great takes on family travel in the U.S.

UPDATE: 10:15 AM - thoughtful coverage from ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, The Semantic Web, Search Engine Land, AppScout, Creative Think, Mashable, Washington Post, Budget Travel, Blissful Travel, TechBays, CNReviews (Elliott’s blog), L-Experiences, Moraaz.org, E-Marketing, Winser-Traveller, Ibis Cluster, Rootly, NoBosh, Les Explorers, MarketWire, Zedomax Network, Rhea Hollan, WebGuild, ChristineLu,  more to come. We’ll post later this week with responses to all the feedback we are getting from the blogosphere!

This morning, we’ll be celebrating the opening of UpTake to the public!

We created UpTake so you can sit in that beach chair above, having a great vacation, confident you made the very best decisions you could with your scarce time and dollars!

What’s new with UpTake?

UpTake [logo], formerly Kango, is a travel search application that helps travelers make better decisions by providing recommendations based on analyzing over 20 million opinions from thousands of websites. More details are on our press release. Here’s what’s new:

• UpTake now covers the entire United States–over 20,000 destinations across the 50 states.
• We’ve got the largest travel database on the Web, with over 400,000 U.S. hotels and attractions.
• We’re launching two more themes: “girls-getaways” and “pet-friendly.” [screenshot] Just like our original “romantic” and “family friendly” themes, these ratings [screenshot] are driven by our database of 20 million opinions
• Launched new check rates button to check rates at multiple booking engines. [screenshot]
• Home page is simple and relaxing! [screenshot]

If you’re a blogger, journalist, or just curious, we have lots of other info here, including our logo, releases, our RSS feeds, quotes, company timeline, bios, photos, recommended travel blogs, and my Twitter account!

Some example searches for you to try…

Feel free to just go to the home page and start searching! Or if you want to jump right to a couple examples, look at: San Francisco Hotels, San Francisco Family Hotels, San Francisco Family Things to Do.

…or you can just watch this video (thanks DemoGirl).
We still want your feedback!

Our U.S. hotels search is in “beta” and our U.S. activities is still in “almost beta” as we add more data sources and activity types. So keep the suggestions coming so we can build a truly great travel search site.

On behalf of co-founders Yen Lee and Gene McKenna, I want to thank all of you for your support and help!

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

We were asked to write about our favorite restaurants this week, and the only difficult part will be writing a post that doesn’t go on for five pages. My list is long and varied, and I’m always up for trying new things - including half a Pink Pearl eraser that I once ate on a dare when I was working at an ad agency. It definitely didn’t taste like chicken.

I’m going to keep this list to my top four, and also limit it to restaurants that I haven’t mentioned in this blog before. That still leaves around 50,000 possibilities, and I’ll have a hard time whittling it down. But I promise there won’t be an eraser in sight.

First on my list would have to be Kyushu Ramen in Van Nuys. My two daughters and I are huge ramen fanatics (not the packaged, brick-of-noodles version from the grocery store) and I was excited to find this little oasis of authenticity in a non-descript mini-mall in the east Valley. They serve around thirty versions of ramen, everything from your basic shoyu (soy sauce based) version to their specialty, Kyushu ramen, which is in a rich, cloudy broth made with pork. They also offer other dishes like Japanese-style curry and sushi on their huge menu, but the noodles are what we will drive through rain and traffic for at least a few times a month.

My husband and I are longtime fans of Border Grill in Santa Monica. This restaurant has been here for awhile, and is owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feigner, who you might remember from the Too Hot Tamales series on the Food Network. Border Grill features “authentic home cooking and street foods of Mexico” not to mention the tastiest margaritas in town. I highly recommend their Green Corn Tamales and their Potato Rajas Tacos. Did I mention the margaritas?

Next I have to mention a new favorite. The urge for a hot dog hit me, and we decided to finally try The Stand, a restaurant located only ten minutes from our house but one we’d never ventured into. I describe it as an upscale hot dog joint, serving traditional hot dogs (many versions) but also sausages and burgers. We ate outside on their beautiful tree-canopied patio and listened to a live jazz band. After my kids stopped freaking out over the ‘neon relish’ on my Chicago dog they had a great time. Definitely not your average hot dog and fries experience.

