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
Crown of the Continent
By Linda Tancs
Its crowning achievement is the preservation of more than a million acres of forests, alpine meadows, lakes, peaks and glacial-carved valleys, 70 species of mammals and over 270 species of birds. That’s reason enough why Montana’s Glacier National Park is aptly dubbed the Crown of the Continent. Named for its prominent glacier-carved terrain and remnant glaciers descended from the ice ages, it’s nearly four times the size of rival Rocky Mountain National Park. Take a ride on Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50-mile drive through the park’s interior offering some of the best sights in northwest Montana. Glacier is also a hiker’s paradise, offering 700 miles of trails, like the shutterbug-friendly Logan Pass. Better act soon; some scientists predict that by the year 2030, Glacier National Park will not contain any glaciers. In fact, the park has only 25 glaciers now, down from 150 in the 1800s.
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The First Veterans’ Monument
By Linda Tancs
The traumatic fate of nine colonists in 1676 is commemorated in a wooded area near the public library in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Known as Nine Men’s Misery, the stone memorial there is reportedly the first veterans’ monument in the United States, a tribute to nine colonial militiamen slaughtered at the site by the Narragansett tribe during King Philip’s War. The conflict, named for its Native American leader Metacomet (referred to as King Philip by the British), pitted tribes in New England against the British colonists and their allies as the Puritans increasingly encroached upon Native American settlements. Despite the colonists’ eventual victory, the war ravaged the population and economy of the region.
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All in the Family
By Linda Tancs
In Little Silver, New Jersey there’s an old house that predates the founding of the United States. Known as the Parker Homestead, the unassuming white Colonial with green shutters dates to 1725 or so. Descended from the earliest English settlers in New Jersey, the Parker family retained ownership of the home for over 300 years. This National Historic Site also boasts a horse barn, livestock barn and wagon barn. Together with the house, all four structures sit on land acquired by Joseph and Peter Parker under a land grant in 1665.
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Like No Place Else on Earth
By Linda Tancs
According to the National Park Service, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon’s only national park, is like no place else on Earth. Maybe it’s the lake at the heart of it all, one of the world’s deepest. Its majestic blue color can be viewed by driving the 33-mile path around the rim or getting up close and personal on a boat tour. Along the way, maybe you’ll see the Old Man, a mountain hemlock log that has been floating upright in the lake for more than 100 years!
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The Mob Mentality in Las Vegas
By Linda Tancs
In the heart of downtown Las Vegas is a former federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office included on both the Nevada and National Registers of Historic Places. Hearings on organized crime were conducted in this building at a time when legendary mobsters ruled The Strip. Nowadays it’s better known as the Mob Museum, where theater presentations, artifacts, and interactive exhibits capture the struggle between organized crime and law enforcement. Nothing but the truth prevails here, if you can handle it.
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Aligning with the Heavens in Ohio
By Linda Tancs
The largest surviving prehistoric effigy mound is Serpent Mound, located in Peebles, Ohio. The undulating serpent-shaped earthwork stretches for almost 1350 feet, evoking over the years interpretations related to mysticisms and heavenly alignments. No wonder, then, that the park grounds are open for extended hours today–the spring equinox–marking Earth’s balance between day and night, a time of many rituals and traditions. Be prepared for an astronomically good time.
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Home of the Original Cuban Sandwich
By Linda Tancs
Plenty of American cities and states have staked their gastronomic claim to fame–Philly has its cheesesteak, Maryland boasts crab cakes, lobsters reign in Maine, etc. So who lays claim to the original Cuban sandwich? Answer: Tampa, Florida. In particular, it’s Ybor City’s signature sandwich that has local hearts all aflutter. Tampa’s National Historic Landmark District, Ybor City (the Latin Quarter) exudes old world charm with its wrought iron balconies and narrow brick streets. Founded by Vicente Martinez-Ybor as a cigar manufacturing center, Ybor City welcomed a melting pot of immigrants from Spain, Cuba, Germany and Italy. Florida’s first industrial town, it is one of only two National Historic Landmark Districts in the state.
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Tobacco Road
By Linda Tancs
Tobacco was a cash crop in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly in tobacco-growing regions like Port Tobacco in southern Maryland, the state’s smallest town. Once the site of the Native American village of Potobac, this tiny hamlet’s link to its most powerful export is represented by a weathered tobacco barn, where leaves would hang until they were cured. An icon of America’s tobacco-growing past, the region’s barns are in a sad state of disrepair. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington number among the tobacco-growing elite.
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The Crossroads of War
By Linda Tancs
What is now known as the State of New Jersey began on March 12, 1664 when Charles II of England granted land on the east coast of North America to his brother James, Duke of York (later, King James II). On the occasion of New Jersey’s 350th birthday today, it seems fitting to highlight its major role in the Revolutionary War. Although many no doubt recall the battles of Princeton, Trenton and Monmouth from their grade school history books, the fight for independence actually spans 2155 square miles across 14 counties–the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area. This area includes, of course, Morristown’s Ford Mansion and Jockey Hollow, the nation’s first historical national park, commemorating the sites of General George Washington and the Continental Army’s winter encampment of December 1779 to June 1780. During six years of conflict, George Washington and the Continental Army spent more days in New Jersey than any other state.
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Manhattan’s Oldest House
By Linda Tancs
On July 10, 1790, George Washington dined at Manhattan’s Morris-Jumel Mansion with members of his Cabinet. Actually, he did more than just dine there, having used New York City’s oldest house as headquarters during the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Harlem Heights. Known in those days as Mount Morris, the hilltop estate located in Washington Heights offered sweeping views of the Harlem River, the Bronx, and Long Island Sound to the east, New York City and the harbor to the south, and the Hudson River and Jersey Palisades to the west. Exhibitions as well as arts and cultural programming are presented at the home year round.
