There is a newly published Forbes.com article on the top 10 cities for making a living in the United States. Each has something to offer travelers as well. Here are the top cities and one place to go to in each. These are the first places that immediately came to mind. It's an odd assortment.

1. Houston, Texas. I've been to the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles and found it incredibly worthwhile and moving. From the description of the Holocaust Museum in Houston, it sounds similar, although there is a section that includes first person accounts of the Holocaust survivors who live in the city.

2. Minneapolis, Minnesota. As I've posted before, the outdoor art in Minneapolis is fantastic, particularly, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

3. Boston, Massachusetts. The Freedom Trail that winds through the old part of Boston highlights the important places during the American Revolution. Here's a tour that looks like a fun way to take it in. When I walked the Freedom Trail in Girl Scouts, we were on our own. I wish we had been on this tour.

Matt Gross, the New York Times' "Frugal Traveler," seems to have everything-- a dream job, plenty of money, a talent for travel writing, and dozens of interested women. So why, in his revealing new essay in Nerve, does he claim to be so sexually frustrated? Because, oh yeah, he's married.

We often stereotype travel writers as being rootless, wandering singles who bounce blithely from one location to the next. But this isn't the case for Matt Gross, who writes that being a married travel writer is often an "exercise in sexual frustration."

One of the great things about travel is the sense of adventure it brings, the willingness to try anything-- consequences be damned. But that only extends so far for the Frugal Traveler. He writes:

"Travel is about embracing new experiences: foods you've never eaten, languages you've never spoken, religious rituals you've never even heard of. To decline any offer at all - a spontaneous wedding invitation in Pondicherry, a swig of rice wine from an unmarked flask in a Saigonese goat restaurant - is to deny the very spirit of voyaging, and so I decline nothing. Except for it. The fact that I can't take part in it, that most hallowed ritual of travel - sex with strangers - frustrates me on a philosophical level as well as a primal one."

Read the whole entertaining essay here.

[HT: Our good friends at World Hum]

Today is the first day of school for my children. My daughter waltzed out the door at 7 a.m. this morning after showing me the piece of cheese she was eating--(she plays soccer and I'm adamant that she eat some sort of protein), to catch her ride. She's a 10th grader.

For my son, who is now a first grader, the anticipation build-up of last year is much less. We know our routine. Kindergarten left a lump in my throat. First grade is old hat, but he still wants me to drive him and walk him in for the first day. After today, he heads out on the bus.

This first day of school got me thinking about schools around the world and what a gift having a school to go to is. When I was in the Peace Corps, I worked with my village primary school on certain days to do health education. In The Gambia, at the time, most kids did not go to school. The primary school in my village was the only one for miles around.

Ever thought about taking a video camera with you on your next trip? Over at Brave New Traveler, Gadling alum and documentary filmmaker Brook Silva-Braga talks about the challenges of shooting video while on the road, why long-term travel isn't so scary after all, and what his next video project is about. The interview is well worth a read.

Brook has done more to preach the benefits of long-term travel than just about anyone I know, and he sums up his argument for it thusly: "To me the most powerful evidence in support of long-term travel is this: I've never met someone who gave it a try and didn't like it. It's only people who don't go who can list all the problems with it."

For those wondering what Brook has been up to recently, you won't be disappointed. Brook is following up his award-winning documentary A Map for Saturday with a new film called One Day in Africa, which is an attempt to "show a more nuanced version of Africa than the devastatingly dire or falsely hopeful stories we see so often."

Brook plans on releasing that film in early 2009-- we'll keep you posted.

Read the whole thing at BNT here.

PopEater gave me a heads up about David Byrne of the Talking Heads designing bike racks in Manhattan in order to promote bike riding. The bike racks are finished and in place. Each reflect its location. For example, head to Wall Street and you'll find one shaped like a dollar sign. Here is a link to his Web page that shows the racks and where they are located.

