It’s a fabulous gathering but not exactly a hotbed of family travel information (unless you want to count my son going to the associated ScreenBurn video gaming event.)

If I was a more organized blogger I’d have things pre-posted and/or guest posts lined up for you….and that’ll happen right after those last Christmas decorations get put away at my house, right?

Right!

A good noise level to drown out the occasional squawking is a bonus.

I have a recommendation for you in Houston: Lupe Tortilla.

It’s a local chain of 8 restaurants, and I first heard about it when I wrote an article about Pro Stock drag racer Erica Enders (a Houston native and along with her sister, the subject of the Disney movie “Right on Track.”)  Erica loves Lupe Tortilla and they were a sponsor of her race car, so I thought I’d check them out on my next visit to town.

At the West Houston location, the place was packed at dinnertime on a Sunday, but the line moved quickly and hallelujah, there is a small outdoor playground that was mobbed with little patrons and their parents.

The food was good with a nice variety, the margarita came quickly and the noise level was enough of a din to cover squawking, but not so loud that you couldn’t carry on a conversation.

Houston being Houston, the restaurant is tucked next to a freeway (Interstate 10) and it took me awhile to find the right access road, but once I got in, life was good.

How can life not be good at a Tex-Mex joint on a weekend?

Pay Lupe Tortilla a visit.

As a parent, of course, your job is to never seem too “Squeeee!” happy when they occasionally admit that something is informative or educational.

Where do you find these tours?

First, if you use iPods, do a search in the iTunes store; Apple recognizes the value of their audio tour podcasts although the iTunes Search function is not particularly good.

There are many well-established general travel podcasts (think of them as little radio shows) from Indie Travel Podcast (latest topics as of this writing include Christchurch, New Zealand and Tasmania) the Amateur Traveler (latest episodes are about the Republic of Georgia, London and Easter Island) Frommers.com and Rick Steves who covers Europe.  An iTunes search for Disney informational podcasts returns a bunch of options too; just make sure they’re fairly recent since things can change quickly at the parks.

You can also find location-specific offerings on iTunes like LAWithKids for Los Angeles and audio/video podcast offerings from VisitLondon.com.

Some companies focus specifically on audio offerings - AudioSnacks, for example, has a big section for audio tours, and the company SoundWalk has some very unique walking tours that place special emphasis on New York City, although they do have a few other cities as well. The media company ARTineraries has professionally-produced tours of mostly Italian historic sites.  LearnOutLoud has a kid’s audio section, too.

The UK’s Guardian, always a good source of worldwide travel information, has a small selection of free audio tours called Sounds of the City (Athens, Rome, Nice, Marseille, Valencia and Granada) plus an eclectic collection of very personalized audio travel guides, featuring people like musician Franz Ferdinand taking you on a tour of his hometown of Glasgow.

Some travel guide companies also produce audio - I like the DK (Dorling-Kindersley) Eyewitness guides for their clean layout and liberal use of photos and graphics, so I was pleased to find that they also have a few DK Travel podcasts.

Finding these things is a classic Google search problem, but I’ve had best results when I query search engines about tours for a specific location.  As I always advise, start with the tourism board/Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) for the place you’re going to visit.  For example, the Chicago Office of Tourism has free downloadable guides including Chicago for Kids and a blues tour narrated by Buddy Guy.  Even smaller towns may have them; Astoria and Warrenton, Oregon have audio tours guided by locals and sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce.

Don’t forget that most museums have had audio tours for a long time, including big places like Chicago’s Field Museum and New York’s Museum of Modern Art, plus smaller ones like the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, which has tours in English and Spanish.

Let us know in the comments if you have any favorites!