Last but not least would be Farfalla Trattoria, a small Italian restaurant located in the Los Feliz area. My husband and I have been going there since we were first dating, and the quality has never faltered. It’s a traditional menu, with homemade pasta and a great wine list. I seem to order the same dish every time: tagliolini cozze e vongole, homemade thin pasta with mussels, clams and tomato sauce and an order of bruschetta to start. Fortunately, after eating a weeks worth of carbs in one sitting, you can walk it off by strolling the streets of the hip Los Feliz district.

What are your favorite restaurants in your city? Who serves the best margarita?

Photo: BorderGrill.com

So one day before deadline, I remember I’m supposed to submit an ‘NYC restaurant guide’. I’m scratching my head in confusion here. That’s a subject for a thick book, not a blog post to be tapped out on the fly. I mean, it’s virtually impossible to even remember all the good restaurants in New York City, let alone list them with descriptions. And how many more new restaurants open each week?

And then if you start categorizing them – Romantic, kosher, pre-theater dinner, breakfast, soul food, ethnic, greasy fast food diners, rooftop lounges – Well, let’s just say that this is going to be one heck of a blog post. see more »

I have been assigned the momentous task of sharing some of Austin’s best restaurants with you all. This is at once a delightful and an impossible task. Austin does food well and I love talking about it–so much so that I hardly know where to begin. The town holds strong to its belief in small/locally owned businesses and because of this you will find a plethora of home-grown and lovingly run restaurants that serve up unique and fabulous food. Some of the ubiquitous chains do exist (Chili’s, Applebee’s, etc.), but, you need never visit them and most Austinites don’t. We do have some of our very own original chains, like Thundercloud Subs and Amy’s Ice Cream and several really big chains have originated out of Austin–Whole Foods and Schlotskey’s come to mind.

Austin is located in the center of Texas. Because of this, it is influenced by many different cuisines: Southwestern flare from the west, down home Southern cooking from the east, interior Mexican and TexMex from the south. And, of course, being in Texas–you get a lot of great BBQ. Rather than go through a list of restaurants, several feet long, as I was originally inclined to do–I thought I would make it easier on everyone and just pick one restaurant from each of the above categories. This by no means reflects the wide variety and sheer number of quality restaurants in Austin–but, it does share some highlights, not to be missed, in a town known for its food. So here they are:

Southern food: Hyde Park Bar and Grill. This restaurant resides in an old charming house in Hyde Park–a lovely and laid back neighborhood in north/central Austin. There is a rotating display of local artwork on the walls and a great bar. You can order fried catfish and cornbread or rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes. They are famous for their hand-cut peppered fries with a “top secret” dipping sauce. They also make my very favorite dessert in the world–Won Kim’s Peach Pudding. This is a soft cake with fresh peaches that is served warm and covered in Devonshire cream. Heavenly! If that doesn’t appeal to you, you can always walk next door and get gelato and an espresso at La Dolce Vita.

Southwestern: Castle Hill Cafe. Their menu encompasses a wide range of cuisine, but, has a decidedly southwestern flare. I love to choose from their extensive list of tasty salads. They have one with green chile, corn relish, and homemade blue corn empanadas. Not your typical salad! They also have an extensive wine list, with many Texas wines. I have spotted many of Austin’s local celebrities dining there–including our ex-governor, Ann Richards.

Interior Mexican: Fonda San Miguel. This place is truly exceptional. There is a beautiful plant-filled atrium with tucked away couches that make you feel as if you are in the jungles of Mexico. It even has a large talking parrot! The dining room has the feel of an old Mexican hacienda with dark intricately carved chairs and saltillo tile floors. They serve excellent margaritas and focus on slow-cooked moles and other sauces, tender meats and seafood, and smoky chile rellenos. Try their cajete for dessert (caramel made with goat’s milk) that is served with vanilla ice cream and crepes.

TexMex: Matt’s El Rancho. I can’t say it has the very best Mexican food in Austin–it would be impossible to pick just one. But, it is up there, and the atmosphere makes up for the rest. Many Austin families have made Matt’s their Sunday dinner tradition. Matt, the owner, was a Mexican boxer and several generations of his family have run the restaurant. The fajitas, brisket tacos, and homemade tortillas here are a gustatory delight. Plus, you have mariachi bands, large open rooms with bright colors, and a back patio with a large fountain. The fountain is a huge hit with the kids as is the face painting, which is sometimes available. Kids can be entertained while you wait for your table–there usually is a bit of a wait here.

