Grand Finale in Knott's Berry Farm

The final IPW party on Wednesday took place in Knott's Berry Farm, but before that we enjoyed some gathering and chatting on the popular Californa Plaza, in the sun, for a change. Also, met our old Navajo friend Donovan, and, of course, he had to make a selfie!

Knott's Berry Farm is the second large attraction in Orange County, featuring 40 rides including roller coasters, like the old wooden one on the picture. The theme park dates back to the mid 1920s, when Walter Knott and his family began selling fruit at a roadside stand along Highway 39 in California. By the 1940s, a restaurant, shops, and other attractions had been added to entertain a growing number of visitors, including a replica ghost town. Nowadays it's mostly about the old Wildwest and we enjoyed country music bands, burgers and chicken, stunt shows and the arcades.

Everything else but vacation!

It's been crazy three days, from Monday to Wednesday. Monday was "Media Day" with appointments almost all day and "only" two parties in the evening. Tuesday: packed with press conferences and some appointments in the big Market Hall in the afternoon. Good thing here in Anaheim is the California Plaza (pic above left), an area inbetween hotels and conference center, where they offer free drinks and food and other entertainment from different regions of California State after the show. So, you can grab a drink in the evening and breakfast in the morning for free and meet more relaxed with people.

New Orleans Press Breakfast:

,,,and a "regular" press conference:

And, we are getting better: Tuesday evening we made it to 4 (!) parties, all in walking distance from the hotel. Started with Arizona, which was open-air and very nicely done, with local food and wine as well as an apache storyteller, on to San Diego, on a fancy rooftop bar with ladies dancing in the air (pic below), to the two "mega parties" of Texas and Florida (pic below), both fortunately in the same venue, the House of Blues. These two are always crazy, loud, with live music, and packed with people.


Tired after a long day, relaxing on California Plaza:

Left at around 10 pm and walked back to the hotel to be ready for today, again with press conferences - among them Las Vegas as the Grand Finale with a special performance from Duo Vector from ABSINTHE at Caesars Palace - two six-packed, strong gentlemen in fancy white underwear,,, Las Vegas will be the place of the next IPW in 2020.


The Market Hall, where the different exhibitors from different states/regions have set up their boothes:









After a final walk through the Marketplace Hall and some greeting and meeting, we retired to the hotel room for some proofreading and packing before heading out again tonight for the Final Party at Knott's Berry Farm.

Anaheim - All about U.S. Tourism

IPW - International Powwow - is the largest tourism convention in the U.S. - the travel industry's premier international marketplace - counting about 6.000 participants in total, among them 500 journalists. On Saturday, we checked in the hotel of the German delegation, the Hilton, and lucked out: got upgraded to a suite on the top floor, the 14th, which gave us a chance not only to overview Disneyland, but also to see the fireworks there in the late evening, and, the skyline of L.A. in the far distance.


Sunday, our first full convention day, started with the traditional "German breakfast" in the Hilton Hotel, followed by a Press Brunch in Downtown Anaheim. Boothes and Foodtrucks were set up to feed and entertain media. Before noon press tours started. We had chosen a sports tour which started at the Karl Strauss Brewery with a "pre-game meal" and beer samples. A behind-the-scenes tour through the Angel Stadium (baseball) was next, then a visit at the Honda Arena (Hockey). Unfortunately, there was nothing going on in the stadiums and the group was really large, so it took long to get around.

Back on the Plaza - the main gathering space - at 5 pm and out again at 7 pm for the Grand Opening Party at Disneyland. They had shut down part of the entertainment park for the congress and were introducing the new Star Wars attraction. We walked the loop, grabbed a few bites here and there, but didn't go on any rides. Lines were too long!


Watched the fireworks in the room and called it a day at about 10 pm, Peter still coughing heavily.

Crazy L.A.

75 deg. F. early Saturday morning in Indian Wells. After another peaceful and delicious breakfast on the patio of the Miramonte Hotel we started at 8 am towards Los Angeles - a 2-hour drive. When we approached the L.A. metro area it became cloudy and "smoggy", and, much, much cooler. Traffic was moving, fortunately, we had chosen a weekend for the drive, but, nevertheless, all the lanes (12+) and some crazy drivers don't make driving in the L.A. Metro Area really a pleasure.


We parked at The Broad (pics above), the latest art museum in town, which we haven't seen yet. It's adjacent to the Disney Concert Hall by Gehry (pic). We've had a hard-hat tour in the museum during our last visit, but now we admired the result!

We went for a walk through downtown afterwards, to the new shopping district "The Bloc", the new OUE Observation Deck, to the Grand Central Market (getting more fancy !) and the Jewelry District, as well as to the "Last Bookstore". How could we have overseen such a superb independant bookstore for so long?

Drove to the Petersen Automotive Museum with its new fassade (pic below, left) and the construction site of the new Academy Museum of Moving Pictures (below, right) - parking is a pain in the a.. in L.A.! - to take pictures before heading out towards Anaheim, where we arrived at about 2:30 pm. Returned the rental car at AVIS closeby our congress hotel, the Hilton, and walked over, which took us about 15 minutes.

Met the first colleagues and friends in the lobby and just had a little time to change, but didn't even unpack before heading out to the Colorado Party on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant in walking distance. Good food - they flew in two chefs from Colorado! -, good drinks and live entertainment.

Thanks to the "California Plaza" an area with promotional boothes of different California regions set inbetween the Convention Center and the main convention hotels, we met more people afterwards and had a glass of Sonoma wine.

Architecture & Art, Dates and Margaritas

Friday morning: our scheduled "MidMod Architectural Tour" - an architectural/design tour to 1950ies places and architecture, for which Palm Springs (and the area) is famous for - unfortunately was cancelled, so we were on our own and made the best of it: Explored Palm Springs first, the Art Museum - great, not overwhelming modern art collection! - and the interesting Architecture & Design Center, checked out a couple of 1950ies buildings afterwards, and the boutiquey Rowan Hotel - symbolic for the changes currently taking place in the area. We looked at the construction site of the new Agua Caliente Cultural Center (the local Indian tribe's new museum), for which we have to come back once it's open.

Pics of Downtown Palm Springs:


Peter's new pick-up and a funny dog:

And, the PS Art Museum:

In the afternoon we drove out to Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage. We didn't really know what to expect there and were surprised by the cultural and historical significance and the beauty of this place. The historic mid-century modern estate was the winter residence of Walter and Leonore Annenberg, completed in 1966 and considered a master piece of midcentury modern architecture. The Annenbergs entertained presidents, royalty, celebrities, and international leaders there. Several presidents enjoyed the natural beauty of the landscape and the gardens. Also, the Annenbergs were art collectors, philanthropists and very generous people. Need to do more research about them. The modern center and gardens are open for free to the public and explain about the family, their private mansion and the importance of the place.

Shield Date Gardens - our next stop, in Indio. Founded in 1924, the company became famous for its dates, some of them just available in the company store. Though we couldn't walk into the date grove, we at least could watch the film and sample many of their dates and date produce. Didn'T know anything about different varieties, like Deglet Noor, Medjool, Barhi date and proprietary varieties which they call the blonde and the brunette date.

Greater Palm Springs showed to be ideal for dates early. The crops were imported from the Middle East and North Africa in the late 1800s and the climate showed similar to those desert countries where date trees flourish. At the turn of the 20th century, the Greater Palm Springs was a Garden of Eden, and in the next decades date gardens were planted throughout the valley, of which a few are still left.

After a beer (and a chat with some locals) at Babe's Brewhouse, we had a great dinner (and Margaritas) at Acqua in Rancho Mirage - open-air, of course! - and called it a day afterwards.