August 2, 2024
When I saw that this active military base in New Mexico’s desert welcomes visitors to their museum, I knew I would be checking out the “Birthplace of America’s Missile and Space Activity.” Conducting more than 3,000 missile tests annually, the facility often closes roads to the nearby White Sands National Monument. On Read more…
May 12, 2024
Finally, a day to see the DC monuments again! I have a few days off. 🙂 And I picked up some very special visitors to hit National Mall with… The Washington Monument The Vietnam Memorial Lincoln from afar Lincoln Monument The White House Getting cheesy The Korean War Memorial is Read more…
October 15, 2023
After my birthday dinner I headed to Mount Misery… a kind of infamous place on Long Island, with most youth having ventured there for some supernatural thrills at least once in their life. I remember driving there with fellow misfits looking for something to scare us silly. This time, however, Read more…
April 1, 2023
The New York City area’s five opulent Wonder Theatres all opened in the late 1920’s–during the hey day of vaudevillian performances and onward into the golden age of cinema. Though it sat abandoned for four decades, the fully renovated Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre would be my first stop on my goal Read more…
February 20, 2023
The ruins of the Yuma Territorial Prison is within a historical state park. Opened in 1876, the prison held 3,040 male and 29 female “outlaws” of the west during its closing in 1909. The park’s museum contains artifacts, many made by prisoners who were given free time for creating beautiful Read more…
August 1, 2022
Feeling a bit like I was within a 5th grade unit of study on Westward Expansion, I walked through the train tunnels created for the Transcontinental Railroad, named after the Donner family, pioneers who wanted so badly to make it to the Golden west that they attempted to cross the Read more…
October 20, 2021
Within the woods of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania is a ghost town–20 concrete duplex homes that have been chipping away by nature and man since abandonment in 1924. They were constructed in 1911 by by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to house employees of the Truesdale Colliery, a thriving coal mine Read more…
August 23, 2020
I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to copy and paste the text from my Roswell, New Mexico post from February 2018 here, slightly edited, to start off. Because I’m outside Area 51, the mysterious military installment in the Nevada desert that allegedly received the Roswell, New Mexico Read more…
July 22, 2020
Since I declared my intention of visiting all of Virginia’s dark sky parks and camping three evenings, forces of nature have threw me some curveballs. But I subscribe to several related philosophies that have me generally accepting, catching curveballs and admiring each. Though my que sera sera-ness might not serve Read more…
February 18, 2020
Los Angeles is a massive sprawl of things to do. Like pedal boating in Echo Park. We rode the swans on a lovely LA morning. The La Brea Tar Pits are an interesting stop detailing the ancient history of the area. With many outdoor exhibits there is no need to Read more…
February 17, 2020
Back in the 1930’s an elaborate compound was constructed within Rustic Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. Its purpose, to sustain and thrive inside the political chaos amidst the aftermath of Nazi Germans fulfilling their political and military goals. You see, the 4-million dollar investment was built by Nazi sympathizers Read more…
December 18, 2019
In the oldest cemetery on Staten Island I found another reason to enjoy graving… intricately carved death heads and winged soul effigies, the topic of this angel-ish hunt in the 5 boroughs. Typical of gravestones from the 1600 and 1700’s, these decorative features were the earliest form of funerary art Read more…
October 13, 2019
As soon as my friend started describing his new seasonal side gig, terrorizing people at an old Victorian mansion on Staten Island, I knew he was referring to the Kreischer House. And I knew I’d now get to go inside the beautiful home I spied this summer. Dead By Dawn, Read more…
September 14, 2019
New York’s Renaissance Faire, the vibrant crossroad of many-an era-specific subculture, in Tuxedo, New York is wonderful way to spend a September Saturday. There are pirates, elves, faeries, wenches, princesses, knights… the perfection of the space and all its details brings revelers, yes, but more it brings authenticity, folks who Read more…
June 27, 2019
Socrates Sculpture Park is a free waterfront art space with great views of Manhattan. Gosh, that’s a lot of nice things in one sentence. Even nicer, the rippling fabric of the current exhibit, Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space, which was like a star filter for the daytime sky. Close Read more…
February 24, 2019
Rock Creek Cemetery is an 86-acre rural cemetery in Washington DC with some very haunting sculptures. With so many outstanding works registered with the Smithsonian’s Save Outdoor Sculpture initiative, it would be foolish to think that I wouldn’t drive the hour south from Baltimore to see some the gorgeous aged Read more…
November 23, 2018
Cemeteries are naturally contemplative spaces. They’re quiet, allow for extended walks and meanders, and they stir up all kinds of profound thoughts. They’re museums without the admission, without the gift shop, without the herds. And I have decided that this time of year is Cemetery Season–for me at least, where Read more…
August 11, 2018
When I visit a place, I look into its history, find its hidden goodies, look at with curiosity and hunger. Doesn’t your home deserve this level of attention to detail, if not more? Determined to not take home for granted and to claim it as all my own, I explored Read more…
May 19, 2018
I work several blocks away from Brooklyn’s historical Green-Wood Cemetery. And I had been meaning to get in there the entire school year. Now that the weather is relatively nice, I have taken a few opportunities to kill time, getting lost within its 478 acres. The cemetery is beautiful, quiet, Read more…
February 17, 2018
New Mexico has preserved remnants of countless ancient peoples. From the prehistoric Clovis Man to the Anasazi, ancestral Puebloans, the number of historical sites in the area is mind-blowing. One of the Anasazi, the Chaco Culture, inhabited Chaco Canyon in current day New Mexico during the 9th and 13th century. Read more…
November 29, 2017
On a warm morning this past July, I tried my luck at obtaining a timed entry pass to the new Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C., National Museum of African American History and Culture. I had been excited about the museum since seeing a segment on the museum’s construction and public Read more…
November 26, 2017
It was kind of hard for me not to hum the intro to House of Cards during my visit. It is kind of the best part of the show. The Capital building peeks out. The White House. Whoopie. Washington’s phallic monument The National Mall, Lincoln’s Memorial in the far distance. My Read more…
September 26, 2015
**Updated for 2020** This post has received a lot of traffic since I first posted it in 2015, but more so recently. I have since discovered that it is now a retail “community center.” Considering the continued interest, I unearthed more shots from my visit in honor of the now Read more…
January 21, 2009
January 19, 2009, 11:15 p.m. (LaGuardia, picking up the car rental) January 20, 2009, 2:00 a.m. (Maryland rest stop) January 20, 2009, 3:40 a.m. (Greenbelt, MD Metro station) January 20, 2009, 7:15 a.m. (The sun comes out finally!) January 20, 2009, 7:35 a.m. (Walking through a tunnel underneath the National Read more…
September 13, 2008
Off the well worn track of my daily life here in New York is a different city. A city that the tourists come to see. 46 million tourists just in 2007 (this and other interesting figures here). Among New York City’s countless attractions and world renowned cultural institutions is the Read more…
August 28, 2008
As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living. Children were also working, as they provided cheap labor to employers and laws against child labor were not strongly enforced. Read more…
