Theme Week New England – Rhode Island

23 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

Newport © MVASCO - Michael Kagdis/cc-by-sa-3.0

Newport © MVASCO – Michael Kagdis/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and the second most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states, following New Jersey. Its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound. The state also shares a short maritime border with New York. On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, and was the fourth among the newly sovereign states to ratify the Articles of Confederation on February 9, 1778. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution and initially refused to ratify it. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution.   read more…

Theme Week New England – Connecticut

22 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Hartford - Connecticut State Capitol © flickr.com - jglazer75/cc-by-2.0

Hartford – Connecticut State Capitol © flickr.com – jglazer75/cc-by-2.0

Connecticut is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. The state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word “Connecticut” is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for “long tidal river”. The capital is Hartford. Other big cities are Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Meriden, Bristol, West Haven, Milford and Middletown. Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the “Constitution State“, the “Nutmeg State”, the “Provisions State”, and the “Land of Steady Habits”. It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state’s population) is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, as well as New York City and the five largest cities in New Jersey (Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, and Edison), which is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut’s center of population is in Cheshire, which is also located within the Tri-State area.   read more…

Theme Week New England – Massachusetts

21 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

Eastham - Cape Cod National Seashore © Cholmes75/cc-by-sa-3.0

Eastham – Cape Cod National Seashore © Cholmes75/cc-by-sa-3.0

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston. Over 80% of Massachusetts’ population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry.   read more…

Theme Week New England

20 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  10 minutes

Massachusetts - Sunset on Cape Cod Bay © flickr.com - PapaDunes/cc-by-sa-2.0

Massachusetts – Sunset on Cape Cod Bay © flickr.com – PapaDunes/cc-by-sa-2.0

New England is a geographical region which comprises six states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and south, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north, respectively. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the south. The physical geography of New England is diverse for such a small area; southeastern New England is covered by a narrow coastal plain, while the western and northern regions are dominated by the rolling hills and worn-down peaks of the northern end of the Appalachian Mountains. With the Atlantic fall line lying so close to the coast, numerous industrial cities were able to take advantage of water power along the numerous rivers, such as the Connecticut River, which bisects the region from north to south. Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in New England. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring late-September to mid-November.   read more…

Des Moines in Iowa

20 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Des Moines skyline at night © Shimo

Des Moines skyline at night © Shimo

Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, which was shortened to “Des Moines” in 1857. It is located on and named after the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the French colonial name, Rivière des Moines, meaning “River of the Monks.” The city’s population is at 203,000. Des Moines is an important city in U.S. presidential politics: as the capital of the state, it is the site of the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle. Many presidential candidates set up campaign headquarters in Des Moines. A 2007 article in The New York Times said, “If you have any desire to witness presidential candidates in the most close-up and intimate of settings, there is arguably no better place to go than Des Moines.”   read more…

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

17 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport, Events Reading Time:  13 minutes

© flickr.com - John Fowler/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – John Fowler/cc-by-2.0

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event, and has over 500 balloons each year. The event is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world. The Balloon Fiesta began in 1972 as the highlight of a 50th birthday celebration for 770 KKOB Radio. Radio station manager Dick McKee asked Sid Cutter, owner of Cutter Flying Service and the first person to own a hot air balloon in New Mexico, if KKOB could use his new hot-air balloon as part of the festivities. The two began discussing ballooning, along with conversation and help from Oscar Kratz, and McKee asked what the largest gathering of hot air balloons to date had been. 19 balloons in England, Cutter replied. Kratz asked “Can we get 19 here?” Cutter agreed to try. He got commitments from 21 pilots, but bad weather kept some of them from arriving in time. The first fiesta ended up as a gathering of 13 balloons on April 8, 1972, sponsored by KKOB. The first event was located in the parking lot of the Coronado Center Shopping Mall with 20,000 spectators and with balloonists from Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Texas taking part. McKee, Cutter, and Kratz are the three men who had originally started the balloon races. The first fiesta incorporated a “Roadrunner-Coyote Balloon Race” (a “hare-and-hounds” race elsewhere in the world) with 1 balloon being the “Roadrunner” and the others being “Coyote” balloons (the “Roadrunner” balloon was actually emblazoned with likenesses of both Warner Bros. characters). The winner of the race – the “Coyote” that landed closest to the Roadrunner – was Don Piccard of the noted aerostation dynasty, flying a balloon of his company’s design and construction (his wife also placed in the race). This race has continued as part of the Balloon Fiesta today.   read more…

