Walking and Drinking Beer in Disney’s World



The Rose & Crown

 I was standing at the bar of the Rose & Crown pub in Epcot, a third of the way through a pint of Guinness, when my friends decided it was time to move on. No worries. I was about to chug the rest when the bar maid said, “would you like that to go, Love?” What a pleasant idea! She poured the remaining beer into a plastic cup and I was soon out the front door, sipping stout as I strolled around a lake, into the gardens of Paris on my way to the back alleys of Tangiers.

Welcome to Epcot, where Disney has a surprisingly liberal, and enlightened drinking policy. Three of the four Disney theme parks (Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios) allow you to walk and drink beer – or wine, tequila, sake, whiskey, or frozen Margaritas. Even better, they make all these drinks readily available with infinite choices. The nearby Cava del Tequila bar has 70 tequilas. No wonder it’s the happiest place on earth.



The Magic Kingdom is the only place you can't drink.

And great fun too. Make no mistake, Disney is for adults, as well as for kids. Families with children will best enjoy the Magic Kingdom (the one park with a strict no drinking policy), but adults taking a break from an Orlando convention …or from winter… can spend a couple of crazy days with Disney at Epcot, eating, drinking and shopping your way around the world. There’s great food and drink, thrill rides and wild architecture, manicured gardens and celebrity chefs, music acts and at night, the skies light up with amazing fireworks displays that blow away any Las Vegas spectacle. All this with no cigarette smoke and no clanging slot machines….although you may hear piped music playing “It’s a Small World After All.” Try forgetting that song.

It might not be the place for a bachelor party, but it’s certainly as hip and drink friendly as the average resort, and a lot more fun.

Epcot’s World Showcase



A replica of Beijing"s Temple of Heaven



Of all the parks, the best places for adults are Epcot and the free commercial center called Downtown Disney.  Epcot is Disney’s version of a permanent world’s fair. Shaped like an hour glass, one bulge is devoted to science and the world we inhabit, with exhibitions on land, the ocean and space mixed with thrill rides that take you hang gliding over California (Soarin) or blasting off and landing a space capsule on Mars (Mission: SPACE). Those two rides, and Test Track (the longest and fastest ride in Disney history) are definitely worth the long lines. Soarin’ is particularly wonderful, a ride that takes you hang gliding with wind blowing in your face and the smell of orange blossoms, in the air as you bank and curve, legs dangling over orchards, mountains and seacoasts.



There are gardens everywhere in Epcot, and monorail or boats to the hotels.



The bottom bulge of Epcot’s hourglass is the World Showcase, a circular, mile-long pathway around a lake surrounded with pavilions glorifying the shopping, drinks, culture, architecture and history of 11 nations. It’s a blast.

The “Imagineers,” as the Disney people call themselves, have used an architectural device known as forced perspective to make the park seem much larger than it is. The bottom floors of buildings are done at 100 percent size, the second floor at 75 percent and the top floors at 30 percent and less. This can create the illusion that you are seeing an entire German village built around a town fountain, topped by a gigantic castle miles in the distance. In reality, the whole German site might occupy just two acres.



The German town square has pretzels and beer.



In this same way, you can see the Eiffel Tower looming behind a Paris street, a Mayan temple that looks many times its actual size, the famous St. Mark’s Square of Venice with a 100-foot high campanile, a wooden stave church of Norway sitting beneath a 14th Century fortress, and even the Canadian Rocky Mountains.



This replica of Piazza San Marco in Venice has a 100-foot Campanile.



It’s the Disney attention to detail that keeps the showcase from being corny or just another bad Irish pub or Vegas casino imitation. The British street has eight different architectural styles, from Tudor to Victorian. Although the “thatch” roof is made out of plastic, it looks real. The local pub appears to be airlifted from the U.K., from the shabby carpet to the “bulls eyes” in the hand blown window glass to the standing room only policy at the bar.



Every tile has a crack, a nod to Islamic belielf that only Allah is perfect.



The Morocco pavilion used nine tons of handmade, hand-cut tiles and had 19 native craftsmen put them together into a replica of the Koutoubia Minaret, a prayer tower in Marrakesh.

