Back to href="http://billingsfarm.org/index.html">Billings Farm folks, yes the working farm in Woodstock, Vt., that began humbly in 1871, and still flourishes today. Saturday July 26 celebrates the 23d Annual Cow Appreciation Day because, yes, even cows need some lovin'.

Ask yourself, what do you really know about cows? Exactly, so they give us milk and speak what is often a child's first word, "Moo." Billings Farm has come up with interesting ways to teach all of us why cows rock. The "Cowledge Bowl" is a competition for families featuring question and answer sessions, with prizes being awarded to those cow-inclined. Learn even more visiting the working dairy farm, make and taste homemade butter and hand-cranked ice cream, and wander through the farm house from a cow's perspective [what exactly a cow would think of a house is beyond me]. "Judge Jerseys" with Billings Farm manager and help him select the best Jersey in the herd, make cow pizza, and visit the calf nursery to help name a newborn calf. The simple things bring us balance I am told. I figure many of us might want to consider making this trip!

Admission: adults $11; age 62 and over $10; children: 5-15 yrs $6; 3-4 yrs $3 and includes all activities and programs, plus the working dairy farm, museum exhibits, and the 1890 Farm House, plus a viewing of "A Place in the Land", an Academy Award nominee film.

If you’ve ever been to Wellfleet out on old Cape Cod you might know Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Main Street. The church was built in 1912, and remained virtually unchanged until the hippie days of 1976 when two itinerant artists were allowed to camp in the garden for the summer in exchange for creating two hand-carved doors. Depicting the four evangelists, and episodes from the life of Mary, the doors became a landmark and source of pride for the town. In 2001 the Town of Wellfleet purchased the church from the Diocese of Fall River and decided the property—now called Wellfleet Preservation Hall—should be used as a your-round, not-profit cultural and community center.

What does this have to do with art and travel? Well, if you happen to be in Wellfleet this Sunday you can attend the Wellfleet Preservation Hall’s Art and Travel Auction. Join auctioneers Seth Rolbein and Bill Fidalgo in the gardens behind the hall at 335 Main Street, on Sunday July 27 at 4:00 p.m. to find plenty of artwork as well as travel opportunities to destinations as varied as Isla Mujeres, Mexico, Vieques, Puerto Rico, and Prince Edward Island, Canada. A preview and reception is scheduled from 1:00-3:00 p.m. You can also preview the offerings by visiting their website.

Nothing goes better with Blues, than brews. And nothing goes better with brews than BBQ. Doesn't that mean that there is nothing better than pairing brews and BBQ too? Of course. The three B's reign in the summer time, and it's Ragged Mountain taking its turn as it hosts its first annual Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival this Saturday July 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Don't figure in the weather, other than to pack a slicker and Wellies, because this event is rain or shine. Gates open at 10 a.m., so pack your blanket, chairs and camera and settle on in for 6 hours of Blues starting at noon time. The Dr. Harp Blues Band, Jeff Dearborn and many more acts will grace the stage. Local micro breweries, NH Made products and a slew of other vendors will be there as well. Be a judge for the World's Best BBQ Rib and Sauce competition. Contact Janet Conner, Events Manager, at 603-768-3600 x3021 for more information.

Here's me and my nbf Samantha Brown, host of the Travel Channel's Passport series. (That's Samantha on the left.) Samantha was in the area the past couple of weeks to film a couple of episodes of her new series, "Passport to Great Weekends." If you recently were at tea dance at the Boatslip Resort in Provincetown or watching the sausage eating competition in East Boston, and if you thought, "That gal looks like someone on TV," you were right. Samantha graciously agreed to meet at her hotel and answer a few questions about her show and what it means to travel more than eight months a year. (The full interview will be online and in the Sunday travel section soon.)

This series differs from her others ("Passport To Latin America," "Passport To Europe'') in that she's concentrating on weekends in American cities.

"The show is a way of looking at cities and showing them in a fresh perspective. We show a part of Boston that people wouldn't know was here. For example, we didn't mention Paul Revere. We went to a horse race at Suffolk Downs, swing dancing in Medford, and to Kelly's Roast Beef in Revere," said Brown.

"I like to see how a place can change us-if only for a few days. When you travel for a week you are just yourself. But for a weekend, it's like we can become different people, become childlike or hip. It's a way that adults can come out and play."

Want to know more? Stay tuned...

