Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!God’s Window
By Linda Tancs
Unique geological features are the highlight of Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in the United States and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia and is one of the few areas of montane grassland left in Mpumalanga. Its marvels include rounded mountaintops known as the Three Rondavels, river-carved basins called Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the divine spectacle aptly named God’s Window, offering a sweeping vista of cliff walls reaching more than 2,000 feet to the canyon floor. These attractions are part of the Panorama Route, arguably one of the most scenic driving routes in the world.
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Fields of Lavender in Japan
By Linda Tancs
Although there are numerous flower fields of various sizes across Furano, Japan, a major draw are the lavender fields that peak from around mid-July to early August. Once a thriving agricultural product in the region, competing imports have shifted the focus to a booming tourism market. The best place for viewing is Farm Tomita, where the Tokachi mountain range provides a magnificent backdrop for the fields. At the farm’s sister site, Lavender East, you can take the Lavender Bus through the fields. Naturally, you can buy a range of lavender-related products as well.
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New Jersey’s Field of Dreams
By Linda Tancs
Sitting atop a bluff above the Great Falls in Paterson, New Jersey, Hinchcliffe Stadium is one of the last remaining Negro Leagues stadiums in the United States. It’s the first National Historic Landmark honoring baseball and the only sporting venue within the boundary of a national historical park (Great Falls). Completed in 1932, the stadium seats 10,000 and has served as the home park for the New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans and, on occasion, the Newark Eagles. The venue is likely be reinvigorated as the New Jersey Jackals make it their new home park.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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Steaming Through Britain
By Linda Tancs
Evoking a bygone era of luxury steam travel, Steam Dreams is a rail company in Britain offering both day trips and holidays throughout the country. Depending on the tour, locomotives include 45231 Sherwood Forester, 46100 Royal Scot, 61306 Mayflower, Braunton, Brittania and RPSI. This summer brings a new series of lunchtime trips from Victoria Station to the Kentish countryside. Pullman Style Dining is the most popular class of travel, boasting three-course dining in a 1950s or 1960s era carriage with wood paneling, curtains and comfortable seating.
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Newport’s First Palatial Residence
By Linda Tancs
Until the appearance of the Vanderbilt houses in the 1890s, Chateau-sur-Mer was the most palatial residence in Newport, Rhode Island. Built in 1852 as an Italianate-style villa for China trade merchant William Shepard Wetmore, it was the site of elaborate parties, including a country picnic for more than 2,000 guests and the debutante ball for Miss Edith Wetmore in 1889. The mansion ushered in the Gilded Age, a period characterized by extreme wealth among America’s leading industrialists. William’s son George (later Governor of Rhode Island and a United States senator) remodeled the house during the 1870s in the Second Empire French style, details of which are evident throughout the home. The mansion is open daily from July to October.
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The Chapel Lighthouse
By Linda Tancs
Touted as the oldest working lighthouse in Britain, St. Nicholas Chapel in North Devon is perched on Lantern Hill overlooking Ilfracombe’s historic harbor. As its name suggests, the structure is named for St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors. The chapel dates back to 1321 as a place of worship for seafarers; the beacon was added in the 15th century to guide shipping into the harbor. The iconic landmark is open from Eastertide to the end of September.
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A Tropical Oasis in Buffalo
By Linda Tancs
When you visit the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, you’ll find a tropical oasis under the Palm Dome, home to a beautiful and diverse collection of palms and other tropical plants native to areas throughout the world like the Foxtail Palm. Native to Queensland, Australia, this rare palm was unknown to botanists until 1978. The dome is just one of many interconnecting indoor gardens featuring an aquatic garden, an Asian rainforest, succulents, exotic flowers and the largest public ivy collection in the world. The gardens are located in Buffalo, New York, easily accessible via the New York State Thruway or a public bus from downtown.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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Two Downtowns and a Train
By Linda Tancs
The Hoosac Valley Train connects the downtowns of Adams and North Adams at the northern end of Berkshire County in Massachusetts. The round-trip, scenic ride operates regularly with a classic 1955 Budd RDC or self-propelled passenger car, and volunteers narrate the history of trains in the mountains. Trains leave from the platform beside the Adams Visitors Center on weekends from May to October in addition to holiday-themed special runs in December.
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A First in Wyoming
By Linda Tancs
Named after the river that runs through it, Bear River State Park in Evanston, Wyoming, features a captive herd of bison and elk kept for public viewing and education. For the first time in the park’s history, a white (not albino) bison was recently born there. Beyond rare, there’s a 1-in-10 million chance of such an occurrence, according to the National Bison Association. The white bison is a sacred sign to the Lakota Sioux and other plains tribes. Enjoy the wildlife displays at the Visitor Center, as well as the miles of paved and packed gravel trails.
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In the Heart of the Cascades
By Linda Tancs
Stehekin is a place where no roads can take you. Nestled deep in the North Cascades in Washington State, it’s only accessible via boat, plane or foot. It might be one of the most peaceful places on Earth, a valley surrounded by peaks of the North Cascades, where the closest thing to white noise is glacial melt running over the rocks of the Stehekin River. The name “Stehekin” comes from a word in the Salishan language that means “the way through.” If an escape from everyday life is what you’re after, then it’s more like a way out. Accommodations include an array of cabins and hideaways with names like the Round House and Rainbow Cabin. Regardless where you stay, you’ll be a stone’s throw away from Stehekin Pastry Company, where the treats are legendary.
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