There are Mediterranean citrus and olive trees in Italy, and native Japanese sago and monkey-puzzle trees decorating nearby Japan. The American pavilion has an Independence Hall-like building made of 110,000 bricks, while China re-creates Beijing’s Temple of Heaven with flute and zither music playing on the speakers while acrobats perform in the courtyard.



The American Pavilion has a show narrated by Mark Twain.



All of the countries have daily shows consistent with their theme. A pretty good Beatles tribute band rocks out their early songs in a garden, while a very sexy belly dancer does a very un-Disney like performance in Tangiers. There’s a not-bad Canadian Celtic rock group, German oompah bands, Mariachis, and Japanese Taiko drummers.

France, China and Canada have films that are worth a look, especially Canada’s 360- degree screen that lets you pass through an attraction like the Mounties on parade, seeing them from front, rear and on the sides.

Most of the countries are set up with back alleys or plazas to explore, leading to shops, restaurants, bars and bakeries. You can munch a pear tart in Norway or a chocolate éclair in Paris. Germany has pretzels and beer, including a full liter of delicious Radenberger pilsner for $12. You can do a tequila tasting in Mexico or buy a wine flight that gives you two, two-ounce samples of regional wines in Italy, Germany and France.




The Mayan pyramid houses a water ride, restaurant, market and tequila bar.

 

And then there’s shopping. From Italian silk scarves to Norwegian wool sweaters, Japanese kimonos to French perfumes, the Disney touch extends to the stores, giving each of them an authentic feel. At Mexico, you can shop for silver and pottery in an indoor market in Taxco at twilight. There’s probably not much of a market for Norwegian wool sweaters in Orlando, but at $8, the beer stein sunglasses in Germany are a steal.



Better than the Chunnel, there's an easy bridge between England and France



Of course, on the one hand, Disney is charging you to come into a theme park for the privilege of spending more money shopping, eating and drinking…but you won’t mind. It’s all done so well, whether you’re looking at rugs and brass in Morocco, or tea sets in China, have another drink and it all looks real enough. Disney employs people from the native countries (part of 60,000 “cast members” who run the empire) and they’re mostly young and pretty and love to chat about their native lands…and how glad they are to be out of them and living the dream in Florida.



Based on torri gate in Hiroshima Bay.



A wood stave church in Norway.

Dinner is another experience not to miss. Reservations are messy.
You’ll need them in advance, or at least first thing in the morning at the best – and more expensive --restaurants like Bistro de Paris, Marrakesh, Mitsukoshi and Tutto Italia. Easiest is the huge Biergarten, Epcot’s nightly Oktoberfest with a Bavarian band, long tables that you share with strangers, plenty of beer and a buffet of bratwurst, rotisserie chicken, spaetzle, and a couple dozen other German specialties. Also easy is the Rose & Crown for fish and chips; get an outdoor, lakeside table at dusk – it’s one of the best places to watch the fireworks. You can easily do a meal of tapas, getting snacks from outdoor carts and cafes all day and evening like cheese empanadas and tacos at La Cantina, a Mongolian barbecue beef sandwich and pot stickers at the Lotus Blossom Café, sushi and sake at the Yakitori House, or make a meal of a fresh baguette and brie at the Boulangerie Patisserie while you sit in a garden by their version of the Seine, watching boats come and go from nearby hotels.


One of many beautiful gardens, this one in Paris.



Epcot’s hours vary by day with the park generally closing at 9 p.m., but on Tuesdays it often stays open until midnight. Try to go then – the world showcase looks even better by night, and there are no crowds.

Downtown Disney



Downtown Disney is attractive at night with lights, islands and bridges.



