Do you feel like your vacations are getting shorter and more frequent at the same time? Is the idea of getting out of town the only thing that can get you out of bed on the weekend? You’re not alone.
America’s travel habits are changing. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, the average length of a vacation these days is less than five nights. Most of us, in fact, are staying three nights or less wherever we go, usually over a weekend. And there isn’t even a way of measuring how many day trips we each squeeze in a year.
Yet despite our shorter, more frequent trips, summer is still the time one-third of all Americans prefer to schedule a little time off. With summer upon us, here’s a short list of where to go and what to do next.
Salute the National D-Day Museum
Hop aboard an affordable nonstop Southwest flight to New Orleans on a Friday morning and you’ll be sipping café au lait and munching on a beignet in the French Quarter a couple of hours later. The hottest attraction in the Big Easy this summer isn’t in the Quarter, though. It’s several blocks away in the Warehouse Arts District, an area where 19th-century industrial buildings are being turned into restaurants, music clubs, hotels, art galleries, and museums faster than chef Emeril Lagasse can say ”Bam!“ Here you’ll find the new National D-Day Museum, set to open with much fanfare on June 6, marking the 56th anniversary of the Normandy invasion by Allied forces in World War II.
If you’re wondering what a museum to such a serious event is doing in this party-loving town, the answer is simple, if relatively obscure: The boats that made possible the historic amphibious landing on the Normandy beaches were designed and manufactured in New Orleans by one of the war’s home front heroes, Andrew Jackson Higgins. These boats were also instrumental to the landings at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Anzio, and every other major beach invasion of the war. That fact wasn’t lost on noted historian, author, and former University of New Orleans professor Stephen Ambrose when he decided to establish a museum in honor of D-Day and the men and women in service and on the home front who helped win the war.
The museum has received major financial support from such celebrities as Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, director and star, respectively, of Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg and Hanks, as well as news anchor and author Tom Brokaw, will be on hand for the grand opening in June. The opening festivities include a free ceremony at the New Orleans Arena, with Ambrose delivering the keynote address and remarks expected from Spielberg, Hanks, former President Carter, and Defense Secretary William Cohen. Tickets to the ceremony are free but required; preference is being given to veterans. For tickets, call (877) 730-3329.
The museum, at 945 Magazine St., is housed in a renovated 70,500-square-foot warehouse that was once home to a brewery. Inside are three levels of exhibition space where the story of D-Day is interpreted chronologically through an array of artifacts acquired by the museum from a private collection in France. There are also many objects donated by veterans themselves.
The artifacts are displayed in four interactive galleries that feature nine oral history stations with videotaped interviews of veterans and wartime workers. There are photomurals, dioramas, floor maps, and an eerie recreation of General Eisenhower’s war room as he and others planned the invasion. Celebrities Ed Bradley and Harry Connick Jr. narrate portions of the exhibit. Full-sized Higgins boats, tanks, German sentry boxes, and vintage aircraft are housed in the dramatic four-story, glass-enclosed pavilion connected to the museum. Patrons can view D-Day Remembered, the Oscar-nominated documentary, screening continuously in the museum’s theater. A gift shop and café are also located within the building. Admission to the National D-Day Museum is $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, and $5 for students. For more information, call (504) 527-6012 or visit the Web site at http://www.ddaymuseum.org.
If you’re new to the Warehouse Arts District where the museum is located, here’s a dining tip: The gospel brunch at The Praline Connection, a soul food restaurant and music venue just a few doors from the museum, is a deal. You’ll feast on buffets featuring breakfast items, Creole and Cajun dishes, soul food specialties and traditional Deep South desserts like bread pudding and a killer peach cobbler. The music by the house gospel group Assurance is simply divine. Cost per person is around $25. For a place to stay that’s about equidistant from the D-Day Museum and the French Quarter, try International House, 221 Camp St., a cool new boutique hotel favored by musicians playing at the nearby House of Blues, as well as other artsy types. For information or reservations, call (800) 633-5770 or go to www.ihhotel.com.
