at least once a year for the past decade.  I know that most of the Europeans that I met were never hostile to the USA nor resentful of it.  They idolized our principals of democracy and freedom. The USA was long viewed as a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world, as the champion of the poor and the opressed, as a protector of human rights and as the shining example of a working democracy. 

Over the past eight years, that image was badly tarnished.  My European friends grew increasingly disappointed.  They saw "preemptive invasions", secret detention centers, condoned torture, imprisonment without trial, and government spying on its own citizens.  "What happened to our beacon of hope?"  "Where is our shining example of freedom and democracy?" they cried.  I understood their disappointment.  Many of us in the USA shared their disappointment.  We yearned for a return to the principals of freedom and democracy that our fathers had long enjoyed.  Our country was primed for a change. 

Yesterday, Barak Obama was chosed as our instrument to bring about that change.

Today the world looks at the USA in admiration and says "If a black man can rise up and become the leader of this great land, then perhaps it is a real democracy after all!"  Most of us in the US share this sentiment.  Today, we are proud to be part of this great country.

We are now into autumn once again, and the annual changes are beginning.  I happen to live in the northeastern part of the USA.  Autumn is a great time of year in this part of the country.

The weather is typically very dry with bright sunny days and cool nights.  You can still work or play outside in short-sleeved shirts and short pants.  In the evening, you can enjoy the cool breezes.  In the night, you can sleep comfortably under a warm blanket.

The grand spectacular annual autumn leaf show will soon begin.  It typically starts in the far northern states like Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire around the first week in October.  The date cannot be accurately predicted, because much depends on the weather and climactic conditions.  The show moves south from there,  In Pennsylvania, we get it around the middle of October.  Further south, it may begin as late as the end of October.

Unfortunately, the far southern states miss out on the annual extravaganza.  In Florida, California, Arizona and Texas, they get milder winters without all of the snow and ice that we experience, but they completely miss the great leaf show every autumn.  In those warm southern states, their vegetation typically turns brown during the hot summers, then green during the cooler, wetter winters and springs. There is no kaliedoscope of colors during the autumn changes.  Many southerners get on tour busses and drive north just to witness our wonderful leaf show.

 All of the northern states experience this autumnal change when the leaves on the trees turn from green to other colors before they drop from the branches. In the northeastern states it is the most spectacular.  We have forests of mixed hardwood trees including maples, ash, oak, cherry and walnut.  Each variety produces a different range of hues during the autumn change.  The various varieties of maple produce a vibrant array of bright reds, yellows and oranges.  The oaks produce shades of carmine, brown and cordovan.  Sumacs turn flaming crimson.  Some of the trees even retain their green until the end of the show.  Together, they make a kaliedoscope of polychromatic vistas that completely envelop the hills and valleys.

Unfortunately, the show only lasts a few weeks.  In the beginning, the forests are predominately green with a few flares of red or yellow from individual maple trees.  Within days, the color spreads to include more and more trees, until the whole forest is a profusion of color with bits of green from the last holdouts scattered throughout.  By the end of the second week, many of the leaves have dropped to the ground, and the remaining colors are beginning to fade to shades of brown and tan.  Eventually, all of the leaves are on the floor of the forest and the trees sadly display only naked branches and twigs.

If youi want to see this spectacular leaf show, plan on visiting the northeastern states sometime during October.  Vermont is a popular tourist destination during this time of the year.  It has rolling hills and lofty mountains all covered with mixed hardwood forests.  The leaf show is extremely picturesque in that state. I would plan on visiting during the first or second week of October.  The show should be well underway at that time.

If you visit Pennsylvania or New York, you should time your visit a bit later in the month.  The show should reach its peak around the third week in October.  In West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, it will probably peak by the end of October.

I recently drove from Las Vegas Nevada to Death Valley California.  This is only a short drive of about 100 miles, but it takes you over the mountains and through the barren Sonoran Desert.  It turned out to be a very interesting excursion into the picturesque countryside of the still wild West.

