TripCart :: The Travel Blog

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.

Top Ten Aquariums for Kids in the US

Some very dedicated mother travels all over the states with her kids while her husband works in what seems to me like a top secret government position. She posted at The Vacationer that she likes taking the kids to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. What Sharon didn’t mention, is that the National Aquarium in Baltimore ranks (just barely) in Parent’s Magazine’s Top Ten Aquariums for Kids in the U.S.

For your trip planning pleasure, here’s the list and their rankings:

1. Monterey Bay Aquarium
2. Georgia Aquarium
3. John G. Shedd Aquarium
4. New England Aquarium
5. The Florida Aquarium
6. Aquarium of the Pacific
7. Atlantis Marine World
8. Oregon Coast Aquarium
9. Sea World in San Antonio, San Diego, and Orlando
10. National Aquarium

This definitely narrows down my way too long zoos & aquariums list from Feb. 17, 2008.

Planning my friend’s trip to St. Louis, while I should be doing my OWN work!

I have a very busy friend who’s going on a business trip to Missouri and is bringing her 2 kids and their au pair who will have a car and liberty to take the kids all over the St. Louis area entertaining, which their mom is working. Since she knows I spend all day online reading and writing, she asked me to come with a list of activities for her family to partake in during their little vacation. And it is true, I enjoy nothing more than planning trips. Anyways, here are my findings, read the reviews, looked at pictures, and they all check out—thought I’d share...

1. The Butterfly House
2. Grant’s Farm
3. Missouri Botanical Gardens
4. Saint Louis Zoo
5. Jamestown Mall

They’ll only be there for 3 days, so I think this should be plenty.

Top 10 Cities For One Night Stands (and Singles)

Those wacky guys over at Forbes have just released their list of the best cities for single folk.  The criteria for decoding how single-friendly a city is was determined by a ranking of culture, nightlife, job growth, cost of living, number of single people, and how easy it is to get some via online dating services.  So if you're traveling in the near future and want to make sure you run into your fair share of eligible single people here are the top 10 cities where you should put in some face time-

1. San Francisco
2. New York
3. Los Angeles
4. Atlanta
5. Chicago
6. Washington D.C.
7. San Diego
8. Seattle
9. Dallas
10. Philadelphia

We don't get how Philly could be better for singles than Miami or Vegas nor does it make sense that Portland (#29) ranks lower than Memphis (#23), unless there's just a lot more people trolling Craigslist in Tennessee.

Here are the cities that ranked #1 in each of the different categories-

• Culture - San Francisco
• Nightlife - New York
• Singles - New Orleans
• Job growth - Austin
• Cost of living alone - Dallas and Denver
• Online dating - Houston

Top 10 Labor Day Destinations

According to Hotwire, the place to be this Labor Day weekend will be Chi-town.  This is the second year in a row that the Windy City has been the country's favorite place to vacation before wrapping up the summer.  Here's the full list of the top 10 with last year's ranking in parenthesis:

1. Chicago (1)
2. New York City (18)
3. Atlanta (4)
4. St. Louis (12)
5. Boston (6)
6. San Francisco (5)
7. New Orleans (21)
8. Las Vegas (13)
9. San Diego (3)
10. Norfolk-Virginia Beach (34)

It sure is nice to see that New Orleans is making a comeback.

Harnessing the Wizzdom of the Crowds

It seems that whenever we travel around there's a general dearth of public bathrooms available.  MizPee hopes to garner the "wizzdom" of the crowds by helping you find an appropriate place to potty.  The service can be accessed by either sending your city and state in a text message to 415-350-2290 or by using your mobile phone to navigate to their website: www.mizpee.com - just give them your whereabouts and they'll help you find a place to make a wee: "MizPee finds the closest, cleanest toilet and gives you entertaining reading material once you get there. Since the service is cell phone-based, it's always with you, when you really need it."  Awesome.

World's Most Expensive Hotel Room to Get Trashed In

You've just won the lottery and you're looking to throw a bash in a hotel, but where to go?  Forbes has just compiled their list of the most expensive hotel room suites in the world.  So once you've gotten done puking in a bathroom bigger than a two-car garage you can expect to pay a whopping $25,000 a night for the Two Story Sky Villa at the Palms Fantasy Suites in Las Vegas.  You can pack 250 people into living room and another 50 on the balcony overlooking the strip.  The other American hotels to make their list was the 2,600-square-foot Presidential Suite and the Mandarin Oriental in New York and the two-bedroom Grand Suite at the Grand Wailea Resort in Hawaii - both of which run $15,000 a night.

related travel topics: luxury vacations in Las Vegas - luxury vacations in New York City - luxury vacations in Big Island Hawaii

New Street Furniture in New York

The Big Apple just dropped the big sum of a billion bucks for 3500 bus stations, 330 news stands (shown in the picture above), and 20 public toilets that will soon be popping up all over the city.  The new street candy was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw Architects and is composed of 95% recyclable materials.  We like the look (TreeHugger has shots of the other installations) but we would have preferred something that looked a little more old school.

