Go totally bananas at a fruity-tutti museum
If you head nine miles past Mecca toward the north shore of the Salton Sea, just before you get to the Albert Frey yacht club building, there it is: the International Banana Museum in all its golden splendor. Swerve over and check it out.You’ve never seen so many banana-themed objects: thousands of gadgets, from staplers to a banana-shaped record player with the 45 rpm of Harry... READ MORE
Creepy but captivating Carlsbad Caverns
As visitors descend to Carlsbad Cavern’s 25-story Big Room, largest underground room in the world, they pass several spectacular speleotherms (mineral deposits), including this one, named the Temple of the Sun. NPS photo by Peter Jones Drip...drip...drip... The slow-motion drip is mesmerizing. For millions of years, dripping, seeping, condensing, flowing, and ponding water has... READ MORE
Civil War sites: recreate and contemplate
About 150 years after the “Battle that Saved Washington,” journalist and Civil War buff Keith White leads a dozen friends on a tour of the farmland south of Frederick, Md., where Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace were credited with delaying the Confederate advance toward the nation’s capital.The group will spend nearly three hours hiking many of the half-dozen or... READ MORE
Oak Glen: A slice of the past in apple country
An easy hour’s drive from the Coachella Valley takes you to Oak Glen, Southern California’s largest apple-growing region, with a heritage that dates back to 1867 when the first orchards were planted.Replete with apples to pick or buy, shops, restaurants and tourist activities, the climate draws desert dwellers. Temperatures read about 20 degrees cooler in the 4,000-foot... READ MORE
Cancun mixes resort life, Mayan culture
The Mexican city of Cancun features 14 miles of beaches sandwiched between the turquoise Caribbean and a wide inland lagoon. In addition to the usual tourist attractions of an ocean beach, visitors can take a 45-minute boat ride to four-mile-long Isla Mujeres to see the remains of a small Mayan temple. More dramatic Mayan ruins can be found south of Cancun, along the Riviera Maya.Photo... READ MORE
The Big Apple’s 9/11 sites pack a punch
Out-of-towners and locals alike have shown enormous interest in New York City’s sites connected to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. More than 700,000 people from all 50 states and 131 countries have been to the National Sept. 11 Museum in New York City since it opened May 21. More have come from New York than any other state, but the museum also hosts so many international... READ MORE
Rev up for the Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion
So you think your classic 1964½ Mustang convertible, packed with a 289 V8 and four on the floor, beats all? Or is it that slick, passionate red two-door ‘73 Plymouth Barracuda with an Edelbrock carb? Heck, it could be your restored ‘34 3-speed Chevrolet Touring Sedan with dual side mounts.Need an answer? You’ll find it, or a good amount of debate, at the Route 66... READ MORE
Live it up like the rich in the Berkshires
Writer Edith Wharton designed her home in Lenox, Mass., built in 1902 and called the Mount, using the principles in her book, The Decoration of Houses. It features hardware imported from France and marble baseboards from Italy. The house and gardens are open for public tours. Photo by Glenda C. Booth LENOX, Mass. — A century ago, writer Edith Wharton wrote of this town in... READ MORE
Visiting Sarajevo, where WWI was sparked
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — If you find yourself on Ferhadija street behind the old synagogue at noon, close your eyes and listen to the bells from the Catholic cathedral and the Serb-Orthodox church mixing with the Muslim call for prayer. They call this the sound of Sarajevo. And yet, Sarajevo is also known for the sound of a gunshot that led to World War I a century ago. It was... READ MORE
September commemorates our wine heritage
Cabernet Sauvignon grapes at Temecula’s Leonesse Winery.Photo by Lydia KremerSome of the earliest wine grapes grown in California were planted in the 1700s by Franciscan friars, who built and established the 21 California missions, to produce sacramental wine for religious purposes.The friars brought grape cuttings from Europe to the New World, and since then some California wine has... READ MORE
