Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Author Archive
Astronomy for the Masses
By Linda Tancs
Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio, is reputedly the only observatory in Central Ohio that conducts hundreds of public programs for tens of thousands of people every year. Owned and operated by Ohio Wesleyan University, it primarily serves as an active research and educational facility for faculty and students of the OWU Physics and Astronomy Department. Most Friday evenings the facility is open for regular programs that include activities like telescope viewing, a tour of the observatory or a lecture about the night sky. The observatory also offers programming for telescope owners to increase their skills. The venue’s own telescope, equipped with 69-inch glass, made it the third largest telescope in the world in 1931. That telescope was subsequently moved to Arizona, where it is now a part of the Lowell Observatory and boasts a 72-inch diameter glass.
Share this:
Music for the Ages in Pennsylvania
By Linda Tancs
There’s a musical treasure trove in the small city of Franklin, Pennsylvania. It’s where you’ll find DeBence Antique Music World Museum, which houses a collection of more than 200 antique mechanical musical instruments dating from the mid–1800s to the 1950s. The collection is the brainchild of Jake and Elizabeth DeBence, who started amassing their treasures in the 1940s. Among the exhibits are music boxes, band organs, player pianos, nickelodeons, carousel organs and musical toys. A guided tour includes the chance to listen to and play instruments; the basement has quarter machines to watch and listen to music so make sure you bring some spare change.
Share this:
An Ear for Liberty in France
By Linda Tancs
French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi is perhaps best known for creating the Statue of Liberty. You’ll find a museum dedicated to his works in the home of his birth in Colmar, France. Among the exhibits is a full-size plaster model of Lady Liberty’s left ear. You’ll also find statues that he created for his hometown, as well as family furniture, personal souvenirs, models, drawings, paintings, engravings and photographs. Give yourself at least an hour for a tour; audio guides are available for a fee.
Share this:
Seal Viewing in California
By Linda Tancs
California’s Año Nuevo State Park is prized for its Natural Preserve, a place where up to 10,000 elephant seals return to breed, give birth and molt. April through August is molting season, when elephant seals come ashore to shed their outer layer of skin and fur. This “molting” process takes from four to six weeks per animal as they rest along the beaches. Starting April 1, guided tours are not required to see the seals although a free permit is required. Then you can walk out to the viewing areas on the Año Point Trail. At each of the viewing areas, there is a docent to explain what you’re seeing and answer questions. At other times of the year (the breeding season), a guided walk is required. The farthest viewing area is a 4-mile roundtrip walk from the parking lot, with one tall sand dune to walk over. The park is a quick 21 miles up Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz.
Share this:
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.
Share this:
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.
Share this:
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.
Share this:
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.
Share this:
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.
Share this:
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.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 