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
Great Blue Hills of God
By Linda Tancs
One of South Carolina’s most photographed natural attractions, Table Rock is an iconic open rockface (akin to a table) that overlooks the rolling mountains and dense forests of the Blue Ridge Escarpment region. The Cherokee tribes of the region called it Sah-ka-na-ga, which translates to “Great Blue Hills of God.” It’s the hallmark feature of Table Rock State Park, boasting nearly 3,000 acres of natural beauty that benefits from a myriad of hiking trails. In addition, the park offers swimming, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, pedal boats and even yearlong bluegrass jam sessions.
Share this:
New Jersey’s Mastodon
By Linda Tancs
Located on Rutgers’ historic Old Queens campus is Geology Hall, which is listed on both the state and national registers of historic places. It’s where you’ll find the university’s Geology Museum, collections of which date from 1836 and include minerals, fossils and geologic specimens emphasizing the geology of New Jersey and surrounding states. Arguably its most famous specimen is the fully-articulated mastodon skeleton found in 1869 in Salem County, New Jersey. Admission is free.
Share this:
The Resolute Desk
By Linda Tancs
The Resolute Desk is the desk that the president of the United States uses in the Oval Office. Its timbers hail from the HMS Resolute, a British ship that had been lost at sea in the 1800s. Recovered by an American whaler, it was restored and returned to Britain as a token of goodwill. Queen Victoria then had the timbers fashioned into a desk for U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. You won’t see it on a tour of the White House, but you can experience a faithful reproduction at places like Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York.
Share this:
A Little Magic in Scranton
By Linda Tancs
A popular attraction in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is the Houdini Museum, where the magical legacy of the legendary escape artist and illusionist, Harry Houdini, comes to life. The museum tour features artifacts, rare photographs and interactive exhibits that recount Houdini’s extraordinary career. The experience also includes a short film with rare footage of the magician and a live magic show after your tour. Visit the gift shop for magic kits and souvenirs.
Share this:
Astronomy for the Masses
By Linda Tancs
Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio, is reputedly the only observatory in Central Ohio that conducts hundreds of public programs for tens of thousands of people every year. Owned and operated by Ohio Wesleyan University, it primarily serves as an active research and educational facility for faculty and students of the OWU Physics and Astronomy Department. Most Friday evenings the facility is open for regular programs that include activities like telescope viewing, a tour of the observatory or a lecture about the night sky. The observatory also offers programming for telescope owners to increase their skills. The venue’s own telescope, equipped with 69-inch glass, made it the third largest telescope in the world in 1931. That telescope was subsequently moved to Arizona, where it is now a part of the Lowell Observatory and boasts a 72-inch diameter glass.
Share this:
Music for the Ages in Pennsylvania
By Linda Tancs
There’s a musical treasure trove in the small city of Franklin, Pennsylvania. It’s where you’ll find DeBence Antique Music World Museum, which houses a collection of more than 200 antique mechanical musical instruments dating from the mid–1800s to the 1950s. The collection is the brainchild of Jake and Elizabeth DeBence, who started amassing their treasures in the 1940s. Among the exhibits are music boxes, band organs, player pianos, nickelodeons, carousel organs and musical toys. A guided tour includes the chance to listen to and play instruments; the basement has quarter machines to watch and listen to music so make sure you bring some spare change.
Share this:
Seal Viewing in California
By Linda Tancs
California’s Año Nuevo State Park is prized for its Natural Preserve, a place where up to 10,000 elephant seals return to breed, give birth and molt. April through August is molting season, when elephant seals come ashore to shed their outer layer of skin and fur. This “molting” process takes from four to six weeks per animal as they rest along the beaches. Starting April 1, guided tours are not required to see the seals although a free permit is required. Then you can walk out to the viewing areas on the Año Point Trail. At each of the viewing areas, there is a docent to explain what you’re seeing and answer questions. At other times of the year (the breeding season), a guided walk is required. The farthest viewing area is a 4-mile roundtrip walk from the parking lot, with one tall sand dune to walk over. The park is a quick 21 miles up Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz.
Share this:
A Museum of Mental Health
By Linda Tancs
Oregon’s historic State Hospital, formerly known as the Oregon Insane Asylum, was once used as the filming location for the Academy Award-winning movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Located in Salem, it’s also the site of the Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health. The venue explores the history of mental illness and its treatments, featuring diagnostic and treatment equipment as well as artifacts, documents, photographs and recordings that share the stories of the people who have lived and worked in the hospital. The facility is located on the first floor of the Kirkbride Building on the campus of the hospital.
Share this:
Fair History in Queens
By Linda Tancs
One of the city’s most iconic parks, Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, boasts a World’s Fair legacy. In 1939 and again in 1964, the park hosted two of the largest international exhibitions ever held in the United States, the World’s Fair. One of its landmark attractions is the Unisphere, a spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth designed by Gilmore D. Clarke for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It’s also the locale of Arthur Ashe Stadium, site of the U.S. Open tennis championships and headquarters of the National Tennis Center.
Share this:
Ohio’s Oldest Settlement
By Linda Tancs
Martins Ferry has the distinction of being the oldest settlement in Ohio, beginning in 1787 when the ground upon which the city is located was purchased by Captain Absalom Martin, one of the surveyors of the Seven Ranges of the Northwest Territory. Absalom started operating a ferry in 1789 (hence, the name). Historical artifacts related to the region are housed in the town’s Sedgwick House Museum, where you’ll find everything from the pioneer days of the Zane and Martin families to the space shuttle.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 