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
Racing in New York
By Linda Tancs
The history of automobile racing in New York State goes back to 1896 when six cars competed in the state’s first auto race, covering the distance round-trip between New York City and Irvington-on-Hudson. The sport’s vast history in the state (and elsewhere) is recalled at Saratoga Automobile Museum in the heart of historic Saratoga Springs, New York. The facility is equally as interesting as the exhibition of automobiles and automotive artifacts—it occupies the restored and renovated Saratoga Bottling Plant, a beautiful neo-classic structure built in 1934. The museum is prized for its public programs designed for both car enthusiasts and lifelong learners, including children’s programming featuring hands-on restoration projects.
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Big Susie of the Lake
By Linda Tancs
Jutting out of Lake Superior (the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area and the third largest by volume) are 13 small, rocky islands known as the Susie Islands. The largest of those islands (at 145 acres) is nicknamed Big Susie, located just off Minnesota’s north shore near Grand Portage. Glaciers of the Great Ice Age scoured the sedimentary rocks of this archipelago many times over the last 2 million years, but the Susie Islands only emerged about 5,000 years ago. The plants that thrive there (many of them Arctic and sub-Arctic species) disappeared from the rest of Minnesota after the glaciers receded. The area’s sheer cliffs and rocks don’t support much other plant life besides a variety of lichens and mosses. Due to the delicacy of the native plant community, public access to Big Susie is rarely granted, but a good view of the island can be found along Highway 61 between Rose Mountain and the U.S./Canadian customs station. Long managed and held by The Nature Conservancy, ownership of Big Susie is reverting to the Grand Portage Band of the Ojibway Tribe, who own the other 12 islands.
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Tallest Deck in California
By Linda Tancs
OUE Skyspace LA is home to California’s tallest open-air observation deck, perched nearly 1,000 feet above downtown Los Angeles in the U.S. Bank Tower. As if stunning panoramic views weren’t enough enticement, Skyspace also lures in daredevils seeking a different kind of view thanks to the Skyslide. That’s a glass tube on the outside of the skyscraper spanning 45 feet from the 70th to the 69th floor. Dispensed like a human cannonball, gliders maneuver their way down the glass on a mat to what is hoped will be a smooth landing. Fingers crossed.
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Ice Boating in Erie
By Linda Tancs
Winter play abounds at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. Presque Isle is French for “almost an island.” Well…almost. Presque Isle actually has been an island many times over its 11,000-year history as storm waves broke through the neck to isolate the main section of the recurving sand spit. Jutting into Lake Erie, this migrating peninsula (still growing eastward at Gull Point) delights visitors during winter. For instance, the ice dunes are pretty formidable, built by the combination of lake ice, wave surge and freezing spray. And then there’s the ice boating with ice boats provided by the local yacht club. Ice skating? Sure thing. Got a kite? Then add wind skating to the list. And cross-country skiing, hiking and ice fishing, too. Now bundle up and get going.
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Missouri’s Picturesque River Town
By Linda Tancs
Approximately 85 miles north of St. Louis is the quaint river town of Louisiana, Missouri. Located on the banks of the Mississippi and smack-dab in the middle of a national scenic byway, it boasts not only great river views but also soaring rock cliffs, rolling hills, architectural charm and a vibrant arts community. In fact, it’s particularly prized for its antebellum homes and what the Department of Natural Resources calls “the most intact Victorian streetscape in the state of Missouri.” The first residence was built in 1817, and many of the town’s 4,000 or so inhabitants are descendants of the early settlers. Louisiana is also one of three communities forming the 50 Miles of Art corridor. Together with Clarksville and Hannibal, the community is home to artisans who create one-of-a-kind masterpieces and host twice-yearly gallery and studio tours.
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The Original Sin City
By Linda Tancs
It may be hard to fathom the Bluegrass State’s fair city of Newport as a precursor to Las Vegas’s baptism as Sin City. But so it was. In the 1920s and 1930s, the mob ruled locales like Newport, Kentucky, making millions in casinos, bootlegging and other illicit activities and earning the area’s designation as Sin City. Even the gangsters’ weapon of choice, the Tommy Gun, was invented by a Newport native, John T. Thompson—much to his chagrin, of course, having been developed for use by the military during World War I but delivered too late to be of value then. His historic home, Thompson House, is now an entertainment venue.
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The Devil’s Teeth
By Linda Tancs
Once known as “the devil’s teeth” due to its treacherous and steep, rocky shoreline, the Farallon Islands (named for the Spanish farallón, meaning a rocky sea pillar) is a National Wildlife Refuge and home to the largest colony of nesting seabirds in the contiguous United States. Located 30 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge in California, the Refuge comprises four groups of small islands: Southeast Farallon, North Farallons, Middle Farallon and Noonday Rock. Given the sensitivity of the avian and mammalian community living there, the islands are not open to the public, and only Southeast Farallon (a research station) is accessible by boat. Nonetheless, year-round tours operate out of San Francisco to the southeast quadrant, offering wildlife enthusiasts the chance to gawk at whales and substantial populations of sea lions, northern elephant seals, tufted puffins and some of more than 400 species of birds recorded there.
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Washington’s Only Surrender
By Linda Tancs
Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a national battlefield site in Fayette County, nestled in the Great Meadow in the Allegheny Mountains of southwest Pennsylvania. The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War, a clash among British, French and American Indian forces for control of a vast territory along the Ohio River between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi. The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. George Washington, a 21-year-old military adjutant, volunteered as a British emissary to present notice to the French to quit their occupation of the Ohio River Valley. When the French refused to leave, Washington built his “fort of necessity” in a natural meadow while awaiting additional militia and British regulars. However, his bedraggled force was no match for the French column, and Washington ultimately surrendered to the enemy for the first and only time in his military career.
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If Walls Could Talk
By Linda Tancs
We often ponder what might be learned if walls could talk. Well, there’s no need to wonder. At Washington, D.C.’s National Building Museum, the walls do plenty of talking. In fact, the site is the leading cultural institution devoted to interpreting the history and impact of the built environment. Telling the stories of architecture, engineering and design, its exhibitions run the gamut from “please-touch” walls made out of different materials used in residential construction over time to advances in sustainable architecture. The museum building itself is a conversation piece. Located just blocks from the National Mall, its exterior was modeled after the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and boasts a 1,200-foot-long frieze wrapping the building and depicting a parade of Civil War military units. Inside, the soaring Great Hall is set off by colossal 75-foot-tall Corinthian columns. Free docent-led historic building tours are available daily.
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Big Sur’s Golden Gate
By Linda Tancs
Along California’s sun-kissed Pacific Coast Highway is Big Sur‘s celebrated alternative to the Golden Gate Bridge. Known alternatively as Bixby Creek Bridge or Bixby Bridge, the span is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge. Completed in 1932, the historic structure is one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world, soaring 260 feet above the bottom of a steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. A favorite of shutterbugs, the view is particularly impressive from the bridge’s south end at sunset.
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