America's 250th, Cultural travel, Historic Hotels, Historic Places, Hotels & Resorts, See America, US Destinations

21 C Museum Hotel St. Louis Embodies, Preserves City’s History, Culture, Community

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Art is a key element of the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, a Historic Hotels of America member, where even the staircase is like walking into a painting © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s become my practice to arrive at least a day early for a tour or cruise – to take into account any unforeseen travel delays but also to spend at least a day to explore.

With a 6:30 am pick up time for my Wilderness Voyageurs six-day bike tour on the famed Katy Trail 240-miles through Missouri, this wasn’t even an option. So knowing I would be flying into St. Louis (about 25 minutes away from the pick-up), I took the opportunity to have a good portion of a day to explore this history- and culturally-rich city.

My first step is always to seek out a Historic Hotels of America member property because I know staying in a historic hotel will enhance my appreciation for a destination– these properties are integral to a place, even characters that typically play a part in its story, are always architecturally and culturally interesting and can be depended upon to be walking distance or close proximity to the what want to explore.

St. Louis’ iconic sites, the Old Courthouse and Gateway Arch National Park are walking distance from 21c Museum Hotel © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

That was definitely the case for my stay at the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, with a marvelous story, gorgeous architecture, set amid the city’s important historic and cultural structures, and most importantly, a delightful 20-minute walk to Gateway Arch National Park, which was top of my list to see. But it had something more: an important art gallery, that, I learned, is the essence of this hotel brand of six 21c Museum Hotels.

The 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis started its story as a community hub when it opened as a central branch of the St. Louis YMCA in 1926, and this year is celebrating its 100th anniversary and its third anniversary as a hotel.

You might imagine a YMCA as a modest, even institutional structure, but this one was built as an architectural gem.

It was originally constructed by architects Louis LaBeaume and Eugene S. Klein in the Renaissance Revival style as the central branch of the St. Louis YMCA, and was the organization’s largest local branch and a major community hub until 2017. Due to its architectural significance and deep ties to the city, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

21c Museum Hotels revived the 10-story YMCA building, preserving its historic architectural elements like the original indoor pool, billiards room, and gymnasium and reasserting the space’s relevance as a gathering point in the heart of St. Louis. The hotel opened and became an official member of Historic Hotels of America in 2023.

The former YMCA basketball court is now a stunning art exhibition space at the 21c Museum Hotel, St. Louis © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Today, the 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis is a 173-room boutique hotel which is not just a hotel with an art gallery, but houses a major contemporary art museum. It features 14,000 square feet of curated gallery space (much of it in what used to be the basketball court, and open free of charge to the public 24-hours a day (guests have to use their room card in the elevator to access the room floors). 

“Infusing the extraordinary into daily life, radical access to contemporary art is the modus operandi of 21c St. Louis,” the notes read. “Dynamic and thought-provoking curated exhibitions reflect the global nature of art today.” 

Art is a distinct element of the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, a Historic Hotels of America member, where there is a gallery open 24/7 to the public and a proud heritage in the community since 1926 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Indeed, I was enthralled by the exhibit on view during my stay, “The Future Is Female”; the current exhibit “Revival: Digging Into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow” is on view through January (https://21cmuseumhotels.com/museum/revival/). (The exhibits typically rotate among the 21c Museum Hotels.)

Paying homage to its YMCA roots, the 10,500-square-foot full-service Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club boasts a stunning, tiled indoor four-lane lap pool © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Paying homage to its YMCA roots, the 10,500-square-foot full-service Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club boasts a stunning, tiled indoor four-lane lap pool you might confuse for a millionaires’ mansion, sauna, steam rooms and offers spa services.

Other features include the Idol Wolf restaurant serving Iberian-inspired dishes; the Good Press Café; a stunning lobby bar, and a lounge with pool table.

While art and stunning interior design are everywhere at the 21c Museum Hotel, the ambiance is warm, welcoming, even comfortable © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The art spills over throughout the building so you never know what you will come upon, causing surprise and delight. Even the staircase between floors is a work of art.

Art is a key element of the 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, a Historic Hotels of America member, where even the staircase is like walking into a painting © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The property is known for its playful, colorful penguin sculptures scattered throughout the public spaces – a feature of the 21c Museum owners. Guests can even request to have one “adopted” and placed in their room during their stay.

The penguins first debuted at 21c Museum Hotel Louisville. 21c founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson had purchased the sculptures after seeing the joy they evoked from onlookers at the 2005 Venice Biennale public art project. Now perched around 21c Museum Hotels (each 21c has its own flock of penguins in the color that embodies the city’s identity), the playful penguins contribute to the hotel’s mission of making contemporary art more accessible to the public.

While art and stunning interior design are everywhere at the 21c Museum Hotel, the ambiance is warm, welcoming, even comfortable © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

And while there is art everywhere and stunning interior design, it is not at all forbidding or unapproachable, but warm and welcoming, even comfortable. You feel very much a part of the “club.” And it is easy to see why 21c Museum Hotel Louisville was named to the Historic Hotels of America’s 2025 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America for a Romantic Proposal – indeed, I spot a bridal couple in an embrace, posing for their photos.

21c Museum Hotel Louisville was named to the Historic Hotels of America’s 2025 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America for a Romantic Proposal © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 21c Museum Hotel also honors its original commitment to community, from its days as the YMCA, collaborating with its neighbors and community partners to ensure the historic establishment’s presence extends beyond its walls. Guests can enjoy poetry evenings, attend artist demonstrations, and support local creators during their stay.

Strolling through Citygarden Sculpture Park, St. Louis © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

From the hotel, I wander to see the Mississippi River as it winds through St. Louis. I stroll through the Citygarden Sculpture Park on the way to the riverfront – a green area filled with beautifully landscaped lawns, cooling water features including sprinklers for children to play in, and striking sculptures. At the riverfront, you can take a cruise on a 19th-century paddlewheel riverboat or cycle along the river on bike paths that connect Missouri from downtown St. Louis to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, a historic Route 66 landmark.

St. Louis’ iconic sites, the Old Courthouse and Gateway Arch National Park are walking distance from 21c Museum Hotel © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I am bound for the Gateway Arch National Park, coming upon the Old Courthouse, which I realize was the site of the first two trials of the consequential Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850 (see next).

But St. Louis is, no doubt, a sports city.

Besides being integral to St. Louis’ historic and cultural attractions, the 21c Museum Hotel is close by to St. Louis’ key sports destinations that are a big lure to the city: Energizer Park, a 22,423-seat soccer-specific stadium and 32-acre urban sports district in downtown St. Louis; Enterprise Center, an 18,096-seat indoor arena located at 1401 Clark Avenue in downtown St. Louis, that is home venue for the St. Louis Blues professional hockey team and hosts major concerts, family shows, and basketball tournaments. It is also a short ride away from Busch Stadium, the 45,000-seat stadium that is home base for the Cardinals baseball team.

The hotel offers an “Ultimate Cardinals Experience” that includes a $10 Uber credit to Busch Stadium, a 4-pack of local 4 Hands City Wide brews and a $25 credit (per stay) to be used at Idol Wolf or Good Press

Year round there are special packages to meet the mood and the season. Some recent examples:

Celebrate Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed with in-room dining from Good Press café, a rejuvenating spa treatment at the historic Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club, tour the art exhibition and end with a show-stopping Spanish-meets-midwest dinner at Idol Wolf.

Pampered Penguin package includes 1-hour massage at Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club and a bottle of bubbles upon arrival.

Yoga with Art: Beginners are welcome for Hatha Yoga Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. (Drop-in passes can be purchased at the front desk at Locust Street Athletic and Swim Club).

Nightcap At The Museum: 21c Museum Hotel guests are invited to join the hotel every night for a complimentary late-night Angel’s Envy Bourbon sip and explore the museum exhibitions as the night winds down. Visit the restaurant bar from 8 pm-late and enjoy a pour with new friends, wandering around the galleries, or cozied up in your room.

While art and stunning interior design are everywhere at the 21c Museum Hotel, the ambiance is warm, welcoming, even comfortable © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

There are currently six 21c Museum Hotel locations operating in the United States, managed as part of the Ennismore and Accor collection: Louisville, Kentucky (Flagship); Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Kansas City, Missouri; and St. Louis, Missouri

21c’s chef-driven restaurants and bars highlight the brand’s Kentucky roots – so expect a healthy assortment of Bourbons behind the bar. You can explore the spirits and cocktail programs at: Idol Wolf, 21c St. Louis; Lockbox, 21c Lexington; Metropole, 21c Cincinnati; Proof on Main, 21c Louisville; The Hive, 21c Bentonville

21c Museum Hotel, 1528 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, reservations: 888-831-7077, 21cMuseumHotels.com

A member of Historic Hotels of America since 2023, 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis has been named to these Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Lists:

The 2025 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America for a Romantic Proposal
The 2025 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Best of Adaptive Reuse List
The 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Best of Adaptive Reuse List

Historic Hotels of America is a membership organization comprised mostly of independently owned and operated historic hotels but also from some 30 of the world’s major hospitality brands, chains and collections, and from 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. To be selected for membership into this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; been designated by the U.S. Interior Secretary as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historic significance.

These historic hotels have all faithfully maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity. HHA members occupy buildings that date as early as 1651. Many are the site of key events in regional, national, or international history or have played host to famous figures, from heads of state and industry titans to writers and movie stars. Some hotels are also intertwined with the country’s cultural history, either as venues or culinary hotspots. As a historic preservation and hospitality program focused on experiences, Historic Hotels of America supports cultural heritage tourism and sustainability.   

(Its sister organization, Historic Hotels Worldwide® is a global collection of more than 300 historic hotels in more than 40 countries, including castles, chateaus, palaces, academies, haciendas, villas, monasteries, and other historic lodging spanning ten centuries, historichotels.org.)

Historic Hotels of America® is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation with the mission to increase the preservation, recognition, and celebration of the finest historic hotels in the USA.

For more than 70 years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has led the movement to save Americas historic places. A privately funded nonprofit organization, it works to save America’s historic sites; tell the full American story; build stronger communities; and invest in preservation’s future.

Find Historic Hotels of America members when you travel: https://www.historichotels.org/us,  800 678 8946.

See also:

Biking through History on Missouri’s Katy Trail During America’s 250th

Biking the Katy Trail: From Cliffside Pictographs to the Capital’s Stirring ‘Social History of Missouri’ Mural

Biking Missouri’s Katy Trail Following Lewis & Clark, Daniel Boone & the Westward Expansion

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, longislandpress.com/category/vacation-travel.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near. X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures. Send comments/questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com.

Festivals and Events, New York City travel, Sports Travel

Glitzy US Tennis Open in NYC Begins with Free Fan Week

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Among the thrills of Fan Week at the US Tennis Open in Flushing Meadows Park is being able to watch stars like Coco Gauff in a practice session at Arthur Ashe Stadium and watching the qualifying rounds. The week of events is free but this year, adults have to pre-register © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

On top of the other sports spectaculars this summer – the NY Knicks becoming NBA Champions, NY-NJ hosting FIFA World Cup matches including the final – the summer comes to its thrilling conclusion with what puts New York City in the epicenter of the global sports firmament each year: the US Tennis Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens.

During Fan Week at the US Tennis Open, everyday folks can enjoy a festive atmosphere, watch the pros practice, thrilling qualifying matches, and enjoy special events at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It begins with Fan Week, August 23-29 – a whole week of free activities including the thrilling Qualifiers tournament as players vie for a coveted spot in the US Tennis Open, opportunities to watch at close proximity the greatest tennis players today in their practice sessions (I’ll never forget Nadel taking off his shirt), and all the excitement as the tournament comes to life in this vast complex. (Each day has its own events. See the full schedule of Fan Week activities, https://www.usopen.org/en_US/fan-week/schedule-of-events.html)

Take note: New this year for the first time, adults have to register for a Fan Week Pass – it’s free, but you say what days you intend to come and how many minors are attending. (Also note that backpacks are not permitted.)

Another change this year is Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day powered by Net Generation is scheduled at the beginning of Fan week, Sunday, August 23, 9:30-am to 6 pm, celebrating the life and legacy of tennis and cultural icon Arthur Ashe and inspiring young people.

They are very good about publishing the practice schedule for the pro players you are dying to see close up. It is also the best opportunity to get autographs!

It is thrilling to watch the Qualifying Matches, as unseeded players vie for a spot in the US Tennis Open © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I actually enjoy watching the Qualifying Matches immensely, and you get to see the players so close, you can appreciate the skill in a way you can’t by watching on TV.

The U.S. Open tournament runs through September 13, and the US Open Tennis Association offers any numb er of special experiences.

New this year: The Championship Lounge, a premium hospitality club debuting this year at the US Open, is an ultimate luxury experience available only for the semifinals and finals during Championship Weekend.

On Court experiences include On Court Session (an exclusive 10-person private lesson with tennis legends on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court); Courtside Views (watch from 10 of the most coveted seats in the newly expanded courtside bowl); The Overlook+ Access (all-inclusive premium buffet and an open bar); Private Car Service (arrive like the pros with a complimentary chauffeur); Play Like A Pro (a private hitting session and one-on-one time with tennis legends on the tournament’s official practice courts); Serving Change: The Billie Jean King Experience (a fireside chat with Billie Jean King with access to a shared luxury suite at this year’s Mixed Doubles Championship).

During Fan Week, getting to watch Aryna Sabalenka practice, then vie for an autograph © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This year, US Open Tennis fans will see the unfolding of the US Open’s largest single investment, $800 million, in the US Open and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: the reimagination and modernization of Arthur Ashe Stadium, along with the creation of a new, state-of-the-art Player Performance Center.

