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
A Wigwam in Connecticut
By Linda Tancs
Located in Washington, Connecticut, the Institute for American Indian Studies celebrates New England’s indigenous history. Open year round, the museum features a replicated Algonkian village complete with long house (the chief’s residence) and wigwams. A series of nature trails through the 15-acre property leads to the village. There are five tribes recognized by the State of Connecticut, each with a reservation: the Mashantucket Pequot, Paucatuck Eastern Pequot, Mohegan, Schaghticoke and Golden Hill Paugussett.
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Nevada’s Oldest Thirst Parlor
By Linda Tancs
Since 1884 the notables–and not so notables–have been quenching their thirst at the Genoa Bar and Saloon on Main Street in Genoa, Nevada. The state’s oldest saloon was built in 1853, sporting curiosities like a trap door next to the pool table (the cold storage cellar), a red oil lamp (lit every year on New Year’s Eve) and a mirror from the 1840s layered with diamond dust. Famous visitors include Mark Twain, Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt, Carol Lombard, Clark Gable, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. If only the walls could talk.
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The Birthplace of Filmmaking
By Linda Tancs
Hooray for…Fort Lee? That’s right, the northern New Jersey borough’s filmmaking past gives Hollywood a run for its money. In the early 1900s, the former Rambo Saloon, a Civil War-era house on First Street, was used as a dressing room and as a front for the Westerns being filmed in the area. Recently saved from demolition, the house will be converted into affordable housing units.
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An Elevated Experience in Aspen
By Linda Tancs
There’s a crown jewel in Aspen, Colorado–and no, I’m not talking about the pistes. It’s the historic Hotel Jerome on Main Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the ski town’s grand dame was constructed in 1889 by Macy’s co-owner Jerome B. Wheeler. The luxe property has emerged from a colossal renovation and is, as Norma Desmond would say, ready for its close-up.
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Happy New Year
By Linda Tancs
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou. That’s Happy New Year in Hawaiian–and what a wonderful time to visit! Those tubular waves made famous in print and film are in full vigor this time of year. Surf’s up. Are you ready?
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A Magic Kingdom Christmas
By Linda Tancs
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, and peace to all. Enjoy this Disney holiday video.
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Whiskers in Washington
By Linda Tancs
Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian is a treasure trove of artifacts and ephemera, often referred to as “the nation’s attic.” One of the many curiosities housed there is the 18-foot beard of deceased North Dakota farmer Hans Langseth. Dubbed the “Supreme Whiskerino of the Universe,” Hans (aka King Whiskers) continues to hold the record for the world’s longest beard. It can be viewed by appointment at the National Museum of Natural History’s Anthropology Department.
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Into the Stratosphere
By Linda Tancs
In Las Vegas, the rides at The Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower will make your head spin, as actors Michael Douglas and Mary Steenburgen discovered while shooting the movie Last Vegas. They rode the X-Scream, which propels you over the edge of the Stratosphere (866 feet above the ground) for that cherished bird’s-eye view. Stunt double, anyone?
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Serengeti of the West
By Linda Tancs
One hundred miles north of Los Angeles, California’s Carrizo Plain is the largest remaining grassland in the state, a terrain aptly nicknamed the “Serengeti of the West.” Poppies, lupine and monolopia dot the native expanse, as do fauna like the pronghorn, kit fox, antelope squirrel and giant kangaroo rat. Rimmed by mountains, its centerpiece is Soda Lake, a sheet of white salt guarded by the sacred pictographs of nearby Painted Rock.
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Ye Greate Street
By Linda Tancs
Ye Greate Street sounds more like a Shakespearean-inspired thoroughfare in jolly olde England than a main street in The Garden State, yet that’s exactly what you’ll find in Greenwich, New Jersey. Tucked in Cumberland County, this historic Delaware Bay community is anchored by the colonial and Victorian charms of Ye Greate Street. Its quiet country roads are perfect for bald eagle and bird watching. You also won’t want to miss Gibbon House (a mansion modeled after a London townhouse), the Tea Party Monument (marking a protest on British tea taxes in 1774) and the Cumberland County Prehistorical Museum, featuring artifacts of Native American life in the area as well as fossil collections.