(thanks treehugger )

Air Fares Still on the Rise

Tickets prices in the US continue to rise and are at their highest levels since 2000 according to the US Bureau of Transportation.  Average ticket prices have risen another 3.4% to a high of $378 but are still about $20 short of 2000's record high.  According to the report the most expensive airports to fly into these days are Anchorage, followed by Cincinnati, Honolulu, San Francisco and New York's John F. Kennedy.  The cheapest place to fly into is Dallas' Love Field followed by the ghetto Midway Airport in Chicago. 

The Truth is out There in New Mexico

New Mexico done went and got themselves a sense of humor and their new tourism advertisements playing up their association with Area 51 are pretty hilarious.  Unfortunately we couldn't embed the video of their ads here but hop on over to their New Mexico, Earth web site and check out their new ad campaign.

Top 10 Cities to Feed Your Face

We're suckers for top 10 lists and Forbes Traveler has been kind enough to put together their thoughts on which ten cities in America have the best grub.  Their ranking are based on several criteria: # of restaurants, # of fine dining restaurants, representation of regional cuisine, # of second-tier restaurants, # and depth of ethnic restaurants (extra points for a Chinatown), # of neighborhood restaurants frequented by locals, and the number of travelers who think eating out in the city is one of its highlights.  And here is the definitive list of America's best restaurant cities-

• New York - Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, TriBeCa, NoLita, the Lower East Side and many many more
• Chicago - counter service at Avec to a 22-course experience at Alinea
• San Francisco - a great city to Asian in from Bong Su in Market to Green's at Fort Mason
• Los Angeles - lots of celebs, great sushi and the best new steakhouse in the US (Wolfgang Puck's CUT)
• New Orleans - still recovering from Katrina but most restaurants have made a strong rebound
• Houston - here you'll find New Texas cuisine and Nuevo Latino food, head to San Antonio for more traditional TexMex
• Washington, D.C. - great international cuisine and the country's finest classic Spanish restaurant Taberna Alabardera
• Atlanta - Hotlanta's Midtown and Buckhead neighborhoods are full of great southern flare
• Boston - from French to ethnic, there's just about everything somewhere in Beantown
• Las Vegas - those free lunch buffets at the casino just keep getting better and better

Click here for the picture slideshow.

Stairway to Heaven Leads to Myrtle Beach?

Led Zeppelin may already be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but we're sure they were jealous when Disney decided to build an Aerosmith roller coaster in Orlando in 1999.  Finally, the fates have smiled on Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and by 2008 Myrtle Beach will be graced with a 15-story looping steel roller coaster that promises to get the Led out.  It will be one of the signature rides at the newly constructed 140-acre Hard Rock theme park.  The park's CEO is thrilled with the cross-generational marketing opportunities: "Led Zeppelin are the icons of hard-rock music, parents and kids alike can relate to the band's music."

(thanks usatoday)

10 Overlooked Travel Cities

If you're in the mood for a little R&R and don't feel like hitting vacation meccas like Chicago, San Francisco or New York, maybe you should check out some of the more overlooked cities in our fair country.  According to MSNBC, these second-tier cities have "great art scenes, friendly locals, delectable cuisine and rich history."  Here's the rundown on their suggestions-

• Baltimore - blue crabs, Inner Harbor, Mount Vernon neighborhood
• Fort Lauderdale - upscale beaches, sophisticated museums
• Houston - top-notch orchestras and operas, NASA Space Center
• Kansas City - more fountains than any city outside of Rome, American JAzz Museum
• Louisville - Kentucky Derby, Louisville Slugger Museum
• Minneapolis - building by top architects, booming Mill District
• Pittsburgh - museums, architecture, sizzling nightlife in Oakland
• Portland - breweries, museums, and nearby nature
• Providence - waterside walkways, gondola rides, New England history
• Sacramento - sophisticated food scene, who are we kidding? Just treat yourself right and drive the hour and a half to San Francisco

Related posts: Top 10 Foods to Eat Yourself Into a Wreck • Top 10 Labor Day Destinations • Top 10 Amusement Parks (Outside of Orlando) • Top 10 Tips to Travel in a Post-9/11 World

Vote for Your Favorite American Architecture

The American Institute of Architects compiled their list of the 150 most significant architectual structures in the US.  You can now view all of them and vote for your favorite at the America's Favorite Architecture website.  You won't be surprised by anything you see in the top 10, but to our eye, the good stuff is towards the back of the pack.  Head over and vote for your favorite and find some inspiration for your next weekend getaway.

