Follow your stomach: The best road diners in America

Image Source: genius.com

For as long as there have been truck drivers, there have been roadside attractions to assist them in their long-haul journey. These attractions range from areas for them to rest to diners that offer inexpensive yet excellent dishes. The “diner” in fact has become an American standard; and is as much a part of this culture as French fries and burgers. In fact, it can be argued that diners, with their classic lines and signature fonts, bring a sense of nostalgia and have helped define popular culture. A single definition for these staples cannot be made; but many food enthusiasts and average Joes alike know a good diner when they see one.

Listed below are some of the most highly recommended diners, as suggested by several food magazines and food blogs:

Cookin’ From Scratch in Doolittle, Missouri

Along the old Route 66, this diner is a favorite of many truckers. Newbies should just look for an El Camino with a big chicken on top, and take that exit. This diner specializes in pan-fried chicken, which are cooked piece-by-piece in iron skillets. This process gives the signature crispy, non-greasy exterior that Cookin’ From Scratch is known for. Individuals should try “The Big Pig,” the diner’s signature dish, which is a piece of juicy pork tenderloin.

Image Source: theguardian.com

Blue Gate Restaurant and Bakery in Shipshewana, Indiana

This diner is known for their fresh baked pies and homemade bread. This eatery is located in the heart of Amish country, so materials are locally sourced and fresh.

Image Source: riegsecker.com

Space Aliens Grill & Bar in Bismarck, North Dakota

Some diners are not only recognized for their food, but for their funky exterior as well. A classic example is the Space Aliens Grill & Bar. Keeping up with its name, the owners of this diner made the exterior as sci-fi and “alien-y” as possible. But that’s not the only reason for stopping by. The diner is also known for its succulent ribs.

Image Source: theguardian.com

Many modern foodies may consider diners as “old news,” but the truth of the matter is, diners will be part of this society for quite some time.

Pete Scamardo is a food enthusiast who loves trying popular dining areas. For more related posts, subscribe to this blog.

New study ranks the most affordable housing markets for millennials

Contrary to how they're portrayed in media, the millennials aren't buying their own homes because of a desire to buck tradition: they want to buy one when they're sure they can afford it, and not before.

Millennials, young adults between the ages of 18 to 34, are ethnically diverse, more educated than their parents, typically struggle with student debt and limited job opportunities, and are less likely to enter into traditional marriages. These factors, combined with the unstable housing market of recent years, have led to this generation shying away from home ownership.

However, current housing affordability highs and mortgage interest lows have made owning a home a possibility for many of them.

A new study by RealtyTrac, a real estate information company and real estate marketplace, identified the most affordable housing markets for this demographic.

Topping the list of most affordable housing markets to buy is the Augusta-Richmond metropolitan area in Richmond County, GA, where the median home price is $64,100, followed by Fayetteville in Cumberland County, NC, with a median home price of $97,500. Other markets on the list include the following:

Image Source: royalstockphoto.com

• The Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and Marietta metropolitan area in Dekalb County, GA

• Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida.

• Philadelphia, Camden, and Wilmington metropolitan area in Philadelphia County, PA

• Baltimore and Townson metropolitan area in Baltimore City, MD

• Conway, Little Rock, and North Little Rock metropolitan area in Faulkner County, AR

• Columbus in Franklin County, OH

• Council Bluffs and Omaha metropolitan area in Douglas County in NE, IA.

• Milwaukee, Waukesha, and West Allis metropolitan area in Milwaukee County, WI

One of the biggest obstacles millennials when buying a home is coming up with down payments. While monthly payments might be well within their budgets, an $11,000 down payment on a home, coupled with closing and escrow fees, might seem to be too much. First-time young homebuyers should consult with a real estate professional to help them clarify their financial standing and discover opportunities for home ownership that they might not be aware of.

Subscribe to this Pete Scamardo blog for more real estate industry articles and news.

Travelers' best kept secret: North Cascades National Park

Travelers who wish to escape the noise of the city and experience the beauty of nature without the crowds should consider visiting North Cascades National Park.

North Cascades National Park is located in Washington, just three hours away from Seattle. Despite its proximity to the city, the area has remained largely unspoiled and is frequented by less than 400,000 visitors per year, a far cry from the more popular Smoky Mountain National Park, which is visited by more than nine million visitors annually.

