Category Archives: See America

Six Days on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails: Biking the Coeur d’Alenes

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

On Day 4 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip, after breakfast at our base at the Silver Mountain Resort, we are shuttled to Shoshone Park in the mining town of Mullan for an easy downstream ride through the “Silver Valley,” home to several historic mining communities.

We soon pick up the official start of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, enjoying views of the rocky, forested mountains, as we make our way to the utterly charming “wild west” town of Wallace.

Biking on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes to Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We have been primed for Wallace’s character (and humor) when we had a talk by a local historian at the Roosevelt Inn in Coeur d’Alene so are prepared for the “history (and some hilarity!) that await us as citizens of Wallace have tenaciously preserved their town amidst an ever changing landscape of fortunes lost and gained.”

Now, we stroll around the town looking for some of the sights she pointed out, like the town’s last brothel, a mining museum, a silver shop, before we join the Sierra Silver Mine Tour that Discovery has arranged for us. It begins with a delightful narrated tour of Wallace in an open-air trolley that takes us up to the mine.

Who knew that Wallace was the “Silver Capital of the World” – some $138 billion worth taken out of these mines –$20 billion of metals just last year (did I hear that right?) – 1 million ounces of silver. In the 1960s, incredulously, Wallace was the “richest little city” in America with the highest number of millionaires per capita, as well as a thriving brothel industry. (The last running bordello was shut down in 1989 when the FBI raided tax dodgers – there is still resentment in the town – but you can visit the Bordello Museum.)

When mining began in 1886, Wallace’s population was 500; at its peak, in 1940, when some 200 mines were operating (quartz, gold, silver, copper, zinc), the population peaked at 4000, but, with the collapse of silver prices in March1980, most of the mines closed, the miners left and the population fell to the present number of 800. Today, there are still four active silver mines, including the Lucky Friday and the Galina mines, and one gold mine.

In 1890, a chimney fire destroyed most of the town – the buildings we see today date from 1890-1920. Indeed, Wallace has the rare honor of the entire town being listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Other tidbits: only one sitting president has visited Wallace: Theodore Roosevelt came in 1903 on a campaign whistle stop; the town spent $5000 just on flags to welcome him. There was a shootout on Valentine’s Day, 1951 – one of the tommy guns is on display in the museum. And Wallace’s most famous native is Lana Turner went one day to a grocery store where she was discovered.

You would be forgiven if you thought Wallace was a theme park creation (the 1997 movie “Dante’s Peak” was filmed here), but the history and the heritage are real, as is the miner, “Fast Freddie,” who is our guide into the silver mine.

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“Fast Freddie” is a colorful character (he looks as if he came from Hollywood casting), with a marvelous sense of humor, amusing and engaging, but most important, he is authentic, speaking of his own experience working 21 years underground in these mines. “You need a good sense of humor in a mine,” Freddie tells us. “We used to play tricks.” 

This mine was only briefly used, he says, because the silver was very low grade and not worth the expense. It was turned into a mining school, where students learned the techniques of mining and could be hired right into a job.

After the collapse of the silver market and the closure of mines, Wallace looked to tourism to compensate. This mine was turned into an attraction, getting as many as 18,000 visitors a year.

A skeleton wearing a hard hat greets us as we enter the Sierra Silver Mine in Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

As we enter the mine and pass a skeleton sitting on a chair, Freddie tells us that one of the worst mining disasters in history took place on May 2, 1972 when 91 miners lost lives and just 2 survived. ‘It took 2 weeks to recover all of them. They didn’t have a system to know who was down there.’ After that, the Mine Safety Administration mandated a tag system – larger mines have more sophisticated program.

The proverbial canary in a mine. “Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We actually see a canary cage – used to let the miners know when oxygen is low (the proverbial “canary in a coal mine.”)

In this mine, future miners were taught to run the jack, the drill, and to blast. The miners work alone at different levels, so each one has to do everything – digging, setting the dynamite charge, moving out the ore. “You have to get everything done so you can blast before the next shift arrives.”

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

How to protect against the noise? “A cigarette butt was ear protection” (not sure he was joking.)

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The veins of silver go down for miles – in 1964, they were mining at 250 feet. The Lucky Friday Mine, the largest in the area, is operating at 9600 feet below ground. The deeper they go, the hotter it gets – at 9,000 ft, as much as 170 degrees – so they designed a refrigerated ventilation system to cool to 100 degrees.

After being returned by the trolley, we have time to wander around Wallace before biking back on the trail on our own to the Silver Mine Resort.

The last brothel in Wallace, Idaho is now the Oasis Bordello Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Wallace is really interesting – like a time warp and not really just “tourist quaint”, quirky and fun.  Just strolling around, you find the Wallace District Mining Museum, the Idaho Silver Shop, Northern Railroad Depot Museum, and everyone’s favorite, the Oasis Bordello Museum.

Wallace, Idaho, claims to be the “center of the universe.” Prove them otherwise. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Wallace, Idaho, claims to be the “center of the universe.” Prove them otherwise. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

These folks in Wallace have a sense of humor – and an eye for a profit-making tourism-promoting gimmick: they designated a manhole at the crossroads in the middle of town as the “Center of the Universe” (that’s what is engraved on it). Based on what? “What’s the evidence that it isn’t?” comes the reply.

A mummified mermaid, one of the curiosities and collectibles on view in the Trading Post, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I find a shop that sells guns, antiques, curios, and collectibles. In a glass cabinet is a large mummified “mermaid” (calling to mind a similar fantastical creature displayed in a store in Banff, Canada, and P.T. Barnum’s museum of oddities).

Poster above rifle barrels in the Wallace, Idaho gun shop: Americanism © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s a delightful bike ride from Wallace to the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, where later we have dinner together in the mountain village base.

DAY 5:  39 or 46 miles, Cataldo Mission and the Coeur d’Alenes

The plan on Day 5 is to set out from the Silver Mountain Resort biking on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, and after 11 miles or so, to visit the Cataldo Mission, Idaho’s oldest standing building, lunch at the Rodehouse before continuing biking, with a choice of 39 or 46 miles of cycling to Harrison, where we are to be shuttled back to the resort for a celebratory dinner in Kellogg for our last night together.  

But it is a drenching rain.

Our guide, Clarista, says “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing” and says her job is to cheerlead for biking, but if we don’t want to, we can choose  to shuttle the first 11 miles instead of bike to the Cataldo Mission. After assuring us we won’t be missing much in the way of scenery and that the portion from Cataldo to Smelterville is the pretty part, we vote to take her up on her offer to drive us to the Mission. (I’m just so grateful it wasn’t raining like this when we did the Route of the Hiawatha, especially when I see another bike tour heading out there this morning.)

The visit at the Cataldo Mission starts with an excellent video that explains how the local tribe invited the Jesuits (“Black Robes”) to come here and build the mission. At the time, the introduction of the horse meant that tribes that had coexisted in their own land before, began to encroach on each other’s territory. The tribe believed that the “Black Robe” missionaries had a superior power, a Great Spirit, who would enable them to triumph over their enemies.

The Mission of the Sacred Art was built in 1850-1853, by Father Pierre Jean De Smet, chief of the “Black Robes” who answered the tribe’s invitation to come, along with Father Ravalli, an Italian-born religious leader who designed the building and supervised construction with simple tools and without nails.

Old Mission church, Cataldo, Idaho’s oldest standing building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Old Mission church is simple and beautiful – the wood-beamed ceiling painted blue with huckleberries, to make the native people more comfortable since they were used to praying outside. We learn that the walls were decorated with fabric bought from the Hudson Bay Company and a hand-painted newspaper from Philadelphia that Fr. Ravalli had received in the mail. Tin cans were used to create the chandeliers. Both wooden statues were carved by Fr. Rivalli with a knife to look like marble.

What I find most fascinating, though, is the museum there that better represents the tribe’s point of view – how they were initially drawn to Christianity with its values of “comfort, community” the sense of miraculous to be found in nature, and a Great Spirit with power to grant protection, like their own spirits, which seemed (at first) to conform with their own values and beliefs.

The Coeur d’Alene people – the Schitsu’umsh, meaning “Those who were found here” or “The discovered people” – were initially drawn in because the early Jesuits were tolerant of native culture and traditions, even blending the cultures together.

The mission became a stop and supply station for traders, settlers, and miners traveling on the Mullan Road, and a port for boats heading up the Coeur d’Alene River.

Old Mission church, Cataldo, Idaho’s oldest standing building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Over time, the Coeur d’Alene people regretted the decision to give the Black Robes a stronghold when  they realized the Jesuits’ mission was to create an Empire of Christianity. At the same time, white settlers looking to exploit the region’s resources, who brought guns and small pox, were taking territory and pushing out the indigenous tribes. In 1877, even the mission was forcibly relocated from the ‘House of the Great Spirit.”

The museum displays photos and artifacts that show the effort to Christianize and eradicate native heritage and culture – but done in an understated, polite way since this museum, is apparently a partnership between the tribe and the mission. (The Cataldo Mission became a state historic park in 1935, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.)

We have lunch at the Rodehouse, right across the road from the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. By this time, the rain has all but ended – it is grey and humid  – and we get back on the trail for the 16-mile ride back to the resort.  The cloud formations make for dramatic scenes.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho through marshland © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We cycle along an enchanting stretch of wetlands – part of the trail is a berm with marsh on either side. We have been told “just after Metamonk Village (mile 20) to be on lookout for moose.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho through marshland © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I spot an osprey with fish in its claws so heavy it couldn’t take flight so dropped it; a black furry creature (otter? muskrat?) carrying what looked like a mouse dashes across the path; a flock of blue heron, a family of deer, and finally, when we are almost at the end of the trail, we come upon a moose with her baby.

Finally! We come upon the promised moose and her baby on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

DAY 6: 16 miles to the end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

Day 6 is our final day of riding. We pack up our luggage, have breakfast, and shuttle to Harrison, the point on the trail where we ended yesterday’s ride. Today, we bike the last section, 16 miles, through a series of chained lakes to the end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. It is glorious.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s a perfect day – sunshine, cool temp (60 degrees), a bit of a headwind. We ride along the Lake Coeur d’Alene, then cross over the Chatcolet Bridge, a really interesting bridge which was once a swinging trestle (the challenge is to ride over the hump), then into the forest where we climb for about seven miles, through the Coeur D’Alene reservation, to finish at the trail’s end, at a moving Indian Warriors and Veterans Memorial.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here we have a picnic lunch, feeling extremely satisfied and happy, before we pack into the van again for an hour-drive back at Spokane Airport or downtown.

At the end of Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho is this monument to the Warriors and Veterans © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Discovery Bicycle Tours Merges into Active Adventures

Our Idaho Trails group. Discovery Bicycle Tours specializes in small-groups and personalized service. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Discovery Bicycle Tours has just joined Austin Adventures, a Montana-based North America National Parks small group tour company, under the umbrella ownership of Active Adventures, a New Zealand-based small group adventure travel company. These companies primarily offer hiking and multi-sport options, and just like Discovery Bicycle Tours, focus on small groups (averaging 12 guests).

Austin Adventures is a Montana-based North American National Parks expert offering small group tours with personal touches, flexible options to do as much or as little as you want, and “wow” moments. Austin Adventures also specializes in family and multi-generational tours across North America and around the globe. 

Active Adventures, based in New Zealand, has expanded over the past 30 years to South and Central America, Europe, the Himalayas and Africa. They offer small group, inspiring bucket-list adventures worldwide, with a mix of activities ranging from hiking, biking, and kayaking to snorkeling and caving. Each trip is designed to be flexible, so if you’re a little short on time or you’d prefer to skip an activity, they can alter the itinerary to suit you.

The merger means that the teams behind Discovery Bicycle Tours, Active Adventures, and Austin Adventures are located around the world in five countries, 15 cities, and even a campervan.

“Across the three brands, we’ve been running tours in North America for 77 years, Europe for 50 years, New Zealand for 25 years, South and Central America for 20 years, the Himalayas for 14 years, and Africa for five years. That’s a world of knowledgeand deep local experience across our brands,” Scott Cone, Discovery’s owner, stated.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 800-257-2226, www.discoverybicycletours.com

See also:

Six Days Cycling Idaho Trails with Discovery Bicycle Tours

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© 2025 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

Six Days Cycling Idaho Trails with Discovery Bicycle Tours

Biking through the pitch black, 1.66-mile long St. Paul Pass Tunnel the first of nine tunnels, seven trestles on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s pitch black as we make our way 1.66 miles through the first tunnel of the Route of the Hiawatha, except for the light on our bike. Water drips down from the ceiling, the surface is muddy and slippery, adrenalin pumping. It is hugely thrilling.

This is just the first (and the most dramatic) of the 9 tunnels and 7 trestles we go through over the course of 14 miles down, then back through again for 14 miles up. It is also the longest – a full 1.66 miles in total darkness! – but each tunnel, each trestle is exciting. You can immediately appreciate why the Route of the Hiawatha is one of Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame rail trails.