I drove through the Amargosa Valley, a vast expanse of dry sand and rock strewn flats able to support only widely scattered brown shrubs and a few cactus.  The bare lifeless mountains that deliniated the sides of the valley were visible miles off to the side of Interstate 95.  In this country, you tend to watch your fuel gauge as towns, service stations and other signs of civilization are few and far between.

  I noticed the occassional dirt roads that extended straight across the valley floor for miles until they disappeared into the mountains.  They were guarded by wire fences with signs warning away visitors.  We were at the periphery of the Nevada Test Site, a government proving grounds for all the secret weaponry being developed far away from prying eyes.  This was also the proposed location of the controversial Yucca Mountain underground radioactive waste depository.  Across those mountains in the most inaccessable parts of this desert landscape lay Area 51, that top secret retreat where the US government had purportedly secreted captured alien spacecraft and the bodies of alien creatures.

At the turnoff to the Death Valley area, our map indicated a small town.  What we found was a few widely scattered mobile homes parked in the desert, one boaded up restaurant, and a combination service station, general store, diner and brothel. The convenience store part of the big dilapidated building had an array of nearly empty shelves, the restaurant in the back claimed to serve hamburgers, fries and sandwiches, but no waitress was anywhere to be found.  The old bearded man at the cash register was on the telephone the entire while we were there, and only bothered to glance up to take our money.  The nicest part of this desert waystation was the neatly painted double-wide mobile home in the back with its big bright sign proclaiming it to be the "Cherry Patch II" house of prostitution.

Route 373 went through more desolate landscape occasionally interspersed with an oasis of green mesquite trees and a few houses indicating a local supply of water.  Other than one modern casino inconguously located in this god-forsaken land at the end of the civilized world, there were no amenities such as service stations, restaurants or stores to be found. The road eventually brought us to Death Valley Junction, an almost ghost town at an isolated desert crossroads.

The Amargosa hotel was the most impressive building in this nearly deserted community.  A long low white adobe building with an inviting shaded veranda along its whole length was the only well maintained structure in the town.  The remaining cottages, stores, and industrial builings were in various states of disrepair and ruin.  We met Richard, self appointed mayor, sheriff and one third of the population of Death Valley Junction.  He explained how Marta Bennett, a ballet dancer from New York City had come to the deserted town in 1967 and decided to make it her home.  She refurbished the old theater and reopened it as the Amargosa Opera House. 

For over 40 years, Marta has produced theatrical productions in her opera house.  She constructed her own scenery and lighting, her own costumes and stage props.  She even painted the walls of the opera with elaborate murals of an appreciative audience.  Marta used to dance ballet, but at 80+ years of age, she now restricts herself to singing and acting.  Marta still lives in Death Valley Junction, and she still performs her show every Saturday evening to guests who come from around the world just to see this opera in the desert.  Marta is a unique character, but the desert seems to attract unique characters. 

Death Valley is a starkly beautiful but severe landscape with an extremely challenging environment.  The temperature reached 120 F (47 C) during the middle of the day.  The heat was oppressive, and I clung to the shelter of any bit of shade I could find.  The gleaming white salt flats nearly blinded me with sunlight reflected from its burning surface where temperatures were hot enough to fry an egg or bake a cake. 

I could easily understand why they named this place "Death Valley".  I had more difficulty comprehending how prospectors and miners could ever have lived in such a severe environment.  The thirst for gold and for riches from the mineral deposits must have been very compelling for anyone to brave such conditions. 

On the way back to Las Vegas, I passed through the thriving desert community of Pahrump.  It has shopping malls, restaurants, casinos and even a bit of industrial development.  It is most famous for being one of the maverick communities that has permitted the legalization of prostitution.  Brothels are scattered around the outskirts of Pahrump. 

