Attractions Blog

Hawaiian pineapple

by Gudrun Enger, of Kitchen Gadget Girl

This is not directly travel related, but I thought it was interesting enough to share with the Uptake Attractions readers. Did you know, that instead of coming to see what is new at Attractions every day, you can have the information emailed to you or you can read it all in an RSS reader? How’s that possible you ask? Let me explain:

Almost every day, we put up a new article from one our clever Attractions team (that would be Linda, Barbara, Rhea, Carol, Molly, Shari, Bridget, Jody or myself). If you are like me, you probably follow a bunch of blogs and visiting them each day can become problematic.

The solution is to subscribe to our blog, either through email or a feed reader (such as Google Reader or Blogline). This way, the content is pushed to you when we publish it on the site, and you don’t have to time your visits. Just like a newspaper or magazine.

Step 1:

Find the right-hand column of this page, and find the section entitled “Subscribe Me” (it is towards the top of the page)

Step 2:

Click on UpTake Attractions Blog

Step 3:

Determine if you want to subscribe via a reader or have it sent to your email address. Personally, I find a reader convenient to use - I can have all the blogs I follow listed in the reader, according to different categories, and then catch up on all my blogs at once. For more information about readers, check here and here. Here is even a video describing RSS in Plain English.

That was so easy! Three steps. What else in travel is three steps? Renting a car on Priceline takes longer than that!

We are glad to have you visit us here at Attractions and would be thrilled to have you as a subscriber. Any questions, please leave them in comments.

by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels

In 1942 the federal government acquired what at the time was a fairly remote parcel of land on Currahee Mountain, five miles outside of Toccoa, Georgia, and began training a new type of soldier, the Paratrooper. The facility was originally named Camp Toombs after a Confederate Civil War General, but it was renamed Camp Toccoa when the commander pointed out that arriving recruits would travel past the Toccoa Casket Company on their way to learn to jump at Camp “Tombs.”

Monument marking the entrance to Camp Toccoa

Five thousand men arrived at Camp Toccoa for the rugged program that July; the 1,600 who successfully completed the training became the 506th Parachute Infantry Division (PID) of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division – the “Easy Company” featured in Steven Spielberg’s award-winning HBO series “Band Of Brothers.” The 17,000 soldiers of the 501st, 506th, 511th, and 517th PID who trained at Camp Toccoa during World War II have also been immortalized in “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Dirty Dozen.”

Camp Toccoa, circa 1942. Photo courtesy Stephens County Historical Society.

With the exception of one old building that was a bunk house, the original camp structures have long since been torn down, however camp streets are still visible and are marked by fire hydrants. Four marble pillars at the Airborne Monument mark the original entrance to the camp; each pillar is engraved with the name of one of the regiments that trained at the camp, as well as the number and location of jumps made during the war. But it is the lonely dirt road leading up the mountain that attracts most visitors; they come to make the brutal three mile run up to the top, as every paratrooper who came before had done.

Row after row of medals awarded to brave members of the Parachute Infantry Divisions

Today the history, artifacts, and accomplishments of these astonishingly brave men are preserved at the Currahee Military Museum, appropriately located in the town’s newly renovated train depot, where all WWII paratroopers arrived before hiking to the camp to begin training. On displays at the museum are medals, photos, maps, weapons, and military uniforms, but it is the old stable that most visitors come to see. Built in Aldbourne, England in 1922, it is one of the actual stables that housed both Able and Easy Companies of the 506th before and after D-Day. Many veterans who had lived in the stables returned to England to visit the site after the war. One by one the stables were torn down, until only one remained. Realizing the historical significance of the structure, the owner offered it to the town of Toccoa, which arranged for it to be disassembled, flown to the U.S., and reassembled inside the museum.

Actual stable that houses members of the PID before and after D-Day

Each October, the town of Toccoa rolls out the red carpet during Currahee Military Weekend. Scheduled for October 2-4, 2009, this year’s event will feature re-enactors, sightseeing flights by the Dixie Wing Commemorative Air Force, musical performances, and lots of food. It attracts veterans of all ages, especially those who trained at the camp during its brief existence, but also paratroopers in general, who indeed consider themselves a Band of Brothers, as demonstrated by the touching video below.