Starting out on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The experience is but one of many highlights of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip, during which we will do the 111-mile long Centennial Trail, starting in Spokane Washington to Coeur d’Alene; tackle the remarkable Route of the Hiawatha Trail; and the 73-mile long Trail of the Coeur D’Alenes where we immerse in tribal land, history and culture. Along the way, we will also have interesting experiences such as touring a silver mine in the company of a miner and a museum preserving the heritage of the Coeur d’Alene people.

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What I love most about bike tours is that they are cerebral as much as physical. You feel the scenery; you are part of the space you occupy, engaged – not a spectator peering through a glass window, but a participant, able to smell the air, feel the sun, the breeze, the drizzle, hear the birds and the rushing water. The pace is perfect to really get places while the scenery rolls by as if a movie. And you can stop when you want to take in the scene or a photo, read a marker, or peer at a moose. You feel the satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment at the end of a day’s ride – a combination of euphoria and endorphin rush.

Bike tours bring you to towns and villages you likely would never otherwise see © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What is more, you get to go through small towns, see regular folks you would not likely see traveling by car or bus, promoting connection and understanding. And you have the added satisfaction of maximizing the benefit of your visit – providing the economic foundation that secures this heritage, these natural places, these experiences – leaving a minimal carbon footprint. This is true if you are touring in the United States or some faraway exotic land.

As we gather together for our first orientation meeting with our guides, I take note that just about every one of our group of 13 riders has taken not just one, two but several trips with Discovery Bicycle Tours.

This is my fourth, and I consistently find Discovery’s whole approach to bike touring ideal – summed up in the phrases “Ride your ride” followed by “This is your vacation!”– and how they make that happen. There are two guides (they take turns driving the van that shuttles our stuff, sets up our snack-stops, and is there if anyone needs assistance; while the other cycles along, bringing up the rear), but most importantly, we bike at our own pace. This is because we have our own Ride with GPS App, customized by Scott Cone (the company’s owner, he calls himself Adventure Consultant) for each itinerary; they even provide a phone holder on our bike.

The accommodations, restaurant choices and food are the perfect mix of charming reflections of the places we tour, and luxury (as much comfort as you would ever want without going over the top), adding immeasurably to the tour. The bikes (five of us use their hybrid, eight others take advantage of the availability of e-bikes at no extra cost) and equipment provided are top notch, and it bears noting that I consistently find Discovery offers excellent value-for-money.

Our guides, Susie Iventosch and Calista Phillips, on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our guides, Susie Iventosch and Calista Phillips, are fantastic – really knowledgeable, supportive, encouraging, accurate (I appreciate having a realistic view of what the day’s ride will be), and flexible when necessary (like when we all vote not to ride during a downpour but shuttle the first 11 miles of the day’s route).

The trips are designed for maximum enjoyment of the ride – we are shuttled when it makes sense to or from the ride, and given options of longer or shorter routes each day. And the routes they choose, as well as the added activities (a lecture one evening, the silver mine tour another day, a visit to a museum another) add dimension. I also appreciate the advance preparation – documents, itinerary – and care they provide before the trip.

Day 1: Setting Out on the Centennial Trail, 36 Miles

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our first morning starts with an early meet-up at the Hilton Garden Inn close to Spokane Airport, for introductions and orientation, and we are shuttled to Sontag Park, the start of the Centennial Trail, where we are fitted to our bikes, get the Ride with GPS app going, and set out on a really beautiful ride. Suzie notes that this first day will be the most challenging of the tour.

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We start pedaling along the Washington portion of the Centennial Trail in the rocky canyons west of Spokane. The beginning of the trail is in the forest, and soon rises so that we have this gorgeous view of the Spokane River far below. And once you do the first hill, you feel you can do the second (which is the steepest of the day), then the third (the longest, but not as steep – a piece of cake).

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We pass through Spokane’s urban Riverfront Park that I have so enjoyed visiting for the past three days, and end, 36 miles further down, just five miles before the Washington-Idaho state line, where we are picked up by the van and are taken to the charming Roosevelt Inn where we stay for two nights, in Coeur D’Alene. (Our next day’s ride will bring us back to this same spot, so we can ride the five miles into Idaho.)

The charming Roosevelt Inn, our base for two nights in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I adore the Roosevelt Inn – it is so much a part of Coeur d’Alene. Named for President Theodore Roosevelt who came through the area in 1903 on a campaign whistle stop, the building dates from 1905 when it was Coeur D’Alene’s first school, then became offices, and is now a most charming 14-room bnb. Each room is named for someone with a picture and bio, and provides plush robes and towels. The inn offers a hot tub and sauna (open 24 hours), and absolutely gorgeous gardens (life-size chess). There is a lovely parlor with gorgeous painted mural along the three walls, where there is a refrigerator guests can use; a constant supply of coffee, tea and hot chocolate; fruit and usually, something freshly baked. Each morning, we are served breakfast to order,

The charming Roosevelt Inn, our base for two nights in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This first evening we enjoy dinner together at a pub-style restaurant (a celebratory drink is included).

DAY 2: 14 or 27 miles, Centennial Trail

Biking the Centennial Trail along Lake Coeur d’Alene on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After breakfast at The Roosevelt Inn on our second day, we shuttle to Lovely Falls Park, the headwaters of the Spokane River. The trail takes us along the majestic shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The ride today is 14 miles out and back to the endpoint of the Centennial Trail at Higgins Point, the endpoint of the Centennial Trail, mostly hugging the gorgeous shoreline of Lake Coeur d’Alene, until we come to one major hill up, then down – which means (if we are biking back) we have an even steeper return.

Enjoying the scenery in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We have the option to ride back in the van, but all of us choose to bike back to The Roosevelt, cycling at our own pace. It is early afternoon when we return, so we have plenty of time to enjoy exploring the charming shops and galleries of Coeur d’Alene (a hugely popular destination), swim in the lake or relax. I find a lovely hiking trail along the cliffs.

Enjoying the scenery in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We are treated to a talk by historian Shauna Hillman give a delightful talk about the town of Wallace, Idaho and the Silver Valley Mine which we will be visiting (‘Murder, mining, prostitution,  the mayor murdered his wife’s lover and got away with it, and was reelected twice!”) as we sit in the inn’s lovely garden – before heading out to have dinner on our own.

DAY 3: 15 or 28 miles, Route of the Hiawatha

Group photo before start biking the Trail of the Hiawatha on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After two delightful nights at the Roosevelt Inn in Coeur d’Alene, we pack up in preparation for moving our home base to a mountain resort in Kellogg for the remainder of trip. After breakfast, we shuttle 90 minutes east to the trailhead of the famous Route of the Hiawatha.

Biking the Route of The Hiawatha is an extraordinary experience in the annals of bike trails. Our guides, Suzie and Calista, prepare us extremely well for what we will do, that the first tunnel, the St. Paul Pass Tunnel, is the longest at 1.66 miles long, and is pitch black, damp and a constant 47 degrees. They have put lights on our bikes (you are not allowed to go on the trail without a helmet and bike light).

After we excitedly take group photos at the entrance, we set out at our own pace, with the caveat that we have to start biking back up at 2:30 pm (note there is an hour time change from the start).

Starting out on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Biking through the St. Paul Pass Tunnel is a surreal experience – you can’t see what is above or on the side, only what is lit by the narrow beam where your light shines.

Biking through the pitch black, 1.66-mile long St. Paul Pass Tunnel the first of nine tunnels, seven trestles on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

When you get out and ride the hard-packed gravel trail, it goes steadily down a 3% grade for 14 miles. The scenery is quite spectacular, especially when you look down at a thin pencil line and realize that is the trestle you will be riding across. It looks so small, so far away and far down. And then you are there, and it isn’t thin at all. The view from the trestle is spectacular, too.

Trestles look like thin pencils from above on the Trail of the Hiawatha © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The trestles are so high above where you imagine is the valley floor, you feel you are suspended.

It is 14 miles down on hard-packed gravel to where there is a picnic table where we have a box lunch we had ordered, before riding back up the same 14 miles. If you don’t want to ride back up, you can buy a ticket ($20) to take a shuttle bus. We all bike back. (Notably, there are several bathrooms along the way and water supplied.)

Biking one of seven trestles on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I must admit I am a bit nervous to ride continuously uphill for 14 miles but it actually isn’t bad at all, and there are all these opportunities to stop for the view, or read the interpretive signs that line the trail that tell the history of the Milwaukee Road Railroad. The view and the fresh air are exhilarating.

Biking through one of nine tunnels on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Hiawatha, considered one of the more successful rail-trail conversions in the United States, was named to the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s national Hall of Fame in 2010. It was developed from a railroad line, developed in the late 1800s, that went out of business in the 1980s. 

Biking one of seven trestles on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

One of the historic markers along the way tells of the Great Fire of 1910. One of the most devastating forest fires in American history, it burned 3 million acres of forest in northern Idaho and western Montana. The fire was so huge that a massive cloud of smoke spread throughout southern Canada and the northern United States all the way to the St. Lawrence waterway. The darkness from the smoke was so bad that for 5 days, artificial lighting had to be used from Butte, Montana to Chicago to Watertown, New York. The fire completely devastated the St. Joe River valley and destroyed all of the towns except Avery and Marble Creek, many never rebuilt.

The marker tells of heroic actions by the railroad employees who drove engines and box cars filled with people through the flames to the safety of the longer tunnels, saving 600 lives.

Biking through one of nine tunnels on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It feels soooo good when I come back through that last, longest (1.66 miles), darkest tunnel, being careful not to ride up on the person in front, or slipping in the muddy surface.

At the end, it is a work out that makes you feel so ecstatic, euphoric when you finish.

You need to have a reserved timed ticket to ride the Hiawatha, which is owned by the U.S. National Forest but operated by Lookout Pass Ski Area. (Discovery Bicycle Trails has taken care of our reservations and the ticket, $20 pp; the shuttle is $20 more.)

Feeling quite elated, we pile back into the van to shuttle to the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, where we stay in spacious and comfortable condo accommodations for three nights.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 800-257-2226, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next:  Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

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© 2025 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

A River Runs Through It: Discovering Spokane, Washington

A river runs through it: Spokane, Washington, is a marvelous synthesis of city and wilderness, historic and contemporary that makes it a delight to visit as well as live © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

My long-held desire to bike the award-winning Route of Hiawatha rail trail in Idaho provides the opportunity to discover the enormous appeal of Spokane, Washington, where the Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails bike tour begins. I cleverly arrange to come in three days early to give myself time to immerse, staying at the exquisitely grand and historic Hotel Davenport, so connected to Spokane’s story and walking distance to most everything I want, and even taking advantage of their bicycles to get a jump on the Centennial Trail which figures so prominently in the bike tour, too.

This is all new territory for me.                            

The first delightful surprise is how easy it is to navigate Spokane International Airport (if you’ve been through JFK and LaGuardia in New York, you will appreciate what I mean) – a few steps to the door, and a few steps more to a wonderfully convenient public bus that takes me steps from the Davenport’s door (the bus driver and fellow travelers are so helpful! – something I find throughout my stay in Spokane) – just $2 for the fare (which you can use to transfer or return within 2 hours; $4/day or $12 for three-days).

It doesn’t take long for me to realize why Spokane, with its natural and cultural appeal, isn’t just a great place to visit, but a great place to live.

Walk over the bridges that connect the several islands of Riverfront Park to get a dramatic view of the rapids © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Imagine strolling over America’s largest urban waterfalls, walking 15 minutes from downtown to a rafting trip on a river that cuts through evergreen forest, and getting on a bike in the downtown city park – the site of the 1974 World’s Fair, appropriately themed for environmental protection – and biking 58 miles on the trail to Coeur- d’Alene in Idaho. This is Spokane, Washington – and even though it is 95 degrees outside, it doesn’t feel hot.

Spokane is this vibrant city organized for its people. Of course, it wasn’t always that way, but the same reasons it developed into a hub of the West – railroads, commerce and mining – Spokane was an early adopter of sustainability and environmental protection while transitioning into the 21st century by holding on to what was best about the past.

For me, the mark of a place that takes pride in itself and has community spirit is one that has historic markers and plaques and its respect for historic and cultural places.

You feel it especially in the historic Davenport Hotel – a truly grand dame that is very happy to share its stories.

So I begin my exploration with a tour of The Historic Davenport Hotel  (see Historic Hotel Davenport Puts You into Spokane’s Story)

The grand dame historic Hotel Davenport has helped spark Spokane’s downtown renaissance. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com 

From there, the concierge directs me to the public bus (the central depot is across the street), for a ride to visit the magnificent Manito Park. (1702 S Grand Blvd). This is a spectacular 90-acre oasis in the in the South Hill neighborhood that features five distinct gardens: the Duncan Garden (a formal garden where I notice the fountain is dedicated to Louis Davenport who built the Davenport Hotel), Rose Garden, Perennial Garden, Lilac Garden and (my favorite) the Japanese Garden. (If you come in the afternoon, save the enchanting Japanese Garden for last; if you come in the morning, see it with the morning light.)

