Not as bad as last year: As tens of millions tank up and hit the road for Memorial Day weekend, gas prices are rising fast enough to revive painful memories of the $4-a-gallon summer of 2008. Rest easy: The economic slack created by the recession all but guarantees prices won’t spike the way they did last year, analysts say. A gallon of unleaded averaged $2.30 in metro Baton Rouge. That’s much cheaper than the $3.71 it cost this time last year, but prices are still up about 35 cents a gallon this month, enough to make drivers flinch. The auto club AAA estimates 32.4 million people, or about one in 10 Americans, will travel over the holiday, most of them driving. That’s a 1.5% increase from 2008. Oil prices held above $61 a barrel today, helped by a weakening dollar, which typically has an inverse relationship with crude markets. Investors often buy commodities such as oil as a protection against the inflation that can result from a weaker U.S. dollar.
Just in time for summer: If life is a beach, Hanalei Bay in Hawaii must be heaven. This remote, two-mile crescent-shaped beach on Kauai where the emerald mountains meet the sparkling sea was selected No. 1 on “Dr. Beach” Stephen P. Leatherman’s 2009 list of top 10 beaches. The runner-up on Leatherman’s list was Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Fla., followed by Coopers Beach in Southampton, N.Y., on Long Island; Coronado Beach in San Diego; Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii; Main Beach in East Hampton, N.Y., on Long Island; Cape Hatteras in Outer Banks, N.C.; Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Fla.; Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cod, Mass.; and Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, S.C. Leatherman based his selections on 50 criteria, including water quality and temperature, cleanliness, weather, sand, safety and facilities.
