Getting the flavor of...

America’s Great Plains

There’s no such thing as flyover country, said Rebecca Powers in The Washington Post. Last year I drove coast to coast, and of all the dramatic landscapes I saw, “the plains, prairies, and grasslands are what have stayed with me.” Wideopen spaces “put things in perspective,” and the broad vistas of the Great Plains “offer opportunities for tourists to feel the essence of the land and its history.” The 350-mile Native American Scenic Byway follows the Missouri River through tribal lands in the Dakotas, taking travelers past monuments, museums, and sacred sites. In Nebraska, pioneers’ wagon ruts still scour the earth at the California Hill National Historic Trail. The Great Plains “offer lessons in ecology” too. “Prairies are alive with native plants.” Some 2,500 bison roam Oklahoma’s Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve—the planet’s largest tallgrass prairie. “Visitors who drive or hike the preserve are rewarded with expansive views, 700-plus plants, 300 birds, and 80 mammals.” Wildflowers bloom widely mid-May to mid-June. Switchgrass reaches peak height in September.

A new hotel cleaning policy

Hotel guests everywhere are starting to notice that at least one routine service has vanished since Covid struck, said Allison Pohle in The Wall Street Journal. At many hotels, “daily room cleaning is no longer a given.” Instead, guests must request it, and the unions that represent hotel housekeepers are now urging that you do. The switch to by-request-only cleaning began in the early days of the pandemic, when health risks were high for both guests and staff. But many hotel groups are still enjoying the cost savings, while housekeepers face more challenging cleanups, trimmed hours, and reduced pay. If you don’t like having staff enter your room, current policies should please you. But if you want to keep the staff’s earnings steady, do ask that your room get a daily freshening.

Getting out on the water in Boston

Boston rewards exploration, said Christopher Muther in The Boston Globe. There’s nothing wrong with popular attractions such as the Freedom Trail, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Newbury Street. But you could spend a whole day exploring the city’s waterfront attractions, starting with a stroll on the Boston Harborwalk, “a great place to get your bearings in the Seaport District and downtown Boston.” If you’re with kids, you might stop along the way at the Boston Children’s Museum. At the nearby Institute of Contemporary Art, the water shuttle to the museum’s seasonal East Boston exhibition space is “one of the best boat rides in town” and puts you near Day Square’s great Peruvian restaurants near lunchtime. If kayaking’s your thing, rent at Paddle Boston’s Allston/ Brighton location, where the Charles River has no current and affords views from the water of local colleges, the Esplanade, and the Boston skyline. And don’t forget South Boston’s long stretch of sandy beaches, where a long stroll should end with fried clams at Sullivan’s Castle Island.