The Japanese Garden in Manito Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Most wonderfully, the Manito Park, is really a neighborhood park – much like Central Park in New York City, and Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco – grand and yet neighborly. Besides the gardens, Manito Park has spacious manicured lawns, playgrounds, walking trails and biking paths, topiary shrubs, a greenhouse conservatory, a conservatory and a duck pond. It gets some 150,000 visitors a year. (Best viewing May-October, http://www.manitopark.org/)

An absolute highlight for me – almost a homebase during my stay in Spokane – is Riverfront Park. Just a few minutes walk from the Historic Davenport Hotel, I found myself wandering into the park two, even three times during the day.

It is actually one of the rare successes in urban renewal: once a blighted space, the city seized on the opportunity to host the 1974 World’s Fair (notably the first expo themed around environmental conservation) to make major, lasting improvements serving the community in myriad ways. There is so much here, and it is so pleasant being here that I find myself coming to the park at least twice each day (morning and evening) of my visit.

Numerica SkyRide gondola gives a birds-eye view of Spokane’s waterfalls © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Riverfront Park was opened by President Nixon (who made an eloquent speech about the importance of environmental protection and resigned by the time the Fair closed).  It is pure delight for residents and visitors alike: stroll over bridges for spectacular views of the falls; be carried over the falls on the Numerica SkyRide gondola, channel your inner child on the historic Looff Carrousel, fantastic playgrounds and rides (slide down The Red Wagon, a giant Flyer), and feed the Garbage Goat (a clever way to encourage composting).

Families enjoy the Red Wagon in Riverfront Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Enjoy a concert at the United States Pavilion which was saved and repurposed as an outdoor performance venue seating as many as 6000 (there was a concert there during my visit) – the roof replaced by steel ribbings that are lighted at night.

The United States Pavilion, built for the 1974 World’s Fair, is now a performance venue accommodating 6,000 people © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The park actually is composed of several islands connected by bridges. One of the islands pays tribute to Spokane’s indigenous heritage. There is a totem pole and story board stations.

The bridges pass over the rapids and falls, for dramatic views you would never expect in an urban landscape. The pathways weave throughout – you come upon a fantastic playground; sculptures, attractions.

The Garbage Goat is an iconic sculpture in Spokane’s Riverfront Park with a message of envirionmentalism © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I stop into the Riverfront Park Visitor Center (actually the Visit Spokane tourist center), where I learn about the Great Fire of 1889 that destroyed 90 percent of the downtown – the only surviving buildings were those made of brick by the railroad company. What was left became the historic district (but there are some modern skyscrapers that seem so out of place, that were built before the new rules were put into place).

Also going through the park is the Centennial Trail, a biking/pedestrian/recreational trail that extends for miles into Idaho, which I will take from beginning to end the end on my upcoming Idaho Trails bike tour.

It is an interesting experience to be walking distance of a rafting experience in a major city – the Spokane River that goes through the city gives the city its special beauty and quality of life (as well as its hydroelectric power). It can be said that the river energizes the city – and this confluence of nature, urbanity and livability is what makes Spokane such a hot place for people to put down roots.

Enjoying a pleasant float down the Spokane River © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com


Within minutes, we embark from the Peaceful Valley neighborhood on a two hour-long scenic Spokane River Float with Wiley Waters. (Wear water-shoes and a bathing suit; a dry bag is provided, as well as drinks). It’s the end of the season so is a very gentle glide – towards the end, we hop off the raft for a brisk dunk. The season runs May-September (Wiley E. Waters, riverrafting.net, 888-502-1900).

In the evening, I return to the Riverfront Park to once again stroll about as the sun set.

The view from the Centennial Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The next morning, I take advantage of the Davenport’s bike rental (two hours are included in the resort fee), to bike on the The Centennial Trail in Riverfront Park. I ride west, toward Riverside State Park, where the Centennial Trail begins. The trail in this direction goes along the high ridge that follows the Spokane River well below – just beautiful – and passed these beautiful housing complexes that are wonderfully designed, sharing the trail with families out for a stroll, runners, walkers, and cyclists. (Again, pointing to the livability of Spokane).

The view from the Centennial Trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I bike up to the point where the trail has a sharp descent which I would have ride back up (with a three-speed city bike) so I leave that for the bike tour which will start at the very beginning of the trail and ride to where it ends, 58 miles away, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Instead, I cycle the trail in the other direction, going back through Riverfront Park, toward Gonzaga University campus in search of the famous singer/actor Bing Crosby’s childhood home, which is actually on the campus and now a museum.

Bing Crosby’s childhood home is now a museum on the Gonzaga University campus © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I knew that the museum would be closed when I arrive. I later learn that the museum has a Norman Rockwell painting of Bing Crosby, based on a promotional photograph from the 1949 movie musical “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”

There is also a statue on the campus in front of the Bing Crosby Hall (Crosby made major donations to the university and though he quit school to pursue his career in music, the university gave him an honorary degree in 1937.)

(Crosby House, 508 E. Sharp Avenue, Spokane, WA 99258, 509-313-4064).

In the afternoon, I head to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.

To get there, I could easily hop on the purple City Line lightrail from just across the street from the Davenport and get off in Browne’s Addition, but I prefer to walk the mile.

Spokane is still a cultural hub with theaters like the Fox Theater, which dates from 1931© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 

The walk takes me passed the Bing Crosby Theater, the Fox Theater (1931), gorgeous Art Deco buildings that exemplify Spokane’s importance as a cultural center for the Northwest, its legacy as an important commercial hub on the railroad line, and its wealth from nearby Idaho mines.

Strolling through the Browne’s Addition neighborhood enroute to the Northwest museum of Arts and Culture, you see some of the fabulous Victorian mansions reflecting Spokane’s wealth from commerce, mining and railroads © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I pass stunning Victorian mansions – most of them now inns or museums – but none more magnificent than the Campbell House, which is now part of the museum and a “must visit” (be aware of the opening hours).

Strolling through the Browne’s Addition neighborhood enroute to the Northwest museum of Arts and Culture, you see some of the fabulous Victorian mansions reflecting Spokane’s wealth from commerce, mining and railroads © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Founded in 1918, the Smithsonian-affiliated Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture presents an extensive, permanent collection of Plateau Tribal art and artifacts, Pacific Northwest art, regional historical objects and archives. It really offers a synthesis of the history and heritage here, with appropriate respect for the tribal people.

Having spent time in Riverfront Park, I am particularly fascinated to see the special exhibition, “It Happened Here: Expo ’74 Fifty Years After.”  

A 50th anniversary commemoration exhibit of Spokane’s 1974 World’s Fair shows how the fair proved one of the most successful urban renewal projects, leaving behind Riverfront Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

In 1974, Spokane was the smallest city ever to host a world’s fair. During its six-month run, the fair presented exhibits from ten countries, featured a star-studded events calendar, sponsored three environmental symposiums and attracted 5.6 million visitors. “Fifty years later, Expo ’74 remains one of the single most transformative events in Spokane’s history, radically reshaping its natural and built environment. Expo ’74 ushered in a new era for the city – one centered on urban renewal, commercial growth, and political progress,” the notes state. The fair also kindled a community spirit.

Liberace’s costume from Spokane’s 1974 World’s Fair © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

There are fantastic artifacts (Liberace’s bejeweled denim costume, Sister Paula Turnbull’s model for Spokane’s now iconic Garbage Goat, and an original Sky Ride gondola), but particularly interesting were the videos – Nixon’s speech on opening day extolling the virtues of environmentalism, which was the theme of the fair and how Spokane was a model and inspiration to emulate (Nixon had resigned by the time the fair closed 3 months later), and a video from the Soviet Union showing how the country is “enforcing” environmentalism. (The exhibit has since closed, but is indicative of what is presented.)

The Northwest Museum of Culture & Arts hosted a riveting exhibit, ;1924: Sovreignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I am fortunate to visit when the museum is presenting a riveting exhibit,”1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act.” 1924 was the year that American Indians were declared citizens and ostensibly entitled to vote (though the equivalent of Jim Crow laws prevented most from voting until the 1965 Voting Rights Act).

Shortly after Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to all American Indians born in the United States, on June 2, 1924, Spokane announced it would host the first American Indian Congresses in 1925, which was held at the Hotel Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Shortly after Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to all American Indians born in the United States, on June 2, 1924, Spokane announced it would host the first American Indian Congresses in 1925. These were some of the first events where tribal leaders, government officials, and community members from around the United States gathered to formally participate in talks on rights and advocacy. 1924 commemorates this 100-year anniversary, centering on early local tribal leadership as they and their people navigated the sometimes-conflicting nature of being both U.S. citizens and citizens of their own sovereign nations. One of the photos shows the Congress taking place in the Davenport Hotel’s ballroom.

The Campbell House at the Northwest Museum of Culture & Arts © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Be sure you leave enough time to visit The Campbell House and its carriage house (admission to the house closes an hour before the museum, so in retrospect, should have done it first.).

The Campbell House at the Northwest Museum of Culture & Arts © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Campbell House is an absolute jewel with exquisite architecture, interior decoration  (some of the furnishings are original to the house; others are appropriate period pieces). The mansion was designed in 1898 for the Campbell family by architect Kirtland K. Cutter (who also designed the historic Davenport Hotel). Cutter incorporated all the modern technologies available – indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water, electricity, central heat and even a telephone.

At the carriage house of the Campbell House, you get to know who this family was and what life was like in Spokane © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The carriage house holds the personal story of the Campbells and the Spokane community of the time – artifacts and photographs, a car that would have been very much like the one the Campbell’s had. It is so interesting to have such a personal look at this family.

Campbell made his fortune investing in the mines of north Idaho (that I will be visiting soon on the Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails trip). The Campbell family (his wife was a school teacher) lived here for 26 years and in 1924, after both parents had passed away, their daughter, Helen, donated the house to the Eastern Washington Historical Society which started the museum. Now it is under the auspices of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.

 (Open Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 pm, admission included with museum ticket)

Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W First Avenue, Spokane 99201, northwestmuseum.org (give yourself at least 2 hours, more like 3)

In the evening I return again to the Riverfront Park (after dashing to REI before closing to buy bike gloves before my trip). The setting sun casts a pink glow in the sky and I am once again awed by the dramatic view over the falls – the largest urban falls in the country, apparently. And I finally get my chance to ride the Looff Carrousel.

Riding the Looff Carrousel in Riverfront Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 

The beloved, iconic attraction of the park was hand-carved by Charles Looff in 1909 as a gift for his daughter and her husband. Looff, an immigrant from Germany, arguably was America’s first great carousel carver having made wooden animals for Coney Island’s carousel. This carousel was set in an amusement park, Natatorium Park, for many years before the park closed in 1968.

When Natatorium Park closed, in 1968, the carousel was put up for auction. Spokane’s parks manager was determined to save the carousel for the city, enduring criticism from those who felt he wasted money because there was no place for it, so it was put into storage. But then the 1974 Expos came, and the carousel was taken out and placed in the park, where it has remained.

The Looff Carrousel in Riverfront Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It is magical enough to ride the carousel, but I get to ride the carousel as night is falling, the colorful lights coming on – the kids grabbing for the brass ring and tossing it to try to win a free ride. The original organ – its 300 pipes equivalent to a 60-piece band – still operates but is used only for special occasions. As we ride, we hear the original music as it was recorded and digitized.

Equally exquisite is the view of the carousel reflected in the water from outside.

To plan your visit: Visitor Information Center, Riverfront Park, 6y20 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201, 888-SPOKANE, Visit Spokane,  www.visitspokane.com.

See also:

HISTORIC HOTEL DAVENPORT PUTS YOU INTO SPOKANE’S STORY

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Historic Hotel Davenport Puts You into Spokane’s Story

“Meet me at the fireplace”: The historic Hotel Davenport has been a centerpiece of Spokane, Washington’s society since 1914 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Nothing puts you as instantly into the story of Spokane, Washington as a stay at the grand, historic Hotel Davenport. 

For the past 110 years – except for the 15 years it was boarded up with a wrecking ball looming  – the Davenport has been at the center of Spokane’s society. Staying here puts you into that story – most remarkably when you see the black-and-white photographs on the wall and see the rooms just as they were, easily imagining the people filling them just as then.

The historic Hotel Davenport has been restored to its gracious grandeur © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Since the Davenport opened in 1914, it has been known as Spokane’s “living room” and folks would make their date to “meet me at the fireplace.” Today, it is even more than that – it is like someone who has been listening and watching all these things unfold over the past 110 years and is so anxious to share.

Louis Davenport who built this grand hotel had been operating a hugely successful restaurant with a grand ballroom at a time when the number of business travelers and salesmen coming through the Spokane transit hub on the Great Northern Railway was burgeoning. Davenport was approached by local investors to build a hotel that would cater to the growing demand. 

Considering Davenport’s humble beginnings (he is a classic incarnation of the American Dream), he was surprisingly sophisticated in wanting his hotel to not only give visitors the feeling of making a Grand Tour through Europe, but with state-of-the- art construction and the most modern amenities.