Camp Toccoa may no longer exist, but it lives forever in the hearts and minds of all members of the 101st PID, who to this day still yell “Currahee!” before jumping from a plane.

Photos not otherwise attributed courtesy of Barbara Weibel

At Two Rivers Landing in downtown Easton, PA, sits a unique museum combination:  The Crayola Factory and National Canal Museum.  The admission price of $9.50 for ages 3 and up includes two organizations; the Crayola Factory takes up the majority of the building while the National Canal Museum resides on the top floor.

see more »

What is there to do on a lazy Sunday in Washington, DC? Why not go for a bike ride!

By Sebastien Tobler

Colliding Continents

Sebastien Tobler Productions

by Gudrun Enger, Kitchen Gadget Girl

One of our fun adventures in Maui, Hawaii, was a visit to the Surfing Goat Dairy, high up in the Upcountry of the island. In a place where pineapples reign supreme, it seemed incongruous to find a working dairy and cheese making operation. see more »

The Breakers - Newport, RI

By Molly G. @ The Bumbles Blog

Have you ever wondered how the other half lives? Newport is known for being a playground of the rich. It was home to The America’s Cup for yachting and boasts the International Tennis Hall of Fame. But if not for the millionaires of the Industrial Revolution, it just might have become another sleepy ocean town in the smallest state of the U.S.A.

High society families in the second half of the 1800’s flocked to Newport to build homes for summer retreats and like all good people with money to burn they went above and beyond to out-do each other . Today you can tour many of these mansions set in a row like a parade of wealth, but the biggest of them all is The Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895.

The wealth and opulence of the Vanderbilt family is in full display via a new self-guided audio tour where you listen to memories of a gilded time as told by some of the relatives and servants who experienced The Breakers first hand. The mansion comes to life with the sound effects and background music making it see more »

by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels

In the world of museums it would seem unlikely if not downright preposterous to find circus artifacts mingled with fine art, yet that is precisely what visitors find at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. With a name like Ringling, the circus connection is not surprising -  the benefactors of the museum are the famed couple who owned and operated the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for many years. What does surprise is the impressive collection of European, Asian and American paintings and sculptures.

With the great fortune amassed through their circus, John and Mabel Ringling traveled extensively throughout Europe. In Italy, especially, they developed a passion for fine art, which led to John becoming a regular at New York and London art auctions during the 1920’s. He purchased masterpieces by Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Hals, Van Dyck, and Gainesborough, as well as a collection of Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By 1931, Ringling had built a museum designed after the Renaissance and Baroque palaces and museums of Italy to house their ever-growing collection.

One of numerous galleries displaying the impressive collection of Baroque paintings amassed by John and Mabel Ringling

Immediately inside the front doors of the museum hang five enormous paintings by Peter Paul Rubens from the series titled The Triumph of the Eucharist. At a time when the Catholic Church was losing membership to the newer Protestant denomination, Isabella Clara Eugenia, a devout Catholic and daughter of King Philip II of Spain, commissioned Rubens to paint a set of 11 scenes depicting the Catholic celebration of Eucharist or Mass. The paintings were produced for weavers of the day, who used them as templates to create tapestries that hung on the walls of royal palaces and homes of the wealthy. After Eugenia’s death in 1633, the paintings were dispersed throughout Europe. Four of the originals were destroyed in a fire, two eventually landed in the Louvre Museum in Paris; the remaining five were purchased by the Ringlings in 1926, becoming the only large-scale painting cycle by Rubens outside of Europe.

"The Triumph of Divine Love," one of eleven enormous canvases painted by Peter Paul Rubens for his series "The Triumph of the Eucharist"

Gallery after gallery display the collection of more than 600 paintings by Italian, Flemish, and Spanish artists; indeed the collection of Old Masters, highlighted by the 17th century Baroque period, is considered to be among the finest in the country and does not suffer in comparison with the collection of the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Even the outdoor courtyard in the center of the museum is filled with art. As in Vatican Square, sculptures ring the roof of the museum and gaze down upon the courtyard, which features casts of original antiquities and renaissance sculptures, including David by Michelangelo; the Fountain of Tortoises, one of three replicas from the Piazza Mattei in Rome; and Oceanus Fountain, copied from the 16th century original by Giovanni Bologna in Florence’s Boboli Gardens.