The project is self-funded by the USTA, with New York City continuing to benefit from more than $1.2 billion in annual economic impact from the three weeks of the US Open. Combined with the US Open’s most recent transformation project, completed in 2018, the USTA has invested nearly $2 billion into the US Open and its home facility, without using public, taxpayer or government funding.

The transformation is taking place over three phases and will be completed by the 2027 US Open, without interrupting play or fan access for the event.

During Fan Week, getting to watch Aryna Sabalenka practice, then vie for an autograph © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This year is a year of transition, with fans seeing much of the stadium revamped, including the interior of Arthur Ashe Stadium, an upward extension of the courtside-level bowl with 2,000 new seats, expanding the courtside experience from 3,000 to 5,000 seats; a 40 percent increase to the promenade-level concourse, adding significantly more open space for fans at the promenade and loge levels; two new dedicated luxury suite levels.

Also included in the project is a state-of-the-art, $250 million Player Performance Center, which will provide US Open competitors with best-in-class amenities. This facility, to be ready for 2027, will be located on the west side of Arthur Ashe Stadium, adjacent to the practice courts.

Check the daily schedule of free Fan Week events, Aug. 23-29. This year, for the first time, adults need to pre-register © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

US Open Elevates Luxury Experiences

Fan Week at the US Open is aimed at welcoming locals and regular folk. But once the tournament gets underway, it becomes this elite, elegant affair with scores of ways to elevate the level of exclusive and luxurious experience.

The transformation of Arthur Ashe Stadium is in full swing, particularly with US Open Premier offerings of access tp luxurious suites, premium club spaces and innovative courtside experiences. Packages to three updated luxury destinations for the 2026 tournament – The Blue Room, The Club and The Overlook at the US Open – include admission into one of the three hospitality clubs, and access to coveted courtside seating in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

During Fan Week, watching Carlos Alcaraz work out  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Blue Room: For the first time, US Open Premier guests can enjoy in-stadium hospitality. In addition to a ticket to one of the best seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium, this hospitality package also includes exclusive access to The Blue Room, located at the former Aces Restaurant in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Blue Room the highest tier of US Open Premier offerings, with dedicated seated tables for a plated multi-course dining experience, as well as an all-inclusive bar. The Blue Room also has takeaway options so you can enjoy food and drinks while watching your favorite players take the court.

The Club (formerly known as the US Open Club) offers a new premium dining experience on the east side of Arthur Ashe Stadium, featuring a sprawling buffet of gourmet food selections. The all-inclusive specialty cocktail and beverage service also includes an elegant cocktail hour with passed drinks. The Club also offers grab-and-go options so you can take premium food and beverages back to your stadium seat.

The Overlook at the US Open (previously the Overlook and 1968 Room) remains at its prime vantage point between courts 12 and 17 but with more premium offerings. Guests have a world-class culinary experience with a rotating selection from chef-attended food stations; open bar service; sweet treats at a grab-and-go candy bar, dessert and gelato stations which can be enjoyed . at The Overlook’s elegant indoor and outdoor dining areas.

Select multi-session hospitality ticket packages are available to purchase now, including full-tournament series packages in The Club.

Getting to watch practice matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, during Fan Week © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

NYC Lays Out Red Carpet for US Open Attendees

New York City rolls out the red carpet for tennis fans during the US Tennis Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. Many hotels are an easy 7 train or Long Island Railroad ride away, while several luxury hotels offer private transportation © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Coming or hosting guests from afar? New York is laying out the red carpet:

Steve Furgal’s International Tennis Tours, an official travel partner of the USTA and US Open, can arrange a customized experience for the tournament, Aug 30-Sept. 13. US Open travel packages are designed to make your trip effortless, exciting, and deeply memorable. Each package includes your choice of hotel accommodations in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, round-trip transportation to the grounds, hospitality upgrades, and exclusive add-ons. You choose your hotel, the days you want to attend the Open, and choose your seats including suites. (https://onlocationexp.com/tennis/us-open-tennis-tickets, 858-675-3555, info@tours4tennis.com).

The Barclay Ace Experience, at the Intercontinental NY Barclay, an official Hotel Sponsor of the US Open through IHG Hotels & Resorts, starting at $7,500, includes: a stay in the hotel’s luxurious Lexington Suite; two US Open Grounds Passes for Saturday, September 5th Day Session (all matches outside Arthur Ashe Stadium); private roundtrip transportation to and from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; tennis-themed welcome amenity, exclusive US Open x IHG Hotels & Resorts swag, make-your-own Honey Deuce cocktail kit inspired by the tournament’s signature drink, in-room access to the Tennis Channel to catch every match.

For travelers looking for a more accessible way to experience the tournament, the hotel is also offering its Game, Set, Match package, available Aug. 24-Sept. 13, which includes upgraded premium accommodations along with the same tennis-inspired welcome amenities, exclusive swag, Honey Deuce cocktail kit and Tennis Channel access. (https://www.icbarclay.com/offers/game-set-match)

LUMA Hotel Times Square has launched the “Game. Set. Stay.” US Open Package, featuring Honey Deuce-inspired cocktails from onsite restaurant AperiBar, and US Open tennis ball sugar cookies from Padoca Bakery. LUMA is located near Penn Station for seamless access to the LIRR and subway direct to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (https://www.lumahotels.com/times-square/offers/game-set-stay/). 

Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza is offering its “Ace Your Stay” package, designed for guests looking to experience tennis season in NYC while enjoying an elevated stay. The package includes a tennis-themed welcome cocktail, a complimentary room upgrade, based on availability, and late check-out. The hotel’s Midtown location also makes it an especially convenient home base for tennis fans. Located just steps from Grand Central Terminal, fans can easily connect to the 7 train or Long Island Rail Road for access to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

Created exclusively for the US Open, The Langham’s “Between Sets” package focuses on the time when not at the tournament. The program includes: overnight accommodations; access to The Langham Club, including daily breakfast and refreshments; an exclusive signed tennis ball from a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion; round-trip private SUV transportation to and from one US Open tournament session; The Summer Recovery Facial by Estheraphy; and Match Point Turndown. (https://www.langhamhotels.com/en/the-langham/new-york/offers/celebrate-offers/us-open-2026/)

The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park’s “Game, Set, Match” package, is crafted for true fans of the sport. Enjoy luxurious accommodations, seamless transportation to the tournament venue, and specially curated welcome amenities including an official branded hat to wear at the match. Valid for stays Aug. 29-Sept. 14. (Book 7 days in advance: https://www.marriott.com/offers/game-set-match-OFF-207621/NYCCP-nyccp-the-ritz-carlton-new-york-central-park, 212-308-9100, email centralparkERS@marriott.com)

The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad is offering an exclusive “Ace the City” package, for stay dates from August 14th to September 14th, 2026,  that includes: two night stay in a Penthouse Residence; exclusive access to Hudson River Tennis Club, a private, members-only club, including roundtrip transportation; Play Like a Pro (choose between a private tennis lesson with former professional Noah Rubinor a semi-private clinic for up to four guests, an ideal option for families traveling together, including access to HRTC’s facilities, private lounge, and wellness areas); Tennis Style, premium tennis-inspired look curated by Malbon; Courtside Essentials, a branded tennis cap, tennis balls and vintage racquet; Tournament-Inspired Touches (tennis-inspired welcome pastries and a private, in-residence cocktail masterclass featuring the Ace Paloma or Honey Deuce); a private round-trip transfer to and from the US Open; Dining in Bloom (table for two at Dahlia’s Garden & Terrace, its outdoor summer pop-up facing the Empire State Building; and Recovery & Relaxation: A 60-minute Muscle Recovery Massage at The Ritz-Carlton Spa. Rates start at $15,000/night.

Lotte New York Palace unveiled its most exclusive tennis experience yet: a $100,000 stay that combines VIP access to tennis’ biggest week, luxurious accommodations and a 12ct diamond Tennis Bracelet from Martin Katz priced at $62,000. Available for stays August 24–31 (two-night minimum), the 2026 “Game Set Sparkle” experience centers around the hotel’s dazzling three-story Jewel Suite by Martin Katz, paired with exclusive access for four to the annual Palace Invitational, Aug. 27,  the hotel’s invitation-only pre-US Open celebration, a private Champagne and canapés reception for up to four guests on the Jewel Suite’s rooftop terrace, and intimate 30-minute in-suite consultation with jeweler Martin Katz. This experience also includes a reimagined “Palace” Tennis Bracelet, set with 84 round diamonds that suggest the New York skyline. The experience is anchored by the Jewel Suite by Martin Katz – a 5,000+ square-foot, three-story residence inspired by Art Deco glamour, complete with a soaring crystal chandelier, floating displays featuring more than $1.5 million in Martin Katz jewelry, a private rooftop terrace with outdoor jacuzzi, grand piano, and sweeping Manhattan skyline views (lottenypalace.com).

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

America's 250th, Biking Tours, Outdoors Adventures, See America

Biking Missouri’s Katy Trail Following Lewis & Clark, Daniel Boone & the Westward Expansion

Missouri Pride and community love of the Katy Trail is on view in art and community projects © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Missouri’s Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Famer, is for bikers who want to ride 240 miles with pure abandon, with not much to distract unless you want to be distracted – such as by the historic markers that are fascinating, complete, and an excellent guide to what to look out for what I guarantee you would never have thought to look for.

Day 4 on Wilderness Voyageur’s six-day Katy Trail bike tour is another vigorous ride, 47.8 miles from the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, to Hermann (elevation plus 772 ft, down 821 ft).

Starting out, though, we go back up that hill that provided such a dramatic view of the Capital Building the day before, back to the bridge over the river, and down the winding ramp (fun!), to the spur that brings us back onto the Katy Trail exactly where we turned off the day before.

Now we are back in Missouri’s farm land and a landscape that seems unchanged in 100 years. We ride passed fields of corn and soy, with the Manitou Bluffs in the distance beyond the plain.

The Katy Trail immerses cyclists in Missouri’s rural heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What is so impressive all along the Katy Trail is Missouri Pride – it is evident in the meticulously planned rest stops and restored train depots, the historic notes at each one, the placards and markers and stories all along the trail that trigger our imagination as we ride, even on big posters and billboards and signs on buildings and silos. A city kid, I no sooner question in my mind how those grain silos work than we come upon an exhibit that explains the revolutionary invention.

Tiny villages that once were supported by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad preserve their old-timey ambiance © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

That pride is especially clear here at Tebbets, our first rest stop.

Tebbets is where there is the volunteer-run Turner Katy Trail Shelter, the only bike hostel centrally located on the Katy’s 240 miles (the key hangs on a light pole), which was a home donated by its owner.

The Turner Katy Trail Shelter is a free hostel for cyclists that was donated to the state park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear

We ride through Rhineland, which I learn was the third largest producer of wine in the world before Prohibition dried it up. This is one of the few places where the Katy Trail follows a different path from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad (the call sign, K-T). The town was destroyed by the flood of ’93, and moved along the bluff.

We ride along highway Route 93 (not really scary, actually, there is a wide shoulder), and over the bridge (there is a bike path over the bridge but getting there involves doing a clover leaf maneuver) that brings us into the town of Hermann.

Biking from Hermann © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We stay at the Hermann Crown Suites – which sounds like a modern chain hotel but is actually a charming historic hotel. It is a fun place – there is live music in its patio area in the evening, or if it is raining, in their 1837 Cellar Bar – and we are treated to a welcome drink (or ice cream, which I prefer).

We get here early enough to wander around the town checking out a remarkable selection of boutiques and shops before they close, and a beautiful riverside park. We check out the famous Hermann Wurst Haus.

Selection of liquors at Hermann Wurst Haus © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The German-feel to Hermann is not imaginary – the town was founded in 1836 as the “New Fatherland” for German settlers.

We come upon the red brick German School, built in 1871 but incorporated in 1849 by the state legislature to offer classes in German and English. The structure was the only privately owned public school building in the state when it was deeded to historic Hermann Inc in 1955 to be preserved and used for cultural and civic purposes.

Hermann, Missouri, was founded as the “New Fatherland” for German settlers © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

There is a plaque on the Monnig Family General Store which basically epitomizes America’s immigrant experience: Otto Monnig, who migrated with two of his brothers from Rees, Germany to the US in the 1840s, operated his general store from 1870 to 1890. He started with hardware and cutlery and expanded to add clothing, toys, groceries. Otto’s son-in-law, Dr. Gustave Ettmueller opened a drug store and post office in the building. Otto Monnig also founded the Hermann Savings Bank and served as president, 1867-1883.

Hermann’s historic district has many marvelous buildings to explore. They date back to early 19th century, but the vibe is 1940s/1950s – from the signs, the products.  

Signs evoke past times in Hermann, Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We’ve been riding on what used to be the Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail line but In Hermann, we see an actual Amtrak train pulling out from the station just above the riverbank. 

Dinner is on our own and there are lots of places to choose from, returning to the hotel for the live music on its back patio.

Live music in the evening on the Hermann Crown Suites patio © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Day 5 is a 38 mile ride from Hermann to Augusta, almost entirely flat. We ride back on I-93 and back over the bridge to where we had left the Katy Trail.

The first support stop is at 18.5 miles (versus 9 miles which is more typical) at Treloar – and to get there, we need to make a 3 mile detour on roads because just the prior week, a storm put a tree across the trail (just ahead of the last Wilderness Voyageurs group so our guide James Oerding had to find a way around).

We stop at the Treloar Mercantile building, built around 1896 which served as the dry goods store and post office until closing in 1933. Dan and Connie Burkhardt, who created a foundation to preserve land and historic structures (katylandtrust.org), bought the building in 2018 and donated it to Missouri State Parks in 2024. It is being refurbished, and I chance upon the Burkhardts and the former state Transportation Secretary, David Kelly, who directed the building of the Katy Trail State Park and now is on the board of Magnificent Missouri, overseeing the restoration. There is a marvelous historic exhibition inside.

