Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!The Winged Rock
By Linda Tancs
Resembling the mythic Bali Hai (shark-toothed Mount Mouarua in Moorea), New Mexico’s Shiprock is likewise fanciful in its own, geologic sort of way. The landform, known as Tse Bitai (“the winged rock”) in Navajo, is a volcanic neck owing its shape to the erosion of surrounding rocks from an eruption occurring over 30 million years ago. It’s located in the Four Corners region of the Navajo Nation.
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Cornwall’s Only City
By Linda Tancs
Truro is Cornwall’s only city and the most southerly one on mainland Britain. You’ll find Cornwall’s only cathedral here, a Gothic Revival stunner with an unusually unaligned nave and chancel. What Truro is aligned with, though, is literary great Winston Graham. His Poldark novels are set in Cornwall between the 18th and 19th centuries and inspired by Truro.
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Africa’s Water Tower
By Linda Tancs
Far from just being second banana heightwise to Kilimanjaro, East Africa’s Mount Kenya provides water for about 50 percent of the country’s population and produces 70 percent of Kenya’s hydroelectric power. That’s one tall order. But lest you think it’s only a workhorse, you’ll be pleased to learn that the scenery is just as compelling. In fact, UNESCO describes it as one of the most impressive landscapes in the region, boasting glacier-clad summits, moorlands and enough diverse forest for the hard-to-spot leopard, bongo, giant forest hog and rhino to peacefully abide.
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The Great Hunger
By Linda Tancs
Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight, invaded parts of Ireland in August, 1845. By the following year, the blight had devastated the harvest throughout the country. Heavily dependent on the crop, the resulting famine caused widespread death and poverty as well as emigration for those who could afford to do so. The Great Hunger, as it’s called, was one of the first national disasters to elicit international fundraising. The magnitude of this event is chronicled at The Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. The museum is one of many locales memorializing this tragedy in the United States. Other memorials exist in many locations throughout Ireland and also in cities around the world with large populations descended from immigrants affected by the famine.
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Baker’s Hot Attraction
By Linda Tancs
Known as the gateway to Death Valley, Baker is a tiny desert town in California with a big boast. It’s home to the world’s tallest thermometer, measuring 134 feet. The top temperature it can display is likewise 134 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded at Death Valley in 1913. So what’s the highest temperature it has actually displayed? That would be 127 degrees, recorded in August, 1995.
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A City Between Two Castles
By Linda Tancs
The Czech city of Brno sits between two castles—Špilberk Castle on the hill in the city centre and Veveří Castle on the Svratka River. The castles play an important role in Brno’s history, having been laid siege by the Swedish army in the 1600s during the Thirty Years’ War. Despite their significant power, the Swedish forces failed to maintain their position and retreated empty-handed. The Moravian victory is celebrated each year on 15 August, Brno Day. The festivities include a re-enactment on the slopes of Špilberk, a period market fair and costumed parades.
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Chile’s Storied Island
By Linda Tancs
Out of the three islands comprising the Juan Fernández Archipelago (so named for Spanish navigator Juan Fernández), Robinson Crusoe Island has a storied past—in the literary sense. Aside from the navigator and his sojourn in the 1500s, the only other visitor to the island over the centuries was Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk, who was abandoned there for several years in the early 1700s. His adventures are commonly believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoe. Sparsely populated today, it is administratively part of Chile and a mecca for scuba diving with visibility extending more than 65 feet. A World Biosphere Reserve, it also reportedly has 61 times more native plant species and 13 times more birds than the Galápagos Islands.
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First Flight in America
By Linda Tancs
In 1793, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard set off from Philadelphia in a hot air balloon, landing less than an hour later in a field in Deptford, New Jersey. Witnessed by George Washington and other dignitaries, Blanchard entered the annals of history as America’s first aeronaut. So proud is the Gloucester County community of their connection to this event that they’ve emblazoned a hot air balloon logo on their municipal signs and stationery, together with the phrase “1st Flight in America” on the township’s water tower.
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The Need for Speed in Abu Dhabi
By Linda Tancs
An interesting theme restaurant takes food service to new heights—as in 39 feet. That’s the size of the “tornado” track at Rogo’s, the world’s largest roller coaster-themed restaurant at Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi. Surrounded by a series of tracks enveloping the two-story, 360-seat eatery, diners order their food on digital tablets and then watch it swoosh down in covered pots strapped to trays. If that doesn’t satisfy your need for speed, you can head on over to the adjoining Ferrari World and Formula One race track.
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Germany’s Parade of Sails
By Linda Tancs
Since the first summer following German reunification, Rostock has hosted a massive maritime festival during the second weekend of August, celebrating the freedom of its sea border with a parade of ships of every size and dimension. Known as the Hanse Sail, the event is quite appropriate for a city like this with a Hanseatic League history. Attracting over one million visitors, the event features tall ships, schooners, sloops, cruise ships, ferries, museum ships, vintage yachts and other vessels open to public inspection. Some even offer short cruises. A family friendly festival, children’s entertainment is provided along with a fireworks display on Saturday and several stages filled with music and dance. This year’s festival opens today and runs through August 9.
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