Here is a quick summary of my own painful recent painful videographer learning experience as outlined in “Look before you leap into HD video:”

If you’re thinking of shooting HD to take family travel video, be aware of the following issues:

1. The file extension is different and may not be recognized by your video editing software.  My PC’s installed version of Windows Movie Maker can’t “see” the new .MP4 files from the FlipHD Mino, and the latest version of Movie Maker (that can work with MP4) won’t work with my Windows XP. Technology awesomeness!
2. Technology crises always happen at 9 pm on a Saturday night when you’re alone - at least, they do with me.  When I saw I had a mess, I put a call out to my video-savvy Twitter followers, who quickly gave me software suggestions.  Hurray for helpful networks.  No, I can’t “call the IT people” because that’s me.  Freelancer awesomeness!
3. Adobe Premiere Elements was recommended by several (thanks, Dwight Silverman at the Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog) but I found it crash-prone (corroborated in several user forums.) I never could even launch the 30 day free trial and finally had to uninstall it.  The real problem became clearer when….
4. ….I then bought (for about $100 at Best Buy) and installed Pinnacle Studio Ultimate HD (thanks for the tip, Omar Gallaga - he’s the Austin American-Statesman Digital Savant.)  Pinnacle didn’t crash and nicely corrected several problems in a few of my video files - harsh sunlight, funky audio - but playbacks kept stuttering and everything just seemed “gummy.” Turns out that when I actually read the Pinnacle system requirements (d’oh!) my laptop has insufficient RAM and the processor is too slow.
5. To handle the two videos (plus lots of B-roll) that I’ve shot in HD, I’ve now installed the Pinnacle software on my family desktop PC, which has a more powerful processor (but the same amount of RAM as the laptop, so cross your fingers for me.)  I’m copying all the HD files on my laptop onto a 500G-capacity Seagate external hard drive, then dumping them from the Seagate onto the desktop so I can try to make everything work properly on a better platform. You can’t transfer such big files by email or sticking them on a thumb drive (without losing your mind) so I went with the big digital shovel.  Tech logistics awesomeness!

Bottom line? If you want to roll with HD, it’s not enough to shoot it. That part is deceptively easy.

You need a high-powered, fairly recent computer with capable software to edit those HD files unless you’re always going to be content to upload directly online (i.e., can shoot without error and never want to change it much.)

I’m dropping back to my lower-resolution Flip Ultra for now, so before you drop any serious coin on video toys, research what you’ll need to edit your footage.

Do as I say, not as I already screwed up….

Yes, I know how to search for travel ideas on a destination or attraction Web site, but a tweet or a Facebook Wall recommendation is a much more engaging and public way to spread the word.

Please don’t email suggestions to me; that’s nice but it is one-to-one communication. Tweet me and/or Facebook me, so that all of our networks can see what’s cool about your state.

We’re going in alphabetical order but started with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin, West Virginia,  Washington,  Virginia,  Vermont,  Utah, Texas,  Tennessee,  South Dakota,  South Carolina,  Rhode Island,  Pennsylvania,  Oregon, Oklahoma,  Ohio, North Dakota,  North Carolina, New York, New Mexico, New Jersey, New Hampshire and now we’re moving on to….Nevada!

This state is doing a terrific job leveraging the social Web to talk about what they can offer prospective visitors.  Their Traveling Nevada blog has plenty of updates and good ideas, and they have a Facebook Fan Page, shared Nevada photos on Flickr,  a MySpace page, videos on their YouTube channel and of course they’re very active on Twitter as @TravelNevada.

When I asked for Nevada ideas, here’s what came in….

Twitter Travel Tips for Nevada

***  From Nevada Tourism via @TravelNevada on Twitter - Artown, which runs the month of July, is a great family-friendly month long event.  [There's a] new V&T Railroad from Carson City to Virginia City.  Virginia City’s a very family-friendly destination/activity. Events and things to do there: http://bit.ly/63UNRz

***  From Mary Jo Manzanares via @flyawaycafe on Twitter - [in Las Vegas] Jousting tourney at Excalibur, Lions at MGM Grand, Lion King at Mandalay Bay, Secret Garden at Mirage, and oh! - renting a cabana by the pool at Mandalay Bay (best  family-friendly pool in LV, in my opinion.)

***  From Chris Chambers via @ckjchambers on Twitter - our 5 year old loved “O” at Bellagio when we went to see it recently - so did Mum & Dad.