Connie Burkhardt (left) & Dan Burkhardt with Tammy Leigh, manager of the museum at the Treloar Mercantile building, which the Burkhardt’s donated to Katy Trail State Park, a demonstration of Missouri Pride we feel all along the 240-mile trail  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It is with justified pride that Kelly relates that the last economic impact study showed the Katy Trail generated $18 million for the state – a figure that is much higher after COVID.  “There was a big uptick in users after COVID because people discovered the health benefits, and being outdoors.”

He acknowledges that places like Hartsburg (population 138) and Rotheport (population239) would be ghost towns were it not for Katy Trail and the tourism traffic it brings.

Of Missouri’s 93 state parks, the Katy is the most unique: 100 ft wide and 240 miles long. Missouri is now developing the 144-mile long Rock Island corridor, which opened 2021, of which 47 miles connect to the Katy Trail (so you can ride a loop).

Katy is the longest developed rail trail in US and Rock Island will be 4th largest; when combined with 13 miles in Jackson County, it forms a 445 mile long corridor to Kansas City.

The Katy Trail immerses cyclists in Missouri’s rural heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Katy Trail State Park is built on the corridor of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad, better known as the Katy. When the railroad ceased operation on its route in Missouri from Machens in St. Charles County to Sedalia in Pettis County in 1986, the right-of-way was secured through funding from the late Edward D. “Ted” Jones Jr. (the son of the founder of Edward Jones Investments) and his wife, Pat. Construction of the Katy Trail began in 1987. The first section of trail at Rocheport was opened in 1990.

The Katy Trail repurposes an abandoned rail line for a recreational trail enjoyed by countless numbers of people © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

In 1991, the Union Pacific Railroad donated 33 miles of rail corridor from Sedalia to east of Clinton. Additional purchases and donations were added over the years, completing the final 240-mile trail with Machens as the eastern terminus and Clinton as the western terminus. The trail’s 25th anniversary was celebrated in 2015.

The Katy Trail repurposes an abandoned rail line for a recreational trail enjoyed by countless numbers of people © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

As we ride the Katy Trail, we are reminded of the trail’s railroad history, passing old telegraph poles, riding over truss and  trestle bridges. Four fully restored historic depots recall the past splendor of passenger service on the MKT, while the stone railroad tunnel at Rocheport displays the ingenuity required to complete the MKT rail line.

The Katy Trail helps preserve Missouri’s farm land and heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Meanwhile, Dan and Connie Burkhardt, retired partners of Edward Jones investment company, continued Jones’ legacy by founding the Katy Land Trust in 2010, which  works cooperatively with landowners along the Katy Trail corridor to preserve farms, forests and Missouri River valley (katylandtrust.org).

The Katy Trail helps preserve Missouri’s farm land and heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Four miles further is the Peers Store, the “Magnificent Missouri” outpost, with a mission to conserve and increase appreciation of the Katy Trail and the last 100 miles of the Missouri River Valley, from Hermann to Confluence. Here, there are live music on the porch from June through August, art, snacks and community (magnificentmissouri.org).

Missouri Pride: The Katy Trail helps preserve Missouri’s farm land and heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We ride through tiny towns that reflect French and Native American influence. The furthest European settlements west of the Mississippi were in this region when Lewis & Clark first passed through in 1804. French fur trappers were prevalent settlers here.

A highlight today, is taking a bit of a detour off the Katy Trail to visit where Daniel Boone and his wife were buried. (They make no bones of the fact their bodies were supposedly moved from here back to Kentucky, but leave a bit of mystery in saying that the wrong bones may have been taken and Daniel may still be buried here after all.)

I first miss the turn but convince our guide, James Oerding, to go back (again, I am last, so the guide rides behind me). And I’m glad I did.

The original burial place of Daniel Boone and his wife, Rebecca Bryan Boone. Still a mystery if his bones were taken to Kentucky or are actually still there © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The small cemetery is very interesting, and is adjacent to his sons’ homestead (Daniel is said to have stayed there for a short time). It is interesting to see how Boone was so revered. (I think I am the only one of our group who did the detour.)

The small cemetery at the Boone homestead is interesting to see © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The small cemetery at the Boone homestead is interesting to see © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

A marker at the rest stop relates how Daniel Boone, his sons’ and daughters’ families, other relations, friends and family slaves, came to Missouri in 1799 when Boone was 65 years old and already famous in America and Europe. He had fought in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. In between, he explored Kentucky and Tennessee and helped blaze the Wilderness Road over the Appalachian Mountains that settlers followed. In Kentucky, much of Boone’s fame was based on battling the Shawnee Indians who (understandably) resisted American expansion into Kentucky’s “dark and bloody ground.” But Boone “soured” on Kentucky. Spain, which then controlled the Louisiana Territory. was anxious to have settlers come, especially one as respected and influential as Daniel Boone, so Spain “recruited” Daniel Boone to come to Missouri, appointing him “syndic” (a justice of the peace) and militia leader. (I hadn’t realized until I visited the Gateway Arch National Monument in St. Louis that the Louisiana Territory went back and forth from France which claimed it in 1682, to Spain in 1762 through a secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, then (secretly) back to France in1800, before France sold the Louisiana Territory to the US in 1803. The whiplash!

A cabin on the Boone family’s homestead © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We ride through Marthasville (named for Martha Washington) and end today’s ride at Augusta where we are shuttled (the only time we are taken by the van to our hotel) into the charming town of Washington, where we first have lunch at a fun spot, John G’s Beir Deck (delicious bratwurst and coleslaw). We walk off lunch to where we overnight, Elijah McClean’s, a wonderful inn attached to a mansion, now a restaurant where we will have a grand dinner.

Washington, Missouri, is a slice of mid-America © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Along the way, we pass by the Meerschaum’s Corn Cob Pipe factory, the only corncob pipe factory still operating in the world (James tells us) – unfortunately, it is already closed so we can’t visit.

What may be the last Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipe factory in the world is in Washington, Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 

After settling into my hotel room, I walk back to Main Street and come upon a community concert at the Farmer’s Market, held weekly on Thursdays, 5-8 pm (for future Katy Trail riders). It is wonderful, especially when people start line dancing.

A band concert at the Farmers Market in Washington, Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our last dinner together is a fabulous one, at Mangia Bella, the fine dining restaurant at Elijah Mclean’s,

Elijah Mclean’s, Washington, Missouri, where we spend our last night of the six-day Wilderness Voyageurs Katy Trail bike tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Enjoying our last dinner together at Mangia Bella, the fine dining restaurant at Elijah Mclean’s © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

On Day 6, our last day, I have my only regret of the trip: I forget to stay for James’ whiteboard talk that would have told me to look for the spur marked “Klondike Park” just 2.5 miles from where we start, to a steep asphalt trail that would have taken me to a white silica sand lake you can ride around. (Only one of our group actually did it). The photos I see at the rest stop look amazing and I’m tempted to ride the four miles back (I was so proud of myself for being first for a change), but I think it would take too much time. People were pretty much hurrying to get to the end of the ride when they would disperse to travel back home and I feel self-conscious if I would hold people up. (Actually, we have lunch at a restaurant at the end of the trail, and people who need to leave early just don’t stay for it so there would have been lots of flexibility).

The tranquility of biking the Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame trail, 240 miles across Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The Katy Trail repurposes an abandoned rail line for a recreational trail enjoyed by countless numbers of people © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We gather there for a delicious farewell lunch at Hendricks BBQ.

Then we are shuttled back to the St. Charles hotels where people parked. Only two of us are flying (we were advised not to book our flight before 6 pm).

The Katy Trail has been named to the Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Katy Trail bike tour is rated a 3 not because of the trail’s difficulty, which is as easy as any dedicated recreational rail trail 240 miles long and as superbly served and maintained can be, – but because of the daily mileage, between 38 and 50 miles each day, except for the last (vastly easiest), 27 miles level or even with a slight downward slope.

This is my third tour with Wilderness Voyageurs (my first was the Badlands and Mikkelson Trail in South Dakota – I even had James as my guide on that trip – and Wilderness Voyageurs also provided the support for Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Sojourn biking/camping tour on the Great Allegheny Passage which goes passed its headquarters at Ohiopyle, PA.

Wilderness Voyageurs consistently provides sensational support – before the trip (with planning and packing lists, questionnaires) and most especially, during the ride (I love the Ride with GPS, the notes they provide and our daily ride orientation and especially their philosophy, “Ride your own ride.”), they even have on hand cold drinks, ice water, sunscreen, chafing cream, and each day organize two rest stops (great snacks) and a delicious picnic lunch. They also book the absolutely best lodgings and restaurants, like the Schoolhouse BnB and the General Store Restaurant in Rocheport where they arranged a private dinner for us. The guides are excellent and if necessary, can pick you up in the van should the distance or the elevation be uncomfortable. All of this makes what you pay for a guided bike tour well worth it.

Indeed, bike trips are ideal for solo travelers (there are four of us on this trip) – a way to travel on our own, but not alone. 

Wilderness Voyageurs, Ohiopyle, PA, 15470, 800-272-4141, wilderness-voyageurs.com.

See also:

Biking through History on Missouri’s Katy Trail During America’s 250th

Biking the Katy Trail: From Cliffside Pictographs to the Capital’s Stirring ‘Social History of Missouri’ Mural

 __________________

© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, longislandpress.com/category/vacation-travel.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near. X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures. Send comments/questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com.

Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Historic Places, Outdoors Adventures, Places of History, See America

Biking the Katy Trail: From Cliffside Pictographs to the Capital’s Stirring ‘Social History of Missouri’ Mural

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Ryan Clearwater, chief of staff to Missouri’s Speaker of the House, gives our Wilderness Voyageurs bike group a personal tour of Thomas Hart Benton’s famous mural, “A Social History of the State of Missouri” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Day 3 of our six-day Wilderness Voyageurs Katy Trail bike tour 240-miles across Missouri is the most scenic, most interesting, teasiest ride, and the most dramatic for what we see. The day starts with pictographs left by the Indigenous people who populated this place for centuries before Lewis & Clark or Daniel Boone ever laid their eyes on this land, and ends with a mirror held up to Missourians, at the State Capital building, where we see Thomas Hart Benton’s stirring “Social History of Missouri” mural.

The 38.7 miles we ride from Rocheport to Jefferson City (Missouri’s capital), is almost entirely flat – a mere158 ft rise, 200 ft. decline. It also turns out to be my favorite part of the Katy Trail – much of it with limestone cliffs and forest on one side and views of the Missouri River on the other.

Biking the Katy Trail through Missouri on Day 3, with limestone bluffs and forest on one side and views of the Missouri River on the other © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We set out from the base of the 200-foot high limestone Manitou Bluffs that towers above the bike trail. They were once sacred to Native American tribes and we spot remnants of pictographs.

They are easy to miss, but I am intent to find them (look for the marker that gives the description). Still, I might have missed them were it not for our guide, James Oerding, riding along with me (because I am last – again), who has guided for Wilderness Voyageurs for the past 13 years, pointed them out.

Pictographs that date from at least 1819 on limestone cliffs along the Katy Trail, Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What you do see most prominently is the symbol that looks like the Nike swoosh. Then you look to the right and make out others (there is a placard that shows all the figures to look for). They were like billboards of their time (perhaps saying “We are here”?).

The notes say that Lewis and Clark expedition camped below these bluffs just downstream from here on June 6,1804.

President Thomas Jefferson had made it clear the captains should carefully observe Indians and their way of life and though Clark and others in the expedition were conscientious about recording pictographs, there were no mentions of the pictographs we see here. But the Stephen Long Expedition did make note of these Torbett Spring pictographs in 1819. It is suspected that the Sauk and Fox Indians, who lived in the area until around 1814 and likely were the artists, painted the pictographs . after the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by.

Needless to say, I linger here awhile, reading the notes, taking photos, so am last and James, our guide, hangs with me. (The Wilderness Voyageurs guides tell us at the outset, “This is your vacation. Ride your own ride” – and isn’t normally a problem with the route on our Ride GPS app and because on this trip, for all but the last night’s stay, we are able to bike from inn to inn without needing to gather in the van to shuttle to our lodging.)

Biking the Katy Trail through Missouri on Day 3, with limestone bluffs and forest on one side and views of the Missouri River on the other © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

A short distance further, we veer off the Katy Trail for a quarter of a mile to see The Big McBaine Burr Oak Tree,  that sits all by itself with no other tree for 1000 feet. From a distance, it is just a tree. But as we get closer, I begin to appreciate just how gigantic it is, and why it is recorded in journals: The largest burr oak tree in Missouri, it is 287-inches around, 90 feet tall with a 13-foot spread, and takes a half-dozen people to wrap their arms around the trunk. It has stood strong for nearly 400 years, withstanding storms, droughts, floods, vandalism, and development and would have been formidable even to Lewis & Clark, who would have traveled within sight of the tree, a half-mile from the banks of the Missouri 200 years ago.

The Big McBaine Burr Oak Tree, largest in Missouri, is 350-400 years old © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At McBlaine, we take a peek at another oddity: “Boathenge” is comprised of 1950s ski boats that were swept here after a flood in 1993.

Biking over railroad trestles is one of the delights of cycling Missouri’s Katy Trail, a Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Famer © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Coming into Jefferson City, we leave the Katy Trail onto a spur and bike up an extraordinary spiraling ramp onto the bridge over the Missouri River (and will return down the ramp the next morning to get back onto the Katy Trail).  Riding over the bridge affords dramatic views of Missouri’s majestic State Capitol.

Jefferson City, population 42,838, is the most urban part of our ride – and having just come from such rural areas on the protected carless rail trail, it is a bit of culture shock to be riding on city streets.