Theme Week Los Angeles – Griffith Park

10 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  10 minutes

Griffith Observatory © Matthew Field/cc-by-2.5

Griffith Observatory © Matthew Field/cc-by-2.5

Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The park covers 4,310 acres (1,740 ha) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is the second-largest city park in California, after Mission Trails Preserve in San Diego, and the 11th largest municipally owned park in the United States. It has also been referred to as the Central Park of Los Angeles but is much larger, more untamed, and rugged than its New York City counterpart. After successfully investing in mining, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith purchased Rancho Los Feliz (near the Los Angeles River) in 1882 and started an ostrich farm there. Although ostrich feathers were commonly used in making women’s hats in the late-19th century, Griffith’s purpose was primarily to lure residents of Los Angeles to his nearby property developments, which supposedly were haunted by the ghost of Antonio Feliz (a previous owner of the property). After the property rush peaked, Griffith donated 3,015 acres (1,220 ha) to the city of Los Angeles on December 16, 1896. Afterward Griffith was tried and convicted for shooting and severely wounding his wife in a 1903 incident. When released from prison, he attempted to fund the construction of an amphitheater, observatory, planetarium, and a girls’ camp and boys’ camp in the park. His reputation in the city was tainted by his crime, however, so the city refused his money.   read more…

Cheyenne Mountain

1 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, House of the Month, Hotels, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Cheyenne Mountain viewed from Colorado Springs © Thomson200

Cheyenne Mountain viewed from Colorado Springs © Thomson200

Cheyenne Mountain is a triple-peaked mountain in El Paso County, Colorado, southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. The mountain serves as a host for military, communications, recreational, and residential functions. Homesteading on the mountain began in 1867 and the mountain was the site of resorts and retreats beginning in the 1880s. Spencer Penrose, who built The Broadmoor in 1918, bought many of the properties on the mountain and built the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Cheyenne Mountain Highway, Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, a lodge on one of the mountain peaks, and a retreat at Emerald Valley. The site of the lodge has become a wilderness Cloud Camp and Emerald Valley is now the site of The Broadmoor’s Ranch at Emerald Valley. Land on Cheyenne Mountain that had once been owned by The Broadmoor is now the site of luxury homes. A community, Overlook Colony, that began in 1911 still resides on the mountain.   read more…

Theme Week Miami – Coconut Grove

30 January 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Miami / South Florida Reading Time:  10 minutes

Former Pan American Seaplane Base and Terminal Building, now <a href=

Miami City Hall © Ebyabe/cc-by-sa-3.0″ width=”590″ height=”443″ class=”size-medium wp-image-164436″ /> Former Pan American Seaplane Base and Terminal Building, now Miami’s city hall © Ebyabe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Coconut Grove is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County in Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, South Dixie Highway (US 1) and Rickenbacker Causeway to the north, and Biscayne Bay to the east. It is south of the neighborhoods of Brickell and The Roads and east of Coral Gables. The neighborhood’s name has been sometimes spelled “Cocoanut Grove” but the definitive spelling “Coconut Grove” was established when the city was incorporated in 1919. What is today referred to as Coconut Grove was formed in 1925 when the city of Miami annexed two areas of about equal size, the city of Coconut Grove and most of the town of Silver Bluff. The area is often referred to as “The Grove” and many locals take pride that Coconut Grove is one of the greenest areas of Miami. Coconut Grove is directly served by the Miami Metrorail at Coconut Grove and Douglas Road stations. Coconut Grove was long known as Miami’s art and artist district.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top