Another adult area is Downtown Disney, a series of islands in a lakeside setting, with bridges connecting shops, bars and restaurants. At night (the only time to go) there’s a Vegas feel with bright lights and huge theme restaurants like Planet Hollywood (stop in to see big name props like the dress Judy Garland wore in the Wizard of Oz or the axe Jack Nicholson used in The Shining). There’s a House of Blues with an outdoor concert area, a Wolfgang Puck with pizza to go, and the gigantic Raglan Road Irish Pub with scallops on a stick, step dancing, and a good beer selection, including changing local Orlando brews. Fulton’s Crab House has a good seafood menu in a romantic setting aboard a three-deck river boat, the Empress Lilly, and Bongos Cuban Café is owned by Gloria Estefan and has the overhead fans, shutters and palms of a film-version Cuba, with music and patios, all wrapped around a three-story high pineapple.

Be warned, in addition to catering to adults, Downtown Disney also attracts lots of families, and the endless shopping opportunities for Mickey souvenirs, princess parafeneilla, toys and dinosaurs seems to whip the kids into a frenzy. One harried dad on line in front of me at Capt’n Jack’s outdoor bar asked for a straight 120 proof rum, and with a pleading voice, said, “can you make it double?” There’s beer, frozen margaritas, and rum galore, at stands and bars and restaurants, and you’re free to carry and drink it anywhere you like – even, amazingly, in the shops.

It’s quite pretty along the lake, with the lights and crazy architecture, but no mistake, this is big time tourism and crowded. The fact that it’s free (at least to get in) with free parking appeals to families tugging kids, hundreds of them done up like princesses, complete with tiaras. It is amazing to see. The princess beauty parlor has a waiting list six months long.



Planet Hollywood



The more adult bars are to the left as you face the lake, with Cirque du Soleil anchoring that side, while the kid-oriented shopping and theme restaurants are to the right. But don’t miss the kid’s side for a look. The sheer scale of the place, the amount and variety of souvenirs stacked to the ceiling, the frantic kids from every country of the world (I saw one young English girl stamp her foot and say, “But mummy, I simply must have it!), the insanity of the family theme restaurants (life-size 30-foot high dinosaurs move around waterfalls in the T-Rex café, while the Rainforest Café has a thunderstorm, tropical fish and animated animals), it’s all designed to overwhelm….and it does. But no worries…have another frozen margarita and always know it’s a quick and easy retreat to Paradiso 37 and their South American menu and 37 tequilas.

IF YOU GO:



Magic Kingdom



Orlando had 50 million visitors in 2010, the first destination in the world to do so. The travel guides to Walt Disney World are thicker than guides to France. There are hundreds of tips on how to save time and money. You’ll have to study the guides, but here’s just a few tips.







Where to stay: If you can afford it, stay on a Disney property. There are hotels in most price ranges, and all are connected by free shuttles, or in the case of the Grand Floridian, Contemporary and Polynesian, by monorail and boat. There’s always a free bus going to where you want to go…the challenge is you can wait 30 minutes for the bus and some of the trips are 40 minutes or more, so it takes longer than you think to get around. The key is, don’t try to do Disney World in one or two days. Ticket prices drop drastically the longer you stay (they know they’re getting their money on lodging and food, so park admissions drop the longer you stay).  Some of the Disney hotel properties are worth visiting just for fun, and many are connected by free boat rides. The Boardwalk area is particularly good, with a Disney brewpub, Big River Grille & Brewing Works, and a honky-tonk, Atlantic City seashore atmosphere on the lake.



The Boardwalk is fun, has a brew pub and boats to Epcot.

 




Go to Animal Kingdom in the morning, dinner at Epcot.



 The Wilderness Lodge is an incredible thing to see (note the electronic crickets chirping as you walk around the grounds, and the 55-foot high totem pole in the center of a lobby based on the Yellowstone Lodge). The Grand Floridian is a Disneyfied version of a grand hotel where high society would have wintered in Florida at the turn of the century and has one of the great restaurants of central Florida, the Victoria & Albert (no children, jackets for men, and reservations six months in advance, please). You’ll probably never stay there on your own dime, but one of the great “scores” of the corporate world is a meeting at the Swan & Dolphin. If you can’t stay here, stop by for a drink.



A great dinner option is the nightly Oktoberfest in Germany. 