Time for a gut check. There was a story out Thursday morning about a government report showing that average domestic airfares rose 4.4 percent in the first quarter. No surprise, right?
But if you take a closer look at the Department of Transportation press release you see that the agency notes that from the first quarter of 1995 to the first quarter of 2008 average domestic itinerary fares rose 11.7 percent while inflation surged 41 percent.
Average fares include round-trip and one-way fares, taxes and fees and exclude abnormally high reported prices as well as freebie frequent-flier deals.
So I took their numbers, adjusted for inflation, graphed it out, and discovered that there's actually been a trend downwards -- a 20 percent drop from '95. Witness my handiwork above.
Surprising? Not really. Think about it. One of the first times I flew, in the mid-1980s, I did it on the budget-pioneer People Express, which basically priced itself out of existence. A round-trip, coast-to-coast ticket was about $200, which is a bit over $400 in today's dollars. About three weeks ago, I flew from Boston to Sacramento for a total of $465.
Some will want to quibble about details (Is the Department of Transportation Domestic Average Itinerary Fares the best way to gauge prices? And is the Consumer Price Index the best way to compare rates of inflation? Are first quarter prices the best period for comparing numbers), but apply your own life experience to this. Think about a flight you took about 10 years ago. Then plug those numbers in the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. Not look around to see what that fare is now. And be fair.
Bottom line: Airfares are on the rise and for good reasons (in '95, a gallon of regular gas set you back $1.10-$1.20). But, historically speaking, they aren't that high. Yet. So let's turn down the volume on the kvetching.

My family's affinity for New England fairs have always been for the trips we take in the fall, yet I have always heard countless accounts of the summer time favorite, the Stratham Fair, in Stratham, N.H., on July 24-27.

So yes, it is a typical fair, with tractor pulls, a wave by some beauty pageant contestant, sheep shearing and funnel cakes. As fairs go, you know that is just the tip of the iceberg for delicacies and ringed events. The Stratham Fair has nothing less than the more long-running fairs in the region, yet brings about its unique identity with things like a pie eating contest, ballet, and a lobster lunch.

Daily admissions for 6-12 and 65 and older are $7 and under 6 years of age are free. An adventurous 4-Day Pass is $20 for an adult and $12 for ages 6-12 and 65 and older. There are all kinds of other pricing strategies that you can check out online. Free parking is always a pull to get there as well.

This is a bit of a hassle but probably not a huge deal. Yesterday the folks at Budget Travel reported that American had decided that it would no longer allow the popular airfare meta-search site Kayak to list its fares. It seems there was an apparent tiff over the fact that Kayak linked customers looking to buy over to Orbitz instead of the American site, which presumably means that American then had to pay fees both to Kayak and Orbitz.
I, like many, find the metasearch sites invaluable so I'm hoping other airlines won't follow suit. But it's a pretty safe bet they won't simply because the airlines know that we like them and use them and if they start pulling themselves off the sites they'll lose customers.
My guess is that in the near future American and Kayak will mend fences, and there will be some new deal cut over fees.
Stay tuned.

What's different about this quilt show are the numbers. Nearly 700 quilts. In one place. At one time. It's almost time for Maine's 31st annual show, Maine Quilts, held July 25-27 at the Augusta Civic Center.

Like I said, nearly 700 quilts shown in the categories of Art Quilts, Judged Quilts, Display Quilts, and Raffle Quilts. Special exhibits include "Made from Scratch", Pines and Needles: Sew What Challenge, Vintage Revisited and the Pilgrim/Roy Challenge Quilts of 2009. The Civic Center is a large venue, so yes, you also get much more than quilts on wall, on a rack, or stacked in piles. You get hands-on workshops, demonstrations by experts, a bustling merchant mall, quilt appraisals and a magnificent silent auction with proceeds going to WomenHeart of Maine which fights against women's heart disease.

Free parking and admission set at $8 daily or $15 for a multi-day pass. Children 12 and under free with paid adult. Tickets are also being sold for this year's raffle quilt "Classic Jacobean" made by members of Classic Quilters. The drawing will be on Sunday, July 27. The quilt is pictured here.

Looking for a wicked good time? Escape the heat and crowds this weekend at the annual Grand Lake Stream Folk Arts Festival. Held on the grassy ballfield downtown--town comprises one store--the two-day festival includes nonstop folk and bluegrass music (and one New York jazz surprise), canoe and quilt exhibits, food, and tents sheltering more than 50 quality artisans: potters, quilters, woodworkers, clothing makers, painters, sculptors, furniture makers, metal workers, basket makers, weavers, jewelers, glass artisans, leather crafters, doll makers, and on and on, and many demonstrate their craft.

