"Breaking Bad" Brings Tourism to Albuquerque

"Breaking Bad" is an AMC series that is based in Albuquerque, but the meth lab saga was not always welcome here. The controversial topics of the show were thought to be putting a bad image on the city. However, visitors started to increase to these famous places that were shown on series.  This led to a perfect time to capitalize on the tourism in the city.  Tours and events centered around "Breaking Bad" put Albuquerque in a positive light, and it is starting to increase tourism profits in the city.

AMC's meth-lab saga Breaking Bad- an Albuquerque-based series the Washington Post's Hank Stuever says "comes from such a dark hole of the American cultural psyche that you sometimes have to wonder how it ever made it on TV" - is now fodder for the city's tourism bureau.

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ABQ Trolley Co

"When Breaking Bad began airing five seasons ago, we were less than thrilled by the subject matter, which is based on a fictional character and story," says Dale Lockett, head of the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau.

But given its popularity, "people are traveling to our city to see the locations featured in the show and then spending time at our attractions, restaurants and hotels," he adds.

 "This unexpected new visitor market is definitely a pleasant surprise, and we will soon be marketing it more aggressively" - including a self-guided tour that links Breaking Bad filming locations (an Octopus Car Wash, among them) with nearby museums and other, more conventional draws.

One local tour operator, the ABQ Trolley Co., added a three-hour, $60 per person Breaking Bad tour timed to this month's season premiere - and promptly sold out all seven scheduled departures.
Of course, Albuquerque isn't the only destination to make tourist lemonade out of film location lemons.

For more information see the USATODAY.

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Wildlife West Music Festivals

  Wildfire West Music Festival is close to home and is packed with great bands that your family will love.  Children's admission is free, and parking is also free of charge for the weekend.  Bands perform every two hours with activities and contests continuing during the festival.

Wildlife West is just 20 minutes east of Albuquerque in nearby Edgewood, New Mexico, and parking is always free! Free weekend camping (dry camping) is provided. Children under 12 are admitted free. No alcohol or open fires are permitted at the festivals.

10th Annual Wildlife Music Festival July 20-22, 2012

This summer's festival will feature the Quebe Sisters Band and The Byron Berline Band.
Friday kicks off at the Historic Bean Barn with a Country Barn Dance with South by Southwest.
The following contests are scheduled: Fiddle Contest, Banjo Contest, Sunday, July 22 at 4pm.
Saturday & Sunday begins at 11am with

The Quebe Sisters Band

When Grace, Sophia and Hulda Quebe (pronounced Kway-bee) raise their fiddles and play, audiences marvel. When the girls sing their vintage style three-part harmony, audiences are blown away. Add the extraordinary rhythm guitar of Joey McKenzie and the swinging upright bass of Drew Phelps and the Quebe Sisters Band becomes a force of nature. The QSB's unique brand of music has taken the Americana music scene by storm. They perform a refreshing blend of western swing, vintage country, bluegrass, jazz & swing standards, and Texas style fiddling.
The band has been awarded the 2007 Crescendo Award by the Western Music Association and winner of the 2008 Western Swing Album of the Year from the
Academy of Western Artists,

The Byron Berline Band

Members: Byron Berline, John Hickman, Jim Fish, Richard Sharp, Greg Burgess and Steve Short
Byron Berline is a three-time National Fiddle Champion who turned to a musical career after earning a B. A. in Physical Education at the University of Oklahoma. Originally from Oklahoma where he began playing the fiddle at age 5, Byron lived and worked in Los Angeles for 26 years before returning to his home state in 1995.
Byron's professional career reads like Who's Who in the music business as he has performed with or recorded with so many notables. He has led or been a member of the following bands : Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, 1966 - 67; Dillard & Clark, 1969-1970; Dillard Expedition, 1970-71; Country Gazette, 1971-75; Sundance, 1975-85; Berline, Crary & Hickman, 1978-90; L. A. Fiddle Band, 1978-93; California, 1990-96; Byron Berline Band, 1996- Present
Also appearing at the 10th Annual Festival will be:

• Holy Water & Whiskey
• The Squash Blossom Boys
• Muddy River String Band
• Lost Howling Coyotes
• Kitty Jo Creek Band
• Hot Club of Santa Fe
• Zoltan Orkestar
• Breaking Blue
• Gary Reynolds & the Southwest Wind Band
• Coyote Crossing
• Cheap Shots
• Jimmy Abraham
and more

Bands change every hour on two stages.