***  From Bethany Drysdale tweeting Nevada tourism news via @NevadaPR on Twitter - [Ideas] ….mining park in Tonopah; Ghost Train in Ely; Animal Ark in Reno; Springs Preserve in Vegas, any/all outdoor fun at Tahoe.  [Events] …Reno River Festival (May), Carson City Rendezvous (June), Reno Rodeo (June), Artown (whole month of July in Reno),  Natl. Basque Festival (July in Elko), Best in the West Nugget Rib Cookoff (Sept, Reno), Great Reno Balloon Race (Sept, Reno)….And my all-time favorite:  International Camel Races in Virginia City (Sept.)  Hilarious event and great family town to explore!

***  From Spencer Spellman via @spencerspellman on Twitter - what is the hotel with the fountains that has the zoo [Actually the Bellagio has the fountains, the Mirage has the volcano and the MGM Grand has a zoo/lion habitat.  THAT is a bizarre sentence to write!]

***  From Kara S. Williams via @karasw on Twitter - Call me crazy, but kids liked these spots in Vegas:   M&M World (free 3-D movie) and Titanic exhibit at Luxor.  I would absolutely take my theatre/dance-loving 9 yr old to a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas (just not the R-rated Zumanity! - though for adults, it’s a HOOT.)

Facebook Travel Tips for Nevada

***  From Bridget Smith on Facebook  –  The Las Vegas Children’s Museum is cheap and great. We enjoyed bowling at one of the casinos. The Golden Nugget has a great pool water slide AND you can swim with sharks.

***  From Paul Ellis on Facebook - In Henderson NV:  the Carousel Workshop and Ocean Spray tours.

Thanks so much for the contributions, everyone!

The BootsnAll Travel Network has a Nevada Travel Guide as well.

The next state in the series is Nebraska.

Send your Nebraska highlights to @SheilaS on Twitter or write them on my Facebook Wall (please tell me you’re a 50 state-er if you want to friend me.)

My purpose for this series is not only to highlight worthy kid-friendly vacation destinations in all 50 states, but by using Twitter and Facebook I want to also encourage tourism organizations to learn more about connecting with their visitors using social media and online networks.

Please add your own Nevada suggestions in the comments below, if we’ve missed anything. Thanks!

I first heard about BootsnAll from Stephanie Elizondo Griest on a travel writer’s panel at the stupendously great annual Texas Book Festival in Austin.

The very first post on February 10, 2006 said hello to everyone, the second was some random screed about traveler’s checks, but hey, I started a blog and wrote something, then kept at it, and boy am I grateful.

4 years is something of a lifetime in Internet terms, but I am proud of every gray hair I’ve earned, both on my head and on my blog.

I cannot tell you how often I’ve thought to myself, “Wow, if I wasn’t a blogger and Web geek, I wouldn’t have a clue about what’s going on right now in journalism….or travel….or business….or communications….”

I wouldn’t have a tourism-focused consulting and training business, either, and I wouldn’t have delivered a keynote presentation at a state tourism conference or spoken at SXSWi (the South by Southwest Interactive tech conference.)

Props (as always) to the old friend from high school who said to me back in late 2005, “If you’re gonna be a writer, you’ve gotta have a blog.” I’m talking about the Interactive Journalism Editor at the Houston Chronicle, Dwight Silverman. When I started this journey, the only blog I read was his TechBlog, and I usually couldn’t make heads or tails out of half of what he wrote.

Here’s the secret, though….I knew that whatever gobbledygook he was saying about the Web and social media and technology was important, and I’d better figure it out. So I did.

And along the way, what a priceless community of travelers and readers have joined me. Thank you so much to all of you, and also to my husband and two kids, who still roll their eyes when they hear me say, “Oh! That’s a blog post!” or “That’s a tweet!”

Blessings to all of you, and thanks for your support of Family Travel.

(If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because when I read last year’s 3rd blog birthday post, I liked it enough to decide that I’ll simply revise/update it every year. I’ve learned a little about not reinventing wheels.)

Welcome to the February 10, 2010 edition of the Carnival of Cities; the blog carnival where we take a trip around the world in one blog post.

