Tourist attractions and places of interest
Odds and Ends
This page contains various items which don't fit conveniently into any
other category.
Audubon
The National Audubon Society is a private ecological organisation, concerned
with the conservation of wildlife, plants, etc. The society was named in
honour of the American naturalist, ornithologist and artist John Audubon
(1785-1851). His most famous work, "The Birds of America", contains 435
pictures drawn by Audubon of 1065 American birds. A variety of wildlife
guidebooks published by the National Audubon Society are often seen on
sale in the National Parks and other
similar areas.
Paul Bunyon
A legendary folklore hero of the lumber camps of the American Northwest,
with enormous strength and cunning. The story has Paul Bunyon and his giant
blue ox, called Babe, creating the most significant geological features
of the North American continent such as the Grand Canyon. There are many
theories to explain the origin of the tale.
CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was set up under President Roosevelt's
"New Deal" in 1933 during the Depression era as a "make-work" program.
The Corps worked on various public projects, including some in State and
National Parks. The Corps were responsible for much of the early construction
work on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Exit Guides
These guides list the facilities (motels, restaurants, petrol stations,
etc) available at each exit of an Interstate. They are packed with numerous
coupons, mainly for motels and to a lesser extent for restaurants.
While the information in these guides is of some slight use, I certainly
wouldn't advise paying for a copy. Sometimes copies can be picked up free
of charge. Remember that both the information and the coupons will become
out of date very quickly.
Since the coupons all have the proviso that they "cannot be combined
with any offer", they are of extremely marginal value in most cases. You
might be lucky and find the occasional bargain, though.
Groundhog Day
According to tradition, on Groundhog Day (the second of February) groundhogs
(marmots) are supposed to be able to predict whether spring will be early
or late that year, depending on whether they can "see their shadow", in
other words whether the sun is shining or not. The creatures are supposed
to leave their burrows where they have been hibernating for the winter
and then decide whether to return to hibernation or not. If the sun is
shining then according to the tradition there will be six more weeks of
cold weather.
The most famous weather predicting groundhog is called Punxsutawney
Phil who lives in the town of the same name in Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney
Phil has some rivals in the weather prediction business, including Wiarton
Willie who lives at a motel in Wiarton, Ontario.
There is also another motel in Wiarton with a weather-predicting groundhog
(I forgot his or her name).
I assume that all these are in fact stage names, the roles being filled
by a succession of animals over the years.
Hamburgers
According to a news story on BBC's Ceefax teletext service on 16-Aug-97,
"North Americans consume 38 billion hamburgers a year, equivalent to three
hamburgers per person per week".
While the item didn't state whether "North Americans" was meant to include
not only the citizens of the USA but also those of Canada, Mexico and the
Central American countries, or if the word "billion" was used in the English
or the American sense, a little experimentation with a calculator shows
that it almost certainly only includes the citizens of the USA and that
"billion" is used in the American sense (10^9). This gives a population
for the USA of 243,589,744 compared with the figure given on Encarta 1997
of 263,437,000, which seems very consistent. My grateful thanks to Miguel
Cruz for pointing this out.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
In 1803 the USA purchased vast regions of the west from France. This was
called the Louisiana Purchase. President
Thomas Jefferson authorised an expedition to explore this land with the
primary aim of finding a navigable route from the east to west via the
Missouri and Columbia rivers. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the
expedition's leaders; a Shoshoni Indian woman called Sacajawea was one
of its guides. The expedition, which took place from 1804 to 1806, was
highly successful in terms of exploring the territory and establishing
contacts with the Indians. It did not of course manage to find a navigable
route the entire distance to the Pacific because one does not exist. "Lois
and Clark", referring to Superman and his girlfriend (Clark Kent and Lois
Lane), is a deliberate pun on "Lewis and Clark". The Lewis and Clark Expedition
is also often referred to as the "Corps of Discovery".
Mailboxes
Although visitors won't have cause to use them, they will without doubt
see the mailboxes outside many American houses and perhaps wonder what
the purpose of their little red flags is. Here's an explanation, kindly
supplied by Dave Krupka of Bolingbrook, Illinois:
In rural areas and in some suburban areas the
houses have mailboxes near the street so that the mail may be delivered
directly from a vehicle. Most people still call those that deliver the
mail "mailmen". Lately, the Postal Service has recognised the fact that
more and more women are doing this job. Their uniforms now have the title
"letter carrier" on them.
If the letter carrier has no mail that day for
a particular box, he or she normally passes it by. By putting up the little
red flag, the resident signals the mailman that the boxholder has letters
to be picked up and mailed. Letters to be picked up and mailed must be
stamped.
Its a strange mix. Some homes do get the mail
delivered directly to a mail slot [i.e. letterbox - JC] or small box near
the front door. Some have a mailbox (with a red flag) at the curb in front
of the home; and in really rural areas several farms or ranches will set
up a cluster of mailboxes near the main road. The local postmaster makes
the decision based on his manpower and the size of his area.