Interior courtyard of the Art Museum displays reproductions of famous fountains and sculptures such as Michaelangelo's "David"

Beyond the art museum is Ca d’Zan, the 36,000 square foot, 56 room mansion that was once the Ringlings’ personal home. Built in the style of the Venetian Gothic palaces they so loved, it became the cultural epicenter of Sarasota upon completion in 1926. Cà d’Zan was constructed from terra cotta “T” blocks, concrete, and brick, covered with stucco and terra cotta, and embellished with glazed tile. The original roof was made from imported 16th century Spanish tiles and the bayfront terrace is paved with domestic and imported marble. Lavish parties featured full orchestras on the marble terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay, where their private 70-foot yacht was tied up. Today the mansion, filled with art and original furnishings, is open for public tours.

The Ca d'Zan mansion, built for the Ringlings as their personal home, was modeled after the palace of the Venetian Doge

Two additional buildings on the grounds of the Ringling Art Museum house the Circus Museums. Though a visit to these facilities on the heels of the Art Museum and Ca d’Zan is somewhat like stepping into an alternate universe, the Circus Museums house a fascinating array of memorabilia from this bygone era, as well as authentic circus wagons, caliopes, rolling animal cages, boxcars, costumes, and even the original Pullman train car that carried the Ringlings to Big Top sites around the country.

Custom built Pullman train car that was home to the Ringlings during circus season

The Tibbals Learning Center is home to the world’s largest miniature circus, The Howard Bros. Circus Model. This 3/4-inch scale model is a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus when it was at its largest (circa 1919-1938). Occupying 3,800 square feet, it contains eight main tents, 152 wagons, 1,300 circus performers and workers, more than 800 animals, and a 57-car train.

Miniature Big Top, centerpiece of the 3,800 square foot miniature circus at the Tibbals Learning Center

Another portion of the 3/4 inch scale model of the Howard Bros. Circus

Even the grounds of the museum are stunning, featuring behemoth old-growth Banyan trees sprouting a dense tangle of air roots; gnarled oaks draped in Spanish moss, lush groves of ferns; and an exquisite rose garden originally planted by Mabel Ringling in an authentic Italian wagon-wheel design.

Exquisitely landscaped grounds at the John and Mabel Ringling Art Museum

When John Ringling died in 1936, he bequeathed his art collection, mansion and estate to the people of the State of Florida. Now managed by Florida State University, the Sarasota Bayfront site is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Days. Admission is $20 for adults, $17 for seniors (65+), $7 for students, Florida teachers, and military, and children ages 6-17 (free under 6). However, Ringling’s bequest mandated that admission to the Art Museum be free one day a week, in perpetuity (does not include free admission to the Cà d’Zan and Circus Museum). Although the Museum does not divulge it on their website, there is no admission charged for the Art Museum on Mondays, and (also a little known fact) the grounds can be wandered for free any day of the week.

Photos courtesy of Barbara Weibel

When my son turned 7, I promised him a special day out with me, where he could choose what to do.  I gave him several ideas, but he kept coming back to one thing:  The Science Museum of Minnesota.

The Science Museum of Minnesota overlooks the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul.  It has several floors of exhibits that range in theme, from dinosaurs to light and sound to the river.  Some of our family’s favorites are the real tugboat and the chimes that play faster and louder when there is seismic activity somewhere on earth.

Science Museum of Minnesota Seismic Chimes. Photo by minnemom.

In the Big Backyard, open seasonally, visitors can pan for jewels or play a game of mini-golf for an extra charge.  Additional indoor fun can be found in the omnitheater where a variety of films is shown.

Science Museum of Minnesota Big Backyard. Photo by minnemom.