BBQ: House Park. Texas has its own unique version of BBQ, focusing on delicious smoked meats and signature sauces. Every establishment has their own, slightly different sauce. Most people find their favorites and stick to them. My personal favorite (besides the Salt Lick, which is a ways out of town) is House Park. It is a little smoky dive, several miles from downtown and is only opened from 11-2, on weekdays. But, it is worth making the effort to get to for lunch. There is a sign out front that says, “Need no teef to eat my beef”. As disgusting as this may sound…the meat truly is, falling off the bone, tender. The smokers out back are running ’round the clock and you can taste this quality in the beef. While waiting on your food (and you don’t wait long)–take a look at all the local news clippings and pictures littering the walls. They go back a long time and give you a brief glimpse into the Austin of “yester year”….or just grab a newspaper and catch up on current news, like the chinese earthquake or the new Blackberry Bold. It will all seem very far away in this little dive.

Phewww. I did it. It was a hard task–I have left so many good places out. But, it’s a place to start. One thing you can count on–if you visit Austin, Texas, you will leave fat, full, and happy!

What are some of your favorite local restaurants?

New York City has an excess of everything, and it’s all packed in so close together that it’s impossible to walk a few blocks without tripping over an establishment worth a second look-see. So this Mother’s Day, which falls on the 11^th of May, here’s a guide to help you enjoy a classy and fun filled Mother’s Day in NYC.

Listed below are the best Mother’s Day activities in NYC - Where to go for brunches and teas, spa specials, cruises, music, shows and concerts, nature exploration tours, upscale shopping, flea market shopping, food shopping and best of all - Discounts, freebies, flowers, chocolates - which you get only if you’re a Mom.

Let’s start with a list of the best NYC restaurants offering a special Mother’s Day Sunday brunch.

Palm Court Restaurant, Plaza Hotel: The first on the list, and probably the only one you need to know about, is the historic Palm Court restaurant at the Plaza Hotel, with its stained glass windows, traditional afternoon tea and genteel service. The newly renovated and reopened Plaza has always been the center of gravity for the Grande Dame social circuit in the Big Apple.Every socially conscious Mom in NYC wants nothing better than to dress up and spend a few hours sizing up the other Moms in attendance. The brunch and afternoon tea is just something that the Palm Court offers as a reason for a gaggle of Moms to congregate. The experience, as a whole, is unforgettable, and there’s nothing better or more special that you can do for Mother’s Day, than foot the bill for brunch and tea at the Palm Court for your Mother.

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I started out intending to write about several things to do on Mother’s Day in Cleveland. But as I began my research, I found nothing that excited me as much as the Cleveland Botanical Garden. And let me make it clear that I do not garden, and much to my husband’s annoyance, I don’t notice when he gardens, either. I just can’t pull myself away from this place, though, so I have to make it the entire focus of this blog.

The CBG is having Mother’s Day Brunch at the Garden on Sunday, May 11^th, from 10am to 3pm. The menu will consist of traditional buffet fare such as carved beef, homemade soup, salads, and a pancake station. Cost and additional menu items can be found on the site.

The neat thing about this is that it’s not just a meal—your group will have access to the gardens and their special exhibit, Zensai:The Horticulture of Japan. After that, be sure to visit the other gardens, including the Hershey’s Children Garden, the Mary Ann Swears Sweetland Rose Garden, and the Western Reserve Herb Society Garden. There are several others as well, so there is plenty of beauty to enjoy on the grounds.

One thing I did not realize is how much goes on at CBG. In addition to the outdoor gardens, there is also a Glasshouse which houses the Cloud Forest of Costa Rica and Spiny Desert of Madagascar exhibits. The CBG also offers a wide selection of programs including classes, lectures, and travel programs for area residents. And you can rent the CBG for weddings, corporate events, and other private events, with catering provided.

I think this is a wonderful place to add to your Places to Visit list in the Cleveland area. If you can’t make it for Mother’s Day, be sure to check it out at another time. It’s simply stunning!