Biking into Jefferson City, after riding the Katy Trail through rural Missouri is a bit of culture shock © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The only tricky part is getting to our hotel (the only “modern” hotel of our stay, Courtyard by Marriott), especially because of construction underway. We come down a steep sloping street, once again providing a dramatic view of the State Capital building set at the end.

Missouri’s majestic capital building in Jefferson City is a “must-see” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Once we are settled into the Marriott Courtyard Hotel (the only chain hotel of our trip), James offers to drive us to the State Capital Building, encouraging us to seek out the Thomas Hart Benton Murals that wrap around the walls of the House Members’ Lounge.

Ryan Clearwater, chief of staff to Missouri’s Speaker of the House, gives our Wilderness Voyageurs bike group a personal tour of Thomas Hart Benton’s famous mural, “A Social History of the State of Missouri” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“A Social History of the State of Missouri,” Thomas Hart Benton’s famous mural, is more of an indictment than a glorification of Missouri’s history. It was 1934, in the midst of the Great Recession, when Benton got the $16,000 commission – “a prince’s ransom” at the time, equivalent to $300,000 today and more money than the governor earned – and a period of heightened racial tension in Missouri. Completed in December 1936, the state legislators immediately regretted having commissioned it and even considered painting over the murals, but feared humiliating defeats if they admitted their “misjudgment.”

Ryan Clearwater, chief of staff to Missouri’s Speaker of the House, gives our Wilderness Voyageurs bike group a personal tour of Thomas Hart Benton’s famous mural, “A Social History of the State of Missouri” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The story of this extraordinary mural is being related to us by the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House, Ryan Clearwater, who we chanced to ask if we could visit when we find House Members Lounge locked. He takes us in (through the Speaker’s office, no less), and proceeds to spend an hour with us.  

Huck Finn with the runaway slave Jim, with the Samuel Clemons riverboat, was just one of the controversial scenes in Thomas Hart Benton’s “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Instead of noble figures, Benton shows ordinary men and women who built Missouri, using real Missourians including his own family, as models for the 200 figures. He also shows its villains.

A white trader gives an Osage Indian whiskey in Thomas Hart Benton’s “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural. Benton traveled to Oklahoma to find an Osage Indian for his model © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Instead of noble deeds and historic events, it depicts slaves being whipped and auctioned; a trader giving whiskey to an Osage Indian (he went to Oklahoma to find an Osage Indian to model); a Mormon being tarred and feathered (Missouri expelled Mormons and as recently as 1980s, Clearwater tells us, the state had a statute that it was permissible to kill Mormons); a settler being lynched by Civil War guerrillas while his family is turned out of their burning home; Huck Finn and runaway slave Jim on a raft escaping down the Mississippi River, the Samuel Clemons riverboat off to the side; Jesse James and his gang robbing a bank and a train; and Frankie entering the bar to murder Johnny, who did her wrong.

Instead of glorious deeds, Thomas Hart Benton depicted its ignobility in his “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural.© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Instead of glorious deeds, Thomas Hart Benton depicted its ignobility in his “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Frankie murders Johnny in a scene in Thomas Hart Benton’s “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It depicts Missouri’s transition from frontier to factories, the Civil War to the Great War, people struggling and making due during the Great Depression (a comb with missing teeth as one of the symbols). One section portrays a political rally attended by all but one white man, while a woman on a bench, her back turned away from the rally, changes her baby’s bare bottom (scandalous! Benton’s nephew was the model),

A political rally of all but one white man in Thomas Hart Benton’s “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The last scene, In the bottom corner, plainly depicts Tom Pendergast, at the time the boss of Missouri politics, who was so powerful, he is said to have elected his candidate governor in just 30 days and get Truman into the US Senate (a figure very much like Truman is seated in front). Then 2 years after the mural was done, Pendergast went to federal prison for corruption. Benton came back and made a couple of changes – he had to touch up where someone drew Pendergast’s prison number on his suit, and to put clothes on the burlesque dancers in the background.

Corrupt political boss Tom Pendergast, instrumental in Harry Truman’s political career, is clearly portrayed by Thomas Hart Benton in his “A Social History of the State of Missouri” mural   © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“Benton put Pendergast in the mural to let every representative and senator and the public know how some got into office,” Clearwater remarks. 

The scene with the political rally depicts a black man, the only black man wearing a suit, leaning against a pole. This figure is Jordan Chambers, who was the Black political boss (“Tom Pendergast”) of St. Louis. Some claim that Jordan Chambers wanted to be in mural, he tells us, despite the association with Pendergast’s corruption.

The mural is shocking to see, even today, and you wonder how Benton was able to get away with it.

“The mural got mixed reviews – slavery, tar and feathering, lynching, murder, robbery,” Clearwater notes with an air of understatement. “They had wanted history. When it was unveiled, they talked about painting it over. But they had spent $16,000 and felt they wouldn’t get reelected, so they said, ‘We should learn from past.’” (I wonder if they also calculated that since the murals were locked away in the House Members’ Lounge, few would actually see it.)

Missouri’s House of Representatives chamber © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s 5 pm, when the building normally closes, but Clearwater takes us into the House chambers (he says that because the Senate is still in session trying to complete its business before the term ends, the building isn’t officially closed). It is a stunning, majestic room, with painted glass windows and a stunning mural (the gift of France). Clearwater says they had a $1 million budget for artwork when the building was built (the first two capital buildings burned down; this one is of “Carthage marble” – polished limestone). Missouri has the 4th largest House of Representatives per capita (163 House members and 34 Senate); a part-time position, they meet five months of the year.

I note portraits of Lincoln (“the first Republican,” Clearwater says) and Jefferson (“the first Democrat,” Clearwater says, but Jefferson was actually a Democratic Republican who advocated for states rights, agrarian interests and strict construction of Constitution, so also Republican; Franklin D. Roosevelt is probably the first modern Democrat).

The partisan animosity is practically built into the room. The center aisle is the width of “two swords”; the 7,000-page rule book includes such provisions as the member has to ask permission to speak, no member shall rattle their spittoon while another is talking, no one can intercede the line of debate.

Festooned around the room are the values these legislators are supposed to espouse for the state: Enterprise, Progress, Honor. Truth. Virtue. Temperance. Knowledge. Liberty. Equality. Justice. Fraternity. Education.

The spectacular dome of Missouri’s capital building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By now, Clearwater, the chief of staff to the Speaker of the House has spent about an hour with us, even though only two of us are actually Missouri constituents. He jokes, “I would rather spend time with the public than lobbyist or legislator,” (though upon leaving, I spot a few of them on the way in, and all around the Capitol building, are offices of various unions and industry and trade associations).

It’s after 5 pm, too late to visit the State Museum contained within the building, but we get a few minutes to admire the stunning lobby and dome, surrounded by engravings extolling the state’s (aspirational?) credos:

The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof

Righteousness exalteth a nation

Property is the fruit of labor

Where there is no vision, the people perish

Ideas control the world

Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, lest we forget

Party honesty is party expediency.

The statue of The Corps of Discovery that passed Jefferson City June 4, 1804 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Another mural depicting Missouri’s heritage, just outside the State Capital Building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We go off to explore Jefferson City and have dinner (one of two evenings where we are on our own for dinner).

Just outside the capital building is a statue of The Corps of Discovery that passed Jefferson City June 4, 1804.

I walk back to the Courtyard Marriott, getting back early enough to enjoy the hotel pool.

Wilderness Voyageurs, Ohiopyle, PA, 15470, 800-272-4141, wilderness-voyageurs.com.

See also: Biking through History on Missouri’s Katy Trail During America’s 250th

See next: Biking Missouri’s Katy Trail Following Lewis & Clark, Daniel Boone & the Westward Expansion

__________________

© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, longislandpress.com/category/vacation-travel.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near. X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures. Send comments/questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com.

Biking Tours, Outdoors Adventures, Places of History

Biking through History on Missouri’s Katy Trail During America’s 250th

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Biking the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Famer, Katy Trail, a 240-mile-long linear state park, across Missouri is a delight for cyclists © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Biking 240 miles across Missouri on the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame Katy Trail is more about “being” than “seeing”. That is, the ride itself is glorious free-wheeling cycling, and when you finish being on the day’s ride in one of the charming, historic towns you get to “see”. You experience the towns and ports that grew up with the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (known as the K-T) and the Missouri River boats, that declined with the drop in rail and river traffic. These places that bring us so much delight today might well be ghost towns except for new life breathed into them by the thousands of cyclists who come through on the Katy Trail, like Rocheport, population 239.

Built between 1987 and 2011, the Katy Trail – actually a linear state park 100 feet wide and 240 miles long – is the longest continuous recreational rail trail in the United States.

It’s estimated the Katy Trail brought $18 million in spending to the area before the COVID pandemic inspired so many to discover the physical and emotional benefits of biking and being outdoors (as I learn after a chance meeting on the trail with the former state Commissioner who presided over its development). Meanwhile, the reputation of the Katy Trail continues to spread.

Starting out on our six-day Wilderness Voyageurs bike tour, 240-miles across Missouri on the Katy Trail, a rail trail built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

On our Wilderness Voyageurs Katy Trail bike tour, only one couple is from Missouri (they have done almost all of the trail before), the rest of us have come from Texas (doing this trip for a second time), Alabama, Indiana, California and New York, to enjoy one of the best rail trails in the country. It has the gentle slope of a rail line where there are ups and downs at all, marvelous and well maintained rest stops (every 12 miles) complete with picnic tables, depot-style benches under a canopy, where there are excellent placards describing the history, pointing to the important sites and mile markers on the coming section, and giving clear map and directions. It is such a comfortable trail that this tour is able to go for longer mileage days of 38 to 50 miles (but if you do tire, you can simply hop on the van used each day by one of the guides who sets up snack stops and lunch; e-bikes also available).

Biking 240-miles across Missouri on the Katy Trail, a rail trail built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

But it’s not just those of us who come from around the country and world to ride the Katy Trail – the trail is a string that binds and engages community and we can see how locals cherish it (even those who were skeptical at the start).  Along the way, we find a former home that was donated to the trail for use as a hostel (you just find the key and let yourself in), and a historic general store building that was donated to the park and being restored by Dan and Connie Burkhardt who run a foundation to protect and preserve the land. Indeed, the trail began with a generous donation by Edward D. “Ted” Jones Jr. and his wife, to secure the railroad’s right-of-way. All along the way you see signs of “Missouri Pride,” and “Magnificent Missouri.”

Much of the trail follows the route of the Missouri River with the river on one side and towering bluffs on the other, and takes us through forests, wetlands, valleys, remnant prairies, open pastureland and rolling farm fields.

The Katy Trail, a Missouri state park, has some of the best rest stops, with historic placards, and is where you meet interesting people, like Fabio, a real-life Forrest Gump, who has been traveling for 16 years © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We cycle through towns, villages, communities and landscapes we would never otherwise see (and without looking through a glass window), at a pace that is perfect to create an ever-changing scene. You can feel the wind and smell the air, and get off the bike when you want to spend more time, take a photo, read a plaque, have a different or deeper perspective – especially since Wilderness Voyageurs provides us with Ride with GPS so we can go at our own pace.

The gentle rise of the Katy Trail, built on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The pleasure of riding the Katy Trail is further enhanced this year when the nation is celebrating America’s 250th.

The Katy Trail is steeped in history, much of it following the actual route of Lewis & Clark’s expedition (part of the 4,900-mile Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail) and dotted with markers and panels recalling where they camped or where some incident happened. This place also figured prominently in the Westward expansion, led by figures like Daniel Boone and commemorated with Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis. One of my favorite sections of the trail is where we see pictographs left by the Indigenous peoples who had lived here for centuries before any of them.

Cycling passed farms on the Katy Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We go through towns that look like (should be and have been) film sets from 1930s,1940s and 1950s. I love seeing the vintage posters, paintings, murals, neon signs and shops that still have the proprietor’s family name and the tag, “Since [year]” This is small town America of myth and lore, especially when we come to our last night’s stay in Washington, Missouri, where I happen upon a community weekly concert at the Farmers Market that gets people line-dancing.

Our six-day tour begins with a 6:30 am pick up in St. Charles, so everyone stays over the night before, most in St. Charles. (I stay in St. Louis, about 25 minutes away, at the 21c Museum Hotel, a Historic Hotels of America member, to have a glorious day to explore this important city and immerse myself in history and culture.)

We are picked up at the various hotels and driven from St. Charles, where the trail and our tour ends, to where it begins, in Clinton. It is a 3 ½ hour drive, but will take us six days to bike.

Wilderness Voyageurs guide James Oerding gives us our whiteboard review of the day’s ride on the Katy Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Before we set out each day, our guides, James Oerding (a St. Louis native who has been a Wilderness Voyageurs guide for 13 years and I actually knew from my South Dakota Wilderness Voyageurs tour) and Rob Figulski, review the ride and main points.  I would also recommend reading the day’s itinerary notes that are provided on the Ride with GPS app, which have even more interesting details for people like me who love to immerse in place and time.

Our first day’s ride is 38.4 miles through the Osage Plains with gentle rises and trees on both sides to Sedalia, a town that looks like it was set in a time capsule (and was used as the setting for the 1950s TV show, “Rawhide”).

This day’s ride takes us to the highest point on the trail, at 955 feet above sea level (though not the most elevation of our ride – that will come on day 2).

Sedalia, Missouri is a picturesque, historic town revitalized by the Katy Trail cyclists © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We finish at the Katy Trail Depot in Sedalia and make our way to the historic Hotel Bothwell, so perfect for this throwback experience. There are such marvelous ole-timey features – a telephone booth, elevator, mail drop, the wooden check-in desk. There are photos of President Harry Truman in the breakfast room, named for Truman, who dined in the hotel’s café in 1962.