Louis Davenport’s original restaurant has been repurposed but the 14-story hotel, once the tallest building in Spokane, has been meticulously restored © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Davenport was the first hotel in the country with air conditioning, a central vacuum system, ice cold drinking water piped to each guest room, housekeeping carts and accordion ballroom doors, Marshall Taylor, the Davenport’s Guest Experience Manager, tells me on a grand tour of the hotel. Davenport used steel-reinforced concrete for his building material and imported artisans to make the pillars look like veined-marble and the cast plaster beams to look like wood with gilded reliefs. Indeed, this is how the structure, even after being closed for more than 15 years, could be restored, albeit at the cost of millions, to its former grandeur. (Guest rooms were in fact gutted and rebuilt and redesigned to appeal to modern guests/meet modern standards).

Davenport hired architect Kirtland Cutter who had become Spokane’s most prominent architect after the Great Fire of 1889 destroyed most of the downtown, responsible for so many of the city’s iconic mansion homes (I later see the magnificent Campbell House), buildings and bridges (including the majestic Monroe Street bridge) to design the Davenport Hotel to bring the world to Spokane. The lobby is in the Spanish Renaissance style, with utterly stunning beams and a skylight that in fact is lighted by sunlight (they had to put black tar on it during WWII because of the proximity to Fairchild Air Force Base; it was cleaned up during the restoration.)

The Isabella Ballroom, named for Queen Isabella, was originally the hotel’s dining room is in the the Spanish Renaissance style of northern Spain.

Louis Davenport wanted to give his guests a “grand tour of Europe” – the Isabella Ballroom was designed in Spanish Renaissance style © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Marie Antoinette Ballroom is in French Neo-Classical design (Mrs. Davenport’s favorite room in the hotel) – the crystal chandeliers are original, each costing $10,000 (more than the cost of a family home at the time). You can still feel what it was like to dance on the original floating dance floor, suspended on cables so dancers could been light on their feet. There is a photo of the ballroom on opening night in 1914. Women used to gather on the balcony and if they spotted a fellow they liked, might drop a glove that the fellow would return and ask for a dance. Originally there was a door that led to salesmen’s rooms, where they would conduct mini-trade shows to show off their wares. 

The Elizabethan Room is in English Tudor-style, possibly the first hotel ballroom in the world to employ folding panel doors to divide one large room into several smaller rooms (the original panel doors are still used). The chandeliers are original, each made with 75 pounds of sterling silver. A few of the hotel’s original 405 telephones are along the base of the window wall.

The Grand Pennington Ballroom evokes Imperial Russia. This room was created during the renovation and named for the Pennington Hotel that once occupied the site. New chandeliers are from Spain, carpeting from England.

The Hall of Doges, designed by Cutter after the Doge Palace in Venice, boasts being the only “flying ballroom” in the world © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Hall of Doges, designed by Cutter, is almost mythical in its beauty – it literally takes your breath away – you feel you have been transported to Venice. Spokane’s oldest ballroom, the Davenport boasts it is the only “flying ballroom” in the world. Indeed, the room was originally above Davenport’s restaurant in 1904, the year Cutter converted the red brick façade of the restaurant into a Spanish mission design, and a decade before the hotel opened. At the time, it was the largest and grandest ballroom in the West (you can well believe the hyperbole), built at a cost of $30,000. Cutter took as his inspiration the Palaces of the Doges in Venice. But in the 2000 renovation, the entire Hall of the Doges was removed intact by a crane and placed inside the newly constructed east wing of the hotel (the original restaurant was completely removed and now serves as the carport). There is actually a photo of the ballroom “flying” in the air.

The Hall of Doges, designed by Cutter after the Doge Palace in Venice, is breathtaking © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Peacock Lounge with its magnificent stained glass ceiling of some 5,000 pieces, has a décor and ambiance that exudes the flamboyance of the Jazz Age. With the Davenport in the center of Spokane’s downtown entertainment district, the Peacock Lounge the place for pre-and post-show libations (check out the award-winning double martinis and custom cocktails). (Open seating, first-come, first-served).

The Davenport’s Peacock Lounge is the place to be pre- and post-theater © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The fireplace in the lobby restaurant, which Davenport insisted upon as a symbol of hospitality, was first lit by architect Cutter in September 1914 and, as Davenport decreed, remains lit each and every day, even in summer. “Meet me by the fireplace” was a popular expression among the locals.

The exquisite stained glass ceiling from the Davenport’s Peacock Lounge. All the Davenport hotels in Spokane have stained glass to match the hotel’s theme © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The fountain in the middle of the lobby, Taylor tells me, is made of stone from the same quarry as the Lincoln Memorial.

The fountain in the Hotel Davenport’s lobby is made of stone from the same quarry as the Lincoln Memorial © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

For the restoration, they were able to preserve the exquisite woodwork and detail, copying what needed to be replaced. Taylor points me to a bit of wood molding where if you look closely, you can see where the words are scrawled, Will…..You….Marry….Me…stretched out on the wood trim.

It is legend about how it got there (encouraged by the hotel, no doubt), but most believable is that during the 2000-2 restoration, the restorer fell in love with a woman who worked in the banquet department and he embedded the words to propose. “It has become the popular place for proposals,” Taylor relates.

I love exploring this place – there is so much to see, discover and marvel at, especially with the wonderful ways the hotel showcases its history and heritage just about everywhere you look.

Since architect Kirtland Cutter first lit the Hotel Davenport’s fireplace, it has remained lit every day, as decreed by Louis Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

To say the Davenport is grand would be an understatement – the hotel has hosted almost every US president of the 20th century as well as a few royals.

Spokane has always been a hub for culture and entertainment, as much as for business and commerce as well as for the entertainers and audience-goers – Mary Pickford, Tyrone Power, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Bob Hope, Will Rogers, John Philip Sousa and Elvis Presley. and that tradition continues today with more recent celebs – Cher, Neil Diamond, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry Seinfeld and Sting because Spokane is still a cultural hub, which you see when you cross the street..

A display dedicated to Spokane-native singer/actor Bing Crosby who got his start in a band that played at the Hotel Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Most notably, though is Bing Crosby – the illustrious singer and movie star. He was born in Spokane (you can visit his childhood home on the campus of Gonzaga University. But before Crosby was so established as a singer, the young Harry “Bing” Crosby was the drummer for a local band called the Musicaladars that played on the KHQ radio station. KHQ, one of the first commercial radio stations in the Pacific, first went on the air in Seattle in 1922 and moved to Spokane to broadcast from the Davenport Hotel’s roof tower in 1925. The station featured local bands like Brill’s Orchestra and The Musicaladers. Crosby was featured on a radio interview, which led to him getting his national contract, Taylor relates, and the rest, as they say, is history. There is a marvelous display about Bing Crosby in a china cabinet on the mezzanine floor. (A theater named for him is right outside.)

Bing Crosby’s story is wonderful, but I am most fascinated with Louis Davenport, who epitomizes America’s self-made man.

Louis Davenport himself sits in the historic Hotel Davenport’s lobby © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Taylor tells me that Louis Davenport came to Spokane in 1889 when he was about 20 years old, to help his uncle, Elijah Davenport, with his restaurant. His uncle’s restaurant burned down in 1889 with the Great Fire that destroyed most of the downtown.

“Louie went into the rubble and found a waffle iron. He built a temporary shop with a wood frame and canvas cover and used that waffle iron to sell waffles to the workmen clearing the debris. He opened his own restaurant in one year.”

With the rail line, Spokane had become a hub and a crossroads for commerce. Davenport’s restaurant was so successful, that Spokane’s founding fathers approached him to build a hotel to accommodate the business meetings of salespeople coming from Montana, Idaho, north and west, selling silver and gems from the Idaho mines, fish, seafood, lumber. They needed a hotel with a large meeting space – the closest other business hotel would have been the eight-story-high  Empress Hotel in Victoria, Canada, built in 1908 with only one ballroom.

The Davenport, at 14 stories, was the tallest building in Spokane until The Paulson was built in the 1920s.

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover receiving the gift of a jacket from Alice Gary, Great Granddaughter of Chief Spokane Garry at the Hotel Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

You can see from the photos on the wall that the Davenport was a locus for history. The most profound photo is of the first American Indian Congress, in 1925, a gathering of the indigenous tribes in the Davenport ballroom that followed the 1924 passage of the Indian Citizenship Act. (I see the photo in an exhibit, 1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act, at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture).

The first American Indian Congress, in 1925, a gathering of the indigenous tribes in the Davenport ballroom that followed the 1924 passage of the Indian Citizenship Act © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Davenport operated through the Great Depression and World War II. Louis Davenport sold the hotel in 1945 and died in 1951. The hotel changed hands several times, and when it finally closed in 1985, was in disrepair. At one point, the city wanted to demolish it and put up a proverbial parking lot. But the cost of asbestos abatement would have been ruinous.

Local entrepreneurs Walt and Karen Worthy came to the rescue. They spent two years and millions of dollars to restore the Davenport to its grandeur (the guest floors and service areas are new). The Davenport reopened in the summer of 2002 with stunning amenities including a gorgeous pool and a luxurious spa.

The stunning detail in the Hotel Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The restoration was really a labor of love – and we get to appreciate the extraordinary artisanry of Melvin Holmes, the main restorer. His wife, Janice Holmes, was passionate about the restoration, especially the Marie Antoinette ballroom, where she scraped off layers of whitewash to find the original colors underneath – salmon, teal – and insisted it be restored to the original. Today it is absolutely magnificent (not gaudy) – with the soft salmon and delicate mint green, and gilding that does not overwhelm. She passed away before the project was completed so her husband, Melvin, painted a portrait of her in 1930s mid-century modern dress, which is on the balcony.

Janice Holmes, wife of the chief restorer Melvin Holmes, was passionate about restoring the Hotel Davenport to its original grandeur. He immortalized her in a portrait that is in the Isabella Ballroom © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Now owned by KSL Capital Partners (which owns the Alterra Mountain Company and Ikon Pass), there are five hotels in the Davenport Hotel Collection here in Spokane – each with a different theme, spirit, ambiance and vibe: Besides the Historic Davenport (Old World elegance), there is the Grand, which opened 2015 with a modern, Vegas style; the Tower, built in 2007 which has a safari theme; and the Centennial, which is a convention hotel.

The fifth property, the Lusso (a boutique hotel across the street from the Davenport, where Louis Davenport, himself, used to live, which was acquired in 2009 and has an Italian theme), has since been entirely renovated and renamed, and reopening in March as

The Louie at Davenport Hotel, a 48-key boutique property offering personalized luxury including Butler Service (the first and only offering of this kind in Spokane).

 I love that The Davenport is walking (or biking) distance to most of what I want to see (especially just a few blocks from Riverfront Park, where I find myself at least twice a day, and where you will find America’s largest urban waterfall), making for an ideal base for exploring the city’s hot culinary scene, nature and cultural offerings, like the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, and the riverfront Centennial Trail. What isn’t in walking distance is easily accessed by a superb public transit system not more than a block away,  which provides frequent service to take you everywhere else (including the airport, just about 20 minutes away) for a $2 fare (the return is free within two hours).

And so I immediately go off to explore. My first stop is by bus: the magnificent Manito Park, where I discover a fountain in its formal garden was donated by Louis Davenport.

The formal garden at Manito Park has a fountain that was donated by Louis Davenport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com 

The 284-room Historic Davenport Hotel, offers electric car charging, convenience store, hair salon, indoor swimming pool, wedding services, concierge service, three restaurants, two bars/lounges, 18 meeting rooms, conference space, self- and valet parking, full-service spa, 24-hour fitness facilities, steam room, hot tub, disability accommodations, sustainability programs and is a member of the Marriott Autograph Collection (and Marriott Bonvoy loyalty)

The Historic Davenport Hotel, 10 S Post Street, Spokane, WA 99201, DavenportHotelCollection.com, 509-455-8888, 866-238-1697.

Next: Exploring Spokane

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© 2025 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

Surprising Boston: Three Days on the Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is an actual brick line in the sidewalk that you can follow to Faneuil Hall and other important historic sites. ©Keroack Photography

by Geri Bain for Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

If you had asked me whether I knew about Boston’s role in the American Revolution before my recent exploration of the Freedom Trail, I would have unthinkingly said, “Of course.” Hasn’t every American heard the story of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride and the Boston Massacre in their history classes?  Even people who don’t know who the current president is could probably tell you what happened at the Boston Tea Party. But just as visiting the Roman Forum expands your view of the ancient past, a thoughtful visit to Boston’s Freedom Trail will forever deepen and perhaps change your view of American history.

And it’s fun. You won’t need any maps or preparation. While most tourism routes use the term “trail” figuratively, Boston’s Freedom Trail is an actual 2.5 mile “trail” marked by a red brick line that you can follow to some of the most iconic sites in the birth of our country. Detailed historic markers all along the way make it easy to dip into the stories of our past on your own.