It is here that Heidi Fleis, the notorious Hollywood Madam who ran an escort service to provide prostitutes to movie stars and other famous movie executives until she was arrested, has taken up residence.  With plans to open a Brothel, named "the Stud Farm" that catered to women customers, she took up residents in Pahrump and began a long feud with the existing Brothel owners and with the local authorities.  Heidi never opened her brothel, but she still lives in the local desert with dozens of parrots, Macaws and other tropical birds.  Another desert character.

In tales of the old times, the wild west was a very inhospitable place populated by many strange and interesting characters.  It hasn't changed much. 

We call them eighteen wheelers.  They are the large tractor-semi-trailor rigs that haul goods across the USA on the network of Interstate highways.  The front part of the rig is the actual truck or tractor, while the back two thirds of the rig is really a semi-trailer attached to it. The tractor part has ten wheels, two on the front axle for steering and eight more configured as four sets of dual wheels on its two rear axles.  These immensly powerful tractors usually pull a semi trailer that is supported by the tractor on the front end while the back end rides on eight wheels distributed as another four sets of dual wheels on two axles.  The entire rig is typically over twenty meters long and has a combined total of eighteen wheels.

If you drive on any interstate highway in the USA, you will see hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of these eighteen wheelers.  Typically, the majority of them will be long-distance haulers.  They might be hauling steel from Chicago to Los Angeles, or hauling fresh fruit from Florida to Boston, or hauling tanks of industrial chemicals from New Orleans to Denver. These "big rigs" transport much of our industrial, agricultural and manufacured goods across long distances.

Some of the eighteen wheelers are company owned equipment operated by employee drivers, however the majority are independent owner-operated rigs.  The independent operator is someone who has borrowed sufficient money from the bank to purchase his own expensive tractor.  It typically costs the driver more than the home he lives in, and is usually his single most valuable possession. 

An owner operator of a tractor usually contracts with one or more freight companies to haul semi-trailers from one destination to another.  He gets paid by the mile.  Out of the haulage fee, the operator must pay for his own fuel, maintenence, insurance and traveling expense. 

You can easily discriminate between the independently owned and operated rigs versus the company owned ones.  A company owned truck will usually be a dirty drab affair with very little added amenities.  An independantly owned rig will normally by a bright clean shiny truck with beautiful paint, lots of chrome plated accessories, numerous marker lights and possibly an elaborately painted name and picture on its door.  The independant owner-operator values his truck very highly, and takes great pride in its appearance.

Truck stops are special refueling stations catering to the needs of truckers.  They can be found at various locations along the interstate highways.  In addition to widely spaced refueling pumps and a huge parking lot, most truck stops also feature a restaurant, a convenience store, restrooms, bathing facilities and specialty shops offering all sorts of trucker paraphenalia.  You can visit a truck stop even if you are only driving a little "four wheeler".  If you visit one in the late evening hours, you will typically find many big rigs parked in the lot while their operators rest or sleep in their rigs. 

If you carefully stroll through a truck stop parking lot, you can admire the beautifully painted and highly decorated Macks, Kenworths, GMCs and Peterbilts. Most independant truckers are very friendly.  They will proudly show you their beloved rig and will tell you about their life and career as a long distance trucker.  They may even show you the interior of their truck.  Most independantly owned trucks are equipped with an array of amenities to make life on the road more bearable.  They will likely have a great music systems, two-way radios, navigation systems, computers, and in the back sleeper section, televisions with DVD players.

These guys spend three fourths of their life on the road in their truck.  Yes, they are mostly men, but there are some women drivers as well.  A few young truckers, are even accompanied by their spouses.    

Truckers communicate with each other via citizens band (CB) radios,  You can purchase a citizen band radio, install it in your car, tune it to channel 19 and listen to the truckers' conversations on the road.  If you learn a bit of the jargon, you can even communicate with the truckers.  They have a quaint and colorful way of speaking on the radio.  A "smokey" or a "bear" is a police officer. A "picture taker" is a policeman with a radar speed gun.  A "plain wrapper" is an unmarked police car.  When you hear a trucker say, "I saw a bear rolling east and advertising at 334, and a plain wrapper in the grass taking pictures at 385."  It means he spotted a patrol car driving east with lights flashing near mile post 334 and an unmarked police car with radar gun in the medial strip of the highway near mile marker 385".