Traveling exhibits change from time to time; last summer’s hit was Star Wars, and this year there’s a Titanic artifacts exhibit.

In the museum lobby is the National Park Service’s visitor center for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.  There’s also a set of musical lights in the lobby near the gift shop, and a large map near the ticket counter, where my kids love jumping from country to country.

If you want to spend a family day in downtown St. Paul, the Science Museum of Minnesota is only about a block away from the skyway system that connects to the Minnesota Children’s Museum.  The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has several other family-friendly museums that you may want to consider.

Linda (minnemom) writes about Minnesota family travel and more at Travels with Children.

When people think of the Upper East Side (UES), most New Yorkers included, they think of “The Nanny Diaries” or of it being the Socialites’ haven. This is, in part, some of what one can find but that has changed a lot, with young families moving in and bringing a more down-to Earth-ness to the area.

The UES has an incredible selection of bars and restaurants, both for entertaining out of town guests and for a night out with or without the family.  The shopping is fun, with a wonderful array of high end boutiques along Madison and 5th Avenues, and less expensive, but still fashionable ad trendy shops found along the Avenues further East.

Walk along 82nd and you will find yourself at the steps of the beautiful Metropolitan Museum and Central Park, walk a few blocks East and you will find yourself at one of the entrances of the East River Promenade.

View of the East River

Enter the Promenade and take the family (and doggie) into Carl Schurz Park.  The promenade extents from a long way up the East River and is a wonderful place for walks or even runs or bike rides. Younger kids will enjoy spending time playing at Catbird Playground .

East River Promenade

Carl Schurz Park

If hungry, just walk West, towards 1st and 2nd Aves for a huge selection of restaurants, ice cream shops, bakeries, cafes, and bars.  And unlike most other “touristy” spots in New York City, the food is often at a very reasonable price and very good.

So next time you find yourself in the city, remember to venture further into the UES neighborhood, hang with the locals, and enjoy a calm stroll along another part of town.  You won’t be disappointed.

by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels

Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin’ town….so goes the famous song. Growing up in this thriving Midwest city I never really appreciated the truth of those lyrics. I worked downtown in the “Loop,” and although I spent many lunch hours strolling Michigan Avenue and the lakefront, it never dawned on me that Chicago was a truly spectacular metropolis. It took moving away, growing older, and returning to visit downtown’s magnificent Millennium Park for this fact to dawn on me.

Jay Pritzger Pavilion, home to year-round music programs, is the the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the country. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdho/559492613.

Millennium Park didn’t exist during the years I lived in Chicago. Grant Park had been built along the shores of Lake Michigan in the mid-1800’s in response to lobbying by citizens who feared commercial development along the lakefront, but the land between Grant Park and the rest of downtown was occupied by a wide swath of Illinois Central railroad tracks that remained a blight on an otherwise attractive landscape. It wasn’t until 1997, when Mayor Richard M. Daley directed his staff to develop plans for a new music venue to be built over the tracks, that the idea for Millennium Park was conceived.

Summer lavender in full bloom at Lurie Gardens in Milennium Park. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireflythegreat/2855461521.

The results are nothing short of spectacular. Today, the 24.5 acres that comprise the park include a winter ice skating rink, Lurie Gardens, the interactive Crown Fountain, and the hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture, which Chicagoans have nicknamed “The Bean” for its resemblance to a giant coffee bean. Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, is the centerpiece of the park. Free concerts and events that are as diverse as the city itself are held at the pavilion: fitness classes, classical music, jazz, world music, theater, reading circles, ethnic festivals, and dance are just some of the events scheduled throughout the year.

Cloud Gate sculpture reflects Chicago skyline in its seamless stainless steel surface. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/anneh632/3163674119/in/set-72157606211421780.

Bringing the project full circle, the BP Bridge was constructed between Millennium Park and Grant Park to the east, providing incomparable views of the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan from its 925-foot-long elevated walkway of brushed stainless steel panels. New York may be “the greatest city in the world” and LA may be “home of the movie stars” but with its ethnic diversity, cool neighborhoods, visually stunning architecture, and friendly people, I’ll take Chicago any day.