For those who prefer a more structured visit, there’s a wide array of guided tours that provide a more interactive approach. The Freedom Trail Foundation’s several daily 90-minute group tours are led by costumed guides (thefreedomtrail.org) and based on what I heard in passing over the course of my time in Boston, the tours are lively and informative. The Foundation also offers a free online brochure that can act as a self-guided tour. There are also free apps from the National Park Service (nps.gov/boston) with recorded commentary for major sites and apps focused on Black heritage and other themes.

The Park Street Church was the nation’s tallest building when it was built in 1810.
©Keroack Photography

DAY ONE: To get grounded, I chose a three-hour VIP Freedom Trail Tour by Walks (booked through City Experiences (www.cityexperiences.com/boston) which limits its group size to 15 people. The day I went, it was just me and a family of four. Our guide, Alexandra (Alex) Smith, was a theatre artist and history buff (who was currently directing “Revolution’s Edge,” a historical drama that was playing at the Old North Church). She used anecdotes and questions to capture our imaginations.

Standing in the Boston Common, she pointed out that the corner where the Park Street Church stands was dubbed Brimstone Corner both for the fiery sermons given at the church and because of the gunpowder stored there during the War of 1812.

A visit to Paul Revere’s House humanizes one of America’s favorite heroes. ©Keroack Photography

When we got to a statue of Paul Revere, Alex asked the two school-aged kids in our group if they’d heard about Paul Revere racing to Concord and shouting the warning “The British are coming”? They nodded.

“Well that’s not true.” They looked puzzled. First, she explained, all Bostonians considered themselves British back then, so those wouldn’t have been the words he would use. And second, the mission was a stealth operation so he wouldn’t have ridden through the streets yelling. And most important, the King’s soldiers were on patrol that night and Paul Revere was stopped and held for questioning before he could deliver his message to Concord. Wisely, he was not the only messenger who rode out that night, so the message got through.

Most people think of Paul Revere solely as a silversmith, but his work as a printer and an artist was key to his role as a patriot seeking to break with Great Britain. His print of the Boston Massacre was significant to organize public opinion against the British. Paul Revere, The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated on King Street, Boston. (Hand colored engraving, 1770. American Antiquarian Society. Gift of Nathaniel Paine.)

“So why does Paul Revere get the credit?” Alex asked us. She paused, then explained, that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wanted to create a dramatic hero for America so he took artistic license in his poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. It makes for a relatable and patriotically-motivating story to have a single hero.

A plaque in front of the Old State House commemorates “The Boston Massacre.” ©Keroack Photography

Another example of drama trumping truth took place at the Old State House. Pointing out the plaque that commemorates The Boston Massacre, Alex showed us a picture of British soldiers shooting into the crowd. That image, engraved by Paul Revere and sent to all the Colonial newspapers turned the “Boston Massacre” into a rallying cry against the British Crown. However, like Wadsworth’s poem, the engraving took poetic license.

Tensions had been building between Boston residents and the growing number of soldiers sent there to enforce new taxes but also taking jobs from local workers. One argument between a soldier and a colonist escalated, with soldiers and Bostonians gathering into a standoff. The soldiers, under attack by the crowd with snowballs, clubs, and other objects, were told to hold their fire, but one of them panicked and shot and then another joined in. Five people were killed.

The Granary Burying Ground, established in 1660, is the resting place of many Colonial heroes. ©Keroack Photography

Sam Adams arranged and funded a huge funeral parade for the five victims of the Boston Massacre and paid for the five victims to be buried in his plot in the Granary Burying Ground where he now lies as well. The parade made a big impression both on the British soldiers and on the residents of Boston, Alex said. “Great propaganda!”

That’s just one of many stories waiting to be told at the Granary Burying Ground. Once the very edge of 17th century Boston, this small patch of cemetery is now like a who’s who of the American Revolution. For example, across the grounds from Adams is the tombstone of James Otis, who coined the phrase “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” Otis was one of the great minds behind the Revolution but he suffered from periods of insanity which kept him out of the limelight.

The cemetery is also the final resting place of Paul Revere, John Hancock, the parents of Benjamin Franklin and an estimated 5,000+ other people. We asked Alex how so many people could fit in such a small space and learned that bodies were often buried one on top of the other.

The tour also included a visit to the Old North Church, and strolled through Little Italy, where Alex explained the difference between the two most popular cannoli spots. Along the way, Alex also shared tips on exploring the city, how to learn about free concerts and events at the Boston Common, and a list of her favorite eateries, making us feel a bit like insiders in the city.

DAY 2: My husband and I were joined by his cousins for a leisurely stroll along the Freedom Trail. We stopped to read the signs at spots that grabbed our attention and toured Paul Revere’s home, where we learned that the Wadsworth poem might have been quite different had his dad not anglicized his Huguenot name from Appolos Rivoire to Paul Revere. (Rivoire is a harder name than Revere to rhyme.)

We also spent some time in Faneuil Hall, which was built and gifted to the city of Boston in 1743 by philanthropist Peter Faneuil to serve as a meeting hall and a marketplace. It was where the “Sons of Liberty”— and activists ever since—gathered and gave speeches.

The hall now houses a moving exhibit called “Slavery in Boston” underscoring how much of Peter Faneuil’s and Boston’s wealth came from goods produced by enslaved labor and slave trafficking. The exhibit also looks at the lives of individual enslaved Africans. One of the most touching was the story of Caesar, an enslaved Black boy, “owned” by one of Boston’s richest families, serving them and children including a son who was his age.

Not far from Faneuil Hall is another stirring site, the New England Holocaust Memorial, (www.nehm.org), an outdoor space that takes you by surprise if you’re not expecting it. As we were walking through Carmen Park, I noticed steam rising from between towering plates of glass that line a black granite path. Walking towards it, I began reading quotes from Holocaust survivors etched into the glass and realized that the steam is a reminder of the smokestacks of the crematoriums at the Holocaust death camps. Looking down through the metal grates, I saw small lights that represent the charred embers of those murdered in the gas chambers. Signs told me that the glass towers represent the smokestacks and the Menorah-like lights atop them are symbols of strength and endurance.  It was an impressive experience.

On a lighter note, a great spot for recreation or simply a relaxing sit-down is the Rose Kennedy Greenway, (www.rosekennedygreenway.org/). It was built as an over-the-highway park linking the waterfront to the city.  It was a great spot to sit and socialize and our visit was enriched by reading the self-guided tour (available on the website), which provided fun information. For example, the dirt removed to make the Greenway possible could fill a stadium to its rim 16 times, and the concrete used to create it is equivalent to laying a sidewalk three feet wide and four feet thick roundtrip from Boston to San Francisco three times  It’s amazing to think about that when you’re strolling through the lovely gardens. We also enjoyed the free (ever-changing) contemporary art installations and exhibitions and food trucks.

The Oyster Bar at the Union Oyster House where Daniel Webster dined ©Keroack Photography

For lunch, we chose the Union Oyster House, an attraction in its own right. It’s the city’s oldest restaurant and a National Historic Landmark. The brick line of the Freedom Trail passes right in front of it. More importantly, it serves some of the best seafood in the city in a genuine historic and unpretentious setting. In fact, in 2023, the restaurant earned a spot among the Taste Atlas Top 50 Most Legendary Restaurants in the World.

Our six-person hardwood booth was across from one with a plaque memorializing the one reserved for John F. Kennedy and family when they dined there. We took quite some time to look around after we ate; the restaurant is filled with fascinating memorabilia and its walls are covered with paintings, photos and newspaper clippings about the famous people—from Daniel Webster to Meryl Streep—who have been patrons here over the centuries. My husband and I liked the restaurant so much that we dined there again the next day.

Day 3:  Before leaving Boston, we went for one last stroll through the Rose Kennedy Greenway. We stopped to observe a tai chi group and to watch children scrambling to get on their favorite hand-carved animals which included a peregrine falcon, a green sea turtle and imaginary creatures that were chosen from a fun project drawing on the imaginations of local children.

A harbor cruise offers a lovely perspective on the city.

We then took an enchanting one-hour narrated Historic Boston Harbor Cruise, where our guide pointed out how much land was created by landfill, including Back Bay, the Seaport and parts of downtown and Logan Airport. In fact, one-sixth of the city is landfill—a process that began in the 1700s. (The cruise and a hop-on/hop-off bus pass we used, were part of an all-inclusive GoCity.com/boston pass that included entry into more than 45 attractions.

The Langham, Boston combines elegant architecture with modern art and an inviting pool.

As you might expect, historic hotels abound in Boston. The Omni Parker House is where Longfellow drafted his poem about Paul Revere. The former Boston Police Department headquarters is now the AKA Back Bay Hotel, and a former jail has embraced its past as the Liberty Hotel.

We stayed at The Langham, Boston, a five-star hotel that is just a short walk from the Freedom Trail and the waterfront and is itself a National Historic Monument. Built in 1922, it was home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston until 1977. Its banking past lives on in details like the green bank-style lamps, the tweed furnishings, and the lock box-style drawers behind the concierge desk.

It’s also a great choice for art lovers. Two N.C. Wyeth murals commissioned by the bank are still in their original spots and The Grana restaurant, which occupies the former grand hall, still has the Federal Reserve Bank emblem at its center, and portraits of eight Fed presidents grace its walls. The hotel also has an extensive collection of modern art, with a series of videos, cued by QR codes, of the artists explaining their works.

One of the best things about staying at The Langham (LanghamHotels.com/Boston was unwinding in the pool, hot tub and sauna after a day of delightful surprises on the Freedom Trail.

Useful Links:

  • theFreedomTrail.org; provides great info plus special interest and Freedom Trail tours, apps, and more
  • NPS.gov/bost/planyourvisit/app.htm: offers a free app with recorded commentary as well as focused apps for Black heritage and more.
  • CityExperiences.com/boston: offers access to historic harbor cruise, VIP walks and other tours and cruises
  • GoCity.com/boston: offers an all-inclusive pass that includes entry into more than 45 attractions and historic harbor cruise or bundled admission pass
  • CityPass.com/Boston: offers a package with discounted admission to a choice of four major attractions

Also, meetboston.com offers information about events, activities, food and lodging.

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© 2024 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. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures 

Lake Placid, Where You Can Be Immersed in Olympic Sport, Spirit Year-Round

Our three-generation family rides the new Skyride Gondola to begin our visit at the top of the highest ski jump tower at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, one of four venues included in the Olympics Legacy Site Passport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Olympic spirit is everywhere in Lake Placid. You can almost hear the fanfare playing. It is infectious, and fun – and what is even better, you get to participate, to see and experience it for yourself.

While so many other Olympic venues shut down after the event, Lake Placid, which hosted one of the first winter Olympics, in 1932, and then again in 1980, the facilities have not just been upgraded, enhanced and once again entice World Cup and international sports events. Lake Placid is very much a four-season destination, an outdoors paradise where you can actually experience the same Olympic venues, attractions and activities year-round, along with the athletes who live and train here, and the world-class athletes who compete here.

It offers an ideal mix of activities to appeal to the most athletic and active, to those who prefer to spectate rather than participate – perfect for our three-generation family – skiers and nonskiers and infant.  

The venues of Lake Placid’s Olympics Legacy sites © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The best way to experience Lake Placid, we discover, is with the Olympics Legacy Sites Passport, which provides access to the four Olympic venues and experiences – so even if you don’t ski, you can take the Cloudsplitter Gondola up to the summit of Little Whiteface to enjoy the spectacular view of the Adirondacks high peaks; go to the top of the highest ski jumping tower at the Olympic Jumping Complex to see what the ski jumpers see (terrifying); tour Mt. Van Hoevenberg where the sliding sports (bobsled, skeleton and luge), Nordic skiing, and Biathalon are held; and tour the Olympic Center, where you visit the museum that houses one of the best collections of Olympics memorabilia in the world, as well as the skating arenas.  (The passport includes one admission to the four venues plus 10% off shopping and dining at all the Legacy Sites, https://olympicjumpingcomplex.com/legacysitespassport/)

But if you haven’t visited Lake Placid in the last few years, you wouldn’t know about any of these experiences. So much has changed. So much is new. So much is so special.

The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA, now more familiarly known as the Olympic Authority), which owns and manages the facilities here in Lake Placid (as well as Gore Mountain and Belleayre ski areas), since 2018 has not only upgraded and massively improved the facilities in order to continue to host major international competitions (providing opportunities to watch the competition, training and even meet athletes), but has added attractions and activities so that we can experience much the same thrill and excitement as the athletes, year round. We even get to see their sport through their eyes.

New SkyRide, Zipline at Olympic Jumping Complex

The Olympic Jumping Complex is visited with a new Skyride Gondola, then an elevator to the top of the highest ski jump © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At the Olympic Jumping Complex, we ride a new, scenic Skyride Gondola to the base of the towers (athletes used to have to take a chairlift), then walk a short distance to the glass-windowed elevator that takes us up to the top of the highest ski jump tower for the view that the jumpers get (terrifying), and the setting amid the High Peaks Region (open daily but subject to weather conditions).   

New attractions and experiences put you in the Lake Placid Olympics © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Today, this facility is the only sanctioned ski jumping facility in North America for winter and summer competition and training. For warm-weather practices, there is a kind of plastic grass that is sprayed with water, that apparently athletes like even better because it is more consistent than snow.

