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 Museum With a Message
By Linda Tancs
The American Museum of Tort Law touts itself as a museum with a message. Its mission is to educate visitors about the value of trials by jury and tort law, a discipline that covers many types of wrongful injuries. The main gallery features information on precedent-setting cases that have impacted the general public, such as asbestos and tobacco litigation. Another gallery explains seven cases in detail through a series of interactive panels. Developed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, the facility is located in Winsted, Connecticut.
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Popcorn Days
By Linda Tancs
In Ridgway, Illinois, the annual Popcorn Days celebration takes place during the second weekend in September. Part of the Gallatin County Fair, it’s a celebration of the Blevins Popcorn Co. plant that packaged Pops-Rite popcorn. In its heyday, Ridgway was identified as “Popcorn Capital of the World.” The highlight of the festivities is the parade on Saturday. You’ll also find live entertainment, vendors, amusement rides, games and, of course, free popcorn.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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Dark Island
By Linda Tancs
Straddling the border between the U.S. and Canada, the Thousand Islands are a group of more than 1,800 islands in the St. Lawrence River. It’s a place with elaborate island mansions, like Singer Castle on Dark Island, so named because the number of evergreens on the island gave it a “dark” look. The castle is named for Frederick Bourne, who was the fifth president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and it remained in the family’s possession from its establishment in the early 1900s until the 1960s. A 45-minute guided tour of the 28-room castle includes the Great Hall, library, dining room, breakfast room, terrace, drawing room, loggia, wicker room, bedrooms, and guest rooms. The opening hours are seasonal, from April to October.
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Where New Jersey Became a State
By Linda Tancs
New Jersey’s first state-owned historic site, Indian King Tavern Museum in downtown Haddonfield is where New Jersey completed its transition from colony to state. The year was 1777, and the newly formed New Jersey Legislature met in this public house and tavern to discuss matters of state, including changing the colony’s official designation. The tavern’s original owner named it “Indian King” in deference to Lenape Native Americans who had cared for the arriving European settlers. Open to the public, the site regularly hosts school tours and lectures.
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The Liberty Ship Memorial
By Linda Tancs
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II to ferry supplies to Allies. A major site of this shipbuilding activity is the area now known as Bug Light Park in Portland, Maine. You’ll find a memorial to the liberty ships there, along with Bug Light, an elegant lighthouse so-named for its small size. The park is located at the eastern end of the Greenbelt Walkway, an off-road pathway that provides expansive views of Portland Harbor.
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The Cross in the Woods
By Linda Tancs
Located in Indian River, Michigan, the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods is arguably the state’s best-known religious monument. Featuring a sculpture of Christ on a cross, the bronze monument was cast in Norway. Twenty-eight feet tall from head to toe with outstretched arms spanning 21 feet, it weighs 7 tons. What you might not know about the site is that it also boasts the largest collection of dolls dressed in traditional habits of men and women religious communities in the United States. The collection of 525 dolls and 20 mannequins represent diocesan clergy and more than 217 religious orders of priests, sisters and brothers of North and South America.
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A Desert Laboratory in Arizona
By Linda Tancs
Widely considered to be the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright designed his winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains. His intention was that the home be “of the hill” rather than on it. That’s the meaning behind the locale’s unusual name, Taliesin. It’s a Welsh name meaning “shining brow.” Known as Taliesin West (to distinguish it from his home in Wisconsin known as Taliesin), the National Historic Landmark is built below the hillcrest, on its brow rather than its crown, prompting Wright to call it “a look over the rim of the world.” The property is open to the public with a variety of walking tours where you’ll experience this unique complex terraced into the landscape.
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Historic Moravian Bethlehem
By Linda Tancs
A National Historic Landmark District in Pennsylvania, Historic Moravian Bethlehem is a jewel in the crown of sites commemorating the history of the United States. Located in the heart of the City of Bethlehem, the 14-acre site comprises a treasure trove of 18th-century German Colonial-style architecture built by Moravian settlers. Highlights include the Bell House, the Single Sisters’ House and Gemeinhaus, the oldest surviving building in Bethlehem. You’ll also find industrial ruins like the pottery, the butchery and the dye house. Overall, 35 crafts, trades and industries were established by the Moravians, a Protestant denomination from Europe that used the city as the principal center for their self-sustaining activities.
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Goblins in Utah
By Linda Tancs
It isn’t hard to understand why the otherworldly environment of Goblin Valley State Park makes it one of Utah’s most popular parks. It features hoodoos (sandstone formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as tall as several yards) that are said to resemble “goblins.” Some of them even form a maze, making the 3-square-mile attraction a kid-friendly playground. Canyoneering is popular there, along with a hike to Goblin’s Lair, a beautiful slot canyon.
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Chasing the Wind in Nantucket
By Linda Tancs
Nantucket, Massachusetts, is the place to be this month for sailing enthusiasts. Beginning on August 12, Nantucket Race Week kicks into gear. From young dinghy sailors to Grand Prix racers, there’s something for everyone. The festival culminates in the Opera House Cup, an all-wooden, single-hulled classic boat regatta, on August 20.
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