Whether you like to listen to great musical acts, the siren song of the great outdoors, or the rumble of your own stomach, we’ve got your perfect weekend covered. In California, the start of spring means ample snow for skiing, riding, and bouldering. In Tennessee, the new SXSW awaits. And in Missouri, the town of Hermann throws the only sausage fest you’ll actually want to attend.
By Chase Scheinbaum, Nicholas Ayala, and Tara House
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Skiing/Snowboarding, Bouldering, March 25-28
Mammoth Mountain and Bishop, California
If your heart is torn between rock and snow, why turn your back on either? Both are available en masse in the Eastern Sierra-Nevada mountains. This weekend could see you shredding three half-pipes in seven different terrain parks at Mammoth Mountain between epic bouldering sessions at Bishop.
Topping out at over 11,000 feet, Mammoth’s 3,500 acres of terrain have good cover until late spring. And this weekend, there’s a bonus with your $87 one-day lift ticket: watching professional female snowboarders hurl themselves high above halfpipe lips in the Roxy Chicken Jam, which features slopeside concerts Thursday through Sunday. But a day of riding in Mammoth’s t-shirt weather may leave you wanting to ditch the gloves and put skin to stone at the Buttermilks or the Druids — two of the best bouldering areas anywhere. Click here for directions to Bishop’s smorgasbord of bouldering areas.
Take a tip from the locals and stop at Erick Schat’s Bakkery in Bishop for sandwiches made on fresh bread.
Travel and Accommodations
Because the boulders and the mountain are located within an hour of each other, you can stay in any of Mammoth’s four on-resort lodging options and day trip to the boulder fields, or camp in the outdoors and blitz the slopes from basecamp. Click here for a list of campgrounds in the area.
Flights to Mammoth Yosemite Airport are just $39 from San Jose, $49 from Reno, and $69 from Los Angeles. Check out more options here.
Big Ears Festival, March 26-28
Knoxville, Tennessee
If you missed SXSW last week, don’t fret. After a successful and much-lauded first showing last year, the Big Ears Festival is back with Vampire Weekend, My Brightest Diamond, Dirty Projectors and a slew of other great acts at various venues in downtown Knoxville.
While you’re in town, expand your tastes with film screenings at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Eat at the Cairo Cafe, where you can enjoy Egyptian cuisine and belly dancing, or stop by Café 4 for comfort food favorites.
With all of the 50-plus concerts taking place indoors, you may want to get outside and stretch your legs a little. After all, you’ll be less than an hour away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you’re up for that short drive, you can get your fill of hiking, bicycling, and camping. Plus, for the first time in 30 years, you’ll be able to fish for brook trout in park streams. Visit the park’s fishing page to learn what documents you’ll need to reel in the big one. Sort out the rest of the logistics of your trip here.
Travel and Accommodations
The Big Ears Festival offers a travel package with two nights at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, along with two Inner Ear festival passes and some swag. If you’re not looking to go all out with the travel package, stay at the Hilton and receive a reduced rate by mentioning the Big Ears Festival.
Making your way to Knoxville shouldn’t be too difficult. Fly in to the Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport, find driving directions via Google Maps, or even take the Greyhound bus.
Additional travel and accommodations info can be found here.
Wurstfest, March 27-28
Hermann, Missouri
How’s a big sausage-fest sound? The very best wurst is just a hop, skip, and ein sprigen away in Hermann, Missouri, which celebrates its 31st annual Wurstfest this weekend in recognition of its 160-year history of sausage-making and German culture. Local sausage makers, wineries, B&Bs, restaurants, and shops will commemorate and honor Hermann’s history as the “Sausage Capital” of the Midwest with a two-day bash.
Visitors are invited to sample and purchase Old-World delicacies such as Bratwurst, Leberwurst, Schwartenmagen, and Sommer Sausage in the Pavilion at Stone Hill Winery and the Hermannhof Festhalle throughout both days of the festival. Admission for sampling is $6. Participating vendors include, Williams Brothers Meat Market, Schubert’s Packing, Heintz Processing, Stonies Sausage Shop, Swiss Meat & Sausage Co., Wright City Meat, Tony Caldarello Italian Sausage, Paradise Locker Meats, Davis Meat Processing, and Baumann’s Fine Meats. Attendees also have a chance to learn how to make the perfect pork link, watching the experts in action as they demonstrate and compete.
Other events and activities include wine tastings, live music, and artistic demonstrations at various local venues including the Kunstler Haus, the Hermann Farm and Museum Forge, and the Hermann Fire House #1. Another nice break from all that pork comes in the form of the annual Wurstfest Wiener Dog Durby, held Sunday at 1:00 P.M. in the City Park. Dachshund owners can enter their dogs in the relay races, costume and talent contests here.
Travel and Accommodations
Stay at some of Hermann’s most beautiful and historical accommodations found here. Or check out the event package offered by the Inn at Hermannhof for special Wurstfest rates.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is located 58 miles outside the center of town, with the smaller Hermann Municipal Airport only two miles away. Other means of transportation can be found here.
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March 25th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Sounds cool but Id rather be at the beach.
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