Open session at the conference in Kearney
Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy led the opening ceremonies for the fifth annual Agri/Eco-Tourism conference, this year convening in Kearney. Joining the Lt. Governor were Richard Baier, Director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Christian Hornbaker, Director of Nebraska Travel & Tourism Division, and Stan Clouse, Mayor of Kearney. The conference will continue through Wednesday with concurrent workshops.
Fermata’s Ted Eubanks spoke at the opening session, and his presentation is available here.
The USDA Forest Service has published a new study titled “Serving Culturally Diverse Visitors to National Forests in California.” The study looks at the changing demographics and reaching new visitors to National Forests in California, and is available online.
A recent research study reveals that 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, translating to 118.3 million adults each year. With cultural and heritage travelers spending an average of $994 per trip; they contribute more than $192 billion annually to the U.S. economy. More information about the study is available here.
My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.
Grover Norquist
Norquist and I have never met. Given our relative positions in the political spectrum (and social hierarchy), we would have no reason to know each other. In truth, I would have no interest in being in his presence (nor, I am sure, he being in mine).
Independence Hall
As a native Texan, I understand the concept (and conceit) of “pride of place.” Texans have an irrepressible urge to flaunt the state’s attributes (or, at least, the way we measure them). Every Texas child receives a healthy dose of Texas history before graduation (and, most likely, a field trip to the Alamo, San Jacinto Monument, or Washington on the Brazos.) We may not know much about the world east of the Sabine, but just ask any of us about the Lone Star State.
McClean County (ND) winter sunset
Winter and I met when I founded Fermata. Winter is among those elements, those forces, that combine to create “place.” In my dissection of place, and how place shapes our view of the world (in fact, how “place” is “world”), no element can be ignored. Nature, culture, food, sounds, smells, friends, neighbors, politics, hate, love, peace, and war are all thrown into this potage called place. No ingredient can be substituted.
Chimney Rock, Nebraska
Nebraska is one of those rectangular Great Plains states that is skewed to the right. No, I am not referencing politics; I am thinking about demographics. Most Nebraskans live east along the Missouri, in Omaha and Lincoln. The western expanses of the state (i.e., any place west of Lincoln) is off the edge.
NIU — Hoffman Estates
This week I traveled to both Illinois and Indiana for a series of meetings. Today we met at the Indiana Dunes Visitors Center to discuss Beyond the Beach. The effort is showing travelers the experiences that exist away from the beach itself. By year’s end both the blog and the website should be public. In the meantime, you can keep up with this effort by becoming a fan on Facebook and by following discoverbtb on Twitter.
Ohiopyle State Park
The National Recreation and Parks Association has selected the Pennsylvania state park system as the premier state park system in the U.S. The award is ironic, in that DCNR just escaped the legislative budgeting process (100 days late) with an almost 20% decrease in funding. There is speculation that a number of state parks will be forced to close. Isn’t it interesting how legislatures always seem to pick exactly the wrong programs to attack at exactly the wrong time?
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