The Grand Floridian

  If you go 100% Disney and stay there, you don’t need a car. You can take the complimentary Magical Express from the airport and get anywhere in Disney by free bus, monorail or ferry boat. If you want to see Harry Potter and Universal too…well, you’ll need to rent a car. Distances are far and cabs expensive.

Another tip, if you’re staying awhile, is get the multi-park pass for a day or two and hop around the parks. The best fireworks are in the Magic Kingdom, which turns the castle into a light show with bombs bursting overhead; Animal Kingdom is fun for a morning when the animals are active and Hollywood Studios has some of the best thrill rides. It’ll take an hour or more to travel between parks, but sometimes after a day on your feet, an hour air conditioned bus ride can be the best ride of all.

Keep Portland Weird

As the billboards and bumper stickers around town proclaim, there is an underground campaign alive to “Keep Portland Weird.” Well, they needn’t worry. This gorgeous city of natural beauty has plenty of quirks…but it also has everything else a city should have: a walkable, hip urban downtown with big department stores; a wide river lined with parks and paths; a slew of trendy restaurants and brewpubs in old brick and stone buildings; a lively street musician scene that ranges from classical duos on corners to zydeco bands in the plaza; an amazing light rail network that’s free downtown; parks and gardens with grand views of distant snowcapped peaks and volcanoes; thousands of young people filling the downtown bars and streets; and perhaps the nation’s best fleet of food trucks with dozens of them dishing up everything from Scottish bangers to sushi.

But the soul of Portland are the three B’s, which this “city of roses” can claim above any other American urban center: beer, bicycles and bookstores. The bikes are everywhere, giving Portland a real European feel. On the river path, it’s actually dangerous to be a pedestrian, there are so many bikes zipping past. But these are serious bikers – people who commute to work and do their part to keep Portland green.

Good beer is plentiful too. Portland claims the most brewpubs per capita, and they certainly have lovely ones downtown. The Oregon Brewpub Guide (available for free at airport) lists 156 brewpubs in the state, and that’s just where they make the beer. Every restaurant has a sophisticated beer selection. You’ll find microbrew taps all around, even in strange places. I saw a small bar with three taps and three stools in a hardware store in Canon Beach. Who doesn’t occasionally need a beer when buying tools?

And for books, there’s Powell’s – the biggest new and used bookstore in the world covering an entire city block with more than one million volumes in 3,500 different departments. www.powells.com It’s even bigger than it sounds, with 6,000 buyers and browsers in the store every day. Powell’s is almost never closed. It’s open 365 days a year, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. And if you want to combine books and beer, some of the best pubs are just a few minutes walk, especially the Deschutes Brewery & Public House, Bridgeport Brewpub + Bakery, and Henry’s 12th Street Tavern.

Want some substance? A block from Powell’s is Jake’s, a Portland seafood institution for 119 years. Sit at the bar for a bowl of New England or Manhattan clam chowder for $6, served with a half pound of warm sourdough bread, in a Victorian setting of carved wood, glass and mirrors.

Downtown Portland is best enjoyed at night – only because there are so many better things to do in the day. Within an easy drive of an hour or two you can walk along a stunning beach past tidal pools and giant rock formations; visit a reconstruction of a fort where Lewis & Clark spent a winter; hike to a dozen waterfalls (some of them 600 feet high); take in sweeping views of the Columbia River Gorge; drive through some of the most gorgeous farmlands in the world filled with stands selling (in season) fresh pears, peaches, apples and berries; and hike on the ridge of snowcapped Mount Hood, above the famous Timberline Lodge.

Portland by Rail
Before heading out on day trips, it’s worth spending an afternoon exploring Portland’s Washington Park – easily accessible by light rail from Pioneer Courthouse Square (the center of downtown) on the Blue or Red line. Buy the one-day pass for $4.75. The Washington Park station, about 15 minutes away, is the only underground station in Portland, but at 260 feet deep, it’s really underground. This is the deepest train station in North America and third deepest in the world. The elevator takes 25 seconds to reach the surface and the temperature at the bottom is always 50 degrees. There are exhibits at the station on the 16 million years of geologic history above you.