That is a really good thing because climate change will make Lake Placid one of only four premier winter facilities that will be able to host a winter Olympics by 2050, my ORDA guide, Jaime Collins, tells us.

The World Cup will be held here again in February 2025.

It’s awesome to get to see and be in the places of the Olympic athletes, like riding up the elevator to the highest ski jump © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here at the Olympic Jumping Complex, you can also ride the new Sky Flyer Zipline adjacent to the ski jumps – and if the ski jumpers are practicing, you can seemingly fly alongside. ($20 off ticket price with the Legacy Passport).

New Coaster Ride, Bobsled Experience at Mt Van Hoevenberg

At Mt Van Hoevenberg, home to the three sliding sports – bobsled, skeleton and luge – the Legacy Passport provides a tour that starts in the newly built Mountain Pass Lodge and the push track where you learn about elite athlete development, then taken by bus up the track for a guided walk inside the sliding track.

A view of just a portion of Mt. Van Hoevenberg famous track © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Be sure to take in the view from the start area which offers the only place where you can get a view of all the Olympic venues at once: the Ski Jump complex, Whiteface Mountain, the track and Nordic center, and the Olympic Center in downtown Lake Placid. (Open daily; check daily updates page for current conditions and trail offerings.The pass also provides 10% off at Mt Van Hoevenberg’s 81-18 Café, Mountain Pass Mercantile and Swix Store.)

As it happens, our visit coincides with preparations for the final International Bobsled & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup competition of the 2023-2024 season and we get to watch some of the two-man bobsled practice and meet some of the athletes.

During our visit to Mt. Van Hoevenberg, we get to watch practice runs for the two-person bobsled World Cup competition © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We learn that this track – with 17 curves and a vertical drop of 365 feet – is considered one of the most difficult and has one of the most famous and challenging turns in the world.  Turn 10 winds 180 degrees into a 20 foot-high wall that, if hit right, can slingshot the sled for a gain 6 mph. “The G forces are so severe, that they can only practice 4-5 times a day,” our ORDA guide, Jaime Collins tells us.

When the track isn’t being used for practice or competition, you can take the Bobsled Experience, where you are driven down the track with real bobsledders. You get to go through that famous Turn 10 but from Start 4, so it comes soon into the ride before you get going too fast, but you still reach speeds up to 50 mph on the lower half-mile of the track. (Be sure to reserve in advance; in summer, the bobsled uses wheels on concrete; $125/9+; $100/military, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/bobsled-experience/).

The track is set up so spectators get a real close-up view (pro tip: the best place is where the track is shaped as a heart).

Mt. Van Hoevenberg is also the Olympic Nordic ski area and we just miss watching practices for the Junior National Nordic races at the Nordic stadium on the side of the lodge.

But non-Olympians can do cross-country skiing here, as well as actually experience the Biathlon, an Olympic event which combines shooting and cross-country skiing.  

In summer, Mt. Van Hoevenberg becomes a mountain biking center – you can rent bikes and take lessons.

In fact, Lake Placid was selected as the only U.S. venue to host the World Cup mountain bike competition, which will be held September 27 – 29.

A portion of the Cliffside Coaster track at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the longest in North America © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here at Mt Van Hoevenberg you not only get to see the Olympic bobsled track but you can ride alongside on the Cliffside Coaster, the longest coaster in North America, which opened in 2020. As you ride up to the top, you hear the Olympic history of the track but once at the peak, you are in the driver’s seat and control the speed, navigating sharp corners, cliffside banks and long winding stretches (open daily in season but weather dependent; make reservations in advance; 31 Van Hoevenberg Way, Lake Placid, NY 12946, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/cliffside-coaster/).

Skiers, NonSkiers Treated to View at Whiteface Mountain

At Whiteface Mountain, the Legacy Passport enables even nonskiers to experience the 15 minute ride on the scenic, eight-passenger Cloudsplitter Gondola from the Main Base Lodge to the top of Little Whiteface to enjoy the gorgeous view of the Adirondacks that the skiers get. (Open daily. The Legacy Passport gets you 10% off at these locations: 10% off at Whiteface: 4610’ Grille, Castle Gift Shop, Legends Café, and Brookside Apparel.)

You don’t have to be a skier to ride the Cloudsplitter Gondola to the summit of Little Whiteface for the view, included on the Olympic Legacy Sites Passport competition © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Another activity included on the Legacy Sites Passport is to drive (or bike) the Veterans’ Memorial Highway that rises over 2,300 feet in five miles, with scenic stops along the way. An elevator or 15-minute hike takes you to the summit of New York’s fifth highest peak. (Open daily, but subject to daily weather conditions, visit Whiteface Conditions).  

Immersive New Museum at Olympic Center

The Olympic Center, in downtown Lake Placid, is really special. The Legacy Passport gives you admission to the Lake Placid Olympic Museum, which has one of the world’s largest collections of Winter Olympic memorabilia, and brilliantly tells the story of Lake Placid’s role in the development of winter sports and the Olympics.

Lake Placid’s museum immerses you in its Olympics history and legacy © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The state-of-the-art museum, which only has been opened two years, features interactive and engaging displays, 3D visualizations, experiential learning exhibits, marvelous videos, and interesting and intriguing artifacts. It is especially inspiring to see the names of local Olympians, some who are multi-generational.

Speed down the Mt. Van Hoevenberg track in a bobsled in this virtual ride in Lake Placid’s Olympics Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The 3D and interactive displays are really superb. In one, you sit in a real bobsled and virtually speed down the actual bobsled track (thrilling); you can see exactly what the ski jumper sees flying off the jump.

The climax is sitting in a screening room to watch a 12-minute video of the highlights of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” when the USA hockey team beat the Soviet Union. (Each year, there is a1980 Miracle on Ice fantasy camp – where participants get to play with the actual members of the team.)

In the museum, you get to really immerse into the personal stories of the Olympians, especially those with connections to Lake Placid.

Lake Placid’s Olympics Museum has one of the largest collections of memorabilia, including medals, uniforms, torches, buttons © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

You learn that it wasn’t just good fortune why Lake Placid hosted one of the first winter Olympics, in 1932. Lake Placid really began America’s love affair with winter sports.

The first “modern” Olympics was held in 1896, and by the early 1900s, a Norwegian man known as “Jack Rabbit” introduced alpine and Nordic skiing to the Lake Placid area. The Lake Placid Club was formed by the strongest advocates of winter sports.

The high jumping venue, originally known as Intervales, hosted  the first international ski jump competition here in 1921, drawing 3000 spectators  – more than the local population.

The first winter Olympics was held in 1924, and the first gold medal was actually awarded to Charles Jewtraw, a speed skater, from Lake Placid .

The first gold medal won at the Lake Placid games was won by Lake Placid local, Jack Shea for speed skating (he won two gold in 1932,and was instrumental in the games returning to Lake Placid in 1980). His son, Jim Shea was a 1964 Olympian cross country skier, and his grandson, Jim Shea, Jr., was the men’s skeleton champion aat Salt lake City in 2002 (Jack Shea was killed by a drunk driver just two weeks before).

The Herb Brooks arena is where the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” wowed the nation and the world, as the USA defeated the Soviet Union © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

You get to tour the famous ice arena, named for Herb Brooks, and the 1932 skating rink (really tiny seating area), and even go down to the locker room.

These historic skating rinks are open to the public for skating year-round, and we see some adorable kids starting their long journey to gold (open Tuesday – Saturday).

Little ones start their journey to gold on the skating arena built for the 1932 Olympics Union © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

(The Olympic Center is open daily. The pass also provides 10% off at Olympic Center Roamers Café and Miracle Moments Store.)

Just across from the center is the Olympic speed skating oval, where Eric Heyden made history in 1980 for winning all five speed skating events. (He only agreed to one commercial endorsement, for Crest Toothpaste, to finance medical school and became an orthopedic surgeon.). In season, you, too, can skate on the Olympic oval well into the night (weather permitting.)

The Olympic Legacy Passport is $69/adult, $59 ages 19+, military and seniors and can be purchased at any of the venues (, https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/legacysitespassport/). Lake Placid Legacy Sites, 518-523-1655, https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/

Ski Whiteface

You can’t help but feel like an Olympian when you ski Whiteface Mountain © Laini Miranda/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s March – spring skiing – and David, Laini and Karen get the ultimate Olympic experience of skiing Whiteface Mountain – even if you are stuck on the green and blue trails. David and Laini, though, were able to tour much of the mountain, tackling the advanced trails, and loved the long runs and sweeping mountain views. With the spring melt already underway, the alpine creek rushed beneath our chairlift rides and the Ausable River at the base had a Galway-esque feel. The lookout atop the Cloudsplitter Gondola was a gorgeous rest stop for us skiers as well as Laini’s non-skiing parents, who were able to enjoy the view and then easily take the gondola down. We discovered the beautiful mid-mountain lodge on our last run – a great lunch spot with high vaulted ceilings and huge pictures windows.

Even skiing the intermediate trails, you feel the Olympic spirit on Whiteface Mountain© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

March, when we visit, is often one of snowiest and most spectacular months for outdoor winter recreation, but this year, snow was lacking and it also was the warmest since 1905, so we aren’t able to do several of the winter activities, like riding the toboggan chute onto Mirror Lake, cross-country skiing, skating on the Olympic oval, and snowshoeing the Mt Van Hoevenberg East Trail (a hiking trail in summer).

In summer, Whiteface Mountain offers disk golf, hiking, the scenic gondola, and plans to resume mountain biking.

Food & Lodging

After our visit to the Olympic Center, we stroll Lake Placid’s charming main street and enjoy the shops, cafes, bistros.

Lunching in a gondola at the Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We stop for lunch at The Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn, (17 Mirror Lake Dr.) enjoying the meal in one of the actual ski gondolas overlooking Mirror Lake with spectacular views out to the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks (17 Mirror Lake Dr., 518-302-3045, mirrorlakeinn.com/dining/the-cottage)

Each night of our stay in Lake Placid, we had a marvelous cocktail/dining experience (so many to choose from and return to Lake Placid for):

Big Slide Brewery, where you eat beside the giant barrels of the brewery in a comfortable dining room and semi-open kitchen. Not your typical pub grub, its menu has pizaazz – snacks like marcona almonds in hop oil and thyme, Cake Placid pretzel nuggets with beer cheese, and tater tot poutine; sandwiches like a shaved steak sandwich with thinly-sliced ribeye, Sugarhouse Creamery Dutch Knuckle cheese, sautéed onions and Mushrooms and Horseradish Aioli; Tomahawk Pork Chop or chicken fried chicken over smoked ham grits; and pizzas cooked in a 700 degree brick oven. Tomahawk Pork Chop or chicken fried chicken over smoked ham grits  (5686 Cascade Road, just over a mile from downtown, bigslidebrewery.com, 518) 523-7844.

The view over Mirror Lake to the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks from The Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn at sundown © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Smoke Signals, also overlooking Mirror Lake (a gorgeous dining room and there is a patio overlooking the lake for outside dining), offering classic BBQ with some innovative twists, (2489 Main St.,  518-523-2271, www.smokesignalsq.com).

We loved our culinary experience at Cafe Rustica, a quaint, old-fashioned (traditional) Italian restaurant (even the music was a throw-back) serving fabulous Northern Italian cuisine, like the Ravioli Carbonara (fresh wild mushroom ravioli, black pepper, organic egg, pancetta, baby peas, parmesan); Cavatelli Bolognese (rustica Bolognese sauce, cavatelli pasta, parmesan, rosemary oil); chicken Mediterraneo (kalamata olive, heart of plan, tomato, lemon, whitewine, capers, pepperoncini, linguini) (1936 Saranac Ave, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-7511, www.rusticalp.com)

East Wind Lake Placid Hotel

Settling in to my lushna at East Wind Lake Placid Hotel © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The East Wind Lake Placid Hotel, just a short distance off of Main Street, Lake Placid, proved perfect for our multi-generational getaway – like a small community of lodges and lushnas for a total of 29 units, each homey with dashes of luxury and high-style. My lushna (like a tiny house) was just the width of the (extremely comfortable) queen bed, and had all the comforts of home – refrigerator, coffee maker, bathroom, remote-controlled A/C. David and Laini and baby were comfortable in a spacious room in the house; grandparents Diane and Barry in the lodge.

East Wind Lake Placid Hotel offers a variety of accommodations and lovely gathering places © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

There are gathering areas – fire pits ringed with Adirondack chairs, a gorgeous reception room (open 24 hours, where coffee, tea and fruit are laid out, you can order breakfast, and there are cocktails and drinks at the bar); a lovely library/salon in one of the buildings (great for taking a conference call).

East Wind Lake Placid Hotel offers a variety of accommodations and lovely gathering places © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Eastwind Lake Placid, 6048 Sentinel Road, Lake Placid,518-837-1882, https://www.eastwindhotels.com/lake-placid-overview.