Despite rare appearance on lists of the country's most popular national parks, North Cascades National Park's breathtaking alpine landscape holds some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States. The park encompasses 504,781 acres and ranges mountain peaks as high as 10,000 feet, valleys that plummet to below 500 feet, more than 300 glaciers, numerous rivers, over 500 lakes and ponds, and numerous types of forest.

Image Source: allleavenworth.com

Flora and fauna

A traverse of the entire park from west to east is an experience in extreme changes in terrain, climate, and elevation. The west side of the park is a temperate rainforest, while a dry continental climate characterizes the east. The upper portion is covered in snow from fall to spring. The combination has resulted in the park having one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.

The park is home to 75 species of mammals, including gray wolves, black bears, and pikas, about 200 species of birds, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons, as well as 28 species of fish and 21 species of reptiles.

The park contains at least 1,630 vascular plant species, including Douglas fir and western red cedar trees in the lowlands and Engelmann spruce and lodgepole pines at high altitudes.

Activities

Visitors to the park can enjoy a number of activities: hiking (the park has more than 400 miles of trails), alpine trekking, kayaking, fishing, boating, camping, and horseback riding are just a few examples.

Admission and wilderness permits are free.

Travelers who want to experience North Cascades National Park should plan their visit for between mid-June and late-September, when the weather in the park is at its best and most of the trails are free from snow.

Subscribe to this Pete Scamardo blog for more articles on national parks and other travel destinations.

Why it's better to live in American than anywhere else

A lot of folks across the globe do not view America with favor. But no matter how much disfavor they show, their hunger for everything American never really subsides. Their secret love for America lives on and they keep coming back to this land for a staggering number of reasons.

This is where the good grub is.

From curated cupcakes and unlimited refills to finger-lickin’ supersized burgers, American food spells B-I-G, affordable, and fast. The nation is also the home of varieties of culinary experimentation, like the world-famous cronut. All-you-can eat buffets proliferate in every street corner, which are uncommon in many countries.

Image Source: americabyrail.com

There’s endless freedom everywhere.

“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better,” Albert Camus once said. He proved his words right because so much about America is a result of the fight for freedom. There’s freedom of speech to freedom of religion. Not to mention the sheer number of what is legal in many states, which are unthinkable in several countries.

Things work based on convenience.

Having 24/7 pharmacies and drive-through fast food outlets is the standard in America. In other countries, this is impossible to have.

There’s unity in diversity.

America is a lodestone of different races, nationalities, religions, and genders. It attracts different people who, together, recognize various skills sets, orientation, backgrounds, and attitudes. This very same diversity encourages people to recognize things other than what they consider normal and usual. Putting one thing and another together, can create, generate, and innovate for the common good.
Once in a while, it’s nice to sit back and take pride in America and everything it offers. This veers the mind from inimical forces to focus on the good, instead.

Read more about American living on this Pete Scamardo Twitter account.

REPOST: 3 spooky Halloween road trips in the Midwest

Hungry for a perfect getaway this Halloween? Be sure to bring a travel companion as this article from the Indy Star lists down three haunted places that you need to see.

(Photo: Athens County Convention and Visitor Bureau ) | Image Source: indystar.com

Every Midwest town has a ghost story or two, but some places seem to attract more ghostly activity than others.

In Paulding, Mich., locals report a mysterious phenomenon called the Paulding Light. In Decatur, Ill., the ghosts of bootleggers and theater stagehands haunt buildings throughout the city. And in Athens, Ohio, a former mental hospital is packed with the ghosts of disgruntled patients.

All three are perfect choices for a spooky Halloween road trip this weekend.

1. Paulding, Mich.

Located on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the tiny town of Paulding is known for a phenomenon called the Paulding Light.

Pull up alongside U.S. 45 in the evening, and you're likely to see a series of mysterious lights, which appear to float about five feet in the air.

Legend says the lights are the ghostly lanterns of a railroad brakeman who was killed trying to prevent a train accident.

The Paulding Light appeared on Syfy's "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" in 2010, and the investigation found no source for the phenomenon.

But students at Michigan Technological University recently suggested otherwise, showing that the lights are actually the headlights and taillights of cars on a nearby highway. Because of atmospheric conditions, the light becomes distorted, giving it a ghostly appearance.

Despite that explanation, a steady stream of visitors still comes to see the phenomenon firsthand.

2. Decatur, Ill.

According to legend, Decatur has been doomed from the beginning, when it was built atop a cluster of Native American burial grounds.