We kick off the weekend with the Friday Barn Dance, 7pm July 20 featuring South by Southwest. Saturday and Sunday feature a dozen bands on two covered stages. The Quebe Sisters and Byron Berline are staying over to play Sunday, and with the new dance floor in the amphitheater there will lots of boot-scootin’ to some terrific fiddlin’.

Workshops in songwriting, banjo and fiddle, Jam Sessions and camaraderie, plus the non-releasable wild animals in this 122 acre nature park make for a great weekend. There's always free camping and parking and remember - it’s cooler in Edgewood.

For more information on the festival head to the Wildlife West Website.

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Vacation Tips to Keep Your Packing Light

Are you going on vacation this summer?  Whether you are running out of room in your car or want to avoid the extra rates on the plane, packing light is essential.  Here are some great tips on how to avoid those extra rates, and still bring everything you need on the trip.

Start early: For a trip that's a week or longer, I typically get my suitcase out two or three days before I'm leaving. It helps me get into travel mode early, which means I'll have time to think of things like laundry and outfits.

Make a list: My mom recently brought up that when my brother and I were little, she made a point of teaching us how to pack our own bags. List-making was always the first step to doing it efficiently.

Stick to a few versatile pieces of clothing and pairs of shoes: Choose colors and patterns that will mix and match easily so that you'll be able to wear each piece more than once. This forethought reduces how much you'll pack and can make getting dressed easier. For women, dresses are pretty foolproof. Include things that can transition from casual to dressier; for shoes, think loafers for men or ballet flats for women. (And I never pack more than three pairs.)

Think about outfits: Similarly, you'll end up bringing less stuff if you spend a few minutes planning outfits. By having incorporated versatile tops and bottoms, you'll still have options to choose from depending on your mood when you're traveling. Women can include a few staple pieces of jewelry, which won't take up much space but can change a look.

Dress your heaviest onboard: I travel wearing my bulkier items, which for airplanes in the summer includes pants and the only cardigan I'm bringing.

Learn what you don't have to pack: To save suitcase space you can easily forgo many items, particularly hair dryers and most toiletries. Hotels and hosts typically will oblige, and, if need be, you can pick up toiletries at a drugstore. And in general remember that when it comes down to it, very few things (e.g. prescriptions and contacts) are essential.
 
Go for light reading: I love to read while traveling and try to stick to paperbacks under 300 pages or else magazines.

For more vacation tips check out Apartment Therapy.

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Beating the Heat

This heat wave has taken over the country. Temperatures are well into the upper 90s and past 100 degrees, and everyone is looking for a way to stay cool.  Here are some great tips on how to beat the heat, but still have a great summer.

The National Weather Service said the record-breaking heat that has baked the nation's midsection for several days was slowly moving into the mid-Atlantic states and Northeast. Excessive-heat warnings remained in place Friday for all of Iowa, Indiana and Illinois as well as much of Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Kentucky.


St. Louis hit a record high of 105 on Wednesday and a record low of 83. In Wisconsin, the coolest Milwaukee and Madison got was 81 in the early morning, beating previous low records by 2 and 4 degrees respectively. Temperatures didn't fall below 79 in Chicago, 78 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and 75 in Indianapolis.

"When a day starts out that warm, it doesn't take as much time to reach high temperatures in the low 100s," said Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "You know it'll be a warm day when you start out at 80 degrees."

For people in other parts of the country who aren't used to hearing the weather man say, "It'll be cooling down to 105 tomorrow," here are a few unique tips from the Valley of the Sun:

1. Keep your ride cool. Those cumbersome windshield reflectors are your new best friend. And if you have young children, buy an extra one to strap over a car seat to keep metal clasps from heating up in the sun as your car sits in the parking lot. You might even throw an ice pack or frozen water bottle in the seat to keep it cool for little ones while you shop.

2. Get creative about sleeping arrangements. Set up beds on a porch or back yard. Or just sleep in the shade, during the heat of the day.

3. Avoid the sun. Sure, sunscreen helps. But you can avoid it altogether by waking up and doing yard work before sunrise or going for your daily run at midnight.

4. Think before you touch. Any surface that sits in the sun could be hot enough to burn. There's no shame in using pot holders to open doors. Also, carry a towel to put on hot seats, and keep curtains pulled tight to block out the rays.

5. Water is your friend. Drink it. Swim in it. Spray it on your face. In Phoenix, shopping centers and cafes greet visitors by showering them with a fine, cool mist. You can get the same effect by filling a spray bottle with water.
And if all this talk about smoldering temperatures is getting you down, look on the bright side. You can always bake cookies on the dashboard of your car. We really do that.

For more information check out the Christian Science Monitor.

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