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
Earth Day Celebrations
By Linda Tancs
Happy Earth Day. Kermit the Frog says it’s not easy being green. Earth Day advocates surely don’t agree. This year’s events will show you why. Listen in at Travelrific Radio.
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Fido Flies First Class
By Linda Tancs
Remember Eos and Silverjet, those now defunct business-class only airlines? Well, now comes the equivalent for four-legged travelers: Pet Airways. Billing itself as first-class travel for “pawsengers,” the airline uses Beech 1900 turbo props with a proprietary restraint system to fly your dog or cat in its carrier to one of their current destinations: Teterboro, NJ, Washington, DC, Denver, Los Angeles or Chicago. The experience includes a pet attendant, monitored potty breaks before travel and a little decompression in the travel lounge. The only thing missing is filet mignon on a porcelain plate. Rawhide will just have to do for now.
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A Hearty Breakfast
By Linda Tancs
Surely, you’ve heard the news by now. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now applying this to travel, I started to wonder which bed & breakfast makes the best breakfast. Of course, this is a subjective determination and, with little experience in this area of lodging, I decided to find an expert opinion. So I turned to the folks at Bed & Breakfast.com for their annual awards recap and found seven honorable mentions. And the winners, in no particular order, are:
Albert Shafsky House Bed and Breakfast Inn, Placerville, CA
Judge Porter House Bed and Breakfast, Natchitoches, LA
Cocoa Cottage, Whitehall, MI
Cornerstone Victorian B&B, Warrensburg, NY
Granbury Gardens Bed and Breakfast, Granbury, TX
Amid Summer’s Inn Bed & Breakfast, Cedar City, UT
Grace Manor Inn, Richmond, VA
What’s your opinion? I’d like to know.
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Eggs are Rolling on Easter Monday
By Linda Tancs
The custom of rolling hard-boiled eggs down a hill can be traced back to Victorian times and, if the crowds appearing at the White House are any indicator, the practice remains in full vigor. In fact, it’s a South Lawn tradition presided over each year on Easter Monday by the First Lady. The object of the event is to see which egg can be coaxed along the farthest without breaking. It reminds me of Pancake Day on Shrove Tuesday. Funny how the Easter season brings long-held customs related to running with food. Got a favorite egg-rolling anecdote? Share it here.
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Air Traffic Control Gets Facelift
By Linda Tancs
The Miami Herald recently heralded a new development in air traffic control. That would be a satellite-based air traffic control system, the first of its kind in the country, being rolled out at Miami International Airport. But don’t say good-bye to conventional radar just yet. It’s likely to stay in place as back-up to this NextGen air traffic technology. Will the air traffic controllers remain in place as well? This isn’t Star Trek, after all. As one commentator put it, “Technology does not run an enterprise, relationships do.”
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New Jersey Welcomes Park’s Historic Status
By Linda Tancs
It’s been over 200 years since the industrial revolution put the city of Paterson, New Jersey (so named for its governor at the time) on the map. Beginning in the 18th century, its 77-foot waterfall, known as the Great Falls, powered local industry in this slice of northeastern New Jersey. Now Great Falls State Park is hailed as a national historical park, qualifying it for federal funds down the road to protect and maintain its newfound status. Now, a national historical park is not the same as a national park, both of which should be distinguished from a national historic site. Confused? Let the Park Service explain it to you.
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Red River Valley
By Linda Tancs
When I practiced playing the organ as a child, one of the songs in my songbook was “Red River Valley.” A memory long forgotten, until the recent climatic catastrophe in this section of the U.S. straggling northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. The river’s crest of over 40 feet this past weekend broke a 100-year record. Now a snowstorm threatens to dump 16 inches in and around the valley, putting the river level in peril once again. As a line in the song goes, “remember the Red River Valley.” Indeed, let’s keep the folks of this region in our hearts and prayers.
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Slow Down, Move Over
By Linda Tancs
In an effort to boost the safety of first responders, over 40 states offer some version of a Slow Down/Move Over law. In a nutshell, drivers are expected to yield the right-of-way or reduce speed when approaching stationary emergency vehicles on highways. Penalties for noncompliance can be pretty stiff, ranging from a misdemeanor to a license suspension if injuries should result. All but New York, Nebraska, Maryland, Hawaii and Connecticut have some form of the law on the books. Check out the testimonial of a Virginia trooper explaining the basis for the law. Save the racing for the speedway.
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Of Nooks and Crooks
By Linda Tancs
Of all the little nooks in the world, the Guinness Book has it that Scotland’s Ebenezer Street in Wick takes top honors as the world’s shortest street. Situated in the Northern Highlands, Wick owes its origin to the Vikings, who named it Vik (meaning “bay”). Measuring just two yards and nine inches, the tiny thoroughfare sports one front door. For a long and winding road, you’ll need to visit Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, where the world’s most crooked street at its crest gives visitors the most stunning views of Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz and the rest of San Francisco Bay. Those with nerves of steel can drive their way through the switchbacks. The rest can get there via the city’s storied cable cars on the Powell-Hyde line.
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Getting Away From it All
By Linda Tancs
Off the florida keys
There’s a place called Kokomo
That’s where you wanna go to get away from it all
That’s what The Beach Boys sang. Never thought much about it–until today. So where, or what, is Kokomo? Apparently it’s a beach bar at Florida’s Holiday Isle Beach Resort & Marina in Islamorada, translated to mean “purple isle.” Apart from enjoying the original frozen rumrunner cocktail, what else is there to do in this neck of the Keys? Answer: sport fishing. According to the local chamber of commerce, Islamorada is known as the sport fishing capital of the world, hosting the largest fishing fleet per square mile. You can also kayak, dive, snorkel, parasail or feed a giant silver tarpon. For more of a “taste” of the four islands comprising this area, drop by the Island Fest on 4 and 5 April at Founder’s Park. So get there fast, and then take it slow.
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