TripCart :: The Travel Blog

Mall Traffic Up for 2009 Holiday Season

Well, the data for the 2009 holiday season is in and our statistics person at TripCart reports some interesting trends in shopping mall visits. Of course, we don't know how many people actually went to these malls or if they spent money. Those stats may be released months from now and may send the stock market shooting up (or not).

But, we do know how many people are searching for shopping malls and ending up at TripCart and we can say that the 2009  holiday showed much stronger performance than 2008. We saw that trend starting around Thanksgiving.

For no apparent reason, these malls showed the best year over year growth on TripCart:

• Bellevue Mall
• Northgate Mall Seattle
• Alderwood Mall Washington
• Tulalip Outlet Mall
• International Mall Tampa
• Orland Park Mall
• Del Amo Mall
• Oxford Valley Mall
• Clackamas Town Center
• Sears Outlet Discover Mills

Here's to many more mall searches and visits in 2010!

Michael Jackson Concert Venues

As a tribute to Michael Jackson, we dug through the web to list some significant Michael Jackson concert venues in the United States. His last concert as part of a world tour in the United States was on January 27, 1989 (20 YEARS AGO!) in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, not far at all from Staples Center.

Other stops on the Bad World Tour were in:

• Kemper Arena in Kansas City
• Madison Square Garden in New York
• St. Louis Arena (demolished)
• Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY
• McNichols Sports Arena in Denver (demolished)
• Hartford Civic Center
• The Summit in Houston (now Lakewood Church)
  
• The Omni in Atlanta (demolished)
• Rosemont Horizon in Chicago
• Reunion Arena in Dallas
• Met Center in Minneapolis (demolished)
• Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (now known as Verizon Wireless - not to be confused with the Verizon Wireless in Virginia)
• The Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit
• Capital Centre (demolished) in Washington DC
• Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland
• The Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey
• Civic Arena (now called the Mellon Arena) in Pittsburgh

Prior to that - The Jackson's 1984 Victory Tour took him to 17 US cities:

• Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO
• Texas Stadium in Dallas
• Gator Bowl in Jacksonville
• Giants Stadium in New Jersey
• Madison Square Garden in NY
• RFK Stadium in Washington, DC
• Neyland Stadium  in Knoxville
• Pontiac Silverdome  in Detroit
• Rich Stadium  in Buffalo
• JFK Stadium  in Philadelphia (demolished)
• Mile High Stadium  Denver
• Comiskey Park in  Chicago
• Cleveland Stadium
• Fulton County Stadium in  Atlanta (demolished)
• Miami's Orange Bowl
• Houston Astrodome
• Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

The Jackson's 1981 Triumph Tour took him to 39 US cities. I will list them in a future post (assuming this post is well received by MJ fans)

Interested in a pilgrimage to sites of his more recent appearances:

• Performed Rock With You as part of the 1980 UNICEF Benefit Concert at Nassau Coliseum in New York
• On Sept 10, 2001 (and three days before) at Madison Square Garden in New York
• United We Stand: What More Can I Give charity concert (for Sept 11 victims) at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC
• Pasadena, California - as part of "American Bandstand 50th.. A Celebration:"
• Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York in 2002, his final appearance in the United States

To the best of my knowledge, Michael Jackson never performed on Broadway, but he did perform with the Jackson 5 at Radio City Music Hall.

Southwest and Bar Refaeli help TripCart kick off Beach season

While half of the United States is buried in snow, Southwest airlines has decided to help out TripCart and cheer up the freezing citizens of the east coast by kicking off Beach Season. They even went to the trouble of painting a plane that will inspire people to plan their beach vacation on TripCart. You should not have trouble spotting this plane, pictured above but for the die-hard aviation nuts out there, the plane can be identified by the FAA Registration number on the tail of the 737-7H4 model, which is:

N922WN

Here are some popular beach destinations that Southwest flies to:

When you are finished with the Orlando, Florida places to visit, head to the coast for more places to visit in Florida -caladesi island state park, bathtub beach and sebastian inlet.

All over California - from glass beach in the north through pismo beach and  bolsa chica beach all the way to blacks beach in San Diego.Besides beaches, there are certainly lots of places to visit around Los Angeles, California

Besides the Norfolk, VA James river cruises, down the coast from Norfolk into North Carolina, follow in the footsteps of the Wright Brothers (without whom Bar Refaeli might not be decaled onto a 737) and visit Wrightsville Beach,Hammocks Beach State Park or Hatteras Beach.

And if a subway ride from JFK is about as exotic as you are getting this summer, head to Riis Beach, Orchard Beach in the Bronx, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn or - if you are a fan of the Ramones - Rock Rock Rock Rock Rockaway Beach. Then head back to the city and enjoy some of the fun things to do in Manhattan and NYC.

DOH!