If you come to the USA and do a bit of driving on your vacation, stop at a truck stop along the Interstate highway to see this bit of unique US culture.  Just look for signs at the interchanges that advertise "Petro", "Flying J" or "Travel
Centers of America".  These are just a few of the national truckstop chains.  There are many others.

I frequently receive e-mail questions concerning driving on extensive road trips across the USA and about buying a car to drive around the USA.  Here are a few things I have learned after many years of driving in the USA and a few tips on how to best plan a driving vacation in the USA.

First of all, you must understand that the USA is a large country.  The 48 contiguous states of the USA cover a land mass that is 4,000 km wide from east to west and nearly 3,000 km from north to south. The huge seperated landmass known as the state of Alaska lies over 4,000 km north of the other states.  Driving across the USA or between widely seperate sites can be quite a daunting task.

Driving along the East Coast from New York City in the North to Miami Florida at its southern tip is a typical journey for vacationing motorists.  The trip is about 2,000 km long and requires nearly 20 hours of continuous driving.  It can be done in a single day if you forgo sleep and stop only for refueling, eating and restroom breaks.  Some adventuresome people, such as carloads of students on Spring Break during March, have done this, but it tends to be a grueling and exhausting pace.  Most people take two days to complete the trip with an overnight stop near the midpoint.  It still requires two days of extensive driving.  If you are on a leisurely vaction, and prefer to see many of the attractions along the way, this becomes a three-day drive.

Driving cross country from the East Coast to the West Coast, such as a trip from New York City to Los Angeles, is a 5,000 km journey that requres at least 50 hours of continuous driving.  Theoretically, it could be done in little more than two days, but most people would spend at least four or five days to complete such a journey.  If you are on a leisurely vacation and intent on seeing some of the attractions along the way, you would make it a two week journey.  Few residents of the USA would attempt such a journey.  It requires too much driving time, and you would spend most of your vacation behind the steering wheel of the car with little time to enjoy your vacation.  US natives would rather take an airplane from New York to Los Angeles, then rent a car to explore the West Coast.

Some overseas visitors write to me saying, "I want to see the country and to meet the people by driving across the USA".  I personally have seen much of my country and met many of its people.  I believe we have many wonderful thing to see and to do in the USA, but not every part of our country is very interesting.  When you drive across the Great Plains of the Midwest, and you have spent ten hours staring out of your windshield at a road that stretches straight ahead until it disappears on the horizon with both sides lined by mile after mile of monotonous grain fields, you will eventually say, "Why am I doing this?"

If you really want to see the USA and to meet the people, just choose an interesting part of the country and spend a week or two in that area,  Then, hop on an airplane and go to another interesting area of the USA and spend another week or two exploring that.

People constantly ask me about the feasability of buying a car in the USA to explore the country, then selling it.  Here is my succinct response:  "Do not do it!"  It is not difficult to buy or sell a car in the USA, but it is very difficult to obtain the necessary permits to drive that car.  If you are not a resident of the USA with a permanent adress in one of the states, it can be nearly impossible to register a car and legally drive it.  I know that renting a car for an extended period can be expensive, but it will be far easier than trying to drive a car that you purchase.

Other people ask me about buying a car in the USA to ship overseas.  This is a much easier task as long as you do not drive the car in the USA.  You could fly to New York City, take a bus or drive a rental car to the largest Corvette dealer in the USA near Atlantic City,  purchase a new or used Corvette in less than an hour, have the Corvette delivered to the seaport in Newark New Jersey or in Baltimore Maryland, and have it shipped overseas.   All of this could easily be accomplished in one day.