For a luxury, resort-style experience: the historic Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa (77 Mirror Lake Dr, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-2544, mirrorlakeinn.com; and High Peaks Resort (2384 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 800-755-5598, highpeaksresort.com).

Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa, Lake Placid © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

High Falls Gorge

Definitely make time to visit High Falls Gorge, a 22-acre nature park, just a short drive beyond the entrance to Whiteface ski area. It is a 30-minute walk – about a mile – hugging the rockface, where you can go out onto overlooks and bridges and be very close to the series of cascading waterfalls formed by the Ausable River as it drops 115 feet. There is also a trail accessible for strollers or wheelchairs. 

High Falls Gorge offers an exciting one-mile walk along the cascading waterfalls of the Ausable River © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Some of the oldest rocks in the world are here – you can touch an Anorthosite boulder 1.5 billion years old (Anorthosite, the base rock for the Adirondacks, is the same rock found on the moon). In season, High Falls Gorge also offers rock climbing, tubing and white water rafting, as well as trails through the forest. (4761 NYS Route 86, Wilmington, NY 12997 518-946-2278, https://highfallsgorge.com/)

More travel planning information:

Lake Placid  800-44PLACID, www.lakeplacid.com

Whiteface Mountain Region Visitors Bureau, 518-523-1655, whitefaceregion.com

Visit Adirondacks.com, https://visitadirondacks.com/regions/lake-placid

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© 2024 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. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures 

California Pacific Highway 1 Roadtrip Finishes in Redondo Beach

The Pacific Highway 1 brings you to spectacular sights of Big Sur, with a view of the Bixby Creek Bridge © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin with Eric Leiberman, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our adventure down California’s famous (and fragile) Pacific Highway 1 – rightly considered one of the most scenic byways in the country – which began in San Francisco comes to an end in Redondo Beach.

You don’t have to go far outside of San Francisco for the incredible coastal scenes to come into view, as well as interesting, funky and fun beachtowns, like Santa Cruz (with its Coney-Island-ish amusement park on the beach) and Capitola (really scenic, where we stop to stroll), before coming into Monterey for our first night.

You don’t have to drive far out of San Francisco to see spectacular views along California’s Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Driving the famous (and fragile) California’s Pacific Highway 1, one of the most scenic byways in the country You don’t have to drive far out of San Francisco to see spectacular views along California’s Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 
Capitola, along Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Capitola, along Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Monterey was made famous by John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” and now with a world renowned Aquarium; I love taking the self-guided history walk and visiting the history museum and Customs House).

Monterey, made famous in John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Monterey, made famous in John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Monterey, made famous in John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We follow the Pacific Highway 1 as it hugs the cliffs that get ever more dramatic as we come into Big Sur. We pull over frequently to take in those breathtaking views that look like the edge of the Continent just fell into the ocean.

The spectacular view from the pull-off at Bixby Creek Bridge on Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Bixby Creek Bridge on Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We come the Bixby Creek Bridge. Big Sur’s answer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it is a incredibly dramatic sight that actually competes for its man-made achievement with the spectacular scenes that nature has made. Completed in 1932 for $200,000 (a bargain at $4.6 million in 2024 dollars), the concrete span is one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world, soaring 260 feet from the steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. It is awesome to contemplate how this structure was even constructed and to learn that the bridge was completed before the road. There are a few viewing spots you can pull off before the bridge going south (and a short hike you can take for closer viewing) and another about a mile south looking back at it.

Bixby Creek Bridge on Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Bixby Creek Bridge on Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We get another, completely different perspective of the Bixby Creek bridge on the way back up to Monterey (the route to go south to Cambria because the Pacific Highway is closed off in sections), from the other side of the road.

Not much further, we see the Big Creek Bridge, which looks similar, but is not as dramatic in its setting.

Hiking Tan BarkTrail in the Julia Pfeiffer state park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The scenic walk to Partington Cove and the McWay Falls © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We spend a couple of days hiking and exploring in the Big Sur (thoroughly enjoyed hiking the Tan Bark Trail in the Julia Pfeiffer state park and then, across the road, a fantastic walk to McWay Falls, an 80 ft waterfall flowing straight into the ocean) in Partington Cove, overnighting at the utterly enchanting, historic Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn (www.deejens.org, 831-667-2377), so we get to see an amazing sunset and hear the bellowing chorus of elephant seals at the Seal Beach overlook (I wonder to myself whether they purposely form a chorus or are they competing for attention.) We drive almost as far south as we can on the Pacific Highway before it is closed to traffic.

Our rustic, cozy lodge at the historic Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The restaurant at the historic Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

To continue south, we have to backtrack to Monterey, then drive inland and three hours south on Highway 101 to come into Cambria, where we thrill to see the spectacular Hearst Castle, the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, Moonstone Beach and Ragged Point (at the southern tip of Big Sur).

Pismo Beach, one of the funky beachtowns along the Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Pismo Beach, one of the funky beachtowns along the Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Pismo Beach, one of the funky beachtowns along the Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After Cambria, we follow the Highway along the coast – stopping in fun beachtowns including Morro Bay, Cayucos (which is on the Whale Trail), Pismo Beach (retro 1950s/1960s vibe, vintage Airstreams on the pier that serves as snack bar and visitors center), before slipping back inland. Here, we drive through California’s rich farmland and discover some astonishing places: Los Alamos (not the New Mexico atomic testing place, but this old-timey, 1880s town that has a Michelin-rated restaurant, a sensational saloon/hotel that looks like a movie set for a Western that gives you this overall surreal sensation of not knowing where or when you are).

The 1880 Union Hotel, Los Alamos,California  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The 1880 Union Hotel, Los Alamos “On this site, the original 1880 Union Hotel served as office and Wells, Fargo & Company’s stagecoach stop. It was destroyed by fire in 1893, reconstructed and restored in 1915, service stagecoach and early railroad passengers… It currently is a bed & breakfast and dining establishing.” Once astonishing is to realize that the building is still actually in use – it makes you smile, as if you are in on the joke. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The 1880 Union Hotel, Los Alamos,California  © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We continue on to Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley, another surreal experience that makes you think you have suddenly been transported to Denmark (too weird after the Wild West vibe of Los Alamos and the ‘50s beach vibe of Pismo Beach – the town was founded in 1911 by three Danish immigrants, and somehow, have managed to keep the entire town architecturally and culturally Danish).

Stopping into Solvang feels like you stepped into a Danish village Bridge © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 
Stopping into Solvang feels like you stepped into a Danish village Bridge © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 
Stopping into Solvang feels like you stepped into a Danish village Bridge © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 

Then going back onto the coastal highway to stop at Santa Barbara which has fantastic nightlife – restaurants, music venues – they close down the main street for pedestrians and the music just spills into the street. We pass a movie theater where the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is underway, and find a live Beatles tribute band even in the tiny vegetarian restaurant we happen into, then, on the walk back, wander into a pub where the jazz is sensational, and a brewery featuring a hometown-rock band-made-good. In the morning, we find the festive recreation path along the beach,before continuing on to our final stop on our Pacific Highway roadtrip, Redondo Beach.

Santa Barbara on the Pacific Highway 1 has sensational nightlife © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Santa Barbara on the Pacific Highway 1 has sensational nightlife © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Santa Barbara on the Pacific Highway 1 has sensational nightlife © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The beachside recreational path in Santa Barbara on the Pacific Highway 1 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina

Redondo Beach is this laid back beach town – a place where (I suspect) they get more vacation home/condo owners from Los Angeles than transient visitors, so it feels like a community.

The Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina, a casual yet sophisticated city-style resort hotel © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our base is the Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina, a casual yet sophisticated city-style resort hotel decorated in beach-y colors and motif, decorated with stunning photographs of nature and sealife – as comfortable for a corporate retreat or wedding as for a weekend beach getaway.

We arrive at the Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina in the night and flop down in a stunning and spacious suite, then go to explore Frenchman’s Wharf across the boulevard from the resort.

A suite at the Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina is surrounded by views of the Pacific Ocean and the Palos Verdes Hills and 346 spacious guest rooms, 8 suites and a Presidential Suite. The vibe is coastal-chic, with custom hardwood finishes, fine furnishings, and colors that evoke the water and sand. Rooms have private balcony with views of the pool, marina and ocean. The rooms also equipped with in-room safe and mini refrigerator. Accessible rooms are available.

The outdoor pool at the Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina, a casual yet sophisticated city-style resort hotel © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

A true resort, the Sonesta Redondo Beach offers a heated outdoor pool and tennis court (lights for night play, free to use; rackets and balls available) on the recreation deck, a fully-equipped fitness center (open 24 hours; there are plans to offer massage therapy), rental bikes ($20/two hours; $30/day, helmet and lock provided), and on-site dining at SOL (made-to-order omelet station for breakfast, Asian/American fusion for dinner) and the Harbor Bar & Bistro (local favorites and signature cocktails in a hip atmosphere, for lunch and dinner) and being a luxury hotel, in-room dining is also available. It also offers meeting rooms and a ballroom that can accommodate up to 500, making it one of the largest facilities in the area. It even has a laundry available for guest use. The resort also has its own garage for valet and self-parking.

This is the beach vacation portion of our Pacific Highway 1 trip that had taken us along the Big Sur cliffs and forests, the rocky beaches and coves of Cambria and extraordinary cultural, historical and natural attractions of Monterey and San Simeon.

Now we are level with the ocean – the surf pounding with dramatic waves that so entice surfers.

The Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina is across the boulevard from the Pier, the beach and recreational path© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina is across the boulevard from the beach and recreational path © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Biking the Redondo Beach recreational path © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The next morning, after breakfast in its SOL restaurant, I take out take out one of the resort’s rental bikes and bike the 12 miles along the recreational path along the beach up to Venice Beach – it is so colorful and fun and the ride is really beautiful with the beach on one side, and homes and shops on the other (excellent rest facilities along the way).

Nearby attractions include: Redondo Beach Pier and International Boardwalk, Seaside Lagoon, Riviera Village, Hermosa Beach, Del Amo Fashion Center, SoFi Stadium, Kia Forum, Intuit Dome, Dignity Health Sports Park, Manhattan Beach Village shopping Center, The Point on Pacific Coast Highway in El Segundo, Porsche Experience Center.

The Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina is also just a short drive (like 30 minutes) to Los Angeles International Airport.

Sonesta Redondo Beach & Marina, 300 N. Harbor Drive, Redondo Beach, CA 90277, 310-318-8888, sonesta.com/redondobeach.

More trip planning help: https://highway1roadtrip.com/ and https://www.visitcalifornia.com/

See also:

CALIFORNIA PACIFIC HIGHWAY ROADTRIP: CAMBRIA IS ENCHANTING BASE TO VISIT HEARST’S ‘ENCHANTED HILL’ 

CAMBRIA IS GREAT BASE FOR CALIFORNIA PACIFIC HIGHWAY 1 ROADTRIP

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© 2024 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. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures 

Utah Adventure Day 6-7: House on Fire Among Highlights Hiking Amid Sacred Sites, Spirits of Bears Ears National Monument

House on Fire is one of the most photographed – and dramatic – archeological sites in Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, with Laini Miranda and Dave E. Leiberman

Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

What is truly special about Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa – and what draws Laini back time and again, are the remnants, artifacts and structures left by Ancestral Puebloans – ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni – who inhabited these canyons and cliffs between 700 and 2500 years ago. Arrowheads and other artifacts dating back 10,000 years have also been found in this region. Some of these sites are at once accessible yet also feel remote – so you feel you are the first archaeologist to discover, though obviously that can’t be since the BLM Rangers have left laminated info packets in metal cases in some of the dwellings. Still, we can pretend.

Our hikes bring us to these places that seem as if the occupants only recently vacated, leaving behind painted pottery shards, tiny corn husks, stone and bone tools, even their hand-prints, pictographs and petroglyphs that speak to us through time, as if to say, “We were here. We still are.”

Because these lands are sacred, all of us must be respectful of the dwellings and the archaeological artifacts that we come upon. And these sites truly feel sacred – precisely because of the artifacts, the pictographs and petroglyphs, you feel the presence of those who lived here. And because those of us who visit do show proper respect, these mud-and-stick (jacal) constructions delicate pictographs and petroglyphs etched into sandstone and  artifacts, though incredibly fragile, are here for us to discover, as if we are among the first.

It’s fairly miraculous these sites have survived Mother Nature, let alone humans.

After hiking to the Arch Canyon Ruins, Laini leads us to a trail to one of the outstanding highlights of the Bears Ears National Monument: the House on Fire, one of the most photographed (spectacular) sites in the region.

Hiking the Mule Canyon trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This site features five granaries built into overhanging Cedar Mesa Sandstone with a streaked pattern that, in the early morning light, resembles flames (photo tip: because these dwellings were built to be south-facing, the most dramatic light is around 10-11 am depending upon time of year). (https://bearsearsmonument.org/house-on-fire/)

House on Fire is one of the most photographed – and dramatic – archeological sites in Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“As you take in the view, imagine how the ancient Puebloans lived here between 700 and 2,500 years ago,” Matcha writes at the visitutah.com site. “The granaries perched high in the cliffs stored corn, a main source of food. The Puebloans also ground Indian ricegrass into meal to make bread, and they ate abundant prickly pears. The ever-present yucca was invaluable, as its leaves were spun into fiber and woven into baskets, sandals, and bags, as well as ropes that are said to have helped reach some of the higher, less accessible granaries. The Native Americans used the root of the yucca for soap, and they roasted and ate the base of the plant.

