Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for April, 2009

For the past few months, in an effort to encourage travel within the United States, I’ve been writing about cities I have enjoyed while on vacation.

This year in particular, it’s a good idea to spend your vacation dollars right here in the good old U.S.A.

Have fun, while stimulating our economy.

1. Niagara Falls, NY
2. Grand Canyon, AZ
3. San Antonio, TX
4. Philadelphia, PA
5. New Orleans, LA
6. New York, NY
7. Memphis, TN
8. Orlando, FL
9. San Francisco, CA
10. Savannah, GA

This is my short list of favs. I’ll share some more with you in the near future. If you have a favorite that is not included in my list, please let me know. I’ll try to add yours to my next list.

Oglethorpe Square

If you’re looking for southern hospitality, try Savannah, Georgia. On the menu–candy for the eyes. It is chock full of quaint B&Bs, but the main attraction is its charming 22 park squares that are situated throughout the historic district of the city.  Surrounding many of the squares are historic homes and museums.

I found the best way to get acquainted with Savannah was to take the Hop On & Off Trolley Tour. You can spend your entire first day in the city using this trolley. It stops at most of the historic homes that are open to visitors, and if you’re a Girl Scout, you won’t want to miss the Julliette Gordon Lowe House (founder of the Girl Scouts of America). The trolley picks you up at your hotel or B&B, and then it stops every 20 minutes and runs all day until 4:30 p.m. That means if you get off to stroll a museum, or eat lunch, or just sit on a bench at one of the squares, you never wait for the trolley for more than 20 minutes. Excellent!

Be sure to walk along the river where you will find lovely boutiques, antique shops and restaurants. And you’ll also see Florence, the Waving Girl.

Speaking of girls, if you’ve read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, or if you just like visiting cemeteries (and believe it or not, many people love traipsing through an old cemetery), then you won’t want to miss Bird Girl.

Now that I have finished this post, it appears I’ve written a lot about girls: Girl Scouts, Waving Girl and Bird Girl. But Savannah is so much more. Go see for yourself. And if you’ve already been there, feel free to add a comment and let me know what you found exciting or beautiful about the city, because I plan to go back some day.

Golden Gate Bridge

When I travel I like to visit places I have read about in a book or magazine. I become the ultimate tourist. My intent is to take the words off the page and experience them in real life. San Francisco is a prime destination where you can do just that.

For one thing, a lot of stuff you’ve read about is within walking distance of each other. You can visit the sea lions, listen to their loud grunting, and watch them splash and play off the end of Pier 39. Other things the Pier has to offer: a marketplace, restaurants, street performers and loads of shops.

You won’t want to miss Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s only one or two blocks away from Pier 39 and the walk along the Bay is lovely. You’ll see picture perfect views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Just seeing the Golden Gate Bridge will give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s a man-made phenomenon.

Tours. You want to take a tour? There are all sorts of tours: Seqway Tours, Motorcoach Tours, Bay Cruise Tours, Double Decker Trolley Tours, Culinary Tours, Alcatraz Tours, Submarine Tours, Chinatown Tours and Ride the Duck Tours. If you can dream it up–San Francisco’s got it.

So, right about now, you’re wondering how you can ride a duck, aren’t you? Well, the Duck is a W.W. II style amphibious landing vehicle, so you tour the city by land and by sea. Pretty neat.

Of course, you can’t visit San Francisco without riding a cable car or trolley. They’re everywhere. Hop on.

And by all means, never visit a city without sampling the local cuisine. In San Francisco, the sour dough bread is not to be missed. Make sure you eat some in every restaurant you visit, because you’ll never taste anything like it ever again (unless you go back to San Fran).

If you’re traveling with the kids, there’s an aquarium at the bay and a carousel smack dab in the middle of Pier 39. The kids will also love the live entertainment and the street performers.

San Francisco has all the other things you’d expect to find in a big city: museums, theater, opera, symphony orchestra and sports.

It’s all good!

Continuing on with fun cities to visit in the United States. Try Orlando, Florida.

Yeah, you already know it’s about Disney, Universal and Sea World. That’s all good, but it is also about nightlife downtown and restaurants galore. One of my favorite restaurants is Vito’s Chop House on International Drive, a steak house with an Italian flair. But that’s only one of many delightful places to dine.

I’d venture to say no matter when you visit, you’ll always be able to find a live concert to attend. There are great venues: Amway Arena, House of Blues, and Hard Rock Live, to name a few.

If you prefer golf, look no further. While the kids are at Universal for the day, you can pick up your clubs and head for any of the Grand Cypress Resort’s Courses, Bay Hill, Shingle Creek or the Hunter’s Creek Golf Course. Again, this is a partial list. There are many more.

If the kids want to see something a little more off the beaten path, try Gatorland or Wet & Wild or Silver Spurs Rodeo.

Most visitors to Orlando aren’t usually looking for cultural pursuits, but if you’re happiest at the theatre, you’ll be pleased to know Orlando hosts a ballet company, opera company, a philharmonic orchestra, a lineup of live plays and it even has a thriving Shakespeare Theatre.

For sports, there’s always the Magic and if you visit at the right time of year, you can see the Citrus Bowl Parade, which kicks off another exciting Citrus Bowl Game.

Gosh, what more could you want?