Strangely, the elevator comes up in the middle of the park, across the street from the highly popular Zoo. If you don’t have time for a zoo and want to tour the park, take the free bus (show your rail pass) and ride to the International Rose Test Garden (free) and the Japanese Garden ($8). There are miles of trails here, thousands of roses, and beautiful views of Mount Hood and downtown. The Japanese Garden is incredibly tranquil with bridges and splashing waterfalls connected by gravel trails. Portland is called the “City of Roses,” and the amazing rose garden here is one reason why.

Daytripping on the Coast

You could spend a month touring the spectacular Oregon coast, but if you just want a taste on a Portland weekend, head west 1.5 hours on Hwy. 26 to Canon Beach, the most attractive and upscale resort town in the area. The village is filled with overflowing flower baskets, nice shops on brick plazas and courtyards, and weathered shingle cottages. The main street is lined with outdoor cafes, all with their own gardens and flower boxes. Flowers do very well in the ocean air and they are everywhere.
For lunch, try the local guest beer and an “Oyster Burger” at Bill’s Tavern Brew House.

The highlight of the beach, just a ten minute walk from town, is Haystack Rock, a black mountain of a boulder just offshore that juts up 235 feet into the air. At low tide, you can walk to the base of the towering rock, see a rare colony of Tufted Puffins and wander around tidepools filled with crabs, colorful sea stars, snails and coral. Docents are on hand on weekends to explain the creatures above and below the surface.

Nearby, Ecola State Park has a twisting road through an old growth rainforest, that winds through ferns and trees covered with deep green moss to one of the most famous coastal views in Oregon. The park has been used in many films including Kindergarten Cop, and appears in most Oregon calendars. There are hiking trails to vantage points where you can look out on a wild scene of pounding surf and coastal rocks, many forming small islands that are now home to barking sea lions.

Explorer William Clark and his Indian guide Sacagawea hiked here in January 1806 to investigate reports of a beached whale, which Indians had told them about. Clark was wintering with Meriwether Lewis and their men at the log Fort Clatsop they had built, several miles away.

Today, the National Park Service has erected a replica of the small fort. It’s a short drive to the park to see and hear living history programs about how difficult it was to survive in the wilderness. In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark and 31 explorers to follow rivers across the great American West to the Pacific Ocean. It took them a year and a half and they traveled 4,000 miles before they finally reached their goal. Before heading back, the explorers spent 112 days at Fort Clatsop. It rained on all but 12 of them, rotting their clothes and making life miserable for the flea-infested men. Today at the national park, it’s pleasant enough out in the woods, but it does seem a far cry from the flowers baskets and shingle cottage cafes of Canon Beach.

Into the Gorge and Around Mount Hood

The big day trip from Portland is traveling the Mount Hood National Scenic Byway, a 150-mile loop that takes you up the Columbia River Gorge and to the base of the 11,239-foot, snowcapped Mount Hood. Leave early – there are lots of stops and short hikes along the way.

For the best light on the waterfalls, start by heading east on I-84 to the pretty little village of Troutdale (Exit 17). Here you pick up the what’s left of the Historic Columbia River Highway. When it opened in 1916, this was the first major paved road in the Northwest, and one of the great engineering marvels of the world. The original Columbia River Highway had 18 bridges spanning rivers and canyons, and was built as a scenic road for Model T’s to allow access to the incredible natural beauty of the area.

Much of this 1916 road was destroyed or abandoned in the 1940s when Interstate 84 was built, but there is still a 22-mile section of the original highway open and it is an amazing drive, coming so close to waterfalls that their spray will land on your windshield. There are pull-offs, vistas and plenty of short hikes. The first two “must” stops are the strangely named Women’s Forum State Park, and Vista House at Crown Point. Both have views up the gorge. The Vista House was opened in 1917 as a “comfort station” and, at 733 feet high, it is one of the grand views of the road.

From here, the highway spirals down to the river and begins a stretch lined with seven huge waterfalls. First up is Latourell Falls, definitely worth the short hike. Bridal Veil Falls is a steep hike through woods, pretty, but there are better falls ahead.