Visitors should put mail that they wish to send in "mail drops" which
do the same job as British pillar boxes. Be careful not to confuse mail
drops with litter bins, though - they can sometimes be similar in design.
Mail drops are dark blue and have the Postal Service logo on them. The
slot has a counterweighted flap which you open in order to deposit your
mail. Dark green mailboxes with the notice "Not for deposit of mail" and
with no slots are for letter carriers on foot to store mail to be delivered
later in their route. Stamps are best obtained in post offices. Although
they are the same price at other sources, the post office will be able
to look up the correct cost of sending mail abroad.
Many houses also have simple plastic boxes outside for newspapers to
be delivered.
McDonald's
How many McDonald's restaurants are there in the USA?
I have seen two contradictory figures, as follows:
"About half the U.S. population uses one or more of the country's 16,000
library branches, which are twice as numerous as McDonald's restaurants".
Source: Bill Gates' New York Times Column 22-May-96: Closing The Information
Gap.
"There are over 12,000 McDonald's restaurants in the USA." Source:
The Daily Brief 10-Jul-97.
Muir, John
John Muir was one of the main founders of the US National Park Service.
Muir Woods National Monument near
San Francisco in California was named in his honour.
Piggly Wiggly
Only in America could a supermarket chain be called Piggly Wiggly!
In the film "Bonnie and Clyde" there is a brief mention of a newspaper
article wrongly holding the Barrow gang responsible for a robbery at a
Piggly Wiggly store.
A Piggly Wiggly truck appears briefly in a few scenes of the film "Close
Encounters of the Third Kind".
Powell, John Wesley
In 1869 John Wesley Powell was the leader of the first expedition to navigate
the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
The expedition used wooden boats. There is a song about John Wesley Powell
by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, called "Mr Powell".
The Sioux Indian Calendar
| January |
The Moon of Frost in the Tipis |
| February |
The Moon of The Dark Red Calves |
| March |
The Moon of The Snowblind |
| April |
The Moon of The Red Grass Appearing |
| May |
The Moon When Ponies Shed |
| June |
The Moon of Making Fat |
| July |
The Moon of Red Cherries or The Moon When The Cherries
Are Ripe |
| August |
The Moon When Cherries Turn Black |
| September |
The Moon When Calves Grow Hair |
| October |
The Moon of The Changing Season |
| November |
The Moon of Falling Leaves |
| December |
The Moon of Popping Trees |
Thunderbird
There are a large number of independent motels in the USA called the "Thunderbird
Motel". The name comes from the thunderbird, or phoenix, which is a spirit
sacred to many Native American tribes. The thunderbird brings thunder which
is thought to be the voice of the Great Spirit. Depending on the tribe,
the thunder either comes from the thunderbird's eyes or beak. The thunderbird
and other related spirits are often depicted on totem poles, drawings of
which often feature on signs advertising motels which use the name.
Tipping
Tipping can be an emotive subject. If you are entirely happy with your
habits regarding tipping then please rest assured that I am not trying
to make you change them. This information is for visitors to the USA and
Canada from other countries, based on my own observations of what happens
in practice. If you are in a group of people then the best policy is probably
to chicken out and follow what everyone else does.
Airports
Do not attempt to tip any official, such as those at security inspections,
immigration and customs. This would almost certainly be taken as an attempt
at a bribe and would probably have extremely serious consequences.
Airline employees, both at the airport and on the plane, are not tipped.
If you employ the services of a porter at an airport then you may wish
to consider tipping. However, hardly any airports provide porters these
days - nearly everyone carries their own luggage.
Employees of car hire firms are
not tipped, except possibly the driver of the courtesy bus which takes
you between the airport terminal and the car hire company's depot. I have
never personally seen anyone tip a car rental courtesy bus driver, but
some people have told me that they do tip in this situation.
Motels
Even if you stay at the same motel for
several days, you are unlikely to meet any employee of the motel except
when you check in, and perhaps when you check out. In many motels you pay
when you check in and you leave the key in your room or drop it in a box
near the office when you leave. Therefore tipping at motels is almost totally
unheard of. In a few motels the people who tidy the rooms leave an envelope
for tips, but this is very rare. Tipping is much more common at expensive
hotels, where you have more contact with the employees, I would imagine.
Restaurants
At fast food restaurants, where service
is at a counter, you do not tip. Many fast food restaurants have signs
indicating that their employees are prohibited from accepting tips.
At any restaurant where you are
served by a waiter or waitress, including the semi-cafeteria service common
in steak restaurants, many people leave
tips, depending on the quality of the service they receive. The likelihood
of a tip being expected almost certainly increases significantly if the
restaurant is licensed.
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