Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for July, 2024
A Storied Bridge in Queensland
By Linda Tancs
Brisbane’s Story Bridge is the largest steel bridge designed, fabricated and constructed in Australia by Australians. The city’s most iconic structure, you’ll get the best bird’s-eye view over Brisbane City, Kangaroo Point and far beyond to the distant mountain ranges and up the Brisbane River thanks to the adventure climb, one of only three bridge climbs in the world. If ground level suits you better, then enjoy the skyline views at Howard Smith Wharves, a dining and lifestyle precinct beneath the bridge.
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The Romantic Road
By Linda Tancs
Southern Germany’s Romantic Road isn’t really a lover’s lane; it’s a 285-mile route between Würzburg and Füssen linking 29 towns and all the nature, culture, art, culinary delights and hospitality that go along with them. At the northern endpoint of Würzburg you’ll encounter a wine region known for the Residenz, an 18th-century baroque palace with a Tiepolo fresco. At the southern end of Füssen you’ll find yourself at the foothills of the Alps near King Ludwig II’s iconic Neuschwanstein Castle. In between you’ll find plenty of interesting stops, like the medieval townscape in Rothenburg, the crater town of Nördlingen (built in a crater caused by a meteorite) and historic Dinkelsbühl, a former free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. The road is arguably best explored by car although public transportation is also an option, particularly for targeted stops in the better-known cities.
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From Wagon Ruts to Trading Posts
By Linda Tancs
From wagon ruts to trading posts, remnants of the historical Santa Fe Trail can still be seen at Pecos National Historical Park in Pecos, New Mexico. The Trading Post is home to exhibits on the Santa Fe Trail as well as the Civil War battle, Pecos being the westernmost site of the conflict (the Battle of Glorieta Pass). Hiking is a great way to explore the park’s history, like the 2.3-mile Civil War Battlefield Trail and the Ancestral Sites Trail, where you’ll discover the remains of the Pecos Pueblo and 1717 Spanish mission church. Be sure to check in at the E.E. Fogelson Visitor Center for hiking information.
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A Giant of American Letters
By Linda Tancs
Winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, American John Steinbeck has been hailed as “a giant of American Letters.” Among other things, he wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, and the novella, Of Mice and Men. In his hometown of Salinas, California, you’ll find the National Steinbeck Center, a museum and memorial dedicated to his creative legacy and one of the country’s largest literary museums dedicated to a single author. The facility offers a wide range of programming featuring visiting scholars and speakers. Allow at least two hours for a self-guided experience, which includes a brief orientation by a docent or staff member.
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A Geologic Wonder in Arizona
By Linda Tancs
A media darling, the geologic wonder known as Horseshoe Bend is a landmark feature of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It’s where the Colorado River created a horseshoe-shaped bend in Glen Canyon roughly 1,000 feet deep. The hike to the overlook is less than 2 miles round-trip over a hardened path; parking for the trailhead is in Page, Arizona.
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Titanic in Tennessee
By Linda Tancs
Museums recounting the tragic sinking of Titanic abound across the world. Although the facility in Belfast is located in the actual shipyard, other venues are no less significant or poignant. For instance, Tennessee boasts Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, a half-scale replica of the ship. A deeply immersive experience, visitors enter the ship with a boarding pass bearing the name of an actual passenger or crew member. The heart of the ship is the Grand Staircase, constructed from the original Harland & Wolff plans with its oak carvings and cherub statue. Guests also experience what it was like to walk the hallways, parlors and cabins, surrounded by more than 400 artifacts directly from the ship and its passengers. The attraction is self-guided with an audio guide included in your purchase to enhance the tour.
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Colonial Williamsburg
By Linda Tancs
Located in Williamsburg, Virginia, Colonial Williamsburg is the world’s largest living-history museum. The historic 301-acre campus includes 89 original buildings and more than 500 meticulous re-creations of lost structures as well as two world-class art museums under one roof. The former colonial capital features the reconstructed Raleigh Tavern, where patriot members of Virginia’s House of Burgesses met and cast votes during the Revolutionary era in defiance of the colony’s royal governors, whose palace is open for tours. Across the vast site you’ll find costumed, informative staff as well as the interpreting of colonial crafts like cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, silversmithing, spinning and weaving, barbering and wigmaking, and candlemaking.
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Cherry Capital of the World
By Linda Tancs
Traverse City, Michigan, is known as the “Cherry Capital of the World.” That’s because the five counties around Traverse City make up the region that produces 40 percent of the annual tart cherry crop in the United States. It should come as no surprise that there’s an annual cherry festival to celebrate this bounty. This year’s festival, boasting rides, parades and lots of cherry-centric food, runs through July 6.
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Plymouth Colony Comes to Life
By Linda Tancs
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts, recreating the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as pilgrims. The site features timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of the types of objects that the pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and livestock, together with actors in period clothing. The complex also features an interpretive homesite of the Patuxet (a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation) with a replica of a wetu (house) and demonstrations of cooking and canoe production.
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