The showpiece, and the most visited natural attraction in Oregon, is Multnomah Falls. There are two falls here, the big one drops 542-feet into a pool crossed by a foot-bridge, with a second drop of 69-feet under it. If you combine them, the 620-foot drop makes this the third highest year-round falls in the nation. And certainly the most crowded. On a Saturday in July, I had to wait to cross the bridge – it was packed solid with literally hundreds of people. You can escape the crowds by hiking the steep 1.2 mile, paved trail to the top of the falls, but in truth, the view is limited compared to the effort, especially with so many other viewpoints available.

But even with the crowds, this is an incredible sight. There’s an attractive old 1925 lodge, and the visitor center has free maps to the many hiking trails and hidden waterfalls to be found along the gorge.

Back on I-84, it’s 33 miles to Hood River, a very pleasant town with a main street lined with cafes, shops and antique stores, and home of the Full Sail Brewing Company (the name comes from the windsurfing that takes place on the river here, where it is always windy). If you can get in the small pub at the brewery, it’s the perfect place for lunch, but also crowded. No worries. There are many pubs and restaurants in town for lunch.

From here, head south on Hwy. 35, making a stop in a few miles at Panorama Point, a small hill that looks across the farm country to towering Mount Hood. This fertile Hood River Valley produces 225,000 tons of cherries, pears and apples a year, prized fruit that is shipped around the world. There are 30 farms, wineries and specialty stores selling their products along the way, on a route that is amusingly called “The Fruit Loop.”

The highway twists, climbs and circles 44 miles into the Mount Hood massive, gaining elevation through forests of pine. Take a turn west at Government Camp on to Hwy. 26 and then follow the turnoff and continue climbing to 6,000 feet and the Timberline Lodge. Opened in 1937, this wood and stone structure, built of local products with a central stone fireplace in-the-round, was used as the location for the movie The Shining. Trails lined with wildflowers, or across snowy glaciers lead up to even more stunning views of Mount Hood, or there’s a chair lift up to 8,000 feet if you don’t care to walk. The late afternoon light is gorgeous on the year-round glaciers that curl down the mountain and the lodge with its big fireplaces and snow just outside is fun to poke around.

But as the sun starts to set, remember, it’s 63 miles back to the pleasures of Portland…and all those waiting food trucks, brewpubs and music. With any luck at all in traffic, you’ll be back in Powell’s, long before they close, for a final browse in the stacks of books and a late evening of IPA’s, pale ales, bitters, stouts and porters in Portlands incredible selection of brewpubs.

The Nines hip lobby bar.

Where to stay:  Everything downtown is within walking distance. Don’t be put off looking at maps. Portland’s blocks are half the distance of normal city blocks (an early attempt to create more corner lots) so everything is closer than it appears. The town is divided into cute names for its various areas (Chinatown – there are no Chinese here, Old Town, Historic Waterfront District, etc.) and even more confusing, it is broken up into four quadrants that make sense to locals but are mystifying to visitors: NW, SW, NE and SE. They have to do with the 

crossing of Burnside Street and the Willamette River dividing the town into fourths. Ignore it. The heart of the city is between 12th Ave. and the river, with I-405 closing off the north and south, and no matter where you are in that area, you can’t go but a block or two without finding something interesting. But do check out the area northwest of Burnside…a little sketchy here and there, but lots of great pubs and young people. The Nines is an incredibly hip and wonderful hotel right on Pioneer Courthouse Square; if you can afford it, stay here.

How to Be a Buff…

From Seinfeld, “The Boyfriend”
George: Wow! Keith Hernandez! He’s such a great player.
Jerry: Yeah, he’s a real smart guy too. He’s a Civil War buff.
George: I’d love to be a Civil War buff. What do you have to do to be a buff?
Jerry: …Well, sleeping less than 18 hours a day would be a start.

