Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel
A Great House in Des Moines
By Linda Tancs
In the early 1920s, cosmetics king Carl Weeks commissioned the building of a signature home in Des Moines, Iowa. Known as Salisbury House, it was inspired by a 15th century manor in Salisbury, England, known as Kings House. Comprising 22,500 square feet on four floors, the 42-room mansion originally included 17 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. Weeks was fascinated by English homes and Tudor architecture, incorporating 17th century tile from Lord Nelson’s Trafalgar estate in parts of the roofing and adding 16th century English oak paneling and floors to the interior. Family-occupied until 1954, the home is now a house museum, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Along with the gorgeous architecture and 11 acres of woodland, tourists are drawn to the property for its extensive collection of antique furniture, tapestries, fine art, rare books and artifacts.
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A Time Capsule in Mississippi
By Linda Tancs
The USS Cairo was sunk by a Confederate torpedo on December 12, 1862, in the Yazoo River, 13 miles north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. One of seven ironclad gunboats named in honor of towns along the upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers, it bolstered Northern hopes of regaining control of the lower Mississippi River and splitting the Confederacy in two. After its sinking, it remained engulfed in sand and silt until it was located and identified in 1956 and raised on December 12, 1964. Restored for display in Vicksburg National Military Park, its treasure trove of artifacts includes weapons, munitions, naval stores and personal gear of the sailors who served on board. The gunboat and its artifacts can now be seen along the tour road at the USS Cairo Museum.
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The White Sands of New Mexico
By Linda Tancs
Rising from the heart of New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin 14 miles west of Alamogordo is a sea of glistening white sands dating to the end of the last Ice Age, a prized gypsum dunefield known as White Sands National Monument. Although many dunefields exist around the world, most comprise typical brown quartz and other minerals. Only a handful of gypsum dunefields exist, White Sands being the world’s largest at 275 square miles. Even some of the animals living there are as white as their surroundings. In fact, three species of lizards, one pocket mouse and numerous species of insects have evolved a white coloration for survival in the white sands. Like every animal in the white sands, they make tracks on the varied dunes (four different types) during their nocturnal movements. Even the dunes themselves move as much as 30 feet per year. Park hours vary by season due to missile testing at the nearby range or inclement weather.
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Wall to Wall in Paducah
By Linda Tancs
One of UNESCO’s Creative Cities, Paducah, Kentucky, is graced with a floodwall that protects its historic downtown from surges of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. But as you might suspect, this isn’t just an ordinary floodwall. Like Portsmouth to the north, it includes a number of painted murals. In fact, three city blocks (at Water, Jefferson and Washington) boast more than 50 life-sized panoramic murals by renowned artist Robert Dafford and his team, representing such crowning moments of the city’s history as its role in the riverboat trade and the day in 1803 when the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery passed by Paducah on their trek to find the Northwest Passage. Guided tours are given on request.
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Detroit’s Wall Street
By Linda Tancs
Touted as the Cathedral of Finance, the Art Deco style Guardian Building at Griswold Street in the financial district of Detroit, Michigan, is a testament to the city’s boom times in the 1920s. The 40-story orange brick façade, for instance, is graced with tile around the multistory windows. And it’s a good thing that The Sterling Group opened the building to non-employees when it acquired the premises in 2003. You wouldn’t want to miss the glorious detail inside—from three different kinds of exquisite (and in some cases, rare) quarried marble in the lobby to the stenciled colorful ceiling, gold leaf and stained glass that give this skyscraper its well-earned nickname. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, tours are free.
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More Than a Bird Park
By Linda Tancs
Wingham Wildlife Park has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a bird park in 1986. Now it’s the only zoo in the U.K. sporting pardine genets, Gray’s monitors, Spix’s night monkeys and little red flying foxes (a species of megabat native to Australia). Kent’s fastest growing zoo, it’s located on the A257 between Canterbury and Sandwich.
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Indiana’s Best Kept Secret
By Linda Tancs
Open to the public and free, the Indiana War Memorial Museum and the Col. Eli Lilly Civil War Museum are two of Indiana’s best kept secrets. Along with 24 acres of parks, monuments, sculptures, statues, and fountains, they encompass the best historic site in the state. Honoring local veterans and educating citizens about the military history of the state and country, no other city in the United States maintains as many acres dedicated to honoring veterans, and only Washington D.C. has more veterans’ monuments. The Indiana War Memorials Plaza Historic District is located in downtown Indianapolis.
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The Spa of Kings
By Linda Tancs
Kissing the borders of Belgium and the Netherlands, Germany’s Aachen enjoys a distinctive history. This is where Charlemagne (Charles the Great), founder of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled in the eighth century. He’s buried in the cathedral, Germany’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site and the coronation church for more than 30 German kings. Other royalty have flocked to this ancient locale as well, a Roman military spa town dubbed the Spa of Kings. Indulge yourself with a princely treatment at Carolus Thermen spa, where they serve Printen, a local spicy biscuit, fresh from the ovens that heat the sauna.
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Block 42
By Linda Tancs
Ever wonder what $168,000 tastes like? Apparently, it’s very fruity, with an intense aroma of blackcurrant, dark chocolate and licorice. That’s what you can expect from a bottle of 2004 Kalimna Block 42 cabernet sauvignon, one of the most expensive bottles of wine ever at time of release. Offered by Australian wine producer Penfolds, this limited edition hails from the 10-acre Block 42, planted only 30 years after the great 1855 Bordeaux Classification and comprising the oldest plantings of cabernet sauvignon continuously produced in the world. A wine this special comes with an equally rare casing, a glass vessel based on an ancient jar used to store wine.
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Irish Lights
By Linda Tancs
The Commissioners of Irish Lights operates over 70 lighthouses around the coast of Ireland. Although automated and unmanned, many are historic buildings that boast of Ireland’s proud maritime history. Supported by several tourism boards, Irish Lights is undertaking an All-Island Lighthouse Tourism Trail project that will feature up to 20 lighthouses. In the meanwhile, in conjunction with the commission, Ballycotton Island Lighthouse has begun offering tours for the first time. About 25 miles east of Cork, the light at Ballycotton was commissioned following the wreck of Sirius, the first vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean under steam in 1838. Completed in 1850, sandstone for the lighthouse was quarried on the island itself.
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