Category: Travel

Louisiana’s Poverty Point State Park Is Rich in Culture

The name may not sound inviting, but Poverty Point State RV Park at the Louisiana State Park and Reservoir in Delhi is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. The name comes from the abandoned 1800s plantation that was on this property long before it became a park. All the RV sites are…


Man Forms Amazing Friendship With Red Cardinal, Shares Lunch With Him Every Day for 20 Months

Kentucky man Joe Castello became known as “The Cardinal Guy” after he befriended a red bird in 2019 and posted a video on TikTok. It was a snowy December in 2019 and Castello, 58, was at work, having lunch in his truck, parked next to a protected wild space, when he spotted a cardinal on…


Wisconsin Dells: Water Thrills and Natural Beauty

Henry Hamilton Bennett, a carpenter, lost use of his hand while serving in the Civil War, and thus, a dramatic Ice Age river gorge became the Waterpark Capital of the World. True story, if incomplete. Wisconsin Dells is both a natural attraction and a tourist city on the Wisconsin River, attracting millions each year for…


The China Rockfish Is a Splash of Iridescent Color That Seems to Glow in the Dark

Rockfish are often featured on popular “catch and cook” YouTube channels, because they make such tasty fish tacos. But if you see this particular rockfish, you should consider throwing it back, and here’s why. The China rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus) is truly a spectacle to behold. With its dark-bluish or black body, speckled flecks of yellowish,…


Diver Finds Gold Coin Worth $98,000 in 400-Year-Old Spanish Shipwreck off Florida Keys

For decades, treasure hunters in search of gold have been diving to explore shipwrecks off the Florida Keys. In 1985, a mother lode gold haul was found inside the Nuestra de Atocha Spanish galleon which, heavily laden with precious gems and metals, tobacco, bronze cannons, and indigo, was ripped apart by a hurricane in 1622. Leading up…


An Exchange Experience in Frankfurt Rhine-Main

When my daughter began German classes in middle school, we could not have imagined how much the experience would add to our lives. Four years later, we hosted a student from Germany; we were preparing for my daughter to go there when the coronavirus pandemic spoiled everyone’s plans. In the summer before she started college,…


Reflection and Rebuilding in Berlin

On the four-hour train ride from Frankfurt to Berlin, my daughter, the friends we had come to visit and I used our phones and the helpful Marco Polo guidebook we had purchased at the Frankfurt station to plan the two brief days we would be there. By the time we pulled into the station, we…


Illusionistic Photographer Plays With Perspective to Create Surreal Images That Trick the Eye

A 31-year-old photographic artist in Germany has been making a splash on social media with his inventive illusionistic juxtapositions. Hugo Suissas, originally from Portugal, works as an art director at a German creative firm. On the side, the artist has a passion for imaginative photography—playing with perspective to compose iconic works reminiscent of surreal paintings by…


Traveler Photographs Surreal Siberian Desert Bordered by Ice-Capped Mountains, Lakes and Forests

Beside ice-crested mountains, lakes, forest, and swamps, one desert in Siberia defies expectations. Though its rolling dunes and sandstorms typify deserts elsewhere, the surreal Chara Sands stand out as one of the most peculiar—not to mention beautiful—deserts on Earth. Chara Sands emerged from the remains of a dried-up lake in the foothills of Kodar ridge over…


Ecuador: Mountains, Markets, and Music

So many foreign visitors who arrive in Ecuador spend next to no time in continental Ecuador, often merely overnighting between flights in its capital city of Quito. This is because their main destination is its Galapagos Islands, 836 miles from Quito, 563 miles from the coast of Ecuador west out in the Pacific Ocean. Big…