Later this summer, Americans will begin celebrating Route 66, America’s Mother Road. It was formally established on November 11, 1926, in the heart of the Roaring Twenties, when newly affordable automobiles like Ford’s Model T and Model A offered unparalleled freedom. Its mythic aura and worldwide fame have only swelled since the 1930s when it…
On a beautiful late summer day, Alaskan Dee Buchanon has just hauled an eight-pound salmon from a side channel on the Susitna River. The majestic fish is a perfect example of everything salmon represents in Alaska culture. It is an Expressionist masterpiece: vermilion flanks, ivory belly, platinum fins and cheeks. Close to a billion wild salmon roam the North Pacific waters bordering Alaska. Hundreds of millions of them return to the state’s rivers, streams and lakes each summer and fall to spawn. Sustaining fisheries is part of the Alaska Constitution, and the state does a good job.
By Ramaa Reddy Diversity Plaza, in Jackson Heights in the New York borough of Queens, is a landmark that celebrates the diversity of America. In 2011, the city created the Plaza by cordoning off traffic and furnishing it with tables and chairs to provide South Asians inhabiting the multilingual neighborhood a space for families to…
Cycling California’s El Camino Real is an 800-mile (1,287 km) epic adventure. The appeal of visiting picturesque missions established by Spanish friars between 1769 and 1823 is enhanced by traveling a route that still looks much like it did 200 years ago. Says writer John Poimiroo: “This is not like the Camino de Santiago in Spain where every community and business along the route expects pilgrims. The El Camino Real runs through open country with few directional signs and services. Along some stretches you must make your way much as the padres did.”
San Miguel de Allende lies in the Eastern part of Mexico’s State of Guanajuato, about a three-hour journey from Mexico City. It’s a cobblestoned colonial town with pastel-colored buildings that has changed a lot over the past century yet remained remarkably the same. The city’s main square, or Jardin Principal, is canopied by trees. It’s a popular local hangout where Mariachi bands roam about awaiting paying customers. On the Northern corner stands the majestic Catholic church, Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel.
By Teresa Bergen Jason Spoolstra stands with his back to a mural of Jesus welcoming Stanley Rother into heaven. He is introducing a tour group to more than 20 martyrs depicted on the mural. “We’re going to start on the right,” says Spoolstra, the Rother shrine’s director of pilgrimage. “The gentleman closest to Jesus, he’s…
By Toby Saltzman What sounded like a pickup line turned out to be friendly banter from a local who enjoys meeting visitors in his quiet Mississippi River town. Seated on the step of a yellow clapboard house, smile lines wrinkling around blue eyes, he called out, “How y’all doin,’ lovely lady? Are ya off the…
By Teresa Bergen As I enter the Terror Ship, the captain tells me that he and his crew have been marooned here for fifty years and all of them have a terrible virus. I can just make out in the near darkness that something is very wrong with his face. Indeed, a closer look reveals…
New Orleans is not the only French city in America. From the cafes near the French Consulate to the celebration of Bastille Day; from the Museum of the Legion of Honor (a copy of the one in Paris) to the Matisse paintings donated by the Gertrude Stein family to the Museum of Modern Art, San…
Houseboats lure thousands of families to rivers and lakes for unique, get-away-from-it-all vacations. The slow-moving vessels sleep up to a dozen passengers and are equipped with many modern amenities, such as ovens, refrigerators, toilets, hot showers, gourmet kitchens and bedrooms with linens. Some houseboats look downright luxurious, albeit somewhat compact. Lake Powell is billed as America’s Best Houseboating Destination because of the stunning scenery in southern Utah and neighboring Arizona. The lake is among the nation’s largest manmade reservoirs with 2,000 miles of shoreline, hundreds of private beaches and 96 side canyons where you can drop anchor and bask in the majestic solitude.