(thanks swissmiss)

Related posts: AIA and Google Earth Team Up • Spiffing-up Seattle • Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art Opens on the Water • Steve's Weird House in Seattle • Recycling Vegas • Art Gets Bigger in the Mile High City

Picture from Denver International Airport

A little perspective from the moving walkway at the Denver International Airport.

(thanks dangerding)

Singing 'Bout Virginia

Virginia's new tourism site is something worth checking out.  In an effort to highlight the state's Heritage Music Trail they've developed a site that uses "sing back" technology to let you hear a bluegrass song of your invention based on a few elements you supply.  Think of it as a kind of redneck AdLibs where you pick your name, occupation, hobby, etc.  You can then email your backwater music gem or send it to someone's cell phone.  What a great way to get the word out that Virginia is for lovers.

(thanks tourism internet marketing blog)

Kartchner Caverns in Arizona

If you're in Arizona anytime in the near future and looking to do a little spelunking you might want to check out the Kartchner Caverns (about 45 minutes southeast of Tucson).  The Caverns were discovered just over thirty years ago when two college students caught a whiff of the sweet smell of bat droppings near a sinkhole and decided to explore.  In all, over two-miles of trails were found and some of the rooms have ceilings up to a hundred feet high.  For more info check out this great article from the Seattle Times.

America's 150 Favorite Pieces of Architecture

The American Institute of Architects just released a list of 150 architectural wonders in America-

America’s Favorite Architecture is the result of an AIA and Harris Interactive poll of 1,800 Americans naming their 150 favorite structures across the nation based on nominations from AIA member architects.

According to their list American architecture's in the toilet, only a few of the buildings in the top 50 were built in the last 50 years and most of them were built for the government, boring.  Here's their uninspiring top 10.  The buildings toward the end of the list are a lot more interesting.

1. Empire State Building
2. The White House
3. Washington National Cathedral
4. Thomas Jefferson Memorial
5. Golden Gate Bridge
6. U.S. Capitol
7. Lincoln Memorial
8. Biltmore Estates
9. Chrysler Building
10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Related posts: AIA and Google Earth Team Up • Spiffing-up Seattle • Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art Opens on the Water • My Pumpkin Is Bigger Than Yours • Rooftop Wetness • Art Gets Bigger in the Mile High City

Related travel guides: Architecture in Manhattan and New York City

San Ysidro is the Celebrity Ranch De Jour

In little Montecito, California, lies the 500-acre San Ysidro Ranch.  It sits in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains and looks out over the Channel Islands.  There are 17 miles of trails situated amongst luxury bungalows that feature hot tubs and wood-burning fireplaces amongst other sumptuous amenities.  Hollywood bigwigs have been getting hitched here for over 60 years, starting with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in 1940.  Jackie and JFK also got married here as well Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez.  If you're in the mood to live it up like a celebrity (and have the means) doubles start for around $600 a night.

(thanks concierge)

Ringing Rocks in Bridgeton, Pennsylvania

If you're going to be anywhere near Bridgeton, Pennsylvania (about two hours west of Philly) you should swing by the Ringing Rocks County Park and pound on some stones, the unique rocks resonate when hit with another stone and sound sort of like a bell.  There's a huge boulder field dull of these musical rocks made from volcanic basalt.  Neatorama has the low-down on other musical rocks and here's more info about Ringing Rocks.

Followup: Find the Best WiFi Beaches in Southern California

Yesterday we talked about the best WiFi beaches in the US, but Ken Hanscom over at Some Life made two very good points:  1) the actual beach locations sometimes covered quite a large area and 2) there was no mention of whether or not the WiFi was free. Ken's added a Google map with the exact locations of free WiFi beaches in Southern California (unfortunately, it's only available in an iFrame).  Here's Ken's Top 10 list of free WiFi beaches in Southern California (the WiFi is either on the beach or very nearby) -

1. Avila Beach
2. Hermosa Beach
3. Huntington Beach
4. Laguna Beach
5. Long Beach
6. Malibu
7. Newport Beach
8. Oceanside
9. Pismo Beach
10. Redondo Beach

