Category Archives: travel

The American Queen returns to American Rivers

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Now here is some REALLY GOOD NEWS!

The largest steamboat in the world was recently purchased by The Great American Steamboat Company  based in Memphis, Tenn., and it will return to America’s rivers next year.

The steamboat, which is 419 feet long and 90 feet high, holds 436 passengers was purchased for $15.5 million. It was launched in 1995 at a cost of over $65 million, but has been laid up in Beaumont, Texas since 2008, after the Majestic America Line decided to discontinue its cruise business.


“Our plans with it are to restore the service and return it back to its historical roots,” Greg Brown, executive vice-president of the Great American Steamboat Company, said.

“For two years we’ve been working on purchasing the American Queen, so this is the product of a couple years worth of work.” Brown said the American Queen will travel the “greatest hits routes” it used to travel, as well as some of the popular routes once traveled by the Mississippi and Delta Queens. He said itinerary for the American Queen will depend on the season, and it will travel the Mississippi River and many of its surrounding tributaries.

“We have it in the plans to get on the Ohio River for the Kentucky Derby season,” Brown said. “I think we’re a couple weeks away from having a firm schedule and brochure.”

Getting the American Queen up and running is expected to create more than 250 jobs, with 160 of those employees working on the steamboat at all times. Before starting out on cruises, Brown said the American Queen will undergo a $5 million renovation project. He said “she’s in very good condition,” but needs a new coat of paint, some machinery work, new dishes and bath towels, among other things.

Hurrah! for the Great American Steamboat Company. Hurrah! for America Rivers. 🙂

“Toots,” the original RIVERLORIAN for the Delta Queen Steamboat Company has written a memoir of the last cruise of the American Queen. Click link to visit.

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Heads up! Cruising the Galapagos Islands

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If you have been considering a small boat cruise of the Galapagos Islands, there have been several recent developments that make the remainder of 2011 prime time for this destination. We returned from an excursion on the MV EVOLUTION (Galapagos Cruises from Quasar Expeditions) in May. So I can heartily recommend a cruise on the Galapagos EVOLUTION.



DO IT AT DISCOUNT
 AdventureSmith Explorations recently announced a special “Two for One Galapagos Cruise” for late summer /early fall on the 32-Passenger Galapagos EVOLUTION. 

Dates for these special cruises are Aug. 25-Sept. 4, Sept. 8-18, Sept. 15-25 and Sept. 22-Oct.1. The packages begin and end in colonial Quito, Ecuador, include an 8 day / 7 night Galapagos cruise, pre and post cruise Quito hotel accommodations, airport/hotel transfers, round trip flights from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands and a half day tour of the Quito’s old town, a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.

Departures (guaranteed when 16 guests have signed up for the program) start at $5,895 for the first traveler with the companion paying only $1,100 for extras (in-country air tickets, transit control card and park entrance fees) exclusive of the cruise rate. Phone: 800-728-2875 toll-free or 530-583-1775. Email: travel@AdventureSmithExplorations.com

Need more info?

Quasar Expeditions offers a truly superb web site that will answer any questions you might have about planning, packing, and cruising the Galapagos… as well as customized land tours to extend your visit in Ecuador.

These folks KNOW cruising in the Galapagos Islands. Contact them online to learn of current special offers direct from Quasar Expeditions.

 Please revisit our RAMBLIN’ ON blog, as we will begin some detailed posts about our excursion on the Galapagos EVOLUTION, and our visit to Quito and the “Avenue of the Volcanoes”

UP NEXT on Ramblin’ On:
2011 is likely the last year the Galapagos National Park will allow cruises to encompass both the East and West Islands of the Galapagos in a one-week cruise. Another good reason to move the Galapagos to the top of your bucket list!! Click below….

Upcoming blog entries will share our Galapagos experiences with you!! So please return and join our conversation!


We also have some 30+ waterwaycruise destinations featured in our #1 rated WATERWAY CRUISE REPORTS at www.greatriver.com/waterwaycruises (click to visit!)

Click here to return to the MISSISSIPPI RIVER HOME PAGE at www.greatriver.com

FLOOD OF 2011 May Rival Even 1927

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Fox News photo of Birds Point Levee floodway

 

130,000 acres of agricultural land floods after a deliberate break in the Birds Point Levee south of Cairo.