The historic Hotel Bothwell, built in 1914, has connections to President Harry Truman, and delightful old-timey features © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

A bronze plaque outside the hotel says that John Bothwell & Community Hotel Company built the hotel in 1927 for $400,000; in 1934, Harry S. Truman was here when he learned that Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast had selected him as the candidate for US Senate; in 1942, Actress Bette Davis dined in its Palm Room; in 1959, Actors Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming promoted the TV series Rawhide (which was set in Sedalia). The hotel was converted to senior housing in 1988 by the Westin Financial Group, then restored to a hotel by the Furnell Cos. in 1998.

Vintage poster in Sedalia, Missouri © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Sedalia also has the first Carnegie Grant public library awarded in Missouri; and the Missouri State Fair is located in Sedalia (we pass by the fairgrounds on the trail).

But most interesting is its connection to famed musician Scott Joplin, who came to Sedalia to work on the railroad and made Sedalia his home, earning his living as a piano teacher; today, Sedalia hosts an annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival (www.scottjoplin.org)

We have dinner together at The Vault – it’s only our first night together, but the 10 of us have already formed a tight unit. Notably, four of us are traveling solo – bike tours are one of the best ways to travel alone but together.

Biking over trestles is one of the fun features of Missouri’s Katy Trail, a rail trail built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Day 2 is the most arduous and the most satisfying. It is our longest, hardest ride, 50.5 miles, from Sedalia to Rocheport with the most ups/downs – 1,100 ft of elevation and 1,395 ft. decline – so today is mostly about the physical experience versus the view. and ends at a place of serenity and contentment. (But you keep reminding yourself: this is a railtrail, so the uphill is very gradual, you barely feel it.)

Biking over trestles is one of the fun features of Missouri’s Katy Trail, a rail trail built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This day’s ride is organized so we have two support stops, 12 miles apart, and a very long uphill before a two-mile downhill into Boonville and our lunch stop at the Boonville Visitor Center and River, Rails & Trails Museum.

Boonville Visitor Center and River, Rails & Trails Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The museum is very interesting, especially the ambiguous way it relates Civil War events – a skirmish early in the war, on July 17, 1861, resulted in Union forces defeating a small, poorly equipped force of Missouri State Guard. (It’s not clear which side the folks were on but probably the Confederate, though Missouri was officially a Union border state).

A half-scale replica of Lewis & Clark’s keelboat at the Boonville River, Rails & Trails Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

All along the Katy Trail there are important markers and references to Lewis & Clark, and here in the museum is a half-scale replica of the famous keelboat they used.

Boonville was named for frontiersman Daniel Boone’s sons, who established a salt business here in the early 1800s. This was the first permanent American settlement west of St. Louis. Its strategic location on the Missouri River and the Santa Fe Trail made it a crucial hub during Westward Expansion.  More than 400 buildings are listed on the National Historic Register, and Boonville has one of four restored train depots along the Katy Trail.

We leave Boonville, crossing over the Missouri River, continuing on the trail, riding over train trestles.

New Franklin, “the crossroads to the West,” is where four major trails meet: the Katy Trail, the Lewis & Clark Trail, the Santa Fe Trail and the Boone’s Lick Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

New Franklin, “the crossroads to the West,” is where four major trails all meet: the Katy Trail, the Lewis & Clark Trail, the Santa Fe Trail and the Boone’s Lick Trail. Here, we see what is left of a KT Roundhouse (there is a campground here today), a train car, and a replica of a Conestoga Wagon such as the pioneers would have used.

We end our ride in Rocheport, a trading post when Lewis and Clark’s expedition came through in 1804. It became a permanent settlement in the early 19th century. Today, the whole town is a historic district, with 239 residents and yet there is a gallery and art studio, and an inn that caters to women recovering from mastectomy.

This has been a really arduous ride, so when we arrive at the School House B’n’B at about 3 pm and congregate in its lush garden to enjoy beer and snacks the guides have purchased for us (based on a questionnaire we filled  out as to our preferences), the most perfect peace washes over us, almost euphoria. Everything about this place evokes a feeling of serenity and sheer contentment.

The Schoolhouse BnB in Rocheport deserves its accolades as the “best traditional bnb in Missouri” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the School House B’n’B is a restored three-story brick building that was built in 1914 and was a school until 1972 (though a school was on the site for 70 years before that). It was converted to a bed and breakfast in 1988 and expanded and improved by a succession of three owner/operators and now offers 11 accommodations including a bridal suite. (Actually, there are three properties: School House Bed & Breakfast, Clark Street Lodge, and Dormitory House properties).

The Schoolhouse BnB incorporates delightful features of its heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

So charmingly repurposed and furnished, the School House BnB truly deserves its accolades as “best traditional bnb in Missouri”. I especially love how owner/operator Chandrika Hickman preserves the heritage – and the spirit – of a schoolhouse: the names of the rooms are delightful: Dick and Jane (which was occupied by our own Bill & Jill); Schoolmarm (which was occupied by a retired school teacher) and so forth. The parlor has a large chalkboard for guests to doodle on, and there are framed pages from old readers. A painting shows a class taking place in this very room now used as the dining room and lounge.

Schoolhouse BnB guests leave doodles on the chalk board © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At 5 pm (after we have time to refresh), we are taken for a tasting at the A Frame Wine Garden, scenically set on a high cliff above the Katy Trail affording a stunning view overlooking the Missouri River, with tiers of porches. (We will ride the Katy Trail below us, the next day).

Wilderness Voyageurs arranges a private dinner at the General Store restaurant in Rocheport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear

This night’s dinner is the best, most special of the entire tour. Wilderness Voyageurs arranges a private dinner at the Rocheport General Store restaurant where Chef Susan Schapira prepares a fantastic meal (the seafood ravioli in a white cream sauce is out of this world; the strawberry and pecan cake, with a perfect texture and sweetness, is beyond delectable).  

Chef Susan Schapira, with assistant Sarah Kendall, prepares a five-star dinner for us at her General Store restaurant © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After dinner, a new friend joins me on a walk through woods to the river bank to enjoy the last rays of the sun on the river.

A sunset stroll to the Missouri River at Rocheport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

And then the breakfast at School House bnb! Incredibly scrumptious: croissant strata with bacon and cheese; maple lemon apple and pear salad; white chocolate banana muffin.

The scrumptious breakfast at Schoolhouse BnB fortifies us for the day’s ride on the Katy Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It is no wonder that the School House B’n’B repeatedly is named “Missouri’s #1 traditional B&B” (schoolhousebnb.com).

We set out from Rocheport for Jefferson City, for what proves to be the most scenic and interesting day.

Wilderness Voyageurs, Ohiopyle, PA, 15470, 800-272-4141, wilderness-voyageurs.com.

Next: Indigenous Pictographs & ‘A Social History of Missouri’ Mural

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, longislandpress.com/category/vacation-travel.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near. X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures. Send comments/questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com.

Cruising, Cultural travel, Historic Places, International Travel

Viking’s ‘Romantic Danube’ Cruise From Regensburg to Budapest Affords Time to Explore

On Viking’s “Romantic Danube” cruise, we experience Austria’s picturesque Wachau Valley from the comfort of our ship.  ©Geri Bain

by Geri Bain for Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

From our chaise lounges on the sundeck, we watch an ever-changing landscape: vineyards terraced into steep hillsides, imposing mountaintop castles, small villages built around soaring churches, and long stretches of forest and grasslands. We are cruising through Austria’s Wachau Valley on the 190-passenger Viking Tor, one of Viking’s virtually identical “Longships” that ply the Upper Danube between Germany and Hungary.

For our first three days the focus has been on two medieval German Bavarian cities: Regensburg, where we boarded the ship, and Passau. This morning, the Danube itself takes center stage. On and off, Teo, our charismatic cruise director, shares insightful stories and context about the Danube, which runs “from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.” As the longest river in Europe after the Volga and the only one to flow west to east, the Danube has been a major highway for goods and ideas since pre-Roman times.

Landmarks trigger colorful stories. Passing the ruins of Aggstein Castle, Teo tells of an infamous owner, a murderous robber baron who hijacked passing ships and often cruelly “disposed” of the crew and seized their goods. Those vineyards we see? They produce dry white Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and other acclaimed wines, and many vintners still harvest grapes by hand due to the steep terrain.

Gliding through the Wachau Valley in our moving hotel is a magical way to experience this iconic region. Its leisurely pace is the reason my husband and I chose Viking’s “Romantic Danube” itinerary. For us, it offers the perfect mix of curated and free time. Unlike many Danube cruises that spend less than 24 hours in each port, this eight-day/seven-night sailing overnights in each of its three main destinations. This gives us time to experience Regensburg, Vienna and Budapest in the evening when the squares and riverside walks are romantically lit. It also provides ample time to explore on our own, relax in a cafe, and join some of Viking’s optional excursions (at added cost), which range from e-bike tours to day trips to nearby cities to a behind-the-scenes visit to the Vienna Boys Choir.

The view from our verandah of Regensburg at night is stunning. ©Geri Bain

Our trip starts with a flight to Munich where Viking meets our flight and takes us to the ship, which is docked in Regensburg. As we unpack, we are impressed with the generous storage space tucked into our 205 square foot Verandah Stateroom. In addition to a hanging closet and two three-drawer chests, there are shelves and a safe in the closet and ample space for toiletries in the bathroom. (In addition to Verandah staterooms, there are two levels of suites; 135 square foot French Balcony cabins and 150 square foot, lower-deck Standard Staterooms with a sealed-shut clerestory window.)

Regenberg’s Stone Bridge has been an important Danube crossing since the 12th century.  ©Geri Bain

We’re tired, but we head out to get a sense of this frozen-in-time medieval city whose town center was larely spared by WWII bombs.  A short walk along the river takes us to the graceful Stone Bridge. We dip into the small Bridge Tower Museum, whoseeasy-to-follow timeline for the region serves as a great grounding for the rest of our cruise.The nearby Historische Wurstkuchl dates back to its days of feeding the bridge’s 12th-century construction workers and its homemade mustard and sauerkraut-topped sausages have been described as “the best of the wurst”.

Back on board, we learn that cookies and local pastries are on tap 24/7 at coffee/tea stations near the library, and that meals are served both in the full-service dining room and, buffet-style, in the indoor/outdoor Aquavit Terrace.Each meal brings a selection of regional specialties and international dishes, and every evening the chef explains the featured local fare. This evening’s choices include a tasty Bavarian potato soup, pork tenderloin and sauerbraten. After dinner, several of us follow the twisty medieval streets up to the soaring Gothic St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Regensburg’s Old Town Hall had a stately Imperial Hall for formal functions and a torture chamber and jail in the basement. ©Geri Bain

On our walking tour the next morning, we see evidence of Regensburg’s long history; the remains of a Roman wall and the Porta Praetoria from 179 AD and its Old Town Hall, dating back to 1245. Most of the historic city center was built from the 12th to 16th century during Regensburg’s heyday as a prosperous trading center. We’re told residents are still proud of the city’s status as a self-governing Free Imperial City during the time of the Holy Roman Empire, and that for nearly 150 years, it was the venue for the Perpetual Imperial Diet, the Empire’s standing congress.

An ancient tombstone with Hebrew writing strangely built into the side of a house catches our eye. Our guide explains that Jewish people in Regensburg were welcomed with protected status until 1519 when their protector, Emperor Maximilian 1, died in the midst of a severe economic downturn. The entire Jewish community was forced into exile overnight. Their homes were looted, their cemeteries desecrated, and their tombstones used as building material around the city. The site of the 1519 synagogue is now a memorial park.

Local musicians perform on board as we sail to Passau. ©Geri Bain  

Our walking tour ends at St. Peter’s Cathedral, which boasts the world’s largest hanging organ. Between May and October, weekday visitors can join its noon meditation, accompanied by the organ. I spend our free afternoon exploring the town and the excellent Bavarian History Museum. Departure time is 6:45 p.m., and after dinner, we enjoy a musical soiree of operatic arias enacted in full costume by local performers. It feels privileged and quirky to have such quality performances in the ship’s lounge.

The next morning, we awake in Passau, the “City of Three Rivers.” Here, we see the Inn, pale green from the Alpine glaciers, the River Ilz, nearly black from the peaty Bavarian countryside, and the brown-green Danube (it turns blue farther east). Once again, we are pleased to be docked right in the historic town center.

The ornate baroque St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Passau, known for its concerts, has the largest Catholic church organ in the world.  ©Geri Bain

One of the first stops on our walking tour is a giant vertical ruler that marks the height of the flood waters at various years. To this day, on streets near the Danube, the ground floors must be quickly cleared when flood waters are expected to rise. Interestingly. this lower part of the city is a trendy art district. We wind our way through quaint narrow streets up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, whose onion dome and towers dominate the skyline. It has the world’s largest Cathedral pipe organ which, though under restoration, still sounds quite powerful.

That afternoon, I join Viking’s optional four-hour e-bike tour. We cycle through a lively park but soon have the riverside paths to ourselves and peddle to a quaint Austrian inn where we stop for drinks and pretzels before heading back.

Our ship passes through many amazingly narrow locks on our journey. ©Geri Bain

Our scenic cruise through the Wachau Valley includes a stop at the vineyard-surrounded Gottweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083, and sample local wines raised on its lands. Back on the Viking Tor, we enjoy a formal afternoon tea as our executive chef teaches us to make apple strudel and shares his recipe.

We arrive in Vienna in time to enjoy a “Viking privileged access” musical highlight of our trip—the vivacious 21-year-old conductor, composer and violinist Alma Deutscher presenting works by Strauss, Mozart and her own compositions at elegant Strauss House, where Johann Strauss once lived and performed.

