Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for May, 2025
A Museum of Mental Health
By Linda Tancs
Oregon’s historic State Hospital, formerly known as the Oregon Insane Asylum, was once used as the filming location for the Academy Award-winning movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Located in Salem, it’s also the site of the Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health. The venue explores the history of mental illness and its treatments, featuring diagnostic and treatment equipment as well as artifacts, documents, photographs and recordings that share the stories of the people who have lived and worked in the hospital. The facility is located on the first floor of the Kirkbride Building on the campus of the hospital.
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Gateway to the Durham Dales
By Linda Tancs
Known as the gateway to the Durham Dales, Bishop Auckland is a bustling market town in England’s Vale of Durham. As the name implies, the town was home to the bishops of Durham. Their principal residence for centuries was Auckland Castle, one of the best-preserved bishop’s palaces in Europe. Also known as “Kings of the North,” they would come to be known as prince-bishops owing to the princely powers granted to them by the king, such as the power to mint their own coins and levy taxes, raise an army and establish their own legal court. Now a tourist attraction, the castle still houses the bishop’s offices.
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Fair History in Queens
By Linda Tancs
One of the city’s most iconic parks, Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, boasts a World’s Fair legacy. In 1939 and again in 1964, the park hosted two of the largest international exhibitions ever held in the United States, the World’s Fair. One of its landmark attractions is the Unisphere, a spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth designed by Gilmore D. Clarke for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It’s also the locale of Arthur Ashe Stadium, site of the U.S. Open tennis championships and headquarters of the National Tennis Center.
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Ohio’s Oldest Settlement
By Linda Tancs
Martins Ferry has the distinction of being the oldest settlement in Ohio, beginning in 1787 when the ground upon which the city is located was purchased by Captain Absalom Martin, one of the surveyors of the Seven Ranges of the Northwest Territory. Absalom started operating a ferry in 1789 (hence, the name). Historical artifacts related to the region are housed in the town’s Sedgwick House Museum, where you’ll find everything from the pioneer days of the Zane and Martin families to the space shuttle.
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Europe’s Highest Sea Cliff
By Linda Tancs
Europe’s highest sea cliff is Hornelen in western Norway. Situated in the Nordfjord region on the island of Bremangerlandet, it’s a popular destination for hikers seeking rewarding views of ocean, islands, fjords, villages, mountains and glaciers. The already challenging route is even more adventurous, however, with the addition of a via ferrata (“iron path”) climbing route, a form of mountain climbing that utilizes steel cables and fixed ladders to aid climbers. The new route features three options, the easiest of which, a two-hour route called Ørnelia, is for beginners. The intermediate route, called the Wall of Witches, takes about six hours to complete. The expert level climb, Olaf’s Route, requires the most experience and will take a day to complete.
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Where Everyone’s An Artist
By Linda Tancs
The Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York, is one of America’s oldest and largest art museums. At 560,000 square feet, the museum is New York City’s second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. One of its latest innovations gives anyone the opportunity to be an artist, thanks to a renovated arts education center with three studios offering expanded access to art-making and
learning for all ages and a dedicated gallery hosting rotating family-friendly installations. In addition to general admission and ticketed exhibitions, First Saturdays (monthly evenings of free programming) occur from February to June and in August and October.
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The Key to England
By Linda Tancs
The history of England’s Dover Castle begins in the 1180s, when King Henry II commenced building of the present fortress. It’s known as the “key to England” because of its strategic location overlooking the English Channel from the White Cliffs of Dover and its defensive significance. In fact, the castle has played a crucial role in the defense of the realm for over nine centuries, a span equaled only by the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. Remarkably, an even older structure exists within the castle walls, a lighthouse built by the Romans to guide ships into the harbor after they invaded in A.D. 43. One of only three Roman lighthouses to survive from the whole of the former Roman Empire, it is also the most complete standing Roman building in England.
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