The FLOOD OF 2011 is threatening to rival the flood of 1927!

I can’t think of a more dangerous place to be in the world just now than at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers! Levees completely encircle the city of Cairo, forming an island during floods and the Mississippi River begins to back up into the Ohio River.

For an INTERACTIVE MAP of where flooding is at its worse, visit www.greatriver.com/FLOOD.htm

Some 60% of the water that flows through the U.S. passes through this confluence, including much of the deep south, via the north-flowing Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. As this is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it is worth noting that General Grant named Cairo Fort Defiance when it was occupied by the Union Army.

See more stats on the major tributaries of the Mississippi River by visiting www.greatriver.com/tribs.htm To follow the progress of high water through the small towns of the Mississippi River, read Discover! America’s Great River Road.

 

“Toots” remembers the Delta Queen

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“Toots” Maloy, who for some 30+ years was the “face” of the Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen recently sent me her new memoir of her days on the paddlewheelers.


I found it doubly interesting because it was NOT a history of the company, but truly a memoir of her days on the boats, recounted as she made the last river journey of the Delta Queen to its current Tennessee berth.

Toots also serves as our eyes and ears as she gets a last look at the mold-infested shell of the Mississippi Queen. All of us who loved traveling the Delta Queen fleet, who loved traveling with Riverlorians “Toots”,  Bill Wiemuth, and the rest of the crew, will find this a poignant reminder of how much has been lost with the cruising paddlewheelers.

“We haven’t just lost a vessel,” Toots writes, “we lost a way of life. And with just a stroke of a pen it could have been saved.”

Yes, we have Toot’s book available online at our Mississippi River bookstore. Just $7 plus shipping for a limited time. 54 pages, with 8 pages of photos.

Please click on the link below to order instantly online, or phone 888-255-7726.

A Page Out of History

by Riverlorian, Karen “Toots” Maloy

SECURE online Order Form!

As of 2012, the AMERICAN QUEEN will be BACK on American rivers! Click link to see the update.


A Mid-March “Super Storm” for the Upper Midwest?

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OK, I love spring because one day (like today) there is a great sense of expectancy… the sun throws long morning shadows, a new bird arrives with every glance out the window (just saw my first starling), they sing in the morning with greater stridency, and the weather is just plain unpredictable.

Well, according to Paul Douglas’s weather blog in Minneapolis, another 12″ snowstorm is predicted for the Tri-State area late next week. Here’s the graphic. Paul’s interpretation follows.

Paul Douglas writes:  “Unlike Anything I’ve Ever Seen.  This printout is a prediction for total accumulated snowfall between now and midnight, March 19, 2011. Two separate (major) storms: next Wednesday, another very significant snowstorm possible around March 18-19. The GFS prints out a 53″ bullseye over southwestern Minnesota (Windom area), with nearly 30″ for the Twin Cities between these two storms. Good grief. I pray the models are wrong – but I suspect they’re on the right track. I don’t have to tell you what this would mean for our flood potential come April.”

Paul continues, “The models have been surprisingly consistent in printing out over 1″ of liquid precipitation the middle of next week.  If the storm tracks across southern Iowa into northern Illinois or southern Wisconsin heavy snow bands may set up directly over southern and central Minnesota and much of northern/western Wisconsin. There is a potential for a foot of heavy, wet snow from this storm. Nothing is guaranteed (except sunrise/sunset), so enjoy the relative peace and tranquility. We’ll probably make up for it next week.”

So, this bird walks into a store……

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This is a fun 2007 video of a real seagull, probably from Scotland, which developed the habit of stealing chips from a neighborhood shop.

The seagull waits until the shopkeeper isn’t looking, and then walks into the store and grabs a snack-size bag of cheese Doritos.

Once outside, the bag gets ripped open and shared by other birds.

The seagull’s shoplifting started early this month when he first swooped into the store in Aberdeen, Scotland, and helped himself to a bag of chips. Since then, he’s become a regular. He always takes the same type of chips.

Customers have begun paying for the seagull’s stolen bags of chips because they think it’s so funny.

Passionate Ireland

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Rich and I have an eye for PASSION. Perhaps the French proprietor  who is passionate about country meats and cheeses. Perhaps our Guide who is passionate about sharing his paths in the foothills of the Pyrenees with the traveler. Or the plumber who is passionate about bathtubs and faucets!!! All of these make great stories for travelers and we are grateful for every individual we meet who rises to this passion threshhold.

