Monday's travel digest

By Carol Gee

What are traveling bloggers up to these days? Steve Clemons of The Washington Note is currently in China, staying at the "Beijing Friendship Hotel, built for Soviet technocrats." He writes "Some Initial China Trip Reactions" today. Grant McCracken, who writes This Blog sits at the: . . ., was in a hotel in Princeton a few days ago and posted very thoughtfully about "How Obama Speaks." He closes with this:

I think Obama has studied other oratorical exemplars. And I think he has made this a very careful and purposeful study. I leave it to someone with an ear better than mine to "reverse engineer" Obama's style speech and figure out what these influences are.

Traveling this summer has brought me some surprises. I have been surprised at the number of Recreational Vehicles on the road. I have been delightfully surprised to eat tomaotes again in Colorado and Wyoming. And I have been surprised at the gree, green grass gracing the plains. Ours has been a road trip, and the gas pump surprises have brought breathtaking costs. Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, according to Think Progress, says, "It doesn't matter that he does not know the price of gas." That is certainly no surprise. To quote:

McCain’s cluelessness about gas prices is compounded by the fact that he is clueless about what to do about it. He is promoting a gas tax holiday for drivers because he claims to understand Americans are hurting.” It will provide “a little psychological boost,” McCain said of his plan.

Tips aplenty -- The Independent Traveler.com gives "Ten Tips for Road Trips" that have been useful. You might also want to look at their "Summer Travel Preview 2008."

Send yourself to camp -- A bit of research on travel trends found five summer trends in "summer camps" for adults, according to Independent Traveler.com. They include Dog Training camps, Sports camps, Wine, Beer and Cooking camps, Rock 'n' Roll camps, Arts and Crafts camps, and Fitness camps. This website is a rich source of ideas and contacts for each of these specialized vacation possibilities.

Settling for a while -- I now have reached my destination and a working computer, so posting will be more regular for a while. Safe trips to all.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)