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 Clone in Utah
By Linda Tancs
Located in central Utah at the Fishlake National Forest (so named for the largest freshwater mountain lake in the state), Pando is an aspen clone that originated from a single seed and spreads over 106 acres, consisting of over 40,000 individual trees. Reputedly, it’s the world’s largest organism ever found at nearly 13 million pounds. It attracts visitors worldwide and was even honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a stamp as one of the “40 Wonders of America.” The clone’s name derives from the Latin phrase meaning “I spread.”
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Birding at Pigeon Point
By Linda Tancs
Besides its status as one of the tallest lighthouses in America, Pigeon Point has become famous among birders as one of the finest vantage points for observing seabirds anywhere on the California Coast. That’s due in no small part to its locale immediately to the north of bird-rich Monterey Bay and the presence of deep ocean waters very close to shore. Pigeon Point is one of the reliable locations, especially during spring and summer, for observing Marbled Murrelets. If you’re extremely lucky, you may catch one of the rarer species, like a Black-footed Albatross or Tufted Puffin. Bring along a good spotting scope.
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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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The Red Fox of Kinderhook
By Linda Tancs
Born on December 5, 1782, Martin Van Buren was the first future president born a citizen of the United States. He was known as “the Red Fox of Kinderhook,” an acknowledgment of his red hair and his birthplace in Kinderhook, New York. That’s where you’ll find his post-presidency home, Lindenwald, a National Historic Site. Guided tours of the home are offered seasonally. In the formal parlor, you’ll learn of the countless meetings he hosted there. In addition to the home’s interior, a cell phone tour of the outside Wayside Loop Trail hosted by a park ranger shares a bit about the president and those who worked in the house and on the 220-acre farm.
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Little Finland
By Linda Tancs
Located in the U.S., Little Finland has nothing to do with Finland. So named for the fin-like appearance of eroded sandstone, it’s a popular attraction at Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. Nearly 300,000 acres in size, the area is popular for its backcountry hiking, revealing a bevy of surreal rock formations. You can also drive the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway to the area’s namesake mining ghost town, a 62-mile scenic trip that also offers opportunities to see desert wildlife, red and white sandstone, sinkholes, petroglyphs, the Muddy Mountains and Lake Mead.
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A Lighthouse Fit for the Movies
By Linda Tancs
The history of Maine’s Marshall Point Lighthouse began in 1831 when Samuel Marshall conveyed four acres of land to the U.S. Government. A better known fact may be that a scene from the movie Forrest Gump was filmed there, owing in no small part to the facility’s iconic tower. The picturesque white lighthouse also features an 1880s keepers’ house and a summer-only museum and gift shop. Be sure to enjoy the nearby idyllic hamlet of Port Clyde, a working fishing village.
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The Pillars of Crowley Lake
By Linda Tancs
A short distance south of California’s Mammoth Lakes, Crowley Lake is a reservoir that’s the focal point of fishing season (late spring to autumn) in Mono County. Boasting some of the finest fish in the Sierra, it’s prized for its trout, perch and cutthroat. What might not seem as evident are the stone pillars that reveal themselves when the water level is just right. Believed to have been formed over 700,000 years ago by a massive volcanic eruption, the columns are situated on the east side of the reservoir off Highway 395 near Rock Creek. You’ll need four-wheel drive to navigate a steep hill, after which you can park and hike down to the beach where you can view the pillars.
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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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Birth of the NFL
By Linda Tancs
First known as the American Professional Football Association, the National Football League (NFL) was born on September 17, 1920, in Canton, Ohio. The minutes from the NFL’s formation meeting are understandably among the league’s most precious documents, and you’ll find them at Canton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame. As you might expect, the museum chronicles every Super Bowl from the first to the present, and you’ll find a bronze bust of every player enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Early August marks Enshrinement Week in Canton, where football’s greatest legends gather for the annual enshrinement ceremony. Visitors will also experience parades, autograph sessions, tailgating festivities and more.
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More Than Prairie
By Linda Tancs
Despite its name, there’s more than prairie at Prairie Garden Trust in New Bloomfield, Missouri. In fact, it’s loaded with woods, ponds, streams, rocky bluffs, rolling fields and all sorts of native plants and animals that change with the seasons. Summer is a great time to see the buckeye butterfly, green heron, hummingbird clearwing or a spangled skimmer. And check out blazing star, the perennial that paints the prairie purple this time of year.
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Old Phones in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
Boasting eight streets, Vincentown is the archetypal small American town. Located in Burlington County, New Jersey, it features a building that housed the Vincentown-Tabernacle Telephone Company from 1911 until the company was bought out by New Jersey Bell in 1930. The unassuming clapboard structure also served as a millinery shop, a tinsmith’s shop and a plumber’s shop. Now it’s home to the Vincentown-Tabernacle Telephone Company & Museum, where early telephone equipment is on display, like a vintage black candlestick phone and a rotary gem.
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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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New Jersey’s Field of Dreams
By Linda Tancs
Sitting atop a bluff above the Great Falls in Paterson, New Jersey, Hinchcliffe Stadium is one of the last remaining Negro Leagues stadiums in the United States. It’s the first National Historic Landmark honoring baseball and the only sporting venue within the boundary of a national historical park (Great Falls). Completed in 1932, the stadium seats 10,000 and has served as the home park for the New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans and, on occasion, the Newark Eagles. The venue is likely be reinvigorated as the New Jersey Jackals make it their new home park.
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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.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 