Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for U.S. travel
Natural History in the Pacific Northwest
By Linda Tancs
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is the natural history museum of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The foremost museum of natural history and culture in the Pacific Northwest, it hosts a collection of 18 million specimens and cultural items ranging from Indigenous canoes and baskets to giant clamshells and dinosaur fossils, including the world’s most complete T. rex skull. You’ll be surrounded by active university labs where you might witness scientists conducting work in full view of visitors. Parking is limited, but the museum is accessible by light rail, bus and bike as well.
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Ice Age Encounters in Los Angeles
By Linda Tancs
The world’s only actively excavated Ice Age fossil site in an urban setting is La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. The tar pits were formed through multiple intervals of uplift and faulting, allowing crude petroleum to seep to the surface from underground reserves over the last 50,000 years, creating shallow pools that entrapped and preserved millions of fossils representing hundreds of species of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. More than 100 excavations have been made since the early 1900s, most of which are featured in the museum on site. Check out the trails and tar pits and watch ongoing excavations.
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A Hall of Fame for Inventors
By Linda Tancs
With more than 600 inductees since its founding in 1973, the National Inventors Hall of Fame celebrates the best of American innovation. You’ll find each one commemorated at the Gallery of Icons, a hexagon patterned display organized by patent number. Other core exhibits feature the story of women in innovation as well as the evolution of wireless technology and automotive design. Located in Alexandria, Virginia, admission is free.
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A Light in Sleepy Hollow
By Linda Tancs
Now just a few feet from land, Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse in Sleepy Hollow, New York, was once a half-mile off shore. That all changed after years of landfill by a now-demolished General Motors factory moved the shoreline within a few feet of the light. Decommissioned decades ago, the lighthouse has been completely renovated inside and out. It’s accessible at Kingsland Point Park via the Riverwalk path. Curator-led tours are available by registration when available.
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A Walk Through Time in Connecticut
By Linda Tancs
The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum in Windsor, Connecticut, traces the development of electronic communications from the early 1800s up to the invention of radio, television, telephone, the personal computer and other technologies. Many of the exhibits are hands-on: Tap out your name in Morse Code; tune a vintage radio; crank a wind-up phonograph; listen to a home-made crystal set; or pick a song from a working juke box. Tour at your own pace or let a knowledgeable docent guide you around. The museum is open year round.
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The Largest Covered Wagon
By Linda Tancs
Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest covered wagon, The Railsplitter in Lincoln, Illinois, measures 25 feet high and 40 feet wide with 12-foot-high wagon wheels. It boasts a seated statue of Abraham Lincoln (referred to as Big Lincoln at 12 feet) reading a law book. The structure is being prepared to be moved downtown to the Route 66 Welcome Garden on the corner of Kickapoo Street (original 1926 alignment of Route 66) and Pekin Street.
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Harlem’s Hallmark Museum
By Linda Tancs
Studio Museum is an African American art museum in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. Following an extensive renovation that began in 2018, it has reopened in a new seven-story, 82,000-square-foot space. The museum’s new design incorporates architectural highlights like the Grand Stair, along with other features like the “Stoop,” a flexible Grand Hall for events, and a rooftop terrace. The venue’s permanent collection represents more than 800 artists and 200 years. Studio Sundays offers free admission and family-centered programming every Sunday.
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Georgia’s Famed Resort
By Linda Tancs
The hallmark resort of Georgia’s famed Golden Isles, Jekyll Island Club Resort is a remnant of the Gilded Age. Founded in 1886 by luminaries like J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer and William K. Vanderbilt, it was a private winter refuge for America’s richest families. Nowadays it’s not only a hotel but also a historical landmark, anchoring a 240-acre area with more than 30 period buildings. Its so-called cottages (one of three resort stays available) were seasonal residences for the country’s elite. Another building, Faith Chapel, boasts a stained-glass window by Louis Comfort Tiffany and is one of the few Tiffany windows known to bear the artist’s signature. The resort is now a member of Historic Hotels of America.
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Native Culture in Maine
By Linda Tancs
Located in Bar Harbor, Maine, Abbe Museum celebrates Wabanaki Nations’ arts and cultures. The Wabanaki (People of the Dawn) lived for thousands of generations in what is known today as Maine, New England and the Canadian Maritimes. Their history is showcased through changing exhibitions, special events, teacher workshops and workshops for children and adults.
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A Unique Site in Maine
By Linda Tancs
Open seasonally, Scribners Mill is a 19th-century historic sawmill and homestead in Harrison, Maine. A unique site, it’s the only sash saw mill in the U.S. that was family-owned and is located on its original site in its undisturbed rural setting. Among seven restored structures you’ll find the homestead complex, a working blacksmith shop, shingle mill and a coopers shop. Tours are free.
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