It’s a very classy act for Birmingham, Ala., to rename its airport after the civil right leader, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, as reported in the Globe on July 17. But then, when I’ve visited my friend Verna, I’ve been impressed with her city’s willingness to confront its segregationist past rather than sweep it under the rug. In Kelly Ingram Park, a leafy space downtown on 16th Street North, there are several bronze statues commemorating the struggle for civil rights—including a powerful image of a Birmingham policeman and his dog face-to-face with a civil rights demonstrator. Images of the police and fire fighters attacking demonstrators with dogs and firehoses in May 1963 were broadcast across the nation. By the end of the year, Birmingham had wiped its segregation ordinances from the books. Moreover, some historians say, the national outrage helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Such historical markers show real civic courage. I wonder if Boston will ever erect a statue of Ted Landsmark being beaten with an American flag on City Hall Plaza?

Posted by Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent

A free cultural buffet comes to Salem, Mass. July 26 and 27 at 20 Washington Square. The 3rd Annual Salem Culture Fest features live bands representing many different cultures and styles, as well as storytellers, dancers, and martial artists who will open your eyes to new and different perspectives. Accompanying the many performance artists, will be crafters and artists of Salem and surrounding communities. The culture fest is intended for families, and has lots in store to keep everyone smiling!

Call Deborah Scaduto at 978-922-1220 for more information. This event is largely wheelchair accessible, and is both an outdoor and indoor event.

I was in an airport in Sacramento earlier this month, getting ready to board a flight back here. And for those who have not traveled in a while, let me make this clear: The airlines are deadly serious about new baggage rules, including size and weight. We're talking both checked and carry-on.
While checking in, there was a woman in front of me who had been told that her suitcase was about 5 pounds over and her options were either to make it lighter or pony up about $80. So she popped it open right there and started pulling out a travel iron, knick-knacks, various articles of clothing (I leave this to your vivid imagination). And got the bag down to fighting weight.
Similarly, I saw a man trying to carry on a questionable-sized suitcase who was forced to check it (and pay for a second bag).
Anyway, the Washington Post, compiled this list of the current rules and if you are planning soon it might be worthwhile printing, clipping, and saving on the fridge:

It’s gratifying to see that one of our favorite attractions for kids has not only moved, but moved up to a much bigger space with room for more activities. We were giddy with the mesmerizing images of the Human-Sized Kaleidoscope at the Children’s Museum of Portsmouth (see www.boston.com/travel/explorene/newhampshire/articles/2005/06/26/mirror_images_mesmerize_kaleidoscopic_explorers/) and we’re delighted that the kaleidoscope survived the move—and the name change. The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire opens on Wednesday, July 23, in new digs at 6 Washington Street in Dover (tel: 603-742-2002; www.childrens-museum.org). Check it out.

Posted by David Lyon, Globe Correspondent

I just love seeing the arts come alive in Lowell. So many hands have gone into making Lowell a go-to city for performing and fine arts. The upcoming Folk Festival transforms downtown Lowell for three days, July 25-27, erecting six music stages across the city, offering varied settings and styles of performances. The festival is designed to allow visitors to stay at a stage while numerous performers rotate between stages.

Along with the music will be numerous ethnic food vendors, from surrounding Lowell groups and restaurants, and various crafters with wares ranging from wooden boats to hooked rugs. This festival is less about music and more about accepting and exploring different cultures.

American sign language services are provided at the Boarding House Park stage and the Dutton Street Dance Pavilion. Accessible restrooms are available throughout the festival. Public transportation is provided by the MBTA as well as the LRTA. Please note that terrain in the city of Lowell is that of all northeast urban areas...areas of uneven pavement do exist. Oh, did I mention all this was FREE? Enjoy!

Call it a living-large promotion. Looking to juice traffic, Delta is offering free, helicopter service to or from Manhattan and New York's Kennedy airport for first-class and unrestricted economy passengers on domestic flights purchased through Aug. 29.
The service will be run by US Helicopter, which runs 27 daily flights between JFK and a midtown heliport at East 34th Street and one in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street.
For the great unwashed who travel economy with restricted tickets, the eight-minute flights can be purchased for $159 each way.
Delta already offers complimentary helicopter service year-round to its BusinessElite customers.
Bloomberg News reported that Delta's domestic traffic fell 7 percent in June, higher than its planned 6.2 percent reduction in passenger traffic on US routes.

A lot happens in the backcountry during five days, particularly when you bring 8 people together to work on a trail crew.
I tried to capture much of it in a story that appeared last weekend in a story in The Boston Globe Travel section. And Dina Rudick, Globe photographer, has more in a series of videos and photo galleries you can find here.

