Sicily defies categorization because it is not just an Italian region or Mediterranean island or former home of the Mafia. Your astonishment will bubble up and erupt just like Mt. Etna’s lava. Prepare to be awestruck visiting Sicily’s ancient Greek ruins. From my first moment looking out my airplane window at the ghostly images of buildings, roads, and sea, I felt a shiver. I would be traveling back in time for the next nine days to discover Sicily—known as the Crossroads…
Sugarloaf Mountain, a 1,283-mountain located near Barnesville, Maryland, is no Blue Ridge Mountain. But it also isn’t a three-hour drive to Shenandoah National Park. I had only one goal in mind. I wanted a morning hike with my son Byron with our two Golden Retrievers. But the last time we hiked together at Shenandoah, he wore high tops and messed up his knee. As any mother knows, bribery works so I dangled the promise of a new pair of hiking…
While there is no official U.S. Capitol Women Statues Tour, you can book a free U.S. Capitol Tour which permits you to see the famous women memorialized at the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Capitol now displays 14 statues of women. Twelve statues are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection (representing 12% of the 100 statues). The U.S. Congress also separately authorized two female statues to be displayed at the U.S. Capitol. Do not miss this free tour to see…
Moon Woman and Mountain Bird welcome the sunrise and watch the sunset at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Hunkered down in the lush meadows of their garden home on the south side of the museum, the contemporary clay sculptures are now the “Elders” of this Native American museum. The installation is christened “Always Becoming.” Their creator, artist Nora Noranjo-Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo), built the sculptures on-site in the summer of 2007. They are a mud mixture (of…
The brand-new U.S. Park Police Horse Stables and Welcome Center opened its doors in June 2023. Should you visit? YES! Remember dragging your children down the National Mall to see every monument and memorial? Your feet ache. You are not sure that you can even walk the return loop of the 5-mile walk from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. But then you spy a horse paddock on the horizon of the National Mall. Are you a victim of…
I run away to the beach each year to stare at the ocean. While this list is a work in progress, I tried to spotlight the transcendent beaches where I felt my spirit reenergized. Anne Morrow Lindbergh opined in Gift From the Sea that “the beach is not a place to work; to read, write or think. One is forced against one’s own mind, against all tidy resolutions, back into the primeval rhythms of the seashore.” I too go the…
Step back into maritime history when you visit Beaufort, North Carolina, and enjoy a treasure chest of free things to do. This Crystal Coast gem – the third oldest city in the Tar Heel State and originally known as Beaufort Towne – will beguile you. Dating back to the 1600s, Beaufort was a fishing village and port of safety. It is the perfect day excursion if you want a break from your beach vacation at Cape Lookout, Harkers Island, Atlantic…
No trip to North Carolina’s southern Outer Banks is complete without taking the ferry to visit the Cape Lookout Lighthouse (see a video on Instagram) on the National Seashore. A National Park Service (NPS) beach, it features 343 shoreline miles and 12,063 marine water acres. It should be the #1 family attraction to see. I visited with my daughter, son-in-law, and our family’s three retrievers (Perry, Teedie, and Parker) in August. You cannot drive to see the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.…