July found us exploring IRELAND. You are invited to share in our discoveries at http://greatriver.com/waterwaycruises/SHANNON/princess.htm  We will share our itinerary and the stories of those passionate people we met along the way, including:

Pat and Ann Halpin are hoteliers. The Aberdeen Lodge provided us a “soft landing”, a “home away from home” in Dublin. Among the cliffs of Kilkee, the Halpin Townhouse Hotel provided the familiar hospitality of complimentary coffee and cookies, PLUS we clearly heard the ocean  through the open window of our oceanview room at Kilkee. Here we overlooked the Atlantic just above the mouth of the Shannon River. Pat Halpin works hard to provide notably attentive and hospitable staff, and exceptional amenities for the traveler.

Ruairi Gibbons was a passionate sailor long before he became became Captain of the Shannon Princess.  “Offering a hotel cruise on the Shannon River seemed to be my best bet for spending the rest of my life on water!”

057 Ireland 1906

Beautiful art prints of Historic Travel Maps, Hand Painted by Map Artist, Lisa Middleton can be viewed in detail by clicking on the map image!

Ruairi has now owned and operated Ireland’s premier overnight hotel barge for some 17 years. Seven years ago, he completely redesigned and appointed a two hundred passenger barge into the 10 passenger hotel barge which today is the only one operating on Ireland’s longest river.

Ruairi’s wife, Olivia Power, joined the team eleven years ago when Rauri advertised for a trained Chef to serve on the Shannon Princess. Olivia was the only applicant. Now nationally recognized, she turned out to be his greatest asset, and yes, his greatest passion!

A fun side-note is that Olivia’s first assignment was in a lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin! She prepared a lot of Walleye, she recalls, and to this day she orders a supply of wild rice from Wisconsin every year! We’ve just posted our experience of cruising with Ruairi and Olivia on the SHANNON RIVER.
Enjoy!

Tom Crean, Antartic explorerFinally there is Tom Crean, an “unsung Irish hero” from the days of Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton.  We found his story at the South Pole Inn, in Anascaul, on the Dingle Penninsula.

You will find each of their stories this October in our WATERWAY CRUISE REPORTS and you will find them all in IRELAND.

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Return to WATERWAY CRUISE REPORTS

 

 

 

We also invite you to enjoy our photos of Ireland and ALL our travels at  our Great River photo site.

Spring, Spring Spring!!

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Photo by Rich MiddletonWe’re close to hitting 50 degrees in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Sandhill cranes, Canada Geese, starlings have all returned. The Mourning Dove is cooing again and the morning is beginning to be vibrant with bird chatter. We’ve heard from the St. Louis area that pelicans are back on their way north. I don’t know that ANYONE appreciates spring like someone who lives up here!

Fall Color is PEAK along the Hermann, Missouri, Wine Trail!

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Norton grapes are the signature grape at Missouri Wineries

Norton grapes are the signature Missouri wine grape

We are just back from several delightful days in the vicinity of Hermann, Missouri. Hickory and Oak trees which cover the Missouri River bluffs were in full bloom… as was OCTOBERFEST on both the Hermann and Augusta Wine Trails! 
In addition to wine tasting, live music, and friendly locals, we geo-cached in park and forest, toured historic homes and learned about the German settlements which prospered in the 1880s.
There are 70 B&Bs in Hermann alone, but reserve ahead if you visit on the weekend!! 

Watch our TRAVEL REPORTS page at www.greatriver.com/waterwaycruises/  for a detailed feature next month. Right now, visit: www.VisitHermann.com or  http://www.hermannmissouri.com/ for more details!

River tie to Yosemite Nat’l Park

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 Riverbuffs watching Ken Burn’s THE NATIONAL PARKS Sunday evening might be interested to know that the Upper River has a tie to Lafayette Bunnell, who named Yosemite Nat’l Park. From DISCOVER! AMERICA’s GREAT RIVER ROAD, Volume 1, p. 78 . . .

“Five miles south of Winona, in the tiny village of HOMER, MINNESOTA, is the historic “Bunnell  House.” This gothic gem was the home of Willard Bunnell, the first permanent settler and last Indian trader in the area. Bunnell’s brother, Lafayette, was among the men who discovered and gave the name Yosemite to the National Park in California.”