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
One Hundred Objects in 100 Days
By Linda Tancs
Maryland’s Baltimore Museum of Art is celebrating its 100th anniversary with 100 objects in 100 days. That’s an initiative among the curators, conservators, and registrars who will be highlighting various elements of the museum’s collection and sharing insights. Other events planned for the centennial include a splashy gala, an opening of the time capsule placed in the East Wing in 1982 and a grand re-opening of the American Wing. The newly renovated wing contains works of such stellar artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
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Shalom Y’all
By Linda Tancs
This Sunday marks the annual Shalom Y’all Food Festival in Savannah, Georgia, an event of Congregation Mickve Israel (one of the oldest synagogues in the United States). Held in Forsyth Park from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Jewish delicacies include homemade blintzes and challah, noodle kugel and potato latkes. Food tickets can be purchased for a nominal fee, but admission to the festival grounds and entertainment is free.
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Bannack’s Glory Days
By Linda Tancs
Did you know that the U.S. Geological Survey ranks Montana as the seventh largest producer of gold in the United States? The first hint of gold in The Treasure State came in 1852, but the major strike in Grasshopper Creek a decade later spawned the state’s Gold Rush era. That discovery led to the creation of the mining town, Bannack, where thousands of prospectors with gold dust in their eyes settled for a time. After the furor died down, this area just 24 miles southwest of Dillon became a ghost town and ultimately a state park. Named after the Bannock Indians, most of the sixty structures in the area can still be explored. During the third week of October, the Bannack Ghost Walks feature live re-enactments of significant events throughout the town’s history.
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The Art Gallery Town
By Linda Tancs
In the restful enclave of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, life is good. Located on the narrowest part of Cape Cod, it’s surrounded by beautiful beaches bayside and oceanside. Hikers will find some of the best trails in the Cape Cod National Seashore, not to mention nature walks, workshops and classes available through the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. These days it’s taken on particular renown as the art gallery town, bursting at the seams with galleries featuring local works. And let’s not forget the internationally acclaimed Wellfleet oyster. The annual OysterFest is this weekend. Free shuttles will run to the town center from Newcomb’s Hollow Beach, White Crest Beach and LeCounts Hollow Beach (Maguire Landing).
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The Grandest Mile of Scenery
By Linda Tancs
More than just a mile of waterfalls, Colorado’s Seven Falls envelope your senses with not only seven cascading waterfalls but also towering cliffs above the canyon floor and colorful backlighting at night. The best way to experience the attraction, known as The Grandest Mile of Scenery, is to take the 224 steps by the side of the falls that lead to two hiking trails. Just 10 minutes from Colorado Springs and five minutes from the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel, this natural wonder in South Cheyenne Canyon was named to National Geographic’s list of international waterfalls. Purchased earlier this year by the Broadmoor, the attraction is due to undergo renovations and enhancements. Check their site for opening dates and updated information.
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Five Countries in One
By Linda Tancs
Beginning with tonight’s opening ceremony, five countries are converging on the State Fairgrounds in Minot, North Dakota for Norsk Hostfest. Continuing through 4 October, Hostfest celebrates Scandinavian culture from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and is North America’s largest Scandinavian festival. This year’s entertainment includes Doc Severinsen, Merle Haggard, Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits), Bill Engvall and Jennifer Nettles. With a lineup like that, expert pure Scandimonium.
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A Pass Through the Green Mountains
By Linda Tancs
On scenic Route 108 between Stowe and Jeffersonville in Vermont is Smugglers Notch State Park, a narrow pass through the Green Mountains. True to its name, the passage was used by smugglers. In the 19th century, for instance, smugglers ran contraband through the passage to Canadian markets. In more modern times, alcohol was smuggled through during Prohibition. Today it’s the hiking that draws people in. Several trails lead up to the top of Mt. Mansfield, where you’ll be rewarded with vistas as diverse as Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains. Look closely and you may even see the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Canada to the north. Steal a view before the park’s seasonal closing after Columbus Day.
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America’s Most Visited National Park
By Linda Tancs
There are lots of reasons to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hikers love the 800 miles of maintained trails. There’s also fishing, camping, picnicking and auto touring. And, oh, the bears–1,500 live in the park; that’s nearly two per square mile. You can view them handily from Cades Cove, one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies for wildlife viewing. The Great Smoky Mountains are also known as the “Wildflower National Park,” boasting over 1,500 varieties and year-round blooms. You might think that, given its popularity, the biggest population of vertebrates in the park is the human variety. Not so. Thirty species of salamander roam the park at elevations up to 3,000 feet. That’s why they call it the “Salamander Capital of the World.” , The tallest mountains in the Appalachian chain, the Smokies host five forest types giving way to enviable biological diversity–and human history. No wonder it’s America’s most visited national park. Located in the east Tennessee region and straddling the border with North Carolina, you can easily access the park via Gatlinburg.
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A Star-Spangled Spectacular
By Linda Tancs
Festivities are reaching a fever pitch this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, as the city celebrates the 200th anniversary of the national anthem with a Star-Spangled Spectacular. Lawyer Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem as he watched the Battle of Baltimore from the harbor during the War of 1812, so what better place to throw a party! Highlights include the arrival of tall ships, Navy ships, Navy gray hulls and the Blue Angels and the biggest fireworks display ever on the Chesapeake. The anthem has four stanzas although only the first one is commonly sung. Here it is in its entirety:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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Georgia’s Antebellum Trail
By Linda Tancs
What comes to mind when you think of an antebellum home? Perhaps it’s something stately, with massive white columns introducing the frame. That type of architecture is quite characteristic of the antebellum period–that is, the period predating America’s Civil War. It’s a view of the Old South etched into a traveler’s mind. Fortunately for Georgia, enough of it remains, despite Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s destructive march through the state during the war. He managed to spare a 100-mile trek from Macon to Athens. Including the towns of Old Clinton, Gray, Milledgeville, Eatonton, Madison and Watkinsville, the Antebellum Trail offers stately mansions, a glimpse of frontier living, romantic covered bridges and so much more. Seven welcome centers along the way will guide you through this part of the Old South’s rich history and charms.
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