This is a special edition of the Carnival - hurray! - because today is the 4th birthday for the Family Travel Logue here on BootsnAll, and this month is also the 3rd birthday for the Carnival of Cities.  Our first one was posted on February 19, 2007, and I launched it with Jon Symons on his unfortunately now-defunct blog network Home Turf Media. In 2008, this blog became its permanent host - but it’s a carnival, so it travels!

Thanks very much to the host for the previous Carnival edition, Glennia on the excellent blog The Silent I, and we’re looking forward to meeting Jordy Clements, who will host the next edition on Wednesday, February 24. Send him your ONE recent blog post about any aspect of ONE, single city by noon on Tuesday, February 23 - here is the Carnival submission page.

If you’d like to host this bi-weekly carnival on your blog, please email me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in the Americas

Detroit, Michigan, USA Justin Kownacki presents Detroit: America’s Self-Loathing of the Rust Belt (And What That Says About Us) posted at Justin Kownacki, saying, “As a lifelong citizen of the ‘Rust Belt,’ I’m concerned about America’s willingness to write the region off while focusing on sunnier stories and greener pastures. Maybe changing the way we think about the region will help change the way America thinks about itself.”

Chicago, Illinois, USA Ms. Smarty Pants presents Restaurant: Jeri’s Grill in Chicago posted at Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All, saying, “a 24-hour diner that’s been open since 1963.”

Des Moines, Iowa, USA Brooke Allen presents Starbucks: Iowa vs. California | Rambling Brooke posted at Rambling Brooke.

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Sonny presents Lois Mailou Jones: An Artist, and a Life, of Color posted at Seize the Day.

Cancun, Mexico Timothy Scott presents New Sand for Beaches of Cancun and Playa del Carmen posted at Luxury Latin America Blog, saying, “Cancun’s beach will be much wider this spring break period as the government has dumped tons of new sand.”

Savannah, Georgia, USA The Creative Coast presents I mean, WOW. When was the last time two HUGE icons were joined together on one stage in Savannah? posted at The Creative Coast Alliance’s Blog, saying, “Savannah and Georgia history will be made when Ted Turner and Hank Aaron arrive in town to be honored by the Georgia Historical Society and the Office of the Governor at its annual Birthday Bash and Awards Gala.”

San Jose, California, USA June Tree presents What The Silicon Valley Startups In My Life Taught Me posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “A look at Silicon Valley startups.”

Flagstaff, Arizona, USA Jennifer Miner presents Walnut Canyon - Unique Arizona Travel Activity posted at The Vacation Gals.

Omaha, Nebraska, USA Morgan Schwartz presents Valentine’s Day Dating Guide posted at Omaha.net - Local Writing from the Heartland, saying, “A fun guide to spending Valentine’s Day in Omaha, Nebraska.”

Caguas, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico BW presents Discover Caguas Botanical Garden: A Fine Blend of History and Nature posted at Visit The Coqui, saying, “The Caguas Botanical Garden, where history and nature meet”

Kahaluu, O’ahu, Hawaii, USA Jack Norell presents Byodo-in Temple, Hawaii posted at Eyeflare - Travel Articles and Tips, saying, “Hawaii is one of the most beautiful destinations in the world and for a peaceful and relaxing trip while you are in the country, a visit to the Byodo-In Temple makes for a great day out. This Buddhist temple is one of the most picturesque locations in the country, as it is situated at the foot of the beautiful Ko´olau Mountains in an area known as the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park.”

Lake Tahoe, California, USA Jim & Martha presents Our Lake Tahoe Trip posted at Wanderlust Journey.

Washington, DC, USA Jon presents Georgia O’Keeffe Abstracts at The Phillips in Washington DC posted at The PlanetEye Traveler - Washington DC, saying, “Big upcoming exhibit of American painter Georgia O’Keeffe’s works in Washington, DC.”

Denver, Colorado, USA Arian Adams presents The Denver Chronicles posted at The Dumbass Chronicles, saying, “This is a humorous story about 3 Florida boys who get stuck in Denver on their way to Vegas. There’s lots of nightlife/city description.”