Spend a lazy day in Ashland City
Summer is a time for simple pleasures—a leisurely drive, a good meal, a little shopping, and maybe some hiking or biking along a scenic trail. For a day trip that offers all of that, head northwest to Ashland City in Cheatham County. You can get there in about 30 minutes via I-24, the recently widened U.S. Highway 12, or by taking River Road off Charlotte Avenue. However you get there, arrive hungry so you can have lunch at Stratton’s, an authentic soda shop that’s been there since the 1950s. The cheeseburgers and fries are great, and so are the malts and chocolate. The eatery is on Main Street, as are most of the shops, which include three or four antique stores that are fun for browsing or buying.
After some light shopping, you might want to take a turn—either on foot or a bike if you brought one—along the 3.7-mile Cumberland River Bicentennial Trail, a reclaimed railway bed converted for use by walkers, bikers, and horseback riders. You can head home after a dinner of fried catfish and all the trimmings at either Bill’s Catfish Restaurant or Riverview Restaurant. If you want to make this an overnight getaway, consider the Birdsong Lodge, an upscale bed-and-breakfast inn located in the one-time summer home of the Cheeks of Maxwell House coffee fame. Rates for the luxurious rooms are $150-$175 per night, and there’s also a private cottage that can accommodate 2-4 people that goes for $195 a night. For more information, call (615) 792-1767 or go to http://www.bbonline.com/tn/birdsong.
Experience Dickson's Renaissance
Dickson, a 45-minute drive west on I-40, is an easy day trip for Nashvillians. With the new Renaissance Center downtown and the newly renovated facilities at Montgomery Bell State Park nearby, it’s also an entertaining one.
Start your visit at the state park, just 7 miles east of Dickson on U.S. Highway 70. The park encompasses 4,000 acres where you can hike, bike, camp, picnic, and otherwise enjoy the great outdoors. The new lodge also has 110 guest rooms; an indoor and an outdoor pool; a gift shop; and a very good restaurant, serving bountiful Southern-style buffets at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Golfers may want to schedule a tee time at the park’s 18-hole golf course.
After outdoor activities and lunch, head into Dickson for a tour of the Renaissance Center, a multimillion-dollar arts, education, and technology center. The center is offering a summer series of art workshops on Saturdays and there are children’s theater performances by the resident stage troupe every Saturday as well. In the evening, the center hosts musical groups and presents plays like Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night (7 p.m. May 27) and the rock opera Tommy (July dates TBA). For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.rcenter.org, or call 740-5600.
For information on Montgomery Bell State Park, go to http://www.tnstateparks.com, or call (800) 250-8613.
Move into the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood
If you have guests coming into town and want to give them a rooming option that’s out of the ordinary, the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood has a wealth of choices. Bounded by Wedgewood Avenue, Woodmont Boulevard, Hillsboro Road, and 12th Avenue South, the Belmont-Hillsboro area encompasses Hillsboro Village, Belmont University, and the emerging 12South district. It also boasts some beautiful examples of late 19th- and early 20th-century dwellings. Short of buying one of these or making friends with an owner, the best way to get away to this neighborhood is to book a room at one of the three bed-and-breakfast inns located here.
Four Walls, 1805 Blair Ave., is a new bed-and-breakfast housed in a strikingly restored red brick home that features lush gardens and a private backyard with a large deck and hot tub. The rooms go for $115 for the first two nights and $105 per night thereafter, including breakfast. For reservations, call 292-7162.
Hillsboro House, 1930 20th Ave. S., is a 1904 Victorian frame cottage painted a sunny yellow with turquoise trim where the guest rooms are $110 a night, breakfast included. For reservations, call 292-5501 or go to http://www.bbonline.com/tn/hillsboro.
Linden Manor, 1501 Linden Ave., is a cream brick 1893 house, with guest rooms for $95-$135, including breakfast. For reservations, call 298-2701 or go to http://www.bbonline.com/tn/linden.
All three inns are within walking distance or a short drive of the many free music events at Belmont University, Bongo Java and Fido coffeehouses, the Belcourt Theatre, the art galleries and retail shops of Hillsboro Village, and the shops along 12th Avenue South.