Horse-drawn carriages add atmosphere to the Hofburg Palace. ©Geri Bain

We are excited to have two full days in Vienna ahead of us. Our guided tour of the city starts at the Ring Road that cradles the historic center. This grand boulevard, home to the Vienna State Opera House, the Rathaus (City Hall), Parliament and Hofburg Palace, replaced the former medieval walls in the mid-19th century.

Our first stop is the 59-acre Hofburg Palace complex, once the winter residence of the Habsburgs. Horse-drawn carriages clip-clop through its main square and the Vienna Boys Choir and Lipizzaner stallions still train and perform here (Viking offers behind the scenes visits to both) while monumental museums showcase the Habsburg’s immense wealth, power and legacy. That evening, we head out with some new friends to retrace our steps on foot and enjoy seeing the elegant Baroque, Art Nouveau and Neoclassical architecture dramatically lit at night. 

Before heading out the next morning, we join Captain Lukas Hacunda for a wheelhouse talk about the unique challenges of navigating the Danube and its many locks and see how the wheelhouse tucks down into the ship when necessary to pass under low bridges.

Belvedere Palace is an exquisite place to view art.  ©Geri Bain

Belvedere Palace, the opulent 17th century home of Prince Eugene Savoy, offers the chance to see world’s largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt, including the “Kiss,” so we decide to spend our afternoon there. Its gilded rooms provide the perfect setting for the works of Klimt, Monet and many other great artists, and its lovely formal gardens are an unexpected delight.

As we sail to Budapest that evening, Bratislava Castle appears, bathed in light, towering over its city. Later that evening, Teo’s unforgettable presentation on “Growing up in a Communist Country” provides a brief overview of communism in Eastern Europe brought to life by personal stories of his life as a young boy in Romania. Among the tenets of communist life: “If you see a line, get on it. There will be something you can use or trade.”

From the ship, we look out at the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle.  ©Geri Bain

We dock in Budapest near the historic Széchenyi Chain Bridge that connects the Buda and Pest sides of the city. Our city orientation starts with a bus tour that swings by the grand main streets and monuments on the Pest side of the city and then crosses the Danube and delivers us to the Buda Castle Quarter for a walking tour.

That afternoon, we reserve tickets to visit the Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. The Moorish Revival style complex we see today was built in 1864; the temple seats nearly 3,000 people and resembles a church in its ornate decor and layout. Our guide explains that is because it was built by a “neologue” reform sect of Judaism that emphasized assimilation. In fact, until WWII, Budapest had no ghettos.

That changed suddenly in 1944, when Germany forced them into ghettos and deportation and an estimated 500,000 were murdered in just 56 days. The complex has a poignant burial ground, a museum, and the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park with its weeping willow sculpture bearing thousands of leaves with the names of Hungarian victims.

A second Holocaust memorial, “The Shoes on the Danube Promenade” is a haunting array of 60 pairs of scattered cast-iron men’s, women’s and children’s shoes, marking an area where thousands of Jewish people were forced to remove their shoes before being shot and tumbling into the river. 

We end our day at a happier historic site, the Veli Bej Bath, which harkens to the 16th century when Budapest was part of the Ottoman Empire. Still popular with locals, its domed octagonal central pool is surrounded by smaller pools of varying degrees of heat fed by natural thermal springs and a selection of sauna and steam baths. Locker rooms are basic, but the timeless baths feel exotic and indulgent.

Just steps from our ship are lively sidewalk cafes, wine bars and ruin pubs. ©Geri Bain

We return to the ship for a farewell dinner where regional menu choices include chicken paprikash with potato dumplings and a yummy dessert of strawberries, caramelized pistachios in sweet Hungarian Tokaji wine sauce. After dinner, we set off with new friends on what has become our ritual evening walk. Soon, we are at Andrássy Avenue, the Champs-Élysées of Budapest. As we stroll along the grand boulevard, admiring the ornate details of the elegant Renaissance Revival architecture and delighting in our new-found friendship, we agree that our cruise has been all we’d hoped for and more.

The Basics: Prices for the seven-night “Romantic Danube” cruise start at $2,399 and include one excursion in each port, beer, wine and soft drinks with meals, port fees and taxes, and on-board lectures and entertainment. Budget extra for airfare, pre- and post- tours, additional excursions, tips, bar drinks, and transfers to and from the ship if flights are arranged independently. With recent flight issues, it’s more important than ever to plan to arrive at least a day early.

Rarely, but occasionally, low or high water levels can make parts of the Danube impassible, necessitating changes in the itinerary or a ship swap (where Viking transfers you and luggage to an identical stateroom and ship on the other side of the impassable section. Ask your travel advisor or Viking to see if your sailing might be affected.

Contact your travel agent or Viking River Cruises, 888-423-1412, www.vikingrivercruises.com.

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Adventure Travel, Camping/Glamping/RVs, Camping/Hiking/Outdoors, Family Travel, Road Trip, Tips for Travel, travel gear

Traveling by Road or Air? These Items Keep Your Adventure Memorable in a Good Way

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The Olight ArkPro Ultra flashlight is a comfort to have in case of emergency on a dark road (photo: Olight)

by Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Vacationers are taking to the roads and taking in special events for America’s 250th , state fairs, and sports events in huge numbers. Some new gear can make your trip that much safer, more comfortable and more satisfying. Indeed, travel is an adventure- the trick is to make the adventure (and inevitable difficulties that add spice to the experience) as manageable, even pleasurable as possible, and memorable in a good way.

The Xplora smartwatch is designed to provide kidswith an age-appropriate way to stay connected (photo: Xplora)

One of my biggest fears has always been to lose track of my child when at some big, crowded festival, event or attraction, especially a nighttime concert. I was enthusiastic to learn about Xplora,  a smartwatch designed to provide kids with a safe and age-appropriate way to stay connected, without a phone. The feature-rich devices allow children to call and chat with pre-approved contacts, track their steps, capture moments with a built-in camera, and use GPS tracking for safety. Parents maintain full control through the Xplora Parent App. (Price: $129.99+, Available at Amazon, Walmart, Target)

Another idea to alleviate stress of a child getting lost is to attach a smart luggage tag to your child’s belt, belt loop or pocket (also good to put in your backpack and not just your luggage).

Another major fear I have is getting stuck on a dark road with a failed car battery.

BoostHero Vehicle Jump Starter, Flashlight & Power Bank is an all-in-one portable device that comes to the rescue (photo: BoostHero)

BoostHero Vehicle Jump Starter, Flashlight & Power Bank is an all-in-one portable vehicle jump starter, flashlight, and 6,000mAh power bank. It comes to the rescue whether you’re facing a dead car battery, need a reliable light source, or just want to charge your devices (as I found out). With an impressive 800A peak jump-starting power, this compact device can safely revive vehicles up to 6.0L gas and 4.0L diesel engines. The 4-mode flashlight ensures you’re never left in the dark, and the IP65 water and dust resistance adds durability for tough conditions. Lightweight, versatile, and always reliable, and compact. BoostHero is your go-to for emergencies and outdoor adventures.

The Olight ArkPro Ultra is flat, 115 grams, fits in a glovebox without displacing anything, and it does four things: Green laser for signaling (more visible than red in daylight, if you’re stranded somewhere genuinely remote, a green laser pointed at an approaching vehicle or aircraft carries distance a flashlight beam can’t, a low-key life-safety feature that most people won’t need until they really need it); 1,700-lumen pure flood for under-hood work (wide, even, hotspot-free. Magnetic tail locks to any metal surface hands-free); 800-lumen spotlight at 205 meters (scan a dark shoulder, flag down traffic, read a sign from a distance); UV at 365nm for leak detection (add fluorescent dye to your oil, coolant, or A/C refrigerant, run the car, sweep the ArkPro Ultra along hoses, gaskets, and fittings, leaks glow bright green-yellow, or check hotel linens). The CNC-machined O-Aluminum unibody is 1.73x harder than 6061, IPX7 and 1m drop rated, USB-C rechargeable from any car port or power bank. (ArkPro Ultra Onyx Black MSRP: $129.99).

The Baton Series is great in hotel rooms, especially when traveling with children. Moonlight mode doubles as a safe nightlight in unfamiliar rooms, and the dual-switch tail cap gives instant-on access in an emergency, no fumbling in the dark. The rotating hidden USB-C port charges from any travel adapter without breaking down. (Baton 4 Pro MSRP: $62.99; Baton Ultra MSRP: $89.99).

Having an infant doesn’t have to snafu your lust for travel, but traveling with an infant poses extra challenges especially when you are changing time zones, in unfamiliar places to nurse, change diapers, nap.

The LectroFan Alpha sound machine helps baby sleep when you are on the go or in unfamiliar places (photo: LectroFan Alpha)

LectroFan Alpha: With its small size, the Alpha sound machine is perfect for travel, whether you want to help baby sleep while you’re on the go, in the car or in the stroller, or to cover up noises while the family shares a hotel room or tent or cabin and calm the baby in unfamiliar places. It plays your choice of seven gentle, soothing sounds, including a heart beat, two different fans, two white noise variations (pink noise and brown noise), and two variations of ocean waves. It recharges with the included USB cable, so there’s never a need to bring batteries, and it plays for up to 40 hours per charge at normal volume. The included clip makes it easy to attach to car seats, cribs, strollers ($29.95, Available on Amazon)

The Travel Diaper Backpack smartly organizes essentials (photo: Travel Diaper Backpack)

Sleek, organized, Travel Diaper Backpack is designed for long days on the move, with smart compartments that make daily outings and weekend trips feel effortless. It is lightweight, smartly organizes all essentials, and made of durable, water-resistant materials ($150)

Another is DiaperBuddy, a compact, all‑in‑one organizer that keeps diapers, wipes, waste bags, and must‑have extras neatly in place, so there is no more digging through an overstuffed bag or scrambling mid‑meltdown. Made from durable, food‑grade silicone that’s BPA-, BPS-, and PVC‑free, it’s dishwasher‑safe, reusable and designed to fit seamlessly into real family routines. Whether you’re navigating airport security, pulling over on a road trip, or changing baby at a rest stop, DiaperBuddy helps make every quick change cleaner, faster and stress‑free. Visit www.shopdiaperbuddy.com.

TernX Carry-On Luggage Stroller is a hybrid stroller and carry-on suitcase (photo: TernX)

TernX Carry-On Luggage Stroller  is a hybrid stroller and certified carry-on suitcase that doesn’t require unpacking when switching modes. Ideal for airports, city travel, and quick getaways. It transforms from carry-on luggage into a travel stroller in seconds, with no unpacking required. Created by parents who wanted to keep traveling with their kids (not in spite of them), it simplifies airport days, tight connections, and family trips. It fits in overhead compartments; 18L storage capacity; is lightweight with independent front-wheel suspension; ergonomic reclining seat with expandable backrest for growing kids; has a UPF 50+ extendable sun canopy and adjustable five-point harness; is ASTM certified; transitions seamlessly from travel days to everyday use at home. Featured on Shark Tank, included among TIME Best Inventions of the Year, and winner of 7 international awards ($699).

KEEP>GOING First Aid Kits are a must‑pack essential. Designed by a mom of four, these TSA‑approved kits are stocked with 130+ everyday necessities in a compact case that fits easily into carry‑ons, beach bags, glove compartments, and hiking packs. They’re ready for everything from campground splinters to theme‑park blisters to road‑trip mishaps. Available in four sizes and fun prints; the new Pet Kit keeps furry travel buddies covered too. Explore the full collection at www.KeepGoingFirstAid.com and Amazon.

Mozy Wearable Thermal Wrap is designed for those early‑morning departures, breezy beach days, or cool campground evenings and mornings. Its patented thermal design traps and recirculates body heat for up to 500% more warmth than traditional outerwear, giving parents and kids a cozy buffer against unpredictable spring and summer weather. Water‑resistant, wind‑blocking, and totally hands‑free, it clips around the waist to keep core and legs warm while you move. Perfect for sunrise hikes, boat rides, sports sidelines, and any adventure where temps dip unexpectedly. Visit www.getthemozy.com.

Illo sleep mask is designed to help people rest better, anywhere (photo: Illo)

illo sleep mask is a wearable sleep companion designed to help people rest better, anywhere.  Crafted from soft mulberry silk, it can be used as a sleep mask or neck pillow, perfect for naps, bedtime, or travel. illo combines both: pillowy support, full blackout, and soothing calm for deeper rest anywhere. The oversized pillow shape wraps around your face and blocks light from every angle so your brain knows it’s time to sleep.  Whether you’re in bed, on a plane, or catching a nap between meetings or feedings, illo blocks light, muffles sound, and wraps your head or neck in ultra-soft comfort. Its proprietary plush core is encased in breathable bamboo mesh and finished with a blend of mulberry silk and Modal against the skin. illo is compact, comforting, and comes in a sleek nylon drawstring pouch. ($39.99. Available on Amazon)

Nocs Provisions Field Issue binochulars turn your smartphone into a long-focus camera (photo: Nocs Provisions)

Here’s an alternative to taking a camera with a long lens on your birding and wildlife adventures and boosting your smartphone into a long-focus camera: The Nocs Provisions Field Issue binoculars aren’t just for spotting; they act as a high-fidelity optical bridge for your phone. By shooting through the eyepiece, you get the equivalent of an 8x zoom lens, allowing for ultra-crisp, detailed shots of distant subjects that a digital smartphone zoom usually turns into pixels. Pairs with the Nocs Photo Rig Smartphone Adapter for easy, precise alignment (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbH7eQuhhwQ).