Top Beaches in the US with WiFi

A new travel blog called Geek About has recently posted their list of the top 10 beaches in the world that also offer WiFi.  So, when you take time off, if you still need to be plugged in, this list should help make planning your next trip to the sea a little easier.  The beaches from the United States that made it into the top 10 include: Clearwater Beach, Florida - this beach off of Tampa has multiple WiFi outlets; Sunset State Beach, California - just south of Santa Cruz, this beach has tons of activities and camping available as well as internet access;  Hermosa Beach, California - one of the more happening hotspots in LA for beach-goers, there's also plenty of WiFi via AT&T and iPAss;  Waikiki Beach, Hawaii - probably the most beautiful spot on the list, it would be a shame to be latched to the loptop here but it still beats the office.

Watching NYC on Web Cams

When you've got that sad, tragic longing in your heart for the greatest city in the world but just can't manage to make it to New York you can always turn to Newyorkology. They've compiled an amazing list of all the webcams around the city - from the United Nations building, to Central Park West, to Ground Zero (featured above), to Lady Liberty herself, you'll be able to nurse your longing at least for a little while.

Amazing Hi-Resolution Photos

We're always mesmerized by super hi-resolution photos and these are super fun to play with. That little red square in the inset is the top of the building you see in the picture. It's easy to waste some time here just looking around Boston. This image was taken from the Prudential Tower's Skywalk and is comprised of 612 overlapping images taken with a 300mm lens - this picture has a resolution of 95,000 x 40,000 pixels. Other hi-resolution shots on the site include Yosemite and Zion National Park. Sweet eye candy indeed.

(thanks wider angle)

3 of America's Most Beautiful Beaches Voted in Top 25 Sexiest Beaches in the World

Forbes Traveler recently compiled their very own list of the top 25 sexiest beaches in the world. Most of them are in the Western Hemisphere for some reason and three of them are in the US (though only South Beach in Miami is part of the Lower 48). Two beaches in Hawaii also made the sexy cut: Ka'anapali Beach in Maui and Kauapea Beach on Kauai. Here's Forbes' description of Kauapea-

The so-called "secret beach" on the northern rim of the "Garden Isle" of Kaui isn't such a secret anymore. Curious tourists regularly stream onto its majestic span of white-gold sand, which offers nice views of the Kilauea Lighthouse. Access to the beach is fairly rugged--getting there requires 15 minutes of agile hiking--but funseekers continue to make the trek.

 

The Burt Reynolds Museum in Jupiter

Ironic Sans has directed us to the Burt Reynolds & Friends museum in Jupiter, Florida. It appears that Mr. Reynolds is a bit of a pack rat and this unique museum is full of all kinds of kitsch, including keys to cities, movie posters, signed photographs, movie scripts and movie props (that canoe propped up against the wall in the corner in the picture above is the canoe from Deliverance). Burt also teaches intensive three-week courses for aspiring actors and he's a deputy sheriff in about half a dozen cities and the entire state of Hawaii, Arizona and South Carolina.

(thanks ironicsans)

Stalking the News in NYC

You just flew into New York and you've made your way to your hotel only to realize it's 2 in the morning and your wide awake - what to do? Well, Gothamist has a shiny new mashup available that let's you see where the drama around the city is taking place. Fires, overturned cars, shootings, jumpers, robberies - whatever you're into. You can find out where the happenings around the city are going on in real time and check out a little live NYPD Blue.

Oregonalicious

Simply stunning. Michael Durham has an amazing blog featuring some great photography. Most of his shots are landscapes but he also proves to be quite dapper with a macro lens. Scroll down for some great shots of a yellowjacket.

Prepare for Pricey Parking in LA

There's a scathing article this week about parking problems in LA. Hotspots in Hollywood are raping customers to park on the weekends. Never mind the cover charge for the club themselves, these days it's common to pay up to $50 just to park your Benz-o for the night. The LA Weekly makes a great case for never ending up on Hollywood and Vine at night - you're either stuck in awful traffic, being extorted to drop off your car for a few hours or worried that one of the many rogue towing companies is going to haul your car off (and then give a kickback to the lot). Our advice: find somewhere else to get loaded.

KFC Create's World's Largest Piece of Kitsch

KFC took over 65,000 1-foot by 1-foot tiles to create a giant Colonel Sanders in the desert near Rachel, Nevada (you can check it out if you're on your way to visit Area 51). The 87,500 square-foot logo is the first to be seen from space. Some of the brilliant minds at KFC headquarters said, "If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice." That's some desperate marketing. Below is a time-lapse video of the logo's creation.