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The Expert in Baby Boomer Travel

Travel Copywriter

Clark Norton

Huey Long campaign poster -- his song and slogan were

Huey Long campaign poster — his song and slogan were “Every Man a King.”

Along with the LSU Fighting Tigers, Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, seems obsessed with Huey Long.

LSU, whose football stadium holds 92,450 people and whose mascot, Mike, is a real 750-pound tiger who lives in a $3 million enclosure until it’s time to come out to the games and roar, is clearly number one in local hearts, but Huey Long — the long dead ex-governor and senator, assassinated some 80 years ago–  must be number two.

Long, who gave himself the nickname “Kingfish,” is the subject of sizable exhibits both at the Capitol Park Museum (part of the Louisiana State Museum system) and at the Old State Capitol building, an architectural gem — it resembles a castle — that Long hated and where he was once impeached.

Long hated it so much that… Continue reading

The Myrtles Plantation is said to be haunted by a variety of ghosts. Photo from National Park Service.

The Myrtles Plantation is said to be haunted by a variety of ghosts. Photo from National Park Service.

On my recent American Cruise Lines’ voyage down the Mississippi aboard the paddlewheeler Queen of the Mississippi, we left the state of Mississippi behind about halfway through the week. Our new destination was Louisiana, on the western side of the river, making our first stop in a very inviting looking town called St. Francisville, which, despite a pouring rain that morning, proved one of the most interesting ports on the Mississippi.

St. Francisville is actually the second oldest incorporated town in Louisiana, with Spanish and British roots rather than French, as you find farther south in the state. Nearly 150 structures compose its National Register Historic District, recalling the world of the antebellum South. The artist and naturalist John James Audobon did a number of his famous bird drawings here.

It… Continue reading

Longwood, an unfinished mansion in Natchez that's the largest octagonal house in America. Photo by Clark Norton.

Longwood, an unfinished mansion in Natchez that’s the largest octagonal house in America. Photo by Clark Norton.

I’d like to be able to convince you that the life of a travel writer aboard a cruise ship sailing down the Mississippi for a week was one of arduous labor, a dawn-to-midnight whirl of interviews, note-taking, picture-making, fervid sightseeing, cabin inspections, food critiques, and long hours spent at the computer chronicling it all.

And yes, that does describe many cruises I’ve taken professionally. But on this cruise, American Cruise Lines’ Queen of the Mississippi voyage down the lower Mississippi from Memphis to New Orleans, I took a different tack. I relaxed and enjoyed myself much as if I weren’t working at all.

Maybe it was being in the South, where the pace of life seems a little slower than in New York. Maybe it was the languid heat that proved such… Continue reading

Vicksburg's stately Old Court House is now a museum. Photo by Clark Norton.

Vicksburg’s stately Old Court House is now a museum. Photo by Clark Norton.

On my recent cruise down the lower Mississippi aboard American Cruise Lines’ Queen of the Mississippi — built to resemble an old-fashioned paddlewheeler —  “riverlorian” (river lore expert) Mike Jennings summed up the feelings of those who live along America’s mightiest (and muddiest?) river: “We’ve got mud in our blood.”

Jennings, who lives in Vicksburg, Mississippi, was on board to give passengers some historical and ecological perspectives on the river we were cruising down at 13 miles per hour. Over the course of a week, we would cover nearly 650 of the Mississippi’s total length of 2,350 miles, as we journeyed between Memphis and New Orleans. (The lower Mississippi actually starts somewhat farther north in Cairo, Illinois.)

The river meanders so much, Jennings said, that sometimes we would actually be traveling north despite our… Continue reading

View of the Mississippi River from Memphis with bridge to Arkansas. Photo by Clark Norton

View of the Mississippi River from Memphis with bridge to Arkansas. Photo by Clark Norton

With almost 24 hours in Memphis before our boat, American Cruise Line’s Queen of the Mississippi, was due to embark on its voyage down the — you guessed it, Mississippi — to New Orleans, we had a long list of possible things to see and do:

Graceland…Beale Street…eat ribs at The Rendezvous…the Stax Museum…Sun Studio…find the boat dock at the Beale Street Landing (always a good precautionary measure)…have drinks at either the Peabody or Madison hotels, or both…and meet our friends driving in from Chattanooga that day for our own rendezvous.