Next Monday, May 26, is Memorial Day in the USA.  This federal holiday is annually held on the last Monday in May.  It was originally instituted to commemorate all the US soldiers that died in battle.  Now, it has many meanings for the citizens of the USA.  It is still a day of rememberance for our fallen soldiers.  It is also a day when many people visit the cemetaries to plant flowers on the graves of their deceased friends and relatives.  For most people, it is the official beginning of the Summer vacation season.  Schools all over the USA begin their annual Summer vacation breaks soon after Memorial Day.  In the northern states, swimming pools, amusement parks and other vacation attractions open on this day.  For many people this is an occasion for the first picnic or outdoor party of the season.

Cities and towns across the USA hold commemoration ceremonies and parades on Memorial Day weekend.  One of the most poignant ceremonies on this weekend is held in Washington DC at the Vietnam Memorial.

The Vietnam War was a deeply devisive event in modern US history that occured between 1959 and 1975.  To this day, many people believe that it was an unnecessary conflict that sacrificed over 50,000 US soldiers for an ambiguous and useless cause.  To this day, many other people believe that the Vietnam war was an essential battle for freedom and democracy angainst communism.

The Vietnam Memorial was completed in 1982 to commemorate those who fell in battle during this long period of combat.  It is a monument of simplistic design located near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. It is composed of two 75 meter long walls of black granite forming a "V" sunken below ground level.  Each wall tapers from 20 cm to 3 meters at their junction. Each wall has 72 highly polished black granite panels engraved with the names of the 58,256 soldiers who died in Vietnam.  The names are arranged chronologically by the date they fell.

The monument itself was born in controversy.  Many Vietnam War veterans thought this simplistic design was too insignificantt, that it demeaned the memory of their fallen comrades.  They called it "the wall of shame" and "the black ditch".  They demanded a more traditional war memorial monument.  The planners compromised by adding a bronze statue depicting three Vietnam combat soldiers near the wall.  A few years later, a second bronze statue depicting three women veterans was added in the vicinity.

From the moment it was completed, this monument proved to be the most emotionally inspiring war memorial in the USA.  At first, some of the Vietnam veterans were afraid to approach it.  They stood in the trees one hundred meters away and stared at the monument for hours.  Other veterans came to the wall and searched out the names of their fallen comrades.  When they found the name, they touched it and wept openly.  Friends and family members came from across the USA, sought out the names of their loved ones and made tracings of the inscription.  They began to leave mementos at the base of the wall.

The mourners left flowers, cards, letters, photos, death notices and press clippings. They left flags, hats, items of clothing, military medals and patches, toys, dolls, stuffed animals and every imaginable personal item.  They even left packs of cigarettes, bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, packs of playing cards, cans of food, and all sorts of items that had special significance to their memory of the lost comrade.  A group of veterans from Wisconsin left a Harley Davidson motorcycle decorated with the names of all their MIA (missimg in action) comrades.  At first, the National Park Service kept the items in a storage shed.  Now, they routinely place items in an historical archive and display some of them in a hastily constructed museum near the monument.  The NPS plans to construct an underground museum to house and display this growing archive near the Vietnam memorial.

In May 1987, several motorcycle riding Vietnam War veterans suggested a way to commemorate their fallen comrades and to raise people's awareness of the prisoners or war and missing in action (POW-MIA) that remain unaccounted for.  They organized a motorcycle rally for the memorial day weekend and named it "Rolling Thunder".   Every memorial day since then, Washington DC has become the destination for tens of thousands of motocycle riders on the memorial day weekend.

This weekend, motorcycles will be on the highways from all across the USA.  They will come by ones and twos, by groups of a dozen or more and in packs of hundreds.  All of them will be heading to Washington DC.  As many as 50,000 motorcycles will converge there for the weekend.  On Friday evening, they will hold a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Memorial.  On Saturday, they will attend concerts, and outdoor barbeques.  On Sunday morning, the motorcycles will assemble at the Pentagon; then precisely at noon, tens of thousands of motorcyles will slowly ride to the Vietnam Memorial.  Many of them will be flying large US flags and black POW-MIA flags.  Washington DC will truly hear the sound of Rolling Thunder.

