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 Seafaring Staycation
By Linda Tancs
A staycation is generally defined as a holiday enjoying one’s home environs. Well, why not enjoy someone else’s home environs instead–like a lighthouse keeper’s house? The United States Lighthouse Society keeps a list of lighthouses where you can keep the home lens burning. You might have to fix a window or paint a door as the price of admission in some cases, but you can’t beat the view. Ships ahoy, mate!
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U.S. Fishing Tournaments
By Linda Tancs
Sport fishing is a popular activity. Tournaments abound throughout the U.S. for this competitive pastime. Learn more about these nationwide events for grown-up peeps and pee wees alike at Travelrific® Radio.
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Wildlife in Suburbia
By Linda Tancs
If you thought the South American monk parakeet was content to keep company in the canopy of a tropical rainforest, then there’s a lot you don’t know about this little squawker. Sightings of the colorful birds, also known as Quaker parrots, have been reported from Miami, Florida to Brooklyn, New York. In fact, a cluster of them have taken up status as permanent resident aliens in the bedroom community of Edgewater, New Jersey. They brave the northeastern winter by building colossal nests with power lines as furnace heaters. Obviously, this poses a problem. Perhaps they should just dance instead to raise body temperature. Recent studies indicate that species such as this really know how to shake their tail feather. Ray Charles would be proud.
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Refuge in the Valley
By Linda Tancs
Tucked away just outside Darby, Montana lies the peaceful seclusion of Alpine Meadows Ranch in the Bitterroot Valley. Designed by the world renowned U.S. architect Frank Lloyd Wright, this 200+ acre estate offers rustic respite from city life–or suburbia, for that matter–with stunning vistas of both the Sapphire and Bitterroot mountain ranges. The prospect of communing with wildlife (viewed with safety from The Cider House) is guaranteed, considering that the property borders the largest wilderness area in the country, Selway Wilderness Area. Is there a best time of year to visit? Probably not; it is, after all, known as the Banana Belt due to the mildness of the weather year round. The Wright-designed House sleeps up to six, or cozy up in the Cabin for two. Wright’s concept of design was “of the land, not on the land.” See for yourself whether you’d agree. As another famous naturalist said, “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.”
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California Needs Cash
By Linda Tancs
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says the state wallet is empty. All the more reason, then, to spend some tourism cash in California. You can spend lots of it at Chateau du Sureau in Oakhurst, four hours north of Los Angeles. Live life like those to the manor born in a resplendent country-style chateau, complete with all the accoutrements of a grand house of Europe. Take your tea in the Grand Salon amidst its floor to ceiling fireplace–or retire to your room with its own embers. Around the meticulously manicured nine acres you’ll find walking paths, fountains, a swimming pool, a bocce court and a life-size chess set. And Yosemite National Park is just miles away. What more do you need? Start packing.
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Apache History in Oklahoma
By Linda Tancs
How many times have you, your children or your grandchildren shouted “Geronimo” down the slides or off the monkey bars at a playground? No doubt you’ve heard it many times. What few probably know is the history of the real Geronimo, the Apache warrior behind the fabled shout-out. Buried at Fort Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma, historians seem unable to agree on much besides the fact that he was one of the last great Indian warriors of the 19th century, spending the last 15 years of his life as a prisoner of war at the fort after fighting against Mexican and U.S. forces for their infringements on Apache lands. Hardly a hostile prisoner, he became friendly with his captors and even attended the inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt. Does that diminish his image as a fierce combatant? Visit his stomping grounds, and you be the judge.
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Steely Determination
By Linda Tancs
You’ve heard the expression “making lemonade out of lemons.” How about “turning steel into slots”? That’s what they’ve done in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with the opening of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Officials hope that the once mighty Bethlehem Steel mills, converted into what is a hoped-for gambling mecca, will steal (no pun intended) market share from economy-bashed Atlantic City with 3000 slots and video gaming. Don’t miss the gala grand opening on 9 June, when the Bethlehem blast furnaces will officially inaugurate the new digs.
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What is Culture
By Linda Tancs
A special issue of a major magazine is dubbed “The Culture Issue.” This got me wondering–what is “culture”? Don’t mind the dictionary. Just think about it. What does culture mean to you? If you had to gather a compilation for your own issue, what would you include–and why? It seems almost daring to lay claim to culture in a single issue as it’s susceptible to as many meanings as there are sensibilities–or, to borrow the words of late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material but I know it when I see it.”
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Casino Resort Towns Offer Genteel Charm
By Linda Tancs
Less than five miles from the bright lights, big city atmosphere of Atlantic City, New Jersey is a Southern-style genteel charm offered up by the cities of Ventnor and Margate. Look out for the wrought iron-terraced homes, white picket fences and covered porches reminiscent of Charleston and other Southern U.S. cities. Even more surprising, against the backdrop of this style and sophistication, Margate hosts a giant elephant–that’s right, an elephant–named Lucy. It’s a museum, actually, celebrating 128 years this July. Six stories high and shaped like an elephant, the museum (on the National Register of Historic Places) offers a view into southern New Jersey history. You won’t want to miss this stop on a tour of roadside America.
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Vermont–Green Mountains and More
By Linda Tancs
Vermont, the Green Mountain State, is small in population but big on culture. Check out some fun facts about this northeastern state at Travelrific® Radio.
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