Do your part to promote beer literacy by learning the art of beer tasting. The AHA (American Homebrewers Association) invites YOU to join the ranks of the few, the proud, and the lucky men and women of America who are trained with discriminating abilities to drink beer. YOU can become a beer judge, too, and travel around the U.S. chillaxing and drinking. I’m thisclose to quitting my day job… Every year over 100 beer judges judge 2,300 beers at Denver, Colorado’s Great American Beer Festival. For three days straight at the beginning of October, these guys get to drink beers and give out medals to their favorites. In 2007, 25,000 gallons of beer “flowed.” (And it would be a huge shame to go all the way to Denver and not check out the Coors Brewery, the world’s largest brewery on a single site.) The Madison Homebrewers & Tasters Guild sponsors the Big & Huge Homebrew Competition in April (we just missed it). Wisconsin is home to great breweries, including Miller Brewing Company, Sprecher Brewing Company, Lakefront Brewery, Capital Brewing Company, and more! The Oregon Brewers Festival is in July at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland. Drink and listen to great music for four days straight. And east of Portland, in the town of Hood River, you can visit the Full Sail Brewing Company, get a free tour, and relax with some beers out on the brewery deck overlooking the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area — what a life! It’s like Benjamin Franklin said, so many years ago, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Amen, Brothah!

Beautiful Early Vegas Photos

If you're traveling to Las Vegas soon and want to see some great pictures of how The Strip used to look there are some great photos over at EarlyVegas.com

(thanks presurfer)

Related posts: Another 38,000+ Hotel Rooms Coming to Las Vegas • The Most Luxurios Spots in Las Vegas • Las Vegas Casinos Go Boom • Bye, Bye Stardust • Recycling Vegas • Top 10 Cities For One Night Stands (and Singles)

Related travel guides: Places to Visit in Las Vegas and the Nevada desert • Casino Gambling in Las Vegas and the Nevada desert

Blake Lewis Beatboxes Like No Other [Video]

We were digging around Seattle doing some research and came across this amazing video of Blake Lewis beatboxing like a madman at the Columbia City Theater.  The song is called "She Loves the Way."

(thanks yesbutnobutyes)

Finding Salvation at the Salton Sea

Salvation Mountain is 50 feet high and 150 feet wide and is made mostly from straw, clay and heaps of paint.  This folk art created by Leornard Knight proclaims that "God is Love."  Joe Reifer was there recently and you can take a gander at some of his great photos from the place.  If you're tooling around the Salton Sea, definitely make a detour to visit Leonard and his amazing folk art.

Write on Your City

Axel Albin and Josh Kamler live in a neighborhood of San Francisco known as the Mission. Over the summer they started noticing more and more graffiti in the form of messages popping up all over the area and decided to document it on their website writtenonthecity.com - it's a good place to kill some time.  The next time you're in San Francisco, stop by and add your own graffiti to the conversation.

(thanks randomgoodstuff)

Related posts: Cultural Overload in San Francisco • Biking Like a Dork in San Francisco • Finding Salvation at the Salton Sea • AirTran's Passengers: 1 | Toddlers: 0 • The Dance of the Flight Attendant • Central California Coast is on the Map! • Walk Down the Street with Google Maps Street View • Watch Where You Park in Baltimore • San Francisco trip

Related travel guides: Hotels around San Francisco, California • Luxury vacations around San Francisco, California • Romantic vacations around San Francisco, California • Wineries around Napa Valley, California • Kids and Family activities around San Francisco, California

Steve's Weird House in Seattle

Steve's a weirdo and his house is even odder. His Victorian house is decked from floor to ceiling with all sorts of crazy crap.  Stephen has a two-faced pig, cow and kitten and siamese calves, weasels and goats. The man collects anything esoteric and his abode is a great place to just walk around and gape.  There's a great virtual tour which tries to encapsulate the weirdness that is Steve's house.  If you're in Seattle in the near future, this is definitely worth checking out.

(thanks ursi)

Related posts: The Burt Reynolds Museum in Jupiter • Recycling Vegas • Write on Your City • Bubble Gum Alley in SLO

Related travel guides: Northwest Washington and the Cascades

A Jeannie in the Jim Beam

TripCart's been hanging around the distilleries of Bourbon Country in Kentucky and it turns out that bottle Larry Hagman found on the beach in the classic TV show "I Dream of Jeannie" actually housed two spirits: Jim Beam and Barbara Eden. The 1964 decanter of Beam's Choice was used after the bottle had been painted with gold leaf to look more antiquated.  There's a bit of controversey over who first decided to use the bottle but most evidence points to first season director Gene Nelson.  Over the years the props department used several different bottles adding more ornate decoration after the show began to air in color. Appparently several bottles were used during the pilot episode's opening beach sequence.

 

An Outkast in Arizona

What do you get when you mix a hippie with Andre 3000 in the desert? A great cover of Outkast's Hey Ya. We've been checking out the best of the best for our Arts and Entertainment section of our new Southern Arizona guide that should be out later this week and came across this amazing video of Mat Weddle from the local band Obadiah Parker playing in Tempe, Arizona. Enjoy.

(thanks fosfor)

Update: Torrent link for mp3 file