There will be speeches and ceremonies commemorating the fallen and missing Vietnam War dead.  That is the typical fare of memorial day ceremonies.  You can find that in every city. 

If you want to see the real poinancy of war and remembrance, just go to the Vietnam Memorial anytime during the Memorial Day weekend.  You will see the grizzled veterans with their gray hair and their long gray beards, dressed in combinations of Vietnam era uniforms adorned with medals, combat fatigues covered with military patches and black leather motorcycle attire decorated with Vietnam War scenes.  They still go to the wall to touch the names of their comrades fallen over forty years ago.  They still weep openly.  
 

With Spring weather approaching in the Northern States, some of the usual Summertime activities are starting once again.  One of these typical summer activities is the car cruises.  They are popular all over the USA, and they usually occur on weekends.  Every town seems to have at least one weekly rendevous spot for car cruising.  The larger towns and cities have several.  Usually they take place at a local drive-in restaurant or drive-in ice cream shop.  Sometimes, they convene at an old drive-in theater or even at a local baseball field or parking lot.

Local residents come to show off their cars.  Some of them have classic cars, or old-time antiques.  Some of them have hot rods, street racers or modified stock cars.  Some have muscle cars or simply stock cars that are particularly fine.  It is not uncommon to see hundreds or even thousands of cars at some of the larger cruises.  Typically, they line up their cars in rows, then open their hoods to reveal their souped up, crome plated, decked out powerhouse engines. 

Sometimes, the owners of similar vehicles cluster together in a certain area.  You may see dozens of Corvettes lined up on one side of the field.  There will be new ones, older ones and some real classics.  They will be in every color, even some with custom candy apple red paint, pearlescent glow or metallic sparkle paint.  Some will have modifications of the engine or even the body of the car.   Their hoods will be open and the glow of chromium plated engine components will glitter in the sun.  The proud owners will be sitting in lawn chairs next to their vehicle or will be hovering over it with a cloth to keep the dust from dampening the sheen of their baby.

There are usually numerous muscle cars and plenty of old classics like the 55 Chevy, the 56 Ford Thunderbird, any model of the Ford Mustang and the GTO.  You can even spot some rare classics like the old Nash Rambler, the Henry J, or the Hudson.  The Hot Rods will be there, especially the modified 32 Ford Coupe and the old Pickup Truck.  There will be chopped and channeled 49 Mercuries and severely modified classics from the 50s and 60s.  The owners of these old-time, classics and hot rods will typically be middle aged or greater with gray hair. 

Most of these older car afficianados have lovingly restored these old classic cars of their youth, and they bring them to the car cruise to show them off to their friends and their neighbors. 

The younger crowd will also be at the car cruises.  They will typically bring big wheeled trucks with massive off-road tires and chrome decorations, or they will bring low riders and souped up street racers.

Most of the car cruises are very informal affairs.  Everyone sits around and drinks beer from their personal cooler, or wanders around visiting the other car owners and sharing drinks.  Radios or boom boxes will be playing music at many locations.  For the classic car owners, the preferred music is usually old time rock and roll and pop music from the 50s and 60s.  The younger crowd usually prefers rap or current hit parade music.  Some folks will be blaring country and western.

Guests are always welcome.  There is typically no admission charge.  You can park your car on the sidelines, unless it is really fine; in that case, you line it up with all the other beauties.  You can walk around, take photos and visit with the car owners.  Most owners are more than eager to show you their pride and joy.

When visiting the USA, if you are in a town or city on a weekend, just ask around about local car cruises.  If you search hard enough, you will likely find the location of one or more car cruises that take place on a regular basis.