​Hotdogs taste better when you order them from a roadside stand shaped like a giant barrel, as I learned when I stopped at the Root Beer Barrel in Douglas, Michigan.

The stand, built in the 1950s, closed in the mid-1970s. It stood vacant for 25 years, its wooden staves rotting and weeds growing at its feet.

The owner planned demolish it, but the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society stepped in. The organization purchased the oversized barrel for $1.

Rebuilding the Barrel

A Save the Barrel campaign ensued, and fans of the former root beer and hotdog stand pitched in more than $11,000 to refurbish the roadside attraction.

Read more: Taste fireweed and spruce tips at this awesome ice cream shop in Alaska

Restoration began in 2011. Volunteers removed lead paint, dismantled the pieces, and moved it to a workshop. There, the long wooden strips that form the barrel’s walls were repaired, sanded, and sealed. A new steel base ring was crafted, too.

The stand reopened in 2016 and today caters to beachgoers on their way to nearby Oval Beach.

I ordered a root beer float and a chili cheese dog, and ate them at a wooden picnic table in the shadow of the towering barrel.

When the concession stand first opened, customers could buy a regular hotdog for a quarter, a hamburger for 35 cents, a foot-long hotdog for 40 cents, a root beer for a dime, or a float for 20 cents.

You’ll pay more today, but it’s still worth it for the smile.

The Root Beer Barrel is open Memorial Day through Labor Day.

I’ve long dreamed about watching grizzly bears snatch salmon swimming upstream to spawn, so my recent visit to Katmai National Park in Alaska ranks as one of the best days of my life.

After taking a 30-minute bear education class at the park (“Do not cheer when a bear catches a salmon”), I got to ogle real-live grizzlies, in the wild, gorge themselves on the foot-long fish.

Two big bears perched on the falls, using their thumb-sized toenails to snag leaping fish. A third sat in the churning water below, waving its furry, anvil-shaped head back and forth looking for salmon. All around, bears stuck their heads underwater, looking for dinner, then belly flopped on top of them to stun them. The captured fish were quickly shucked, like corn on the cob, and eaten with glee.

Roughly 2,200 bears live at Katmai National Park, about 170 miles west of Anchorage. Starting in June, many of those bears congregate at Brooks Falls, where they eat dozens of fish a day and pack on weight for their upcoming hibernation.

If you can’t make it to Alaska, you can still watch the action via live stream cameras at https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls. And in a few months, you’ll be able to help pick the champion of the annual Fat Bear Week competition.
The bears I saw two weeks ago are relatively slim compared to what they look like by the time the single elimination bracket contest kicks off in October.

Tune in for Fat Bear Week

Over the course of seven days, and concluding on Fat Bear Tuesday, people around the world can pick which bear should get the Fat Bear crown.

Read more: I tasted spruce tip and fireweed icecream at this Anchorage icecream shop

The online contest started in 2014 but has boomed in popularity since then. In 2021, nearly 800,000 votes were cast, according to park officials, who say the contest celebrates fat bears and Katmai’s healthy ecosystem.

That fat is important. The bears spend all winter in a den, where they don’t eat or drink and shed up to a third of their body weight. To survive, they have to eat a year’s worth of food in six months, according to the park’s website.

At Katmai they can do just that.

Dates of this year’s tournament style bracket have not yet been announced. Check for updates at www.fatbearweek.org.

Besides the main Fat Bear contest, rangers have added a Fat Bear Junior bracket for what they call “chubby cubbies.” Online chats and events are also part of Fat Bear Week.

One of the contest’s perennial favorite, Otis, who has won the competition four times, showed up late this year, sparking worry among fans, who are quick to comment on a text thread beneath the livestream of bears feeding at the falls. He finally made an appearance in late July, to the relief of observers.

Last year’s winner, Bear 747, aka Bear Force One, weighed an estimated 1,400 pounds as voting wrapped up.

According to rangers, males weigh 700 to 900 pounds in mid-summer. During the peak salmon run, they’ll eat 30 or more fish a day, adding more several hundred pounds to their frames. By fall they’ll tip the scales at 1,200 pounds or more.

 

 

I love to taste the local flavors of the places I travel.

I also love ice cream, so when I spent a few days in Anchorage last week, I beelined it – twice – to an ice cream shop that uses local plants to concoct its uniquely Alaskan scoops.

The first time I stopped at Wild Scoops, I ordered one scoop of wild blueberry and another of fireweed and honey. I knew I’d like the blueberry; here in Austin I’m known for whipping up blueberry pies all summer long. But I had no idea what fireweed would taste like. The plant, which gets its name because it’s one of the first plants to sprout on land that’s been burned, grows in tall purple-pink plumes all summer in Alaska.

It turns out it’s delicious. I caught a hint of cedar and a nice dollop of honey in the fireweed. The blueberry was wild and subtle – not overly sweet or dyed a freaky shade of blue.

But my favorite flavor was spruce tip, which I ordered on my return visit to the downtown ice cream shop, where a crowd is always gathered. I’ve never actually eaten a spruce tree, but it tasted like a hike in the woods or a cozy campfire.

