Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel writing
Black Hand Sandstone and a Hermit
By Linda Tancs
Talk about strange bedfellows. What does black hand sandstone have to do with a hermit? The answer lies in Hocking Hills State Park in southeastern Ohio. More than 200 million years ago, Ohio’s ancient waters drained away, leaving behind a course sandstone resistant to erosion known as black hand sandstone. The sandstone formed cliffs, gorges and recesses like Ash Cave (Ohio’s largest cave) and Old Man’s Cave. A hermit lived in Old Man’s Cave (hence, the name) in the late 1700s and is buried at the site. Hocking Hills claims not only remarkable geologic sandstone formations and a hermit but also the state’s tallest tree.
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Suspension in San Francisco
By Linda Tancs
Who hasn’t marveled at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world’s most iconic suspension bridges? However, it isn’t the city’s only suspension bridge of distinction. Just across the bridge in the Marin Headlands is another suspension bridge leading to Point Bonita Lighthouse, the only American lighthouse to be reached by a suspension bridge. Still active, the lighthouse is part of the largest urban national park in the United States, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Think the best photographic views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge are from Battery Spencer in the Marin Headlands? Some say the view from the lighthouse is the real sweet spot.
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A Thousand Miles
By Linda Tancs
Affectionately referred to as the most beautiful race in the world, Italy’s Mille Miglia (thousand miles) is a race limited to classic and vintage cars. In fact, participation is limited to those cars produced no later than 1957, which had attended (or were registered) to the original races from 1927 to 1957. Like the original races, the route is a round-trip jaunt between Brescia and Rome. This year’s event starts today in Brescia and ends on 17 May.
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The Winterfell Experience
By Linda Tancs
Show enthusiasts know that Game of Thrones was filmed at Castle Ward, an estate on the shores of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. For those desiring to leap into that dynastic fantasy world, a replica of Winterfell Castle’s archery range has been recreated where the filming originally took place. You can dress up in character costumes from the show, tour the movie set, stand exactly where characters Jon Snow and Robb and Bran Stark stood, and enjoy the thrill of firing live arrows, all courtesy of an independent adventure tour operator on the premises. They aim to please.
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Romancing the Tome
By Linda Tancs
Romantics flock to Paris because it’s widely regarded as the city of love. But it’s just as tantalizing for book lovers. Selling books since 1826, Librairie Jousseaume at Galerie Vivienne will have you yielding to the pages of texts both ancient and modern on topics as varied as history, literature, travel, poetry, comic books, theater and music. As French historian Jean-Jacques Ampère put it, “Books make eras and nations, just as eras and nations make books.”
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Women’s Heritage Trail
By Linda Tancs
New Jersey history boasts its fair share of influential women, like Annis Boudinot Stockton, a Colonial poet; Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse and the founder of the first public school in New Jersey; suffragist leader Alice Paul; and aviator and writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Their contributions to society and those of many others are commemorated along the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail, a collection of nearly 100 sites across the state illustrating the role of women in American history. Women’s heritage sites are being developed across the United States. Check with your local historical society for a trail near you.
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Green Mountains and Blue Water
By Linda Tancs
When Christopher Columbus discovered present day Haiti, he thought he’d landed in Asia or India and not the gateway to the Caribbean. The island might be better known for the port of Labadee, a cruise ship destination boasting a private resort owned by the cruise line Royal Caribbean International, but the real charm is just outside Jacmel. That’s where you’ll find Bassin Bleu, an idyllic respite of cascading waterfalls surrounded by green mountains and blue water. Hopefully you’ll find the commute well worth it, after being rattled to and fro in a 4×4 for 30 minutes. Despite the common wisdom, in this case it’s the destination that counts, not the journey.
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Gates of the Arctic
By Linda Tancs
With no roads or trails, Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic ain’t your momma’s national park. But for those pioneering enough to brave nature’s elements, it offers spectacular opportunities to discover a premier wilderness. Four times the size of Yellowstone, the park and preserve lie entirely north of the Arctic Circle, straddling the crest of the Brooks Range (the northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains). This land is home to the Athabascan and Nunamiut, who hunt the caribou herds that migrate through the park in the spring and autumn. The park was named by intrepid explorer Robert Marshall, citing two mountains paired opposite the North Fork. A lake named in his honor is about 33 miles from Anaktuvuk Pass, an Eskimo village within the park borders and a popular entry point into the preserve. Scheduled flights from Fairbanks serve the area.
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Straddie’s Natural Wonders
By Linda Tancs
Starting around May and ending in July, thousands of humpback whales migrate north past Australia’s North Stradbroke Island (popularly known as “Straddie”), a favored destination for Brisbanites just off the coast. You’ll find the best land-based viewing at Point Lookout. Forget your watch; here you’re on nature’s time. Besides whale watching season, there’s plenty of hiking, fishing, swimming (five beaches to choose from) and surfing to keep you occupied. Or just relax at one of the peaceful inland lakes with names like Blue Lake and Brown Lake. It’s that simple.
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Old Wood in North America
By Linda Tancs
Located along Swedesboro Road in Gibbstown, New Jersey, the Nothnagle cabin is one of the oldest log cabins in the United States and the oldest standing wooden structure in North America. All but one of the cabin’s original logs are intact. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, it is believed to have been built in the 1600s by Finnish settlers. Privately owned, it is open for scheduled tours with the owners, Harry and Doris Rink. They reside in a newer part of the structure added in the 1900s.
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