The video is a clip from this past July. The rack on Wall Street is one of them shown. Plus, you'll get a feel for Byrne and the experience of bike riding in Manhattan. If you do bike ride, watch out for vehicles.

A taxi driver opened his car door without looking first which caused someone near and dear to me to fly over the door and break his collar bone.

If there was ever an indication that one should seize the day and not wait to take that wonderful trip you've always wanted to go on, it's this story at msnbc.com.

Dave Freeman, the co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss unexpectedly died on August 17. He fell and hit is head in his own house. He was only 47.

As a person who is reaching a hallmark birthday this coming Saturday, I can say that the title of the book certainly gives me the sense that time can slip by if one is not careful. Freeman's death, illustrates the point. It also points to how unpredictable life is anyway, so why not take chances?

Sure there are the health threats that may loom in the future: cancer, diabetes and heart failure that niggle at you to hit the road while you still can, but there is the truth that anything can happen at any time, so don't fret the small stuff and travel. Take a risk.

Elvis is buried in Memphis, right? So what's he doing in the German town of Bad Nauheim?

No, he was not sighted by some bleary-eyed office worker on the way home after too many beers. Bad Nauheim is the place where Elvis did his military duty in the late '50s. The people of this otherwise nondescript town (well, at least the Elvis fans among them) are not so quick to forget their most famous boarder.

A tour around town passes an arch where the photo for one of The King's album covers was taken. There is also the house where he lived, and, for die-hards, the room that he sometimes rented at a local hotel. There is even a story about a beer hall where Elvis allegedly started a brawl.

The people of Bad Nauheim have made Elvis a kind of folk hero, and they are painfully aware that his army days in Germany are viewed as insignificant by fans from other parts of the world. According to local Elvis lore, the Bad Nauheim years were among the happiest in Presley's life.

Bad Nauheim will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Presley's arrival in their town later this year.

An article I read in the New York Times last Thursday night left me feeling miffed. It explains one reason why it can be difficult to snag tickets to see "Hair," the current, free Shakespeare in the Park Public Theater production at Central Park's Delacorte Theater.

It's called CHEATING. Clever, but CHEATING.

According to the article, there are people who are hired to wait in lines by people who don't want to wait in line themselves. The line at the Delacorte Theater is one example of where this hired-line waiting cleverness happens.

And, why am I MIFFED?!

As a person who STOOD IN LINE with my brother and my 6-year-old son on August 6, slathering on sunscreen and sweltering, waiting for the line to move into the shade, but DID NOT get tickets, I'm annoyed.

Here is the saga. The good news first: My brother lives in Manhattan, therefore, I have the enviable position of having a place to stay whenever I show up in the Big Apple for a visit.

The smart news: Knowing that anything can happen in Manhattan, we had back-up plans when we took our spot after walking past the gobs and gobs of people already waiting when we walked the distance from the subway stop to the end of the line. Some were reading in the lawn chairs they had the foresight to bring with them, and others were eating a picnic feast.

The not so smart news: We showed up at 11:00 hoping for the best. Getting tickets can mean arriving in line as early as 6:00 A.M. As if, I'd drag my son to Central Park at 6 A.M. for an 7-hour wait. Hardly.

I'm a total sucker for street performances, especially when I travel, and especially if it's something cultural - I always stop and watch! This shot has been taken by user jonjanegoin on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China. Its simplicity makes it so real -- and he's managed to capture a moment with as much precision as possible.

Want your photo featured on Photo of the Day? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr pool for consideration.

Ed Robertson, the lead singer of popular Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, survived a crash of his Cessna 206 yesterday, in an accident that involved Robertson and three others. The plane, piloted by Robertson, was traveling over a rural area of southeastern Ontario when its engine stalled unexpectedly.

Robertson managed to set the plane straight and land it among some trees. The four passengers were forced to exit through a window but were not injured.

Robertson hosts a show on the Outdoor Life Network called "Ed's Up," which documents Robertson's plane trips.

This should make for an interesting episode, huh?

More here.