Bracing for Son of Stormageddon

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 08-02-2010

Washington County Public Safety Director Jeff Yates watches a National Weather Service webinar today predicting the Son of Stormageddon to arrive Tuesday as the region digs out from a snowstorm disaster.

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Surviving Stormageddon Day 3

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 08-02-2010


Cold and ignored in Westmoreland County

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Chris Elliott Takes on Resort Fees

Filed Under (Travel Babel) by Admin on 07-02-2010

Where airline add-ons have gone. hotel fees have followed

Security surcharges. Fuel surcharges. Checked luggage fees. Inflight food and non-alcholic beverage fees. Surcharges for better seats. GR-R-R-R. About the only charge that has gone away is the fee for using the airplane’s headset.

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Surviving stormageddon online

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 06-02-2010

Still without power 24 hours after a disastrous winter storm pummeled Pennsylvania, this photograph illustrates the challenges of bringing a Verizon cell phone signal to my house in the Monongahela River Valley.

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A hick town winter tradition

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 06-02-2010

Under today’s threat of a severe winter storm, once again the pickings are slim along the toilet paper isle at the local Giant Eagle supermarket outside of Washington, Pa.

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This marching band looks fun, not mad

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 04-02-2010

It would be cool in Pittsburgh, Pa., if someone there started up something similar to the March Madness Marching Band of Lexington, Ky. (video by Jennifer Miller) Read the rest of this entry »

Fort Collins Wins Historic Preservation Honors

Filed Under (Travel Babel) by Admin on 04-02-2010

National Trust cites Fort Collins, Colorado’s ninth honoree

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A photographer’s essays

Filed Under (World Travel) by Admin on 02-02-2010

An e-mail that ordinarily would have been dumped today into this blog’s junk file surprisingly caught my attention and took me to a web site with some amazing work by Pittsburgh freelance photographer Ross Mantle.

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Rail Transportation’s US Future

Filed Under (Travel Babel) by Admin on 01-02-2010

President’s proposal for rail expansion would alter US travel

I love trains. When I travel abroad, it is my favorite mode of transportation., I love the energetic bustle of big-city railroad stations and the convenience of traveling from center-city to center-city, and I certainly prefer reaching small communities by train to clogging up roadways with a costly rental car. I wish we still had decent, punctual trains in this country, and maybe it will happen in my lifetime. I was cheered by President Obama’s State of the Union message last Wednesday that included the intention of awarding $8 billion in stimulus funds for development of light-rail corridors around the country and new high-speed rail in Florida. It makes sense from all perspectives — employment, traveler convenience, the environmental benefits of mass transit.

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Lake Tahoe: Ski Areas by the Dozen (Plus)

Filed Under (Travel Babel) by Admin on 31-01-2010

Magnificent alpine lake with concentration of ski areas unsurpassed in North America

Here’s the census of ski areas in an arc on the north end of Lake Tahoe and also along Interstate 70: Alpine Meadows, Boreal, Diamond PeakDonner Ski RanchGranlibakken, Homewood, Mt. Rose (within sight of Reno), Northstar-at-Tahoe, Royal Gorge (cross-country), Sugar Bowl and Squaw Valley (host of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games). At and near the south end of the lake: Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Seven of the largest ski/snowboard areas (Alpine, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Mt. Rose, Northstar, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Squaw) market themselves as Ski Lake Tahoe and offer an interchangeable multi-day lift ticket.

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