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The National Zoo's Live-Tweeting Just Gets Cuter and Cuter

Elementary logic: all organizations are increasingly leveraging social media, zoos are organizations, therefore zoos are increasingly leveraging social media. What differentiates zoos from other groups, of course, is that their tweets, posts, photos, and videos are much, much cuter.

Our beloved San Diego Zoo probably sets the standard for social media completionism—their annual Panda Week activities are to the point—but the National Zoo in Washington, DC is not far behind. Last year they live-tweeted the artificial insemination of a giant panda and the subsequent birth of the panda baby. Both of those were neat but not particularly cute.

The zoo's most recent live-tweeted event did much better on the cuteness front: photos and descriptions of elephant baths.

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Three November Festivals Promise Airplanes and Automobiles and Beer

You know we love us a good beer festival, but sometimes we could use a little more entertainment than just the ales and lagers. That’s why we were excited to hear about some of these more unique options going down this month, so let’s raise our glasses to three November beer festivals that offer up a little extra.

Auto and Ales – Hershey, Pennsylvania

Everyone knows it’s not a good idea to mix drinking with driving, but as long as you keep the automobiles and alcohol separate it’s totally fine. That’s what is scheduled for this Friday—November 9—over in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Antique Automobile Club of America. It’s what they’re calling Auto and Ales, and it’s ready to do its thing between 6pm and 10pm.

It’s the third year of the festival, as organizers promise to bring together some of the area’s best craft brewers and best classic cars. There’s no getting behind the wheel at this event, but you are encouraged to savor a few sips while enjoying the view. Appalachian Brewing Company, Lancaster Brewing Company, and Snitz Creek Brewery are just a few of those scheduled to be in attendance, and the sips and samples can be yours for just $40.

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Southwest Combines Love of Pumpkins and Planes for Carving Contest

Time is running out to head to the farm stand—or Whole Foods Market—to pick up your pumpkin. There’s definitely a little pressure to select a good one this year, as it looks like Southwest Airlines is eager to judge your work.

Southwest Airlines loves Halloween, and this year their seasonal theme is “Jack-o’-lanterns are burning bright; time to take a Southwest or AirTran Flight!” Unfortunately their holiday contest is now over, as they've invited some expert pumpkin carvers to celebrate the season in person at their annual Halloween party down in Dallas. It may be too late to win that chance, but it's not too late to use some pumpkin carving resources the airline has made available.

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Three October Pumpkin Festivals for Pies and Parades

Like it or not summer is gone and fall is here to stay, so we suggest fully investing your time into enjoying the season. Take in some leaves, enjoy the cooler temperatures, and of course order up a pumpkin latte at your favorite coffee shop. After that may we suggest a few pumpkin festivals, because here are three that are worth your time:

Circleville Pumpkin Show – Circleville, Ohio

Ohio might be a swing state in the upcoming election, but between October 17 and October 20 it’s clearly an orange state. The Circleville Pumpkin Show is expecting well over 400,000 pumpkin fans, as they hit the town in search of carnival rides, food booths, and arts and crafts vendors. As far for the star of the festival, there’s a pumpkin parade, a miss pumpkin show, and plenty of gourds, squash, and other pumpkin siblings. You’ll be able to indulge in all kinds of pumpkin delicacies as well, but we wouldn’t recommend taking a slice of last year’s pumpkin weigh-in winner—it tipped the scales at around 1,437 pounds. Best of all admission is totally free, so there’s really no reason to just swing on through for the afternoon.

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Three Upcoming Pumpkin Beer Festivals for Some Autumn Action

October has finally arrived and that means the seasonal beer festivals have taken a shift towards darker colors and spicier flavors. Sure there are plenty of lagers, ales, and stouts to be had this season, but they’re even better with the addition of everyone’s favorite October food—the pumpkin. Here’s three festivals with plenty of beer and plenty of pumpkin to get you in the mood for fall:

Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Beer Festival – Philadelphia

We hope you don’t have plans this weekend, because you’re going to need to cancel them and rebook yourself in attendance at the annual Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. It’s year number four for the festival, and things are scheduled to do their thing between 9am and 2am beginning this Saturday, October 6. All will kick off at The Institute in Philadelphia with a pumpkin brunch, and after that over 50 different seasonal beers and ciders will make their debut.

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Tractors Pulling Planes? Yep, at This Weekend's Heritage of Flight Festival

It’s only Tuesday, but that hardly means that’s it too early to start talking about—and planning—some stuff to do this weekend. If you’re looking to get outside to enjoy the cooler temperatures but also want a little entertainment, there’s always the option to attend a fall festival. Lucky for you we have one in mind, and it’s all taking place this weekend in New Carlisle, Ohio.

