Destinations

A collection of 89 posts

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Florida's Oldest Inland Town—Micanopy

Sitting some 10 miles south of Gainesville, Micanopy is notable for two things. First—and perhaps less impressively—it’s one of the smallest towns in Florida with only around 650 residents. Don’t judge the town by its size, though, because the second thing makes things good. Micanopy is

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Mantle Rock Nature Preserve

Mantle Rock, located in Western Kentucky near the Ohio River, is the largest freestanding, naturally formed stone arch east of the Mississippi River. The 188-foot-long formation rises to 30 feet above ground level. Some retellings of the Cherokee Trail of Tears saga suggest that the Cherokee, who were being force-marched

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Big Bend National Park

I’m not sure if Steve McQueen considered the badlands of Texas “nowhere,” but that’s where I’m riding my motorcycle on this epic adventure into the Wild West. In four days and 1,700 miles, I intend to wake up in the middle of Big Bend National Park.

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Pit Stop in Ridgeland, Mississippi

When the open road beckons and the urge to explore stirs, there’s no better route to explore than the Natchez Trace Parkway, and a great rest stop along the Trace is Ridgeland, Mississippi. Home to more than 150 restaurants, exceptional shopping, historic Parkway stops, the 33,000-acre Barnett Reservoir

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Zion National Park

In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the two bank- and train-robbing bandits sought these red canyons as their hideout from the law. I was mesmerized by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in this modern-day Western, but honestly, the scenery captivated me more. I knew that one day I would

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Experience Gold Rush Past at Goldfield Ghost Town in Arizona

Ancient volcanic and seismic activity in today’s Arizona created the Superstition Mountains and the valuable mineral deposits buried within. But their most valuable resource—gold—wasn’t discovered there until the early 1890s. That, along with the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, created a gold rush fever.

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The Charming Village of Mendocino, CA

Perched on rugged cliffs above the Pacific Ocean’s crashing waves is the charming village of Mendocino, CA. It’s located some 170 miles north of San Francisco on California’s famously scenic Pacific Coast Highway. The village is part of Mendocino County, which lies between California’s Coastal Range

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Ohio River Floodwall Art

The Great Flood of 1913 wreaked havoc on many Ohio River towns. The death and destruction, while momentous at the time, have been largely forgotten in the 21st century. The concrete floodwalls in towns along the Ohio River, however, were blank canvases just begging for artists’ depictions of important historical

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In Pursuit of Wildness: The Carrizo Plain National Monument

A sleeping giant lies on the valley floor between the Temblor Range and the Caliente Range. That is where this story begins. In 1857, the strongest earthquake in California’s recorded history ripped through the San Andreas Fault, wrenching the western side of the Carrizo Plain National Monument 31 feet

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Stop Along The Oregon Trail in The Dalles, OR

Yesterday & Today Although indigenous people inhabited the Columbia River area for millennia and the Lewis and Clark expedition camped here, The Dalles owes its beginning and name to French-speaking Hudson Bay Company fur traders. The word dalle roughly translates to English as a “large tile” or “flagstone,” and dalles

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Destination: Rome, GA

Resting on seven hills, with the Etowah, Oostanaula, and Coosa Rivers running among them, Rome’s topographical layout is believed to have inspired early European-American settlers to name their city after the capital of Italy. Owing to the location’s geographic advantages, earlier inhabitants were the Creek people, who were

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Cabrillo National Monument

The Pacific Ocean is jaw-droppingly beautiful as I ride my motorcycle along Highway 1 from Monterey, CA, toward San Diego. It’s easy to allow your imagination to run free along each curve on this scenic highway, envisioning sailing ships exploring new lands. Albert Einstein said that “imagination is more

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Petrified Forest National Park

I’m on historic US Route 66 heading east for a small village nestled next to the Rio Grande in New Mexico called La Joya. Each year, I make this journey across the wild west, past little communities and towns with interesting names: Newberry Springs, Oatman, Cool Springs, Valentine, Peach

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Destination: Grants Pass, OR

The town was “named in honor of General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1863 victory at Vicksburg. Originally named Grant’s Pass’s, the apostrophe was dropped after 1900. Grants Pass was a stagecoach stop in the 1860’s. It became a rail head when the Oregon-California Railroad (now Southern Pacific)

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Destination: Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

The picturesque desert landscape some 60 miles west of Albuquerque, NM, is home to one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in America—Acoma Pueblo. The pueblo, founded in 1100, is a component of the Acoma Indian Reservation and is perched atop a 357-foot-tall shear-walled sandstone mesa. Before modern times,

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Abo Ruins

In the 2009 documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Director Ken Burns spoke about the grandeur of a world known as Yellowstone National Park, as well as less familiar National Park Service areas, such as Abó Ruins, an integral part of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in New

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Destination: Old Fort Niagara, New York

The flags of three different nations have flown over Old Fort Niagara—France, England, and the U.S. over more than 300 years. Located at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, Fort Conti was a preliminary fortification established here by the French in 1679. A permanent French

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The Laverda Museum

The opening of the Laverda Museum, in the little village of Breganze in the region of Vicenza, northern Italy, had the character of a folk festival. Around 2,000 guests had gathered in the town center to enjoy the traditional food and wine while Piero Laverda, the former CEO of

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Yellowstone National Park

Its natural magnificence inspired the United States Congress to establish Yellowstone [https://www.roadrunner.travel/tours/yellowstone-national-park/] as the world's first national park in 1872. Kathy and I were so thrilled by the area that we decided to return for an extra day after completing our tour of

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Canyon de Chelly National Monument

The rain is hard and relentless. The gas station ahead, a few miles from Window Rock, AZ, offers shelter. In seconds, the parking area is flooded, but my motorcycle is safe and dry. “Do not go out further just yet,” the old Navajo man says. “The roads will be full

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Zanesville, Ohio’s Historic Y-Bridge

A motorist who asks for directions from a Zanesville, Ohio, resident might hear something like, “Go to the middle of the Y-Bridge and turn left.” After a visibly confused motorist leaves, the local resident might be sporting a big grin because after all, turning left in the middle of a

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Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park

Motoring east on US-50 from Montrose, I’m enjoying the expansive Rocky Mountain landscape of western Colorado. A left on SR-347 has me quickly gaining altitude until finally arriving at the Visitor Center on the South Rim of the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. At an overlook, I peer

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In Pursuit of Wildness: Chiricahua National Monument

I’m on my motorcycle, heading west on I-10 back to California, when I see the sign for a destination totally unfamiliar to me: Chiricahua National Monument. Just the name sparks my interest. Although best known for being the home of the Grand Canyon, Arizona is rich with more than

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The Legendary Navajo Code Talkers’ Memorial in Window Rock, Arizona

“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” —Major Howard Connor, USMC 5th Marine Division Signal Officer In the South Pacific Theater of World War II, U.S. military forces had a significant problem. The Japanese were highly proficient at deciphering coded American communications.

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Destination: Coffeyville, Kansas

The Dalton Gang’s Last Bank Robbery Although Coffeyville, KS, was the hometown of famous Major League Baseball pitcher Walter Johnson, it is more famous for being where the Dalton Gang attempted a double bank robbery. On the quiet Wednesday morning of Oct. 5, 1892, the three disguised Dalton Brothers