As a side note, someone in Alaska told me that Alaskans eat more ice cream per capita than any other state, which seemed surprising. Turns out that’s not true. According to data from Zippia, Alaska actually ranks 47^th out of all 50 states for per capita ice cream consumption.

Obviously not everyone up there has discovered Wild Scoops.

You’ve probably seen photographs of the nuclear bombs that went off in the Marshall Islands in the 1940s and ‘50s – enormous, lint-colored, mushroom-shaped clouds rising like nightmares from the ocean, utterly surreal against the slender palm trees in the  foreground.

Since visiting last week, I’ll never see those images the same way.

During our week-long stay, the small group of journalists I traveled with met government officials, community leaders, scientists, and residents of some of the smaller islands around the capitol of Majuro. We also sat down with members of the National Nuclear Committee, who are trying to increase awareness about the nuclear testing that took place here, in a gut-wrenching meeting I’ll never forget.

I’ll be writing more about my trip – which I took partly to learn about Sawyer Products’ efforts to bring clean water to residents, partly to learn about how climate change is affecting the low-lying atolls, and partly to explore the region as a travel destination – in coming weeks.

Until then, here are ten things to know about visiting this remote string of islands located midway between Hawaii and Australia…

1. First, the Republic of the Marshall Islands is one of the least visited countries in the world. Just 10,500 people visit annually, according to Carlos Domnick, head of the Office of Commerce, Investment and Tourism.

2. About 60,000 people live in the Marshall Islands. About half of them live on the main island of Majuro, where I stayed.

3. Some experts say parts of the Marshall Islands could be uninhabitable due to rising sea levels in as few as 30 years if nothing is done.

4. If you go, don’t expect a developed travel destination. Majuro has just two hotels, and they’re basic. I stayed at the Hotel Robert Reimers, where my room was clean and perfectly satisfactory, but would be considered lower end by many Americans. Focus on the people, who are amazing, and the culture, which is friendly and welcoming.

5. Dress conservatively. Women – including visitors – cover their knees and shoulders. Although the bikini swimsuit was named for Bikini Atoll, locals don’t wear swimsuits (and neither should you, in public areas). Women swim in shorts and shirts or even skirts and dresses.

6. You should filter all water, or drink bottled water, even at hotels.

7. Most locals don’t talk much about the nuclear testing that took place here. Until recently, it wasn’t taught in schools, and families directly affected by the bombs tended to hide it. Members of the National Nuclear Committee told us that women who had miscarriages after the tests were told they were caused by incest. Cancer rates are high.

8. Weirdly, the Hangar Bar at the airport serves “Bravo Shots,” named for the hydrogen bomb called Castle Bravo set off on March 1, 1954. Castle Bravo formed a fireball more than 4 miles across within 1 second, and a mushroom cloud stretched 9 miles high after 1 minute. Contamination spread to surrounding atolls. The radiation and its effects still linger.

9. Visitors who travel to the Marshall Islands can fish, snorkel and scuba dive. I saw orange and white clown fish tucked in anemones and a shy octopus as big as a cowboy hat. A few folks surf on the outer islands. There’s a small museum, and you can take a ride on an outrigger sailing canoe at a local club for $20 per person.

10. The islands are situated just west of the International Date Line. That means when you return to the United States, you get a replay on the day you fly out. I left on Friday night, after spending part of the afternoon skimming across the turquoise waters of the lagoon on a traditional outrigger sailing canoe. But an hour after leaving the airport that night, I got to start myday all over again, whiling away Friday Number 2 on airplanes and at airports.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I detoured through the little West Texas town of Sanderson while heading back to Austin from Big Bend recently and discovered a new coffee shop called Ferguson Motors.

I first wandered through Sanderson three years ago, when I wrote about the scrappy little town for Texas Monthly Magazine. I stayed at the Desert Air Motel, met a bunch of locals, and learned something about the town’s tragic history.

Read more: Sanderson is an underrated West Texas escape

Now I’ve got another fantastic reason to take Highway 90 instead of Interstate 10 when I’m driving to Big Bend.

Here are the best things about Ferguson Motors:

1. It’s housed in an old Ford dealership!

2. They sell a lot more than just coffee.

3. There’s an open mic session every Friday evening.

4. They make great sandwiches. The cookies (especially the peanut butter ones) are fantastic, and I didn’t try it, but the pizza smells great too.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

5. They sell art by local artists, including one of my favorites, Liz Potter. I discovered Liz’s work at Blue Genie Art Show in Austin one Christmas and liked it so much I tracked her down and met her for coffee in Alpine, where she now lives. I’ve got a whole collection of bandanas she made, printed with cool West Texas critters like jackrabbits and javelina.

6. The events venue in the backside of the building hosts jam sessions, live music and more.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

7. The owners of Ferguson Motors, Jake and Hannah Harper, are really nice.

8. On July 1, they’re hosting a beer tasting with Farm Ale Brewing Co.. Meet the brewery owner, ask about brewing, taste the beer, and grab some free merchandise.