In the 1850s, the town became known as Hell's Half Acre because of its brothels, distilleries and gambling activity. For decades it retained its reputation as a hotbed of political corruption, prostitution, bootlegging and other criminal activity, including plenty of murders.

Today, one of the city's most haunted spots is the Lincoln Square Theater, which opened in 1916. It replaced a hotel that had burned down the previous year, killing two men.

Locals say the theater is haunted by multiple spirits, including a vaudeville stagehand named Red.

The theater is one of several stops on the Haunted Decatur history tour (www.haunteddecatur.com), which has been named one of the "most authentic" ghost tours in the Midwest.

3. Athens, Ohio

Athens has been named one of the most haunted cities in America — perhaps because five of its cemeteries allegedly form the shape of a pentagram on a map.

The epicenter of ghostly activity is The Ridges, formerly a mental hospital. The ghosts of former patients are said to roam the halls. Locals have also noted unusual activity at the The Ridges cemeteries, where some graves were marked with patient numbers rather than names.

Ghost hunters also visit the Moonville Tunnel, which is allegedly haunted by a railroad worker who was killed there.

Hungry for more hauntings? Head to the West State Street Cemetery, where a stone angel presides over the graves of unknown soldiers. If you're lucky, you may catch her crying.

Go to this Pete Scamardo Facebook page for more travel destinations.

REPOST: The Growing Use of Social Media in Travel

Social media is already an integral part of people's everyday lives. This article by Bryan Levy of Guardian Liberty Voice talks about social media's role in traveling.
 

Image Source: guardianlv.com

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, pictures of people on vacation are all over social media. Beautiful locations, scenic beaches, and more show up in news feeds with regularity, but this is just one way to use social media when traveling. Beyond just vacationers, the travel industry has also embraced the social media sites. Some sites cater exclusively to travelers, setting up sight-seeing partners or people looking to offset costs by traveling with others, but there is also a dark side to using social media for traveling.

According to the European Travel Commission, almost 20 percent of people consult social media to decide where they want to go on vacation. Not only do they use social media for deciding on location, vacationers are also searching social media sites to see what restaurants or sightseeing destinations their friends have been to. The European Travel Commission also found that Asian users use of social media for travel is almost double that of American or European users.

The sources people are using for research are disparate. Travelers rely on professional online reviews five to eight percent more than they rely on user forums, and that number drops drastically for those who use what their friends might like on Facebook. When it comes to dedicated trip sites like TripAdvisor, people are more likely to trust that information than others. Context becomes an important part of the equation. If a site has a reputation for being knowledgeable about traveling, and its commenters are seen as credible, those sites are trusted the most. Eighty percent of travelers read many reviews, and TripAdvisor is the most respected.

Other sites are closer to the more traditional social media models. These sites do different things to facilitate the travel process. Airbnb allows people to rent out their personal homes to travelers, though users should always be careful. There are increasing reports of people renting through Airbnb who end up squatting in rented places, making life difficult from the rightful owners of a house or apartment for months on end. Some sites connect travelers to one another. These sites allow for users to connect with people already living in the city. They can connect for meals or sightseeing or for a person who knows their way around a city. Users should be aware, though, that some of these people may not be exactly above-board. Jezebel has reported that some of the profile on these kinds of sites may be used for prostitution.

There are other things that individuals are advised to remember when using social media while traveling. While on vacation, holiday makers should never be too open on Facebook or Twitter. There have been police reports of criminals monitoring these social networks to see when people are away and breaking into their homes. While using social media for research could be beneficial, too much openness may lead to other problems.

The world continues to move online, and the travel industry is no different. While people still need to leave their houses to do the actual traveling, it has never been easier to plan a trip from the comfort of one’s own home.


Pete Scamardo is an avid traveler. Follow him on Twitter for more travel tips and trivia.

REPOST: 10 Tech Tips For The Ultimate Outdoor Adventure

Kristin Scheel of Sfist.com shares 10 useful apps for nature-loving travelers in this article below.

Get outside using your smartphone or laptop (Photo by Kristin Scheel). | Image Source: sfist.com

 Earlier this summer, my friend and I started something we call Uber hikes, which is exactly what it sounds like: We drive to a trailhead, walk as far as we like, and then call an Uber back to our car. We felt slightly ashamed the first time, but for less than a minute. And then we enjoyed the complimentary mini bottle of water provided by our driver.

Here are 10 other ways that technology can lead you back to nature.