These are friends I especially like because not only are they very nice, talented artists who love blues music, but whenever they come to visit us they bring us a big box of crispy, yummy Route 11 potato chips, made in Virginia, which… Continue reading

American Cruise Lines' paddlewheeler Queen of the Mississippi. Photo from American Cruise Lines.

American Cruise Lines’ paddlewheeler Queen of the Mississippi. Photo from American Cruise Lines.

River cruising is the hottest trend in the cruise world right now, and not just in Europe. It’s also thriving right here in the United States — and the aptly named American Cruise Lines (ACL)  is leading the
way.

ACL has ships cruising the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, the Hudson River in upstate New York, the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeastern U.S., and many more.

But my wife, Catharine, and I were most intrigued by ACL’s cruise down the lower Mississippi — from Memphis to New Orleans — partly because it was an area of the country we hadn’t explored as much as some others, and partly because the ship, the Queen of the Mississippi, was built in the style of an old-fashioned paddle wheeler, allowing us to return to Mark… Continue reading

You could avoid this next time you fly.

You could avoid this next time you fly.

If you were stuck in a long line at airport security in the New Orleans airport last week at 6 a.m., which looked to be a half hour wait at least (perhaps while your flight was on the verge of boarding), you may have noticed a few people waltzing ahead of you in a special line that had virtually no one else in it.

When they reached the security area, they didn’t have to take off their shoes, their belts, their jackets or remove their laptops or their plastic bags with small bottles of liquids in them from their carry-ons.

And they weren’t airline captains or crew members.

Rather, they were my wife and me and a few others deemed “Known Travelers” who gained entrance through the “TSA Pre-Check (Pre√)” line.

If you aren’t aware of this program, and you fly more… Continue reading

Dear Readers,

Today I’m featuring my first-ever guest post, from Robert Waite, an ex-colleague of mine from the 1970s, when we both worked for Pacific News Service in San Francisco; I was an editor, Robert was a writer, and we still got along well. Bob  now writes frequently for the Huffington Post, where this piece first appeared, from his home in Toronto.

By Robert Waite

One of the Antarctic vessels operated by OneOcean Expeditions, which was available at a cut rate via silent auction.  Photo from OneOcean Expeditions

One of the Antarctic vessels operated by OneOcean Expeditions, which was available at a cut rate via silent auction. Photo from OneOcean Expeditions

When you are in the wealth-creation phase of life, discipline is critical. You may secretly lust after an F-Type Jaguar, but prudence prevails and you select a Ford Fusion or Toyota Camry, knowing that the 70 grand or so you are saving can instead be plowed into an investment that might actually appreciate.

The same goes with dream vacations.… Continue reading

Golden Gate Bridge tower, San Francisco -- a must-see in the City by the Bay. Photo by Ian Klein/Dreamstime Stock Photos

Golden Gate Bridge tower, San Francisco — a must-see in the City by the Bay. Photo by Ian Klein/Dreamstime Stock Photos

OK, I’ll admit it, there’s nothing scientific about this list. I haven’t googled “The Five U.S. Cities Foreign Visitors Want to See Most,” because this post is based strictly on my own anecdotal experience.

And my experience in talking with foreign visitors from Switzerland to Singapore, Panama to Palau — and points in between and beyond — is that a remarkable number have the same wish list:

*San Francisco

*Los Angeles

* Las Vegas

* Miami

* New York City

Having lived in three of these cities and visited the other two, I understand the appeal. Not only are they great cities, but they dominate American movies and TV settings, and, in several cases, serve as the beacons of American glitz and glamour.

Sure, I’ve met… Continue reading

The Drifter from STM -- an especially good pack for carrying a laptop. Photo by Clark Norton

The Drifter from STM — an especially good pack for carrying a laptop. Photo by Clark Norton

Last week, while on a cruise along the Mississippi River with American Cruise Lines, I brought my laptop along to get some blogging done (which, oddly enough, I managed to do — the results will start showing up next week, as I chronicle my time aboard the Queen of the Mississippi).

But first, I wanted to put in a plug for a very good backpack I carried my 15-inch laptop in, along with my rather bulky laptop charger cord and what must have been dozens of sheets of random papers, notebooks, manuscripts, and — as I traveled and accumulated stuff — sightseeing brochures, cruise dinner menus, receipts, used airplane boarding passes, etc.

And that was just in the top-loading zippered main compartment. (The inner area contains extra padding to… Continue reading

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According to government and private surveys:

  • Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
  • Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
  • Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
  • When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.

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