Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Cherry Capital of the World
By Linda Tancs
Traverse City, Michigan, is known as the “Cherry Capital of the World.” That’s because the five counties around Traverse City make up the region that produces 40 percent of the annual tart cherry crop in the United States. It should come as no surprise that there’s an annual cherry festival to celebrate this bounty. This year’s festival, boasting rides, parades and lots of cherry-centric food, runs through July 6.
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Plymouth Colony Comes to Life
By Linda Tancs
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts, recreating the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as pilgrims. The site features timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of the types of objects that the pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and livestock, together with actors in period clothing. The complex also features an interpretive homesite of the Patuxet (a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation) with a replica of a wetu (house) and demonstrations of cooking and canoe production.
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Norway’s First Lighthouse
By Linda Tancs
Located on Norway’s southernmost mainland point, Lindesnes Lighthouse is the country’s first lighthouse. The first light occupying the site dates to 1656; the current cast-iron building dates to 1915. The lighthouse has been designated a national lighthouse museum and hosts various exhibitions relating to the development and history of lighthouses as well as maritime culture. Tours take place every day in July and last a little over one hour.
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Seven Gables in Salem
By Linda Tancs
Named for its gables, The House of the Seven Gables is a 1668 colonial mansion in Salem, Massachusetts. Designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2007, The House of the Seven Gables is best known today as the setting of world-renowned American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel. The seaside mansion was built for Captain John Turner I, the head of one of the most successful maritime families in the colonies. Built in the Jacobean/Post Medieval style, it’s one of the largest timber-framed mansions in North America still on its original foundation. In addition to the house and its grounds, the historic campus includes colonial revival gardens and several historic buildings.
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War History at Lake George
By Linda Tancs
In Lake George, New York, you can step back in time at Fort William Henry and experience life at a British fort in 1755 during the French and Indian War, a conflict that many describe as the original first world war. Named for two royal grandsons, the fort was erected to protect the British colonies against French incursions in the region. Among the many activities at the fort, you can watch live musket and cannon firings, play 18th-century games and join the King’s Army!
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A Troll Hunt in Maine
By Linda Tancs
Boasting nearly a mile of tidewater shoreline, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay is New England’s largest botanical garden. You’ll find more than 300 acres of gardens and natural spaces featuring both ornamental and themed gardens like a children’s garden and sensory gardens. But the scene stealers may very well be the giant trolls found throughout the native, natural wooded areas. Designed by a Danish artist, they’re composed of recycled wood and other materials like oak bark and tree roots. It’s about a 3-mile hike to see all five trolls, which tower above the forest at about 20 feet.
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A Light of the First Order
By Linda Tancs
Located on the North Carolina coast between Cape Henry and Bodie Island lighthouses in Corolla is Currituck Beach Lighthouse. It bears the distinction of being one of the only lighthouses in America that still houses its original first-order Fresnel lens, which continues to flash today at 20-second intervals. The beacon, which can be seen for 18 nautical miles, comes on at dusk and ceases at dawn. It’s also the last brick and mortar lighthouse built in the state. Don’t miss the climb to the top, where you’ll be greeted with expansive views of the Currituck Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and the northern Outer Banks.
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The Jewel on Millionaires’ Row
By Linda Tancs
Millionaires’ Row in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is a historic stretch of Victorian mansions and landmark churches built by lumber barons in the 1800s. Once the Lumber Capital of the World, Williamsport had more millionaires per person than any other city in the nation. The jewel in its crown is Rowley House, one of the best maintained mansions and arguably the finest example of Queen Anne-style architecture in the Commonwealth. One of its most breathtaking features are the Tiffany-style stained glass windows. Located on West Fourth Street, the house was built for E.A. Rowley, one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania.
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The Second Greatest Show on Earth
By Linda Tancs
When circus magnate P.T. Barnum saw the view from the summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, he proclaimed it “the second greatest show on Earth.” The view is still thrilling visitors who take the Mount Washington Cog Railway (known as the Cog) to the Northeast’s highest peak. The world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway, it uses a Marsh rack system and both steam and biodiesel-powered locomotives (depending on the season) to carry tourists to the top of the mountain for panoramic views of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Canada and the ocean. The roundtrip journey from Marshfield Base Station (on the west side of the mountain) is just under three hours.
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The Wild Goose Auto Tour
By Linda Tancs
Established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife, Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge is known as a paradise for bird watchers, the site being designated a Globally Important Bird Area as well as a designated site along the Great Missouri Birding Trail. One of its features is the Wild Goose Auto Tour, a 10-mile auto tour route where you can experience wildlife year round. As summer approaches, snakes and turtles are often seen crossing the auto tour. This time of year is also popular for viewing nesting songbirds as well as great blue herons and other wading birds. The refuge is located in northwest Missouri near Mound City.
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