It would be difficult to overestimate the strange appeal that the Civil War holds on some people. Historian Ken Burns notes that more than 50,000 books have been written on the conflict. There are obscure books on the buttons of the Civil War, the horses, even the weather. There are eight Civil War magazines and hundreds and hundreds of Web sites. Each summer, tens of thousands of people wear hot, itchy wool uniforms to re-enact battles, while millions of tourists visit more than 600 preserved Civil War historic sites that stretch from New Mexico to Maine. Go to any Barnes & Noble and there are almost as many Civil War books as there are self-help books.

“Any understanding of this nation,” historian Shelby Foote said, “Has to be based on an understanding of the Civil War….It defined us.”
For many baby boomers, that defining moment started in 1960 with the onslaught of Civil War memorabilia that accompanied the 100th anniversary. While Life Magazine devoted issue after issue to the conflict with historic photos and commissioned paintings, there were Civil War collectable cards, U.S. Postage stamps, posters, Avon Hill battle games, miniature canons, toy soldiers, blue and gray caps, Confederate paper money, “stars and bars” Confederate flags and an arsenal of toy muskets that could fire a small cork ball.

The popular Landmark history books in every school library took you to exotic-sounding places like Chickamauga and Chattanooga and to bloody battlefields with names like the Devil’s Den, the Slaughter Pen, Little Round Top, the Hornet’s Nest, and of course, always, the defining moment of the “Lost Cause,” Pickett’s Charge.

But it wasn’t all toys and games. On television every night, the Civil War that divided the country a hundred years before was still dividing the country in an increasingly violent confrontation over Civil Rights. The pivotal year of the Civil War that saw Gettysburg and Vicksburg – 1863 -- was mirrored a hundred years later in 1963 with the “March on Washington,” Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and the assassination of President John Kennedy.

Well, it’s all about to begin again. The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War that kicks off in 2011 is likely to see even more books, articles, movies, documentaries, re-enactments and memorabilia than we saw 50 years ago. So get ready. Grab some hardtack, download “Dixie” on to your iPod, and take a crash course on 10 ways to be a buff.

1. Walk the battlefield of Gettysburg
The Civil War was fought in a documented 10,000 places over a battlefront 1,200 miles long. More than 620,000 young men were killed – about the same as in all other U.S. wars combined. At the end, the South was devastated. One quarter of the men of military age were gone. Nothing can bring this home more than walking the ground where they fought and died, and no battlefield brings this home more than Gettysburg. Brilliant leadership at the national park has led to an attempt to re-create exactly what the land looked like on July 1-3, 1863. Forests that grew up are being clear-cut, orchards are being replanted and 40 miles of picket fence have been replaced. An incredible new museum and visitor center have been built near the site, while the old one – located actually on the battlefield – is being torn down. All of this makes Gettysburg the one “must” visit. Every true buff has walked the sacred ground of Pickett’s Charge and stood beside Warren’s statue on Little Round Top. Gettysburg is a two-hour drive from either airport in Washington and is a major tourism site with 2 million annual visitors, dozens of Civil War shops and attractions, and all the amenities. There's a great tavern in town, the Dobbin House Tavern, that dates back to 1776. The downstairs bar has candles, stone walls, great sandwiches and local beers. http://www.dobbinhouse.com/ Plan at least two days to see it all. http://www.gettysburg.travel/

2. Read a book
The book for most Civil War buffs is the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara. This book has launched more buffs than any other, including Civil War superstar Ken Burns. You can’t be a true “buff’ until you can say this is one of your favorite novels. After that, there are 50,000 other books to choose from, depending on your interest. Many pick Pulitzer Prize-winning The Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson, considered to be the best single volume history of the war.

3. Watch the 680-minute long documentary: “The Civil War – a Film by Ken Burns” You may feel like you fought and lived through the entire Civil War by the end, but you can’t be a “buff” until you see the final credits.

4. Research Your Ancestors…or someone else’s
Three million Americans fought in the Civil War. For the first time in any major war, almost all of them could write – and they did. One reason there are so many books on the subject is that almost every soldier kept a diary, wrote letters or lived long enough to dictate or even type their memoirs. If you’ve heard stories of a Civil War ancestor in your family tree, you’ll need three things to trace him: his name, which side he fought on, and the state in which he enlisted. There were amazing bureaucrats back then who kept meticulous records and you can find out many things about your relative’s history. Go to: http://genealogy.about.com/od/civil_war/a/ancestors.htm for tips. No relatives in the war? It’s still helpful to read a first person account to get an up-close look at the conflict and an idea of the day-to-day life of a private solider. “Co. Aytch” A Side Show to the Big Show by Sam R. Watkins, Private C.S.A. is considered the classic and can be both funny and sad, often in the same sentence.