Transit And Trails

Stop, right now, wherever you are, and download the Transit and Trails app. Plug in your address and find your nearest exit into the wild. Co- Founder Ryan Branciforte says one goal of T&T is to get people to use existing public transportation to get away, not just around. Unfortunately, there are zero trailheads found near my apartment in the Mission, but the Transit feature shows how easy it is to hop a bus to the nearest one. The Trips feature will lead you from the Caltrain station to the top of Mt. Tam!

Tahoe Beaches App

Headed to the Lake? Looking for some shade? Check out the Lake Tahoe Beaches app. Using feature filters, you can search for a beach that is wheelchair accessible, allows barbecues, overnight parking, and dogs, shows you where to rent a kayak or a tube, find nets for your volleyball team, and the nearest place to buy ice. If you haven't been to Tahoe in the summer, what are you waiting for? Summer is all about The Lake.

Take Your Phone Underwater

For anyone who has accidentally laundered their phone or dropped it in the lake while documenting a rowboat picnic date, you might consider one of these waterproof smartphone cases. Not just for accident proofing, the cases will allow you to take crazy underwater videos of yourself while scuba diving.

Weekend Sherpa

Weekend Sherpa is an email list started in 2006, which is so long ago that most of the people I talked to could not remember that far back and how they first learned of it — they just know they get it! Weekend Sherpa sends you weekly posts full of excellent things to do in the outdoors in Northern or Southern California. A typical post, dated July 24 includes a list of Mt. Tam picnic sites, including the West Point Inn, which makes this the third time I’ve heard “West Point Inn” in one week, so either everyone I know is a Weekend Sherpa, or the Weekend Sherpa is just that tuned into the seasonal zeitgeist.

Project NOAH

A great app that doesn't require building an ark or extracting promises from God, Project NOAH lets you share and compare wildlife sightings as you roam the earth. It's a new way of saying, “I tagged my first elk.” Or, oh look, a double rainbow!”

Turn Your Camping Stove Into A Charging Station

When I was married, I went camping exactly one time because my partner did not enjoy being so far from outlets. On the second night, when I found him glumly poking the campfire, after everyone else had fallen asleep, I had to admit that his camping experience would only be improved by a good game of World of Warcraft. We might still be married if only we had had this BioLite CampStove, a campstove that converts wood fire into electricity to charge your portable devices.

Warm Showers

What if at the end of Burning Man you said fuck it and just kept going, Thelma and Louise style. Except on a bike. But maybe you don't want to go it alone. Well, say no more: Warm Showersis a social network for touring cyclists. Register to receive or provide a place to shower, a couch, or a room. If you can't spare the time for a bike tour, no matter, this is a great way to live vicariously through your guests and their travels. 

Reserve Campsites Online

Did you know that you can reserve a campsite on Angel Island, the second largest island in the Bay, which is a state park and historic landmark and accessible only by boat or ferry. The island is supremely quiet at night with uninterrupted views of the city and surrounding islands. Reserve a spot at the state park reservation system, but warning it fills up fast. If you're a hiker and biker, there is an amazing loophole in the campsite reservations system just for you. Last minute space is often available at campgrounds for hikers and bikers. Check out the list here. It's first come, first served and you do actually have to hike or bike — fakers will be easily found out! When they ask you where you came in from, don't say "the parking lot."

Golden Gate Park Field Guide

Stuck in the City? This Academy of Sciences app tell you what the Bison are doing in the Buffalo Paddock, when the California Lilac will be blooming, and the fastest way from the Angling Pools to the lawn bowling greens. Or for more whimsical park experience, try the “adventures” feature, for recommended walks and destinations within the park. The interactive site invites sharing. If you were to notice a raccoon mother defending her den on the trail by the Chain of Lakes, you can upload photos and leave character notes and observations.

Use Your iPhone As A Compass 

Isabel Jagoe, formerly of Traction advertising agency in the Tenderloin and now a certified forest schools teacher in Yorkshire, aka Downton Abbey, England, recommends the basic compass tool installed on every phone for losing yourself in the moors. The iPhone compass, for example, operates using a magnetometer inside the phone and still works when you're off the grid. Within range, the compass grabs location data from the maps app and will note latitude and longitude. Other compass apps include: Orienteering Compass and Smart Compass from Google Play.

For more tips and tricks to make traveling fun and easy, follow this Pete Scamardo Twitter account.