William Randolph Hearst’s request that architect Julia Morgan build him “a little something” may be classified as one of the greatest understatements of the 20th century. The end result of the media titan billionaire’s modest proposal is one of the … Continue reading →
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve was millennia in the making. The 618-square-mile lava field underlying the attraction near Arco, Idaho, was formed during eight major periods of countless eruptions between 2,000 and 15,000 years ago. No volcanoes … Continue reading →
His family called him “Al.” His teachers called him “too stupid to learn anything.” But through a lifetime of stratospheric curiosity, unrelenting inventiveness and an unrivaled work ethic, Thomas Alva Edison has earned the invariable honorific uttered even now across … Continue reading →
Real estate entrepreneur John Bourthoumieu recently migrated from northern Indiana to a waterside home on the Tennessee River about a dozen miles northwest of Florence, Ala. He found out about the Natchez Trace Parkway from “the guy who sold me … Continue reading →
The small town of Ocean City, Maryland, with about 7,000 residents, opens its doors — or rather its boardwalk — to 8 million visitors every year. The 2.5-mile traditional wooden plank walkway stretches north and south along pristine sandy beaches on the Atlantic coast. … Continue reading →
The place is a mystery, a classroom, a cultural museum and an ancient encyclopedia written more than three millennia ago that is slowly unfolding its pages to the painstaking efforts of archaeologists. Poverty Point State Historical Site, a U.S. National … Continue reading →
A well-known lateral thinking puzzle posits a wealthy book collector who purchases a rare edition for a quite princely sum. To maximize his investment, he takes the book home and immediately throws it in his fireplace. The question is, … Continue reading →
Regardless of weather or calendar, there is only one season in Santa Claus, Ind. The town of 2,410, located in the southwest corner of the state, would likely not be welcoming more than a million visitors a year today had … Continue reading →
In 1951 Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) opened his boyhood home to the public. Today Winterthur, pronounced “winter-tour,” stands as the premier museum campus of American decorative arts and naturalistic specimen plantings. Winterthur is situated about a mile and a … Continue reading →
To turn a phrase commonly associated with the Old West, the folks of Dodge City, Kan., “live with their boots on.” The southwestern Kansas city of 27,340, historically known as the Queen of the Cowtowns, centers its tourism industry efforts … Continue reading →
It is the rare and special dreamer who can scan the choppy waters of a mile-long strait in San Francisco and say, “We can build a bridge over that.” Or to peer at a mountain range and envision an asphalt … Continue reading →