Nocs Provisions has formed a partnership with the National Audubon Society, bridging the “old guard” of conservation and the new generation of outdoor enthusiasts. While birding has historically been seen as a high-barrier hobby, this partnership is built on the shared belief that accessible gear leads to better stewardship. By pairing Nocs’ modern, inclusive approach to optics with Audubon’s 120-year legacy, this partnership is about making birding more approachable for the millions of Americans now participating in the hobby.

adidas Sport SPO110 is designed for adventure (photo: adidas Sport)

adidas Sport has designed the SP0110 to handle high-altitude exposure. The ultra-lightweight frame features removable side shields that increase protection from sun and wind when you’re above the tree line. To ensure a secure fit during technical descents, the frames are equipped with adjustable nose pads and high-grip temple tips that keep everything locked in place. These frames feature high-performance lenses equipped with precision mirror coatings to cut glare from reflective surfaces, optimizing vision in diverse outdoor environments. For athletes facing unpredictable weather, the lenses include a protective coating to repel water, sweat, oil, and dirt. Additionally, the integrated high-contrast technology provides superior color brilliance, allowing you to better distinguish terrain changes and obstacles. 

Did you overdo it on that hike or run? AnySLEEVE™ by TheraICE™ is an all-in-one, one-size fits all compression wrap designed to deliver expert-grade hot and cold therapy wherever you need it most, a game-changing compression solution designed for any size person and any body part. Whether it’s calves, knees, elbows, or areas that need customizable support, the AnySLEEVE™ adapts to your body and your sport by delivering 360-degree coverage. With a focus on proactive recovery, TheraICE™ encourages everyday athletes to support their muscles and joints before discomfort starts. (Price: $29.99. Available on Amazon)

Titan by Arctic Zone® 30 Can Zipperless HardBody® Cooler: A cooler is a must when road tripping, especially if you’re traveling with kids (lots of snacks = happy travelers). This cooler keeps ice up to three days; has a “flip-open”, patented Zipperless™ lid that provides quick access to food and drinks as well as an insulated front pocket (so grabbing snacks while in the car is a breeze); includes a durable, removable, HardBody® liner with SmartShelf™ which allows you to keep hard items like drinks separate from soft, so sandwiches and other soft foods don’t get crushed. ($69.99. Available at Walmart and Amazon)

EF Adventures Names Backcountry as Preferred Outdoor Gear Partner, Launches Co-Branded Tour Collection for Active Explorers

Partnership to launch co-created adventure tours, expert-curated gear recommendations, exclusive traveler and retail benefits, and a launch sweepstakes

EF Adventures has introduced an Italy Biking: The Dolomites & Italian Alps tour with curated Backcountry gear © Eric Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Ready to adventure smarter, travel further, and gear up with confidence?

EF Adventures and Backcountry  have formed a strategic partnership pairing a premium guided tour operator for active travelers with a leading online retailer of topnotch outdoor gear. The collaboration names Backcountry as EF Adventures’ preferred outdoor gear partner, giving travelers access to Gearhead-curated gear lists, exclusive gear and apparel benefits, and Backcountry Summit Club Plus membership, while Backcountry customers gain exclusive deals and upgrades on world-class hiking, biking, and multi-adventure tours through EF Adventures.

At the center of the partnership are plans to curate and launch “The Backcountry Tour Collection, powered by EF Adventures” — a series of exclusive departures created specifically for outdoor enthusiasts. The co-created tours will combine EF Adventures’ signature blend of active exploration and cultural immersion with Backcountry’s expertise in outdoor gear and lifestyle. Select departures will feature appearances from Backcountry athletes and team members.

To help travelers prepare, Backcountry will provide curated gear lists tailored to EF Adventures itineraries, featuring expert recommendations from Backcountry’s Gearhead team and exclusive deals on qualifying purchases. Examples of curated tour-to-gear recommendations, available in both men’s and women’s styles, include: 

Bhutan Hiking: The Trans Bhutan Trail: This 14-day hiking tour explores the heart of the Eastern Himalayas through Bhutan’s legendary Trans Bhutan Trail. Travelers trek through remote mountain landscapes, visit ancient monasteries—including the iconic Tiger’s Nest—and connect with local communities while experiencing the culture and natural beauty of one of the world’s happiest countries. This tour’s “Gearhead Approved” Backcountry products and apparel include:

EF Adventures has introduced an Italy Biking: The Dolomites & Italian Alps tour with curated Backcountry gear © Eric Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Italy Biking: The Dolomites & Italian Alps: This 8-day cycling tour tackles some of Italy’s most iconic climbs, including routes featured in the Giro d’Italia. Riders conquer legendary mountain passes such as the Sella Ronda circuit, Passo dello Stelvio, and Passo Gavia, while experiencing alpine culture, historic rifugios, and breathtaking scenery throughout the Dolomites and Italian Alps. This tour’s “Gearhead Approved” Backcountry products and apparel include:

EF Adventures has introduced a New Zealand Multi-Adventure: North & South Islands with curated Backcountry gear © Eric Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

EF Adventures travelers also have access to Backcountry Summit Club Plus, the company’s loyalty and membership program, while Backcountry customers will be able to unlock exclusive savings on select EF Adventures tours.

EF Adventures offers 40+ guided itineraries across 25 countries and 5 continents, combining active experiences such as hiking, biking, kayaking, yoga, and ziplining with meaningful cultural immersion and local learning opportunities. Designed for travelers who want to experience destinations beyond the typical tourist path, each tour blends adventure with authentic connections to local communities, traditions, and landscapes. Tours can be reserved with a $150 deposit, with interest-free monthly payment plans on both efadventures.com and backcountry.com.

“At EF Adventures, we design tours for active travelers who truly want to experience and learn about the world, visiting off-the-beaten path destinations with expert local guides,” said Heidi Durflinger, CEO of EF World Journeys USA. “Teaming up with Backcountry means our travelers will have access to the best gear, backed by expert knowledge, before they ever pack their bags. Together, we’re making it easier than ever to show up to your next adventure fully prepared and completely inspired.”

“Backcountry Gearheads live for helping people find exactly what they need to do more of what they love outdoors,” said Kevin Lenau, President of Backcountry. “Partnering with EF Adventures is central to what we’re building with Summit Club Plus: not a loyalty program, but a true outdoor ecosystem where our members get access to the best gear, the best expertise, and now the best adventures in the world.”

Learn more: efadventures.com/backcountry.

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_placess_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Day Trips, Driveable destinations, Long Island travel, Staycation, Summer Vacations

Long Island Staycation!

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For an extraordinary Long Island staycation experience, take a ride on a historic aircraft at the American Airpower Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Long Islanders don’t have to travel far to enjoy one of the best summer vacation places in the world, with one of the best white-sand beaches in the world (Jones Beach State Park), glamorous (if laid back) Hamptons resorts (Gurney’s Inn); historic and world-class attractions that can stand up to any from Old Bethpage Village Restoration to the Cradle of Aviation Museum. And if you are looking to immerse in America’s 250th anniversary, Long Island played key roles in the War for Independence and after, when George Washington did a tour thanking Long Islanders for their role in securing victory. Here are ideas for a Long Island staycation:

Nassau County Museum of Art is on the 145 acre William Cullen Bryant Preserve with major exhibitions, sculpture park, gardens and nature trails, a perfect staycation destination © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) is a total destination in its own right: a premier art museum on the historic 145-acre William Cullen Bryant Preserve, featuring major rotating exhibitions, a sculpture park, formal gardens, and nature trails. The Saltzman Fine Art Building, the centerpiece of the museum, is a three-story, Georgian-style 19th century mansion formerly known as the Frick Estate (“Clayton”). Outdoor Sculpture Park is one of the largest publicly accessible sculpture parks on the East Coast with 40 major works by 30 celebrated sculptors. The William Cullen Bryant Preserve includes an arboretum, formal gardens, ponds, and nearly 6 miles of marked walking trails, named for the 19th-century poet and conservationist who originally owned a portion of the estate. The Manes Family Art & Education Center, opened in 2017, offers art classes for adults and children, workshops, and the Millstone Reading Lab. (Nassau County Museum of Art
 One Museum Drive
 Roslyn Harbor, NY 11576(516) 484-9338info@nassaumuseum.org

The 1912 Nunley’s Carousel is adjacent to the Long Island Children’s Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Long Island Children’s Museum offers 14 hands-on, interactive exhibit galleries, a 140-seat theater and four classroom-size learning studios. Indoor and outdoor gallery spaces are interdisciplinary, age-appropriate and intergenerational, fostering independent and cooperative exploration, and encouraging concept development and skills building. Ride the historic 1912 Nunley’s Carousel (originally installed in 1912 on the Brooklyn waterfront in Canarsie’s Golden City Park. (1 Davis Ave., Garden City, NY 11530 on Museum Row, 516-224-5800, www.licm.org)

At Cradle of Aviatiion Museum, appreciate the vital role Long Island played in aviation and space exploration, including seeing the actual Apollo Lunar Module built on Long Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Cradle of Aviation Museum is a premier aerospace museum celebrating Long Island’s vital role in aviation and space exploration. Located on the historic grounds of the former Mitchel Air Force Base, you visit eight chronological galleries housing 75 historic air and spacecraft, tracing 100 years of aerospace development, from early hot air balloons to an actual Apollo Lunar Module (built on Long Island). See famous aircraft designed on Long Island (such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the A-10 Thunderbolt II) and even sit in various restored cockpits. The museum features the JetBlue Sky Theater Planetarium (a giant dome theater) and interactive STEM learning labs. Part of Nassau County’s Museum Row (Charles Lindbergh Blvd, Garden City, NY 11530, 516-572-4111, cradleofaviation.org).

At the American Airpower Museum, you not only can see historic aircraft, but even take a ride in one © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

American Airpower Museum, located on the former site of Republic Aviation at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale,  where you can roam around an array of fascinating aviation artifacts and aircraft including a Republic F-84 first generation jet fighter, a rare example of the swept-wing RF-84F reconnaissance variant, and a Republic F-105 Thunderchief. The factory’s last production aircraft was the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. Most unusual: You can take a flight on the legendary “pilot maker” of WWII the North American AT-6D “Texan”, the American Airpower Museum’s WWII Douglas C-47 “Skytrain” Troop Transport, and the open cockpit WACO UPF-7 WWII Trainer. Most extraordinary: the Museum’s C-47 D-Day Living History Flight experience pairs participants with living history re-enactors who take you back in time to learn about the crucial mission to liberate Europe and end the Nazi regime.  (1230 New Hwy, Farmingdale,631-293-6398, www.americanairpowermuseum.com)

L-R New Double-decker Venetian Carousel and The Ram Pirat Ship all open at Adventureland this season. Photo Credit Adventureland.

Adventureland, Long Island’s longest-running family amusement park dating back to 1962, offers 30 rides including new rides new rides for its 2026 season “The Ram Pirat Ship” and the new Merry Go Round, Double-decker Venetian Carousel. Also, Turbulence, Long Island’s only spinning roller coaster; the Mystery Mansion dark ride; and classics like the Ferris wheel; water attractions; an indoor arcade and restaurant. The 2026 entertainment lineup features drone light shows, a new Saturday Night DJ show “Party on the Midway”, and returning favorites Amazing Louie, Team Fun and Royal Events’ princess and superhero characters. For schedules, visit https://adventureland.us (2245 Broad Hollow Road (RT. 110), Farmingdale, 631-694-6868).

Long Island Aquarium features interactive exhibits and experiences: The Living Coral Reef, one of the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere; Lost City of Atlantis Shark Exhibit, a 120,000-gallon shark habitat (you can even book a Shark Dive and get in the water with them); Interactive Touch Tanks of sea stars, horseshoe crabs, and fee stingrays in Ray Bay; “Butterflies, Bugs & Bees” garden, sea lion shows, penguins, and river otters. Encounter Experiences includepenguin meet-and-greets, snorkel adventures and mermaid swims (431 East Main Street, Riverhead NY 11901, 631.208.9200, www.longislandaquarium.com/)

See marvelous items associated with the 130 inductees to the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, including Billy Joel © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Long Island Music, Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF), founded in 2004, is dedicated to celebrating and preserving Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage. Its official “Hall of Fame Museum” displays original musical instruments, famous awards, apparel, and other memorabilia from many of the wide variety of Long Island talent represented by the 130 musicians and music industry executives inducted includes Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS, LL Cool J, Debbie Gibson, Louis Armstrong, the Stray Cats, and Run-DMC, and most recently, Music Executive Dennis Arfa, Billy Joel’s longtime booking agent and chairman of the Music Division at Independent Artist Group, (Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, 97 Main St., Stony Brook, NY 11790, 631-689-5888, www.limusichalloffame.org).

Garvies Point Preserve: the museum’s exhibits offer Long Island and New York State geology and Long Island  Native American culture and archaeology. Geology exhibits illustrate Long Island’s glacial history and explain the formation of today’s land features. Dramatic post-glacial changes in climate and sea level are detailed in dioramas to show the evolution of our landscape during the past 20,000 years. Local leaf fossils and concretions (“Indian paint pots”) are also on display. (50 Barry Drive, Glen Cove, NY 11542, https://www.garviespointmuseum.com/preserve.php)

Jones Beach is one of the best white-sand beaches in all the world © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Best beaches: World famous Jones Beach State Park, the 2,400-acre jewel of Long Island, offers 6.5 miles of beautiful white-sand beach on the Atlantic Ocean, offering the miles-long boardwalk, Art-Deco era buildings including the Boardwalk Café and Gatsby on the Ocean Restaurant; miniature golf, shuffleboard, basketball, corn hole, paddle tennis, table tennis and pickleball; Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center, pool swimming, sunbathing, bicycling, surfing, and visiting the playgrounds and splash pad; concerts at Northwell Health Theater and boardwalk bandshell. Other best beaches: Robert Moses State Park, Long Beach and Fire Island.

