Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Countless Canyons
By Linda Tancs
It’s four times the size of Arches National Park, yet Canyonlands attracts half the visitors. It’s easy to think of them as arch rivals (pardon the pun), considering that they’re located on opposite sides of U.S. 191 outside Moab, Utah, and just 10 miles away from each other. But these two national parks are hardly duking it out, each boasting its own distinct advantages. Canyonlands is less developed, a haven for hikers with a yen for accessibility (like Arches) coupled with a mix of backcountry and hardcore hiking. It offers a wilderness of countless canyons and buttes carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Rivers divide the park into districts, the most accessible being Island in the Sky and the most remote, the Maze. The Maze district offers guided hikes in Horseshoe Canyon most weekends during spring and fall.
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In the Heart of the Reef
By Linda Tancs
In the heart of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is Hayman Island, a private island open to the public and the nearest of the Whitsunday Islands to the Outer Reef, including the famous Heart Reef. It’s home to One&Only Hayman Island, a premier resort where guests can enjoy their arrival by luxury yacht. With direct access to the reef, visitors flock to Blue Pearl Bay, located on the northwestern side of the island. A must for snorkelers and divers, its charms include the resident Maori Wrasse, defending the reef by eating its arch enemies. Best coral cover is in the shallow waters off the southern beach.
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Kuwait Will Implement DNA Testing for Tourism
By Linda Tancs
In a one-of-a-kind move, Kuwait has announced the imminent implementation of an earlier law requiring the collection of DNA from visitors, residents and citizens in an effort to thwart crime and terrorism. A swab of saliva or drop of blood will do the trick, which is intended to form a national database. Citizens and expats can perform their civic duty via mobile collection centers and visa renewal requirements, respectively. Tourists will be required to submit a sample at the airport to gain access to the country’s archeological and cultural delights.
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Down on the Ranch
By Linda Tancs
Less than a half hour from the bright lights of downtown Las Vegas is Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, a peaceful haven sporting a historic ranch house that was once home to luminaries of a different kind. Through the corridors once roamed millionaire Howard Hughes, German actress Vera Krupp and Chester Lauck of the comedy team Lum & Abner. Open for tours, the house features Hughes’ bar as well as personal belongings of Krupp.
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A Shot in Dubuque
By Linda Tancs
Standing sentinel over Dubuque, Iowa, is the city’s icon—a 120-foot-tall shot tower. One of few remaining in the United States, it’s the only one west of the Mississippi River. Shot towers were designed for the production of lead shot balls (ammunition), which assumed their spherical shape as the molten lead fell from the top of the tower to a water basin below. Used both prior to and during the Civil War for lead shot production, Iowa’s tower was subsequently used as a watchtower. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Swinging in Germany
By Linda Tancs
Germany’s longest rope suspension bridge is a relatively new tourist attraction, having opened in October last year. The pedestrian bridge spans Geierlay canyon between the towns of Mörsdorf and Sosberg near the border with Luxembourg. The 1,200-foot-long bridge sits nearly 300 feet above the canyon floor, offering thrill seekers dizzying yet picturesque views of the forested valley. The footbridge complements the area’s hiking trails.
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A Celebration of Indigenous Cultures
By Linda Tancs
The National Museum of the American Indian has one of the most extensive collections of Native American arts and artifacts in the world. Numbering over 825,000 items, its inventory represents over 12,000 years of history and more than 1,200 indigenous cultures throughout the Americas. Located on the National Mall between the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol, the museum’s innovative curvilinear architecture, its indigenous landscaping and exhibitions were all designed in collaboration with tribes and communities from across the hemisphere. A satellite location is within the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.
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Newark’s Jubilee
By Linda Tancs
Newark, New Jersey, the state’s largest city, is celebrating the big 3-5-0 this year. Founded in 1666 by Puritan colonists, the city promises a jubilee celebration worthy of its history and contemplative of its future. Part of a yearlong commemoration of Newark’s 350th anniversary is Founders Weekend Festival this weekend. Appropriately enough, the event will be held in Military Park. Originally laid out in 1667 when the city was planned, the park’s six acres first functioned as a training ground for soldiers, serving as a camp for George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War retreat of 1776. Thomas Paine also began writing the first lines of his essay “These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls” while encamped there. Headliners for the festival include Newark’s local hometown heroes and international recording artists Faith Evans, Naughty by Nature, Cissy Houston and India. Kids will be sure to love the new carousel in the park, comprising 16 beautifully painted horses representing actual steeds depicting aspects of the city’s history.
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A Hot Spot in the North Atlantic
By Linda Tancs
Second only to a robust fishing industry, tourism is hot in the Faroe Islands. The idyllic, self-governing archipelago (part of the Kingdom of Denmark) lies northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway in the heart of the North Atlantic. Despite the cool latitude, it has a number of hot attractions. Historic Kirkjubøur, for instance, has a church from the Middle Ages still in use and one of the world’s oldest inhabited log houses as well. On the western island of Mykines you’ll find a birder’s paradise that is believed to be the site that the seafaring Irish monk St. Brendan described in the middle of the sixth century. Add to that deep grottos dominated by soaring, sheer cliffs in Vestmanna, located beyond ancient villages like Kvívík, the site of remains of a well preserved Viking farmstead. Small and unspoiled, the islands have received top marks for preservation of nature, historic architecture and national pride.
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Lilies of the Amazon
By Linda Tancs
Close to seven feet. That’s how large the water lily gets in the Amazon at Victoria Regia Nature Reserve. It’s just a 15-minute boat ride from Leticia, Colombia’s southernmost city located on the banks of the Amazon on the Colombia—Brazil border. Once you’ve ogled your fair share of flora, take in the tourist boardwalk in Leticia where you can enjoy the breeze from the Amazon and admire fiery sunsets amidst many stores and food courts.
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