Rockland, Maine: The Way Life Should Be
Captain Doug at the helm of the schooner Heritage, Rockland, Maine
The gentle sea breeze was a reminder of the state border sign that read “Welcome to Maine–The Way Life Should Be”. The farther we drove along the rugged coastline, the clearer this became.
Southern Indiana: The Spirit of America
West Baden Springs Hotel, with 246 luxury guest rooms and suites, was named for the renowned German springs. The six-story circular structure topped with the world’s largest free span dome has been called the Eighth Wonder of the World.
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Huntington Beach: Surf City USA
More than just a song lyric, the cool and casual California surf scene goes on, with the big waves, sandy beaches, and laid-back lifestyle of Huntington Beach –Surf City USA.
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Irvine, California: A master planned community becomes a convenient vacation hub
With a street system designed to avoid traffic jams and a network of protected open space, parks, and trails, it’s the paragon of what can be accomplished when a city is designed from scratch with the resources to do it right.
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Have a grand time in Greater Phoenix
Arizona is a state of stunning contrasts—the Grand Canyon and high mesas of Navajo and Hopi Country in the north, forested mountains and lakes of the high country in the east, and aquatic playgrounds in the west. Native American ruins, frontier outposts, and mining ghost towns are scattered throughout the central part of the state.
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Sarasota “Circus City”, USA: Where Fine and Performing Arts are in the Center Ring
A century or so ago, nothing else compared to the sights and sounds of the grand parade when circus wagons came to town. Anticipation built for weeks, sparked by advance cars and a profusion of posters.
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Groundhog Day: When Punxsutawney Phil went to Woodstock
It’s official. Prognosticating rodent Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, setting off the prediction of six more weeks of winter.
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The Peaches of Rockford, Illinois
Rockford was home to a unique era in baseball history. Many of the best players in the men’s league were in the military during World War II and to keep up the interest in the sport, gum magnate Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, decided to organize the first professional baseball teams for women.
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Rockford, Illinois: Swede Town
How did a frontier village in Illinois grow to become an industrial and cultural center? It was due, in part, to a group of immigrants from Sweden who planned to settle in Chicago in 1852, were confronted with an plan-altering epidemic, and had the skills to fill a need after a devastating fire.
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The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California
When we needed a place to stay in the Los Angeles area before our Panama Canal cruise aboard Cunard’s newest ship, the Queen Elizabeth, we thought of Cunard’s legendary Queen Mary. She has been a floating hotel steeped in history and docked in Long Beach, California since ending her transatlantic runs in 1967.
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The Panama Canal aboard Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth
The first thing we noticed when we entered the Grand Lobby of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth was the sweeping staircase and impressive two-story marquetry mural of a cruise liner. The exotic veneers and Art Deco details reminded us of our pre-cruise stay aboard the legendary Queen Mary, which was renowned for its exotic woods from throughout the British empire.
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Montréal to Boston: A Canada/New England cruise aboard Holland America’s Maasdam
Montréal is the cultural capital and largest city in Québec, second largest city in Canada, and the second largest French-speaking city in the world. It’s either the first or last port, depending on the sailing, which creates a great opportunity for an extended stay.
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Holiday in Chicago
With its world-class shopping, dining, architecture, parks, museums, performances, and special events, it would be hard to top the holiday spirit of the Jewel of the Lakes, the Gem of the Prairie– Chicago.
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A synergy of nature, culture, and cuisine: a whale of an adventure in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada
East from Quebec City along the north shore of the St. Lawrence is the region of Charlevoix, named for Father Francois-Xavier Charlevoix, Jesuit and first historian of New France. The area was shaped 350 million years ago by a 15 billion ton meteorite that left one of the largest craters on earth, extending 56 kilometers, west from Baie-Saint-Paul to east of La Malbaie.
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Paradise found: a Caribbean cruise aboard Holland America’s Noordam
Palm trees, tropical breezes, and cerulean seas beckoned…
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Canada and New England cruise: Coastal Gems with the Jewel of the Sea
The ever-changing kaleidoscope of crimson, amber and gold of autumn is something we don’t like to miss. When Royal Caribbean offered a foliage season cruise along our Atlantic coastline on the Jewel of the Sea with the convenience of sailing roundtrip from Boston, we booked a stateroom right away.
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Arkansas’ Ozarks: head for the hills
The essence of the Natural State is found in the soaring limestone cliffs, glorious vistas, verdant forests, colossal caverns, and cool, clear waters of northern Arkansas’ Ozarks.
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Little Rock, Arkansas: From Pioneers to President, Civil War to Civil Rights
With the opening of the Clinton Library and Museum in the Clinton Presidential Center and Park in 2004, the riverside capital city has undergone a renaissance, and people are discovering more of what this state has to offer.
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The American Queen
Walking to the Robin Street Wharf, we could see her fluted 109 foot tall stacks rising above the buildings, and we knew we were in for a treat.
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Historic York County, Pennsylvania: Factory Tour Capital of the World
York has come a long way since the days when William Penn sent surveyor Thomas Cookson here to lay out a new town in what was then the frontier. Cookson, an Englishman from Yorkshire, named one of the main streets after his king, George, and the town after the Duchy of York. Yorktown, as it was called in the from the mid-18th to early 19th centuries, became known as The White Rose City for the symbol of the House of York.
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