Long Island’s best traffic free, paved bike path is the 13-mile long Bethpage Bikeway © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Best biking: Long Island’s longest traffic free, paved bike path is the 13-mile Bethpage Bikeway, a scenic trail that goes through 2 state parks, 2 wetland preserves and 2 town parks. The full trail goes from Brady Park at the northernmost top through Bethpage State Park, into Trailview State Park, ending at Woodbury Road. You can connect (after biking along Merrick Road) to the Jones Beach Bikeway from Cedar Creek Park along Wantagh Parkway to Jones Beach, then connect to the 13.7-mile Ocean Parkway Coastal Greenway paved multi-use trail running along the barrier island from Jones Beach State Park to Captree State Park.

Enjoy biking from Jones Beach to Captree State Park on the 13.7-mile Ocean Parkway Coastal Greenway © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

(Something to look forward to: the Long Island Greenway, ultimately 200 miles of connected bike paths spanning Long Island from Montauk, connecting to the Empire State Trail Network in Manhattan.)

If you are Bethpage State Park on a summer Sunday (June-September), check out the polo matches:

Camping: Wildwood State Park, Hither Hills State Park, Heckscher State Park, Montauk County Park. (Book camping at New York State Parks at through https://newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com/ or by calling 1-800-456-2267; see www.discoverlongisland.com/where-to-stay/campgrounds-rv-parks)

Want to feel like you are in Cape Cod without leaving Long Island? Shelter island nestled between the North and South Forks can only accessed by ferry from either Greenport on the North Fork or North Haven on the South Fork. It’s known for its natural beauty, hiking, biking, birdwatching and breathtaking kayaking. One third of the 27-square mile island is a nature preserve. (try to be there when they have a moonlight hike, but protect yourself from ticks).  Organize your stay: www.discoverlongisland.com/places-to-go/shelter-island.

Explore, Discover Long Island History

Old Bethpage Village Restoration is a living history museum presenting Long Island as it was in the 1860s and 1880s © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Old Bethpage Village Restoration is a 209-acre living history museum in Old Bethpage that recreates a mid-19th-century American rural village. Opened in 1970, it features 50 mid-1800s homes, inn, Methodist church, schoolhouse and general store, historic structures rescued from demolition and relocated across Long Island. Costumed interpreters in 19th century attire demonstrate historical trades like blacksmithing, tailoring, and farming; also check out events and happenings including patriotic observances, vintage base ball tournaments, the sprawling Long Island Fair, and festive holiday traditions. (1303 Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY, oldbethpagevillagerestoration.org)

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site was the home of President Theodore Roosevelt from 1885 to 1919 and the “summer White House” during his presidency © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919 and the “Summer White House” during his presidency (1901–1909). Explore 83 acres of natural surroundings, historic buildings and trails. House Tours, areavailable Friday–Sunday by advance reservation only on Recreation.gov. Visit the Old Orchard Museum (open Thursday (1-4:30 PM), Friday–Sunday (12-4:30 PM). (20 Sagamore Hill Rd, Oyster Bay, NY 11771, 516 922-4788, www.nps.gov/sahi/index.htm).

Complete your visit at nearby historical and natural attractions, including the Village of Oyster Bay, Young’s Cemetery (Roosevelt gravesite), Planting Fields, the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center, and other parks and museums.

Gold Coast Mansions, castles, estates and gardens built by New York’s elite high upon the North Shore bluffs during the 1920s “Gold Coast” era, are immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. Several, including the castles at Sands Point Preserve, the Vanderbilt Museum and Oheka Castle, are open to the public for tours.

See the major exhibit at Old Wesstbury Gardens this summer: Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects Made with LEGO bricks (photo: Old Westbury Gardens)

Old Westbury Gardens, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a spectacular 200-acre historic estate in Nassau County. Built in 1906, it features Westbury House, theformer country home of Carnegie Steel Company fortune heir John Shaffer Phipps and his family, now open as a museum, filled with fine 18th-century English antiques, decorative arts, and artwork left as they were during the family’s residency; and 70+ acres of formal gardens, tranquil ponds, lakes, and wooded pathways. It offers a wide range of historical, cultural, artistic, educational, horticultural events. Theme events are offered this summer in conjunction with its major exhibit,  Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® Made with LEGO® bricks, an award-winning, record-breaking exhibition that uses beautiful works of art made from simple toy bricks to explore animal endangerment, the balance of ecosystems, and mankind’srelationship with nature (through September 7). Details, tickets at: www.oldwestburygardens.org/sean-kenneys-nature-connects, www.oldwestburygardens.org.

Sands Point Preserve, on the original Guggenheim Estate is a 216-acre park including four historic mansions – Hempstead House, Falaise (one of the few intact historic houses remaining on Long Island’s North Shore, furnished in antiques), Castle Gould (not open for visits but can be admired) and Mille Fleur, and the Phil Dejana Learning Center. Six marked hiking trails weave through natural and landscaped areas. The woods, mile-long beach and cliffs, lawns, gardens and freshwater pond provide habitats for a variety of plants and animals an a bucolic scene for visitors. (Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, 127 Middle Neck Road, Sands Point, New York 11050,  516-571-7901, www.sandspointpreserveconservancy.org).

Also: Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park (440 Montauk Highway); Caumsett Historic State Park (25 Lloyd Harbor Road));  Oheka Castle (mansion tours available, 135 West Gate Drive); Planting Fields (1395 Planting Fields Road); Sagtikos Manor (677 West Montauk Hwy); Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum & Reichert Planetarium  (180 Little Neck Road).

Lighthouses: Long Island’s rich maritime history is manifest in several iconic beacons. Montauk Point Lighthouse 2000 Montauk Highway, Montauk. Authorized by George Washington in 1792, the oldest lighthouse in NYS; climb the 137-step tower and explore the museum). Fire Island Lighthouse: eastern end of Robert Moses State Park (accessible via Parking Field 5). features guided tower tours and offers stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and Great South Bay. Horton Point Lighthouse,3575 Lighthouse Road in Southold,. commissioned by George Washington, features a museum operated by the Southold Historical Museum and tranquil hiking trails down to the Long Island Sound. Long Beach Bar Lighthouse (“Bug Light”): off the coast of Orient Beach State Park, can be viewed by taking a scenic walk along the beach, via kayak, or through seasonal boat tours with the East End Seaport Museum. Orient Point Lighthouse, located in the treacherous waters of Plum Gut and nicknamed “The Coffee Pot” doe its shape, is not accessible by land but can be viewed via the Cross Sound Ferry or from Orient Point State Park.

For a real adventure, a perfect America 250th adventure is to follow the Culper Spy Trail. Largely following Route 25A (Long Island Heritage Trail), President George Washington traveled this route in 1790 by horse-drawn carriage on a mission to thank his Long Island supporters and the ‘Culper Spy Ring’ for their help in winning the American Revolution (hence the many places that boast “George Washington slept here”). Among the Revolutionary War sites: Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, where Robert Townsend became a part of the spy ring; the Arsenal in Huntington; the Conklin House’ Joseph Lloyd Manor, the Brewster House in Stony Brook where American patriot Caleb Brewster spied on British soldiers; and Sherwood-Jayne Farm, home of Loyalist William Jayne aka “Big Bill the Tory”. See where the Battle of Setauket was fought near the Setauket Presbyterian Church on Caroline Ave.; Strongs Neck Road, where Anna Smith Strong and Abraham Woodhull lived, a key location for the spies; Thompson House where spies’ names are in the doctor’s book. See: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/plan-your-trip/famous-long-island/george-washingtons-spy-trail/; a four-day getaway: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/a-historical-getaway/, and  find more Long Island 250 events: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/longisland250/.

Sagtikos Manor: Built in 1697, and expanded in 1772 and 1902, the estate served as headquarters for the British Army on Long Island for a brief time during the Revolutionary War. President George Washington stayed here during his tour of Long Island in 1790. The manor house is furnished with original family pieces just as it was when the last owner moved out in 1963. On the manor grounds there is a carriage house, walled garden (under restoration) and family cemetery. Donations accepted. Tours May – September (677 West Montauk Hwy)

Special Places to Stay:

Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa is a legendary, year-round oceanfront resort in Montauk. famous for its 30,000-square-foot wellness center, private 2,000-foot beach, and the only ocean-fed, saltwater indoor pool in the US (290 Old Montauk Highway, 6631-668-2345, www.gurneysresorts.com/montauk)

The Southampton Inn’s 90 guest rooms are individually designed, melding coastal elegance with traditional Hamptons character. Bright, airy and outfitted with modern amenities, our rooms are relaxing and refreshing, offering an idyllic lodging experience on Long Island’s East End. Walk, jog, or bicycle through the streets of Southampton Village to experience world-class shopping, beaches, and dining (91 Hill Street, Southampton, NY 11968, 631-203-8129, https://southamptoninn.com/).

For more ideas, visit Discover Long Island, 330 Motor Parkway, Suite 203, Hauppauge, NY 11788, 877-386-6654, tourism@discoverlongisland.com, discoverlongisland.com. and I Love NY, https://www.iloveny.com/places-to-go/long-island/.

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

America's 250th, Festivals and Events

Photo Highlights: Blue Angels Headline Four Leaf Air Show at Jones Beach Honoring America’s 250th

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US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com, news-photos-features.com

The US Navy Blue Angels headlined a very special Four Leaf Air Show at Jones Beach, this year honoring America’s 250th anniversary, so moved from the traditional Memorial Day Weekend to July 5 and 6. Some 268,000 turned out for the event on Monday; unfortunately, Tuesday’s show was cancelled for rain.

The Jones Beach event was special in other ways, as well, featuring more international participants than ever, including the first-ever visit to the United States by the United Arab Emirates aerobatic team, Fursan Al Emarat. The United Kingdom sent its Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, and its British Army Parachute Display Team, the Red Devils, and Canada sent the Canadian Forces Snowbirds (431 Air Demonstration Squadron).

In a stunning and spectacular and surprising move, the Canadian Snowbirds joined the British Red Arrows to pay special honor for America’s 250th.

The event also featured Aaron Deliu, an Australian professional aerobatic pilot who is becoming a U.S. citizen, as well as local favorites, Farmingdale State College Flying Rams, historic “warbirds” from the American Airpower Museum, and the 106th Rescue Wing of the NY Air National Guard.

Here are photo highlights:

US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels thrill an audience of 268,000 at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels show their precision flying and daring-do at Four Leaf Air Show, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, honoring America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

See also:

Photo Highlights: Four Leaf Airshow at Jones Beach State Park Honors America’s 250th

Photo Highlights: Millions Turn Out for Sail4th 250 in New York Harbor, Nation’s Premier International Event Honoring America’s 250th

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© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_placess_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us atfacebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

America's 250th, Festivals and Events

Photo Highlights: Four Leaf Airshow at Jones Beach State Park Honors America’s 250th

Canadian Snowbirds join the British Red Arrows in a historic display to honor America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com, news-photos-features.com

Hundreds of thousands turned out for a very special Four Leaf Airshow at Jones Beach, this year honoring America’s 250th anniversary, so moved from the traditional Memorial Day Weekend to July 5 and 6. The headliner, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, also led the flyover at the July 4th Sail4th 250 event, leading some 200 aircraft.

The Jones Beach event was special in other ways, as well, featuring more international participants than ever, including the first-ever visit to the United States by the United Arab Emirates aerobatic team, Fursan Al Emarat. The United Kingdom sent its Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, and its British Army Parachute Display Team, the Red Devils, and Canada sent the Canadian Forces Snowbirds (431 Air Demonstration Squadron).

In a stunning and spectacular and surprising move, the Canadian Snowbirds joined the British Red Arrows to pay special honor for America’s 250th.

The event also featured Aaron Deliu, an Australian professional aerobatic pilot who is becoming a U.S. citizen, as well as local favorites, Farmingdale State College Flying Rams, historic “warbirds” from the American Airpower Museum, and the 106th Rescue Wing of the NY Air National Guard.

The 268,000 spectators who crammed the beach and boardwalk for the FourLeaf Air Show at Jones Beach State Park on Sunday, July 5, was the second-highest attended air show in the park’s history. Unfortunately, Monday’s show was rained out.

Here are highlights of what you saw or what you missed:

US Army’s Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, bring in the American flag © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Spectators on the Jones Beach boardwalk wave American flags to take part in an unofficial world’s record for numbers waving flag, as Golden Knights photograph the beach. Some 268,000 attended. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
106th Rescue Wing of the NY Air National Guard © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
United Arab Emirates aerobatic team, Fursan Al Emarat make their debut in the United States © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
United Arab Emirates aerobatic team, Fursan Al Emarat © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
United Arab Emirates aerobatic team, Fursan Al Emarat © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
American Airpower Museum’s Warbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
American Airpower Museum’s Warbirds© Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
American Airpower Museum’s Warbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
American Airpower Museum’s Warbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Canadian Snowbirds join the British Red Arrows in a historic display to honor America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Canadian Forces Snowbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Canadian Forces Snowbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Canadian Forces Snowbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Canadian Forces Snowbirds © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Aaron Deliu,aerobatic pilot , shows off his daring do © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Aaron Deliu,aerobatic pilot , shows off his daring do © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Aaron Deliu,aerobatic pilot , shows off his daring do © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
British Army Parachute Display Team, the Red Devils bring in the flag © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Army Golden Knights bring in the “Betsy Ross” flag to honor America’s 250th © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Army Golden Knights © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Army Golden Knights © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
US Navy Blue Angels © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

See next: Photo Highlights: Blue Angels Headline Four Leaf Air Show at Jones Beach Honoring America’s 250th

See also: Photo Highlights: Millions Turn Out for Sail4th 250 in New York Harbor, Nation’s Premier International Event Honoring America’s 250th

__________________

© 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_placess_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

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