5. Attend a Re-enactment
Yes, many of the re-enactors are old, overweight and odd, but put 15,000 of them together, add 100 cannons, 500 cavalry charging on horses and state-of-the-art pyrotechnics with explosions both on the ground and in the air, and you have a spectacle that outdoes any movie ever made. Major re-enactments on big anniversary years like 125th and 140th have seen as many troops on the field as were in that part of the actual battle, with 100,000 spectators looking on. Nothing in the past will top what’s coming up for the 150th. Go to: http://www.campchase.com/, the monthly magazine for re-enactors, to learn more. Some tips on attending re-enactments: be prepared for traffic and long dusty walks on dirt roads. There are no perfect seats because the re-enactment may stretch over ground more than a mile long, but the spectacle is unforgettable and worth the hassle. One more thing -- be prepared to come home with a Civil War sword, pistol or blue or gray kepi, the French style cap worn by both sides. There are 500 sutler tents at the big re-enactments, selling authentic reproductions of everything from buttons to belt buckles and it’s nearly impossible for a real buff to resist buying something. Here’s a sutler site to give you an idea: http://www.milkcreek.com/. Every state tourism office is also preparing for the sesquicentennial; Virginia is the most advanced at: http://www.virginiacivilwar.org/

6. See a movie
From Glory to Gettysburg, Gone With the Wind to Ride with the Wind, the Red Badge of Courage to Cold Mountain, Wikipedia lists 70 Civil War films worth watching: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_Civil_War_films

7. Subscribe to a Civil War Magazine
There are eight dedicated Civil War magazines and many more military history magazines that have articles on the War Between the States. Subscriptions make great gifts for buffs. Most popular general magazines: Civil War Times and America’s Civil War Magazine, http://www.civilwartimes.com/; more scholarly with top historian authors is North and South Magazine, http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/; and for those “who still hear the guns” and like to tour battlefields, Blue and Gray Magazine, http://www.bluegraymagazine.com/.


8. Drive a Civil War Trail The Civil War Trail system started in Virginia and has now expanded to Maryland, Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina with more than 800 new historic signs erected that let travelers follow major campaigns of the war. You can cross Virginia following Lee’s Retreat to Appomattox or march alongside Lee as he invades Maryland in the Antietam Campaign. You can even follow obscure historical oddities such as the escape route used by John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. The tours are part “road rally,” driving across countryside that has changed little since the Civil War, looking for road markers that will direct you down a maze of farm roads to some forgotten cornfield that was once the site of a skirmish where men fought and died. Brilliantly produced color maps and driving guides are available for free, or can be downloaded at the absolutely terrific travel site: http://www.civilwartraveler.com/. This is the place to find everything Civil War in 28 states.

9. Buy something from the war

All buffs have something from the war to bring them closer to it. You can own a minie ball (the three ring rifle bullet that most soldiers fired) for a few dollars, but there are authentic photos, buttons, insignias, Confederate money, diaries, signatures, uniforms, weapons and letters galore. No one ever threw away a souvenir of the war and they have been handed down and sold and re-sold for 150 years. Rummaging around a Civil War artifact shop (there are dozens of them in the South) can be fun and illuminating.

10. Save a Civil War battlefield The war was fought at an estimated 10,000 sites; only 20 percent of the major battlefields have been preserved – the rest are unprotected or already destroyed by housing, industry and roads. Experts say another acre of hallowed ground is lost to development every hour. The Civil War Preservation Trust, http://www.civilwar.org/, has saved 25,000 acres of battlefields in 19 states. A membership not only helps preserves these historic sites, but includes a subscription to their excellent magazine, Hallowed Ground.