On Tuesday, March 17, Americans will paint their faces green and don their woolen sweaters to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This year, why not make a last-minute road trip to one of these five U.S. cities to catch the big parade and throw back some Guinness with the locals? Considering how many great airline deals are out there, you may even luck out with a cheap flight!

Chicago: The Windy City has dyed its river bright green since 1962 (don’t worry, the dye used in the annual event is not harmful to the environment). Chicago’s parade is packed with floats, marching bands, Clydesdale horses, and, of course, Irish step dancers. See our Chicago Travel Guide

Four more seriously green St. Paddy’s Day cities after the jump. Read the rest of this post »

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City is currently showing “On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker,” with around 80 original cartoons published from 1925 through the 1990s that square off with the subject of money and how it defines us (January 23 to May 24). In Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, in its new Diller Scofidio + Renfro building, is hosting a survey of work by Shepard Fairey, the street artist famous for his now-iconic Barack Obama poster (through August 16). The Guggenheim Berlin is presenting “Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s,” a look at paintings created from photographs, a movement that evolved from Pop Art by artists such as Charles Bell, Chuck Close, and Ralph Going, whose Airstream (1970) is pictured above (through May 10).

From the Feb/March 2009 issue of Sherman’s Travel magazine.