Plenty didn't make it though, so here is another short video:

And a few snippets of dialogue. You imagine the context of the conversations:

"The whole sky just turns into a hotel ice machine. It's so bizarre."

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"The Corral Bar is great, but you can get beat up. The Bottoms Up Brewery is safe, but you'll never drink, because the waitresses have amnesia."

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"It sits up on the bench. Follows that bench a long way."

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"Every kind of aquatic species does the opposite of what you want 'em to do. If you want to flow out, they'd swim upstream."

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"When it's rainy, gray and crappy, that's when you say, 'man, this weather is Baltic'."

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"I guarantee if Dick Cheney were going in there fishing, they'd have that cleared out."

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"Gargoyles. Lightning in the form of the anarchy symbol. It just didn't look good."

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"There's a bar in Butte called the Pisser's Palace."

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"Heard something, and I thought it was the wind whistling through my rifle strap. And I look up, and there's about 1,000 sandhill cranes, struggling against the wind."

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"I did shoot up a microwave with an AK-47 once."

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"If you get hungry and eat a second one of these, you should be able to know the future or something. If you eat that much sodium."

I don't want to be here. At work, I mean. It's going to be hot and sunny today. And if you're reading this right now, during normal work hours, we are likely pretty simpatico.
I'm thinking about water. Actually I'm thinking about beer and water. I'm thinking about a sweat-soaked July evening and looking at an orange fingernail moon outside Mike's Westview in Amherst. Double-digit collections of ponies of Rolling Rock left behind.
A short hop to Puffer's Pond. And swimming. A half dozen of us. And we met others.
SO.
The past is. But if you have fond memories of old-fashioned, swimming holes, the folks at swimming holes.info have taken it upon themselves to compile lists of such places around this great land of ours.
In the Bay State, they list 37, with most of them concentrated in Western Mass. and around the Cape. They offer you directions to each place, along with descriptions, fees (if any), whether swimming is officially sanctioned (not necessarily a legal distinction), when the listing was last updated, and whether bathing suits are "Required," "Optional," or "Customary" (sadly they make no distinction about time of day for such niceties).

Long before my friend Lisa died from breast cancer, I ran races, walked if I had to, and pledged to those who committed to raising money to work toward a cure. The 2nd Annual BBQ Cookoff in Dover, N.H., on July 20 gives all proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Time to go eat ribs.

Held at Dover's American Legion Post 8, the cookoff is open to all amateurs and professionals wanting bragging rights to the best barbeque around. An outdoor, family-friendly event for charity this weekend would be finger lickin' good. Call 603-742-9710 for more information.

Quilts are the kind of thing that make a home a home. My mother quilts and my house is full of all sizes, shapes, colors and themes. I have never had to buy a bed cover of any kind, and my kids know of nothing other to sleep in, than their quilt from Grammie.

Today, quilts are not just about pattern and symmetry with florals and dotted materials, but artists have taken the form to new heights, making quilts that seem too pretty or intricate to use, and are more likely to be hung on the wall. July 19 and 20 in East Lyme, Conn., the Quilts All Around Town Exhibit opens. Raffles, auctions, demos, speakers and vendors set up in the local high school to celebrate quilting and the communities they build. For more information call 800-739-9474.

[photo is of the 2004 quilt raffled off to patrons]

With the cost of airfare surging, it can pay to consider alternative transportation. Here I'm talking trains. The folks at The Traveler's Notebook point out that this is particularly true if you are taking a short hop.
Admittedly, going by train can take longer. But given post-9/11 realities, if you fly you have to show up an hour early and then there's waiting for luggage after.
So if you were flying, say, from Boston to Philly the flight itself would be more then two hours; by train the trip is five. Factor in early arrival for security plus baggage claim and the difference is not so great.
Now consider that a cheap flight will run you $265 vs. $157 for Amtrak. That’s a 43 percent savings, and you cut the price another 10 percent-15 percent if you are a student, AAA or NARP member, or are in the military.
After taking a quick study of current airlines fees and comparing them with Amtrak, Traveler's Notebook came up with a list of 21 cheaper trains. For us here in the Hub of the Universe, they found two others besides the Boston-Philly run.
From Boston to Portland, Maine, airfare will run you at least $353; Amtrak $48; and a flight to New York is $155, by rail $118. And for the New York trip, don't forget the cheap Chinatown vs. free Wi-Fi, seats-as-low-as-$1 bus rivals, which slaughter Amtrak on price.