This weekend the eighth annual Heritage of Flight Festival and Parade rolls into town, as stuff is scheduled for October 5, 6, and 7. The highlight of the festival has to be the tractor pull, but we’re not talking about the usual country fair style tractor pull. Here the tractors are pulling airplanes on a parade route right through the center of town, so if you’ve ever wanted to see a biplane being towed by a John Deere tractor—this is the place to accomplish that mission.

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How to Find a 'Pick-Your-Own' Apple Orchard Near You

The season for apple picking is officially from around September 20 through the third week in October, so though you've got a little time left to add it to your iCal, making plans with friends and family for an outing should happen sooner rather than later.

Now, we could make a Top Ten list of DIY apple orchards, but we'd rather have you find the ones nearest you. For this, check out PickYourOwn.org, a website that lists places depending on your area within a state, and even shares a list of tips to best prepare you for a day in the orchards.

For New York City, the closest options are out in Long Island and listed here. For Chicago, the options are here, including some organic farms and some with pick-your-own-pumpkins as well.

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And 2012's 'World's Largest Corn Maze' Title Goes to...

It's that time of the year again, when your body is, like, chemically engineered to crave apple cider donuts and adventures in corn mazes. For now, we'll address the latter as farms mow down the crops to make some extra bucks. And, for 2012, the Guinness World Records title of "World's Largest Cornmaze" hops the border and heads to Canada.

The maze at Kraay Family Farm in Lacombe, Canada (that's in the province of Alberta, btw) measures a beastly 309,000 square feet and, in a nod to what's hot with the kids these days (yeah right), takes the shape of a functioning QR code.

If, for some reason, you decide to fly up to Edmonton, rent a car and then rent a plane or helicopter to get high and check this baby out, then manage to capture it, the QR code just directs you to the official maze website, which is right here. Look, we saved you all that trouble!

[Photo: Kraay Farm]

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One More Reason to Visit DC's National Zoo: A New Baby Panda!

BAM! Last night at 10:46pm the National Zoo in Washington, DC welcomed a new baby panda into the world. We noticed that something was amiss outside Jaunted's zoo-adjacent DC headquarters this morning—news vans were gathering to take pictures and video, because Anchorman is far closer to reality than anyone in broadcast journalism wants to admit—and so we investigated.

The result of the investigation was the picture at the top of this post, with the reporters doing interviews with cherubic crotch-dumplings and their mothers, and the news about the baby panda. YouTube video of the birth is embedded below and the relevant Twitter hashtag for updates is #cubwatch. Zoo travel social media completionism, is what that is.

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Four Zoos for Visiting Baby Leopards This Fall

Yeah listen. We could pretend that we do these fairly routine zoo travel baby animal posts - lemurs and monkeys and otters oh my! - because you guys are going to visit those locations. But that would be dishonest of us and unworthy of you.

So let's all enter the circle of trust. Behind each of the links in this post are a ton of baby leopards pictures, and at the bottom are a few videos. Happy Friday.

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Hitting Halloween at the USA's Top Five Theme Parks: Dates, Prices and More

If you haven’t started to feel the chill in the air you will sooner than later, and that means that theme parks around the country will start loading in their pumpkins, scarecrows, and other spooky seasonal decorations. Halloween is still over a month away, but that doesn’t mean that the scary stuff won’t begin a little bit sooner.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the country’s best parks and when they begin to do their Halloween thing:

Cedar Point – HalloWeekends

Over at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio the werewolves and vampires come out to play beginning on September 14—that’s this Friday. The frightening fun runs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October 28, but you might want to just double-check the official calendar before filling up the tank and starting your drive. Admission to this year’s events should set you back around $45, but that’s only if you order in advance online.

Busch Gardens – Howl-O-Scream

There’s a couple flavors of this year’s seasonal celebrations from which to choose, as Busch Gardens is getting the ghosts and goblins ready in both Tampa and Williamsburg, Virginia. Expect haunted houses, live entertainment, and plenty of pumpkins. In Virginia the run runs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays beginning this week, ending October 30. Down in Florida things don’t begin until next week, and it’s going to be a Thursday, Friday, Saturday thing with the scary stuff running as late as 2am. Advance admission will set you back $55 for Florida and $70 if you’re looking to be scared silly in Virginia.

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The Return of the $5 One-Way Hertz Rental (and More Deals)

If you need a rental car anytime soon you might want to check out Hertz when doing your online shopping. The rental car behemoth is preparing all kinds of promotions for the fall, and it’s all part of their global sale.

You can save $40 per week in Florida, keep an extra $40 on your weekend rental, and even save up to $100 on one of their fancy car rental from the Prestige or Adrenaline collections. The scoop on some of these deals can be found right here, so just copy and paste the appropriate code thing and enter those credit card digits.

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