Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel
Celebrate At a Refuge Near You
By Linda Tancs
It’s National Wildlife Refuge Week, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wants you to celebrate at a refuge near you. You’ll find an open house this week at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island in Hawaii. Take a guided bird hike or a tour of the greenhouse where native plants are being propagated. Among the lower 48, why not join the staff at New Jersey’s Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge for a sunset nature walk to view the migrating ducks. As the poet William Wordsworth so aptly put it, “Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”
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Liquid History
By Linda Tancs
At the Lanesborough, a five-star luxury hotel in London’s Knightsbridge district overlooking Hyde Park Corner, a little libation awaits in the Library Bar. Well, maybe not so little. The Dom Pérignon Vintage 2003 (a trifling £240 per bottle) is served with a complimentary 10g blinis canapés of Baerii caviar from Aquitaine, France. Maybe you’d like their signature Bloody Mary instead. In any event, you’ll want to sink into one of those deep leather wing chairs and take in the Regency era ambience of this room, bedecked with leather bound books, vintage cognacs (their “liquid history”), display cabinets and subdued lighting to complement a roaring fireplace. Withdraw in style.
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Apple Scrapple in Delaware
By Linda Tancs
If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s this: Bridgeville, Delaware’s Apple Scrapple Festival always takes place during the second weekend in October. Of course, apples are ripe and ready for harvesting and storage in October. But you can’t miss the smell of scrapple being processed in the summer months in this western Sussex County town. Come celebrate their export at the festival this weekend. The fun begins at 4:00 p.m. on Friday with the carnival, food court and street dance. Enjoy Saturday’s full day of events, including the Little Miss Apple Scrapple pageant, the skillet toss and scrapple chunkin’, and the scrapple slingin’. So who’ll be this year’s King of Sling?
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Thoroughly Bred in England
By Linda Tancs
The October Yearling Sale takes place today through 12 October at Tattersalls, the oldest bloodstock auctioneer in the world and the largest in Europe. Offering the best thoroughbreds to be found anywhere, the Newmarket firm’s annual Yearling Sale is Europe’s premier yearling sale, producing four Derby winners in the past decade alone. Only 60 miles from London, Newmarket (England’s home of racing) is just a short rail or bus ride away. Enter the Tattersalls premises via The Avenue.
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Iceploration in Florida
By Linda Tancs
For those adults who want the kids in their lives to put down their electronic gadgets long enough to see what else the world has to offer: Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida offers you Iceploration. Featuring a journey to the four corners of the globe, the show brings to life the African Serengeti, Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic and the Amazon rainforest in a production including skaters, puppets and animal acts. This is one 30-minute show that just might seize their attention.
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The Royal Coconut Coast
By Linda Tancs
In Kapa’a, Hawaii, they’re eager to celebrate the coconut. This typical island delicacy was cultivated in plantations along Kuhio Highway from Wailua to Kapa’a, giving this coastal region the designation Royal Coconut Coast. So what better place to hold an annual Coconut Festival than at Kapa’a Beach Park (next to the library). Taking place on 6 and 7 October, the event will feature entertainment on a main stage and children’s stage, cooking demonstrations by Kauai’s best chefs, the largest gathering of Kauai artisans, coconut games, pie eating contests, and a coconut cook-off contest. They’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts just waiting for you.
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High Flying Pumpkins
By Linda Tancs
It’s pumpkin season. What better way to celebrate than with a good old-fashioned pumpkin catapult, like the one in Milford, New Hampshire at this weekend’s Pumpkin Festival. The annual event at the Milford Oval will also include beer tasting, a craft fair, a talent show, the pumpkin weigh-in, a chili roundup and scarecrow making for the kids.
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Basket Village USA
By Linda Tancs
Dresden, Ohio is the proud host of the world’s largest basket, a replica of the classic Longaberger basket created by native son Dave Longaberger. Doyennes of household basket display will love the manufacturing tour. You’ll find plenty of basket accessories in the village’s quaint shops, along with other fine articles like pottery, glassware, jewelry, clothing, collectibles, artwork, home décor items, and more.
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America’s Wilderness Beach
By Linda Tancs
Cumberland Island in Georgia proudly identifies itself as “America’s Most Beautiful Wilderness Beach.” Operated by the National Park Service, this national seashore is home to over 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated wilderness. No wonder, then, that the area is so richly populated by wild horses, sea turtles and wild turkeys among the dunes, salt marshes and mud flats. This is a wonderful camping destination, accessible via the Cumberland Queen ferry from historic St. Mary’s.
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Music and Memphis
By Linda Tancs
Memphis is synonymous with music. Virtually every genre of music is associated with the city, particularly blues, rock and gospel. Out of Memphis came the talent of such greats as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and B.B. King. Take a spin around the city at Travelrific® Radio.
