Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!An Inspiring Castle in Antrim
By Linda Tancs
Northern Ireland’s Dunluce Castle is more than just another medieval ruin. After all, its exterior featured as the Seat of House Greyjoy in Game of Thrones. It also appeared on the inner gatefold of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy. Some even say it was the inspiration for the great castle Cair Paravel in CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Inhabited by both the feuding McQuillan and MacDonnell clans, its dramatic history is matched by its its perch on a craggy headland accessible via a bridge from the mainland. There’s evidence of settlement from the first millennium although the present castle ruins date mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries. You can get a nice view of the castle from the nearby Magheracross Lookout and picnic area. There’s no need to pre-book a visit to the castle but there is an entrance fee.
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The Ornament of Bristol
By Linda Tancs
Britain’s Sir Abraham Elton referred to Clifton Suspension Bridge as “the ornament of Bristol and the wonder of the age.” Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (a key figure in Victorian engineering), it was completed in 1864, standing majestically 245 feet above the Avon Gorge. The city’s icon boasts Egyptian-inspired towers and sweeping suspension cables, its original chains still intact. On the Leigh Woods (North Somerset) side of the bridge, a museum is open daily with free admission. It features displays and artifacts on the bridge’s construction and ongoing maintenance.
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Lowrider Culture in New Mexico
By Linda Tancs
A popular pastime in many American communities, lowriders are customized cars with a lowered body. Considered an art form among aficionados, lowrider culture is especially prevalent in New Mexico, so much so that the city of Española declared itself the Lowrider Capital of the World. The city holds special events year-round to celebrate the culture, community, style and art of these cars.
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Seals in New Zealand
By Linda Tancs
Kaikōura is a year-round destination, but the best time to see seal pups in this coastal New Zealand town is fast approaching. Located on the South Island, the Kaikōura Peninsula Walkway is particularly known for its wildlife as well as ocean views. It starts at the town center and offers several viewpoints. You can walk the whole track to Point Kean car park in under an hour. It’s also a great place to eat crayfish. In the Māori language, “kai” means food; “kōura” means crayfish.
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Gatekeeping in Maryland
By Linda Tancs
Maryland’s first (and last standing) toll house on America’s first federally-funded road (the National Road) established Cumberland as the “Gateway to the West.” There the road cuts through the Narrows in LaVale, a spectacular 1,000-foot breach between Will’s and Haystack Mountains. LaVale’s Toll Gate House is a two-story brick structure built in the 1800s with seven sides, including a columned porch extending around the five outer sides of the polygonal portion. At the top is a small, non-functional cupola. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, you can peer inside the toll house. A historic plaque outside indicates fees for wagons, animals and pedestrians to use the road.
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Gettysburg National Military Park
By Linda Tancs
Established just months following the battle, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, interred the remains of over 3,500 Union soldiers. During its dedication on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his iconic Gettysburg Address, commemorated today at the Lincoln Address Memorial. Nearby is the Soldiers’ National Monument, a figure of Liberty atop a pedestal, holding a sword in one hand and a wreath of peace in the other. Between 1898 and 1968, the government added sections to accommodate the graves of veterans from the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
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Whittling in Ohio
By Linda Tancs
For many, whittling is a casual pastime, a form of wood carving that involves using a knife to shape wood, typically by shaving off small pieces to create a desired form. Not so for Ernest Warther. He hand-sculpted over 60 works focusing on the steam engine, earning him the title World’s Master Carver. You can see his works of genius at the Ernest Warther Museum & Gardens in Dover, Ohio. His workshop is left untouched since his death in 1973. General admission also includes the family home as well as the Button House, featuring over 73,000 buttons in various quilt and geometric patterns hanging on the walls. Guided and self-guided tours are available.
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Treasures From a Golden Age
By Linda Tancs
The Allan Herschell Company, founded in North Tonawanda, New York in the early 1900s, was the fourth in a series of companies in the community which manufactured carousels and other amusement park rides. The company produced over 3,000 hand-carved wooden carousels and outproduced all of its rivals in the carousel industry. Of the 148 antique, hand-carved wooden carousels still in existence in the United States and Canada today, 71 were manufactured in North Tonawanda in one of the four Herschell companies. That makes the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum a beautifully preserved piece of history, showcasing the craftsmanship of elaborate Herschell carousels in their original factory setting. A highlight is a ride on one of the first carousels built by company, the 1916 “big” carousel, featuring 35 hand-carved jumping horses and two chariots.
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A Massive Presidential Library
By Linda Tancs
One of the most-visited presidential libraries, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Spanning an entire city block in downtown Springfield, Illinois, the state-of-the-art facility features cutting-edge exhibits, special effects theaters and displays of original Lincoln-era artifacts. The facility is open daily and visits are self-guided.
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The Stalacpipe Organ
By Linda Tancs
One of the largest caves in the eastern United States, Luray Caverns in Virginia features vast underground rooms connected by natural corridors and paved walkways adorned with vibrant rock formations. Its greatest boast, though, is the Great Stalacpipe Organ, a unique instrument that creates symphonic music from stalactites. Invented in 1954 by Leland Sprinkle, a mathematician and electronics engineer, it’s recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest natural underground musical instrument. It spans over 3 acres of the caverns and is a lithophone, meaning it produces sound by striking objects (in this case, stalactites) with rubber-tipped mallets.
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