I just guest-posted this over at AltSearchEngines.com, so I thought I’d share this with the UpTake travel and search industry blog readers too.  Enjoy!

UpTake.com:  Alts Living in a Google World

Judging from the intellectually stimulating discussion I had with 30+ alternative search engines at the recent AltSearchEngines-sponsored meet-up in San Francisco, there is no question that a renaissance of innovation is coming from the Alts.  Many founders of Alts seem to be motivated by the idea that “they can do it better than Google.” This is a great motivation during the stealth-R&D phase. But when it comes time to go to market and get site traffic, we at UpTake believe the Alts should follow this maxim, inspired by Madonna’s classic “Material Girl“:

“Living in a Google World

Some Alts kiss me, some Alts hug me
I think they’re o.k.
If they don’t give me proper traffic
I just walk away”

link to album image: http://www.madonna.com/bin/galImg/siteFiles/4820374586.

So Alts, don’t kiss and hug me with your advanced technology and buzzwords. Just deliver the goods: traffic!

Four Tips on how you can better live in a Google World

We at UpTake (formerly known as Kango), know that we are living in a Google world. As an AltSearchEngine, that means you need to play by the rules Google has set for the game, if you want to be found, and you want to compete. Here are four tips on how you can get more traffic in a Google World:

TIP ONE: Focus on crafting rich “search engine results pages” (SERPs) that look like category pages, not SERPs.

Does Google index Yahoo! and MSN SERP pages? Enough said. They have been crystal clear on this point: they don’t want to index your SERP pages either! So the solution is to provide rich, crawlable landing pages that don’t look like SERP pages. Here’s how we did it for San Francisco Hotels and Things to Do in New York. In addition to the typical search engine “blue links”, we added images, copy, and other useful information for our users. Focus on looking like Amazon or another e-commerce player that has successfully indexed pages in Google.

TIP TWO: Provide a browseable catalog that is organized in some sort of semantically logical fashion, so that other crawlers can crawl your site!

Chances are your search engine doesn’t create easily crawlable pages. This is not unique to search engines; it is also the problem of most dynamically generated Websites like e-commerce sites. Solve this problem by creating an accessible “browse-tree” [sitemap] of your pages, categorized in a semantically logical fashion. For example, we organize by states like Florida and New York, and cities like Orlando and Chicago. We also created category pages like Lodging and Things to Do. Don’t do a laundry list of alphabetically organized deep searches. Instead, look to e-commerce sites in your vertical to see how to organize your browse tree. Hint: just using a sitemap.xml is not enough!

TIP THREE: Get lots of links to your site! Be willing to talk about things that are interesting but not focused on your search engine.

We set out to create a great travel search application. But then we discovered that in order to rank in Google you need lots of inbound links! One of our founders applied his snarky sense of humor toward this with a satire “what if Google had to design for Google“. Then it got Sphunn. Then it got Dugg 4822 times! Then Battelle mentioned it. This blog post was our most popular, and most linked to post in the company’s history.

TIP FOUR: Have original content.

Have original content. One way to do that is simple-blogging. It may be strange to think that a SearchEngine should have a blog, but it should. A blog is an excellent way of putting your personality on the web, and attracting new customers through a more traditional method: subscription and word of mouth. Also Google will not crawl pages of content that are not original. If you are just displaying web content from other Websites (just like Google), Google will not want to show more intermediate navigational pages beyond their own SERPs. They want to actually take users to the rich content they seek. Therefore, you must also create rich content that address the keywords that people are using in order to attract them to your search engine through ranking on Google search results.

Summary

To be successful as an Alt these days, not only do you need a great search experience with unique technology, but also pursue a lot of other traffic strategies not really related to building that search experience to attract customers. Google has defined the rules. Our policy at UpTake is to learn them, love them, and give ourselves a great shot at success by living well in the Google world!

So, I have heard the buzz about town. Apparently, as a tax paying citizen, I have a stimulus check coming my way in the next several months. Now, I have not been a taxpayer for very long and this concept is totally new to me–even somewhat suspicious. The government is sending me hundreds of dollars—just so that I will spend more money?

Really? see more »