Sebastopol, California, USA   Jon presents Wacky Lawn Sculptures from Junk posted at The PlanetEye Traveler, saying, “This week I’m submitting a post about some really wacky sculptures I recently saw just north of San Francisco. Very fun!”

Buenos Aires, Argentina Tim Leffel presents Argentina Says Screw You to Foreign Tourists posted at Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations, saying, “If you are flying into Buenos Aires, it’s going to cost you $131 more per person than it did last year thanks to a new entry fee.”

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA Stephanie Seacord presents Portsmouth Peace Treaty Trail follows steps that led President Roosevelt’s Nobel posted at Examiner, saying, “Portsmouth NH is a National Trust for Historic Preservation ‘Distinctive Destination.’ Named in 2008 for its ‘longstanding commitment to historic preservation, Portsmouth, New Hampshire has never forgotten its sense of place,’ said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

San Antonio, Texas, USA Sarah V. presents Tortillas, Pizza, and Thai Curry: Five Kid-Friendly Restaurants in San Antonio posted at Wandering Off.

Cities in Asia, Australia and New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand Lyn Harris presents Auckland: Water, Water, Everywhere posted at Traveling New Zealand.

Hue, Vietnam Jonny presents Hue’s Royal Tombs and Pagodas posted at Vietnam Travel.

Osaka, Japan reesan presents Umeda Sky Building posted at loneleeplanet, saying, “the Umeda Sky building. a must-see on any trip to Osaka.”

Cities in Europe

Cassis, France Kristie Lawler presents Cruising the Coast of Cassis posted at Nom Nom Nom.

Rome, Italy Mary Jo Manzanares presents The Roman Coliseum: Birthplace of Civilization posted at Traveling with MJ, saying, “Studying about the Roman Coliseum paled in comparison to actually seeing it.”

Cologne, Germany Kristie presents Back In Europe (Pictures!) posted at Norway - An American In Oslo, saying, “Just wanted to say that I love the carnival of cities. I am so happy to participate in it and have for years now. I think this is one of the best blog carnivals out there on the web.” (Awww, thanks, Kristie!)

That concludes this edition, and thanks so much for celebrating with me!

Submit your (one, recent, non-spammy) blog post about any aspect of just ONE, single city (or fair-sized town) to the next edition of the Carnival of Cities using our carnival submission form.  Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

The noteworthy advantage of Blog Talk Radio (or any “Internet radio” service) is that not only can you listen live, but the shows are usually archived if you can’t be there at broadcast time, plus they’re also downloadable for later listening on your iPod or other digital audio player.

It gives radio/audio the worldwide reach that it never had before, as I discussed in this post about online radio and destination marketing for the Beaumont, Texas CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.)

Des and I talked about my background in travel, how Becky McCray and I launched Tourism Currents to teach tourism professionals about social media, and why businesses need to ensure a strong Web presence as customer search and interaction preferences shift online.

I loved having a fun chat with someone halfway around the world, and the time zones worked in my favor since it was afternoon my time, but very early morning for Des.  :)

Here is our episode:  talking social media, travel and tourism with Des Walsh.

(This is cross-posted on my Sheila’s Guide to the Good Stuff blog.)

I was recently tagged to answer this question by the globe-trotting SoulTravelers3, in a blog post about her family’s travel secrets.

The whole meme was started by Tribase in this post - I’m supposed to tag three more bloggers but sorry, don’t quite have the bandwidth these days to figure out who hasn’t already participated.   Still, I’m happy to play here….

You know how tough it is to pick just three? Sigh.

And of course I feel compelled to cover the planet….here goes my best shot:

In the United States

My choice is Memphis, Tennessee.

Go here for coupons/discounts from the city’s CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) because remember, a CVB’s whole job is to ensure a happy visit.

Memphis is big enough to have a variety of things to do, but not so sprawly as to wear everyone out.  Amenities and lodging are reasonably priced, and so is good food.  Summer is hot and muggy, but there’s always the Memphis in May festival.

