By Aviva Bechky The Seattle Times Seattle—Tens of thousands baseball fans flooded into Seattle for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and surrounding festivities from July 7-11. If we had the chance, we might have told each of those visitors: “Welcome! We’re new here, too. Seattle Times producer Sarah-Mae McCullough just moved to the city,…

In 1948 the city of Portland, Oregon, intended to erect a flagpole in a downtown median. When the plan failed, a journalist whose office overlooked the tiny site planted flowers there and named it “Mill Ends,” after the column he wrote for the Oregon Journal. This was a reference to pieces of wood left over…

By Ryan Biller From The Denver Post Denver—The famous Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs is the ninth-best attraction worldwide and second-best attraction in the U.S., according to Tripadvisor’s 2022 awards released Tuesday. Tripadvisor released its “Best of the Best Things to Do,” a part of their annual Traveler’s Choice Awards. The ranked list…

Remember when Maui was considered the undeveloped island of Hawaii, in the days before hordes of tourists and the commercialism that inevitably follows invaded its pristine coastline? Well, quick, before the same thing happens to Kauai, visit the Garden Island, the lushest and prettiest of the Hawaiian Islands. The oldest island in the chain —…

America’s rugged landscape and endless horizons seem to call to the inner pioneer of people who want to walk the world’s strangest places. Somehow, the World’s Biggest Ball of Twine in Darwin, Minnesota, also appeals to that exploring spirit. At roughly 13 feet tall, 40 feet around, and weighing 8.7 tons, the ball of twine…