We’re big music fans in my family, and the Birthplace of the Blues offers many ways for even young children to learn more about this country’s musical history and offerings.   For starters, the popular Beale Street historic district is actually pretty open to kids (I call it a civilized Bourbon Street) and when we visited, the guys at the door at several venues let the whole family in to listen to live music as long as it was fairly early in the evening.  There’s also the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Sun Studio (where Elvis and many others were launched) and the Center for Southern Folklore.

Before we arrived I showed my preteen an Elvis documentary (to try to explain the hype) then took her through his home at Graceland.  Believe it or not, she’s now an Elvis fan and the envy of her friends because she’s been to Graceland. Boring and weird Mom wins again!

Take the kids to see the formerly segregated Lorraine Motel (an important US civil rights landmark) where Dr. King was killed - it’s now part of the acclaimed National Civil Rights Museum.

Other kid-friendly places include Mississippi River attractions like the Mud Island River Park (including the Mississippi River Museum and a scaled down version of the river that begs for barefoot splashing) plus the Memphis Zoo, a children’s museum and in season, Redbirds minor league baseball at the downtown AutoZone Park.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn at Peabody Place, which was perfectly located downtown and was also attached to a small mall that occupied certain wiggly toddlers when needed.

In Europe

In a previous blog post here (titled Wonderfully off the tourist beaten path: Wadden Sea / Waddenzee Islands with kids)  I’ve written about the tongue-twisting but lovely Dutch islands of Texel and Terschelling.

They are only a short drive and ferry ride away from Amsterdam, but they’re very laid back, very Dutch and very nice for a beachy getaway.  Settle in, get some bikes for everyone (of course - it’s the Netherlands) and relax.

Here is the related Dutch tourism Web site about the islands - check it out.

If you can figure out how to pronounce the island of Schiermonnikoog, more power to you.

In Asia

I love the buzzy energy of Tokyo, and it’s a perfect destination with preteens and teens, but a bit too mind-blowing for little ones.  The crowds that older children find exciting are simply overwhelming when you’re two feet tall.

That’s why I like Yokohama, the seaside city south of Tokyo.

Make no mistake; it is Japan, so it is crowded, but somehow the location near the sea makes it feel more open.  There’s a big mall/hotel highrise called Landmark Tower (with a Pokemon Store - yay!) and it’s surrounded by an amusement park and wide pedestrian seawall.

This Frugal Traveler article in the New York Times about exploring Tokyo through its ramen shops mentions the terrific Ramen Museum in Yokohama, where you can get lots of different kinds of ramen to eat and walk through a sort of living history museum.  Super for families!

Here’s one of my very early posts on this blog: Kids in Tokyo - Escape to Yokohama.

There are my three family travel secret places; please share yours down in the comments!

Not for me (I’ll jump onto a plane or into a car anytime by my own crotchety self) but the idea of a family trip these days makes me want to lay down and take a nap.

Squabbling siblings in the back seat.

One kid who tends to carsickness.

Flat wallet and no lottery wins in sight.

Living in a huge state (Texas) that takes 3-4 hours to get OUT of by car.

General post-holidays lassitude.

Bleh.

So, here’s my plan for getting some travel-ish action going with minimal mental effort on my part….I’m going to look at our Austin Big Weekend Calendar, pick one new place or event every month that’s close to home, and drag the family to it, arguing and barfing the whole way.

January’s almost finished, but for the next 30 days I’ve targeted the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (free admission in January) and either a Texas Roller Girls Roller Derby bout or a Texas Stars ice hockey game.

The wildflowers aren’t up yet (so at least one kid will say, “Why are we here looking at dead plants?”) and we’ve never gone to either a roller derby or ice hockey game (so at least one kid will say, “Why are we here watching a) women slam into each other or b) men slam into each other?”) but I don’t care.

That’s the plan to overcome travel ennui.

How about you?

(Update:  My teen said this morning that since she and a friend saw the derby-based movie Whip It (set in Austin) she actually WANTS to see live roller derby.  Who knew?!)