House on Fire is one of the most photographed – and dramatic – archeological sites in Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“The pinyon pines that you weave around and duck under to reach the ancient sites were a key source of building material, fuel, and food. When burned, the wood created the high temperatures needed for firing pottery, while pine bark served as roofing and padding, and pinon nuts provided much-needed vitamins and protein.” (https://www.visitutah.com/articles/exploring-mule-canyon-house-on-fire-cave-tower)

You have to really look closely to discover these hand prints in House of Fire, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Laini Miranda/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Matcha further advises to search for rock art located beneath an overhanging boulder in the wash below the House on Fire. And if you continue on the trail, there are several more sites worth seeing. While some sit right off the trail, you either need binoculars to see or have to climb 200 feet to reach them. “Toward the end of the canyon is the spectacular Wall Site, which has several intact rooms built into small caves in the pock-marked cliff. Some of the roofs still have the original roof timbers.”

(South Fork of Mule Canyon trail is 4.3 miles one-way, and elevation gain is 250 feet. Cave Tower Site is 1-1.5 miles round trip, and elevation change is less than 200 feet. Passes are required for day hiking, check with the Bureau of Land Management for the current fee amount. Be prepared with exact change.)

Coming upon The Tower Ruin, off the beaten path © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After this spectacular hike, we drive west on Hwy 95 near milepost 103, then drive onto a dirt road for half a mile. We hike in and across the way, we see The Tower Ruin – a rare, two-story structure on the other side of the canyon.

The Tower Ruin, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At first, it seems too steep a scramble for me, but Dave and Laini go down. Dave makes it look easy. Sure enough, he comes back to guide me to the site (so glad he did!).

The Tower Ruin, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This site is so secluded, remote and untouched, it feels as if we discovered it on our own (though I’m sure that’s not true, the feeling is still so exciting).

The Tower Ruin, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The tower construction seems to be “modern” – Laini says there is evidence of three different generations having a hand in the construction. There are fabulous pictographs and petrolyphs here. I imagine that one is a symbol for the chief.

The Tower Ruin, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Altogether, we have hiked about 9 to 10 miles today – so satisfying.

We drive into the town of Blanding for dinner and supplies, seeing signs along the way for Native American Crafts, Dinosaur Museum, State Edges of the Cedars Native American Museum.

The Tower Ruin, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Laini decides to change plans from our original itinerary and instead of leaving here for Canyonlands, we stay an extra night and day in Cedar Mesa.

So glad, because the second day’s hike is one of the best I have ever experienced.

Catching the last rays of sun driving back to our wild camping site in Arch Canyon from Blanding © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
 

Kane Gulch Trail

Take seriously the need to obtain permits in advance for certain hikes. We changed our plans in order to stay this second day in Cedar Mesa so did not get the necessary permit (limited to just 20 a day) to hike to Moon House – the only day hike that requires a permit instead of just a hiking day pass. We thought we might get away with it because we are here on Easter Sunday, but no such luck (the permit allocations fill up even months before). It is easier to get permits in summer months, which is when Laini and David found themselves the only ones at the site when they last visited (likely because of the heat; when we are here, in early spring, the weather is perfect).

Hiking the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Instead, at the Kane Gulch Visitor Center, the Ranger suggests we hike the Kane Gulch Trail which starts right across the road. We purchase our day hiking passes ($5 pp – my America the Beautiful pass doesn’t count). She suggests what to look for at what distances.

Hiking the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Dave gets out our hot-water maker and we have our breakfast at the picnic table outside the visitor center, then set out. Our plan is to go five miles, to the Stimper Arch, and five miles back.

Profile of an Indian Chief? Hiking the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

At about a mile in, there is a short slot canyon where we see a formation to me looks like the profile of an Indian chief.

At the two-mile mark, Dave stashes our 5-gallon water jug so we have enough for the return.

Junction Ruin, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com 

It’s four miles to the Junction Ruin which has some fabulous dwellings, pottery shards, and pictographs.Dave and Laini climb up sheer rock to get to an upper level (a defensive watchtower?) and could see remnants of a ladder that would have been used.

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com 

Another .7 mile and we come to a site known as Turkey Pen. Looking up from the trail, it seems the cliff dwellings are cramped and close to the edge, but when we get up here, it is surprising how much space there actually is.

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here, we see some fabulous examples of mud and stick method of construction (jacal) and some exquisite painted pottery shards, pictographs, even the remnants of the actual turkey pen formed with sticks – so it almost seems you are coming upon a dwelling just after the residents left. You feel you are the archaeologist making the discovery – except for the printed notes left by the National Park Service- but still. 

Cliff dwellings along the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We also come upon a square kiva (most kivas Laini and Dave have seen are circular, Laini notes).

Junction Ruin, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

You wonder about whether the site was designed to defend and who to defend from – people who would take food stored in the granary? One of the pictographs depicts sheep being killed, another of “lizard man.”

Cliff dwellings along the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

As we hike, we keep our eyes peeled on the cliffs above for evidence of dwellings, well off the trail and likely minimally visited. Laini says there were thousands of cliff dwellings here and only a fraction have been discovered (or are still intact, but when you consider they are 1000 years old, and the crumbling rock all around, it is amazing any remain). We spot one and Laini goes off to try to find a way to climb up to it.

Cliff dwellings along the Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We find a pleasant rock overhang to sit and have our picnic lunch, feeling like this would have been exactly what the Puebloans would have done.

We hike a further .3 miles to the Stimper Arch (which is the 5-mile mark), where we turn around.

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This hike has everything – it has just the right amount of physical challenge – a section where you scramble a bit and walk a narrow edge – gorgeous greenery, stunning rock formations, water features (but not too watery to hike), but best and most spectacular of all, these cliff dwellings that look like we have just discovered them, with relatively large and stunningly painted pottery shards, stone tools, stunning pictographs (I start thinking they are either indications of how many people lived in the dwelling like a census; markers of whose dwelling it is, like a family name?  or just being playful, artful?).

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The trail is not specifically marked – so you have to figure your own way using the landscape and intermittently placed cairns.

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The actual turkey pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Even though this is a popular trail, we come upon other people only occasionally (but it kind of reassures us we are going the right way).

The trail actually goes on for miles (days), connecting to other trails. (We meet a group of college students who are making a multi-day backpacking trip and will return on the Fish and Owl trail.)

Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Turkey Pen, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We get back to the start at 6:30 pm (we set out around 10 am), having hiked about 11 miles. (It took us 5 hours to get 5 miles (including the time exploring the archaeological sites) and 3 ½ hours to hike back.

Stimper Arch, Kane Gulch Trail, Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After this full day’s hike, we drive to Arches National Park. It’s a fairly long drive and already sunset by the time we arrive. This is the first time we have to set up camp in the dark and there is a strong wind that makes it difficult to keep the tent from blowing away (especially since I can’t find my tent stakes so we improvise, until they are ultimately found under the footprint.)

Dave makes a fire and we prepare dinner from our supplies.

It is night by the time we set up camp at the Devils Campground in Arches National Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

If You Go….

The Moon House Ruin is one of the best archaeology sites on Cedar Mesa, consists of three separate structures with 49 rooms; well preserved pictographs grace the walls of an interior courtyard and some of the rooms (the hike is 3.2-5.6 miles roundtrip). More of the best hikes in Bears Ears at http://www.hikingwalking.com/index.php/destinations/ut/ut_se/blanding

Day hiking in Bears Ears National Monument requires a day hiking pass. Day hiking passes are unlimited.

Bears Ears National Monument does not charge an entry fee where your America the Beautiful Pass would typically apply. However, activity fees called “Individual Special Recreation Permits” are charged for day hiking and backpacking (typically $2 at the trailhead). Visit the permits page for more information (https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/permits-and-passes/lotteries-and-permit-systems/utah/cedarmesa).

Visitor Centers:

Kane Gulch BLM Ranger Station, UT-261 36 miles west of Blanding. Open: March 1-June 15, September 1-October 31, 8 am-noon daily

Monticello Visitor Center, 216 S Main St., Hours: 9 am-5 pm, closes at 3 pm on Sunday, Phone: 435-587-3401

Blanding Visitor Center, 12 North Grayson Parkway, 9 am-5 p.m., closed Sunday

https://www.blm.gov/visit/bears-ears-national-monument

See:

UTAH ADVENTURE DAY 1-2: CAPITOL REEF’S COLORFUL CANYONS

UTAH ADVENTURE DAY 3-4: GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE POSES CHALLENGE

UTAH ADVENTURE DAY 4-5: DRIVING BURR TRAIL, EXPLORING GLEN CANYON, WILD CAMPING IN ARCH CANYON

UTAH ADVENTURE DAY 6: SACRED SITES, SPIRITS OF BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT

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© 2023 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, 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. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/KarenBRubin 

A Stone’s Throw From Daytona Beach, Finding ‘Florida as it Used to Be’

Snack Jack’s along A1A just north of Ormond Beach, retains the vibe of “Florida as it used to be.” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

To be candid, I would not have traveled to Florida except for a special occasion presenting an opportunity to visit with family I haven’t seen in quite some time. Luckily, this is a mere week before Omnicron hit with such fury or is even a thing, but I still don’t feel Florida particularly appealing for a long list of reasons.

My destination is the immensely popular Daytona Beach area. So even though Omnicron has yet to hit and though I am triple vaxxed, because of Florida’s contempt for preventive public health measures, I remain extremely vigilant in using a mask, staying outdoors as much as possible and avoiding crowds – even the wedding I attend is a small, intimate affair held outside.

Fortunately, the Ormond Beach area, a mere few miles north of Daytona Beach, and north along the famed Highway A1A, where, my cousin – a native Floridian – takes me, is the fabled “Real Florida,” and provides the perfect setting.

Lotus Inn, a delightful boutique hotel on Ormond Beach, with its pool stunningly lit at night © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I stay in a delightful boutique hotel, the Lotus Inn, refurbished with chic touches (stunning pool, fire pit, landscaping), right on the beach, so that each morning, I can grab a cup of coffee from the lounge and walk out onto the beach before the sun rises, when the colors begin to burst in the sky.

I do this each of the four mornings of my visit, and each day, the experience is very different and dramatic in its own way – the colors most vibrant on the first day, a tad less so on the second but the experience enhanced when I discover Jeffrey Dunne, who has come out every morning to photograph the sunrise for something like 10 years, posting them and drawing his own following, as well as taking photos for visitors. There are other regulars I get to meet as well, which includes a flock of seabirds who are drawn to this one spot because of a woman who comes each day with crackers (sharing with visitors who delight in the experience). The colors are different on the third day, but now I focus on the activity – the regulars who come, like the group of swimmers in their wetsuits, who come no matter the season. My fourth morning, there isn’t a sunrise at all, but I get to see the beach in its moody blue-grey colors.

Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Jeffrey Dunne, who has come out every morning to photograph the sunrise on Ormond Beach, while his friend feeds the sea birds © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Even though you can see Daytona Beach from Ormond Beach, the atmosphere here is completely different. Here there are mostly low-rise, low-density hotels like mine, the Lotus Inn.

My first night in Ormond Beach, I drive my rental car the four miles down A1A to Daytona Beach and walk the charming boardwalk, really enjoying discovering the 1930s-era Bandstand, coming upon the boardwalk games, and then the long pier itself, alight in neon announcing Joe’s at the end, with a stunning view back at the shoreline. I also get a glimpse of the heart pounding, adrenaline pumping thrill rides at Screamer’s Park.

The Bandshell on Daytona Beach boardwalk © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Eat at Joe’s on the Daytona Beach pier © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Daytona Beach boardwalk © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Daytona Beach boardwalk © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Now of course, Daytona Beach is famous for auto racing and the Daytona 500 – that began on the beach (cars are still allowed in specific lanes, and plenty of people bike on the flat, hard sand, which became the International Speedway. I would venture that most who come are car people, and touring the speedway and visiting the Racing Hall of Fame are musts. The Daytona International Speedway has just undergone a $400 million “reimagining” and transformed into a state-of-the-art motorsports facility. You can even get behind the wheel of an actual race car with NASCAR Racing Experience and take laps around the world famous 2.5-mile Speedway. (“Speedway Tours” run multiple times  each day; tour tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis, and include the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, https://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/tours/).

Daytona International Speedway © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I stop by for a look at the gi-normous stadium, how it is banked at a 30-degree angle so the cars don’t just fly off at the turns, but spend my time discovering what my cousin, Ray Weiss, a former journalist, calls “Florida as it used to be.”

Ray drives me up the famous A1A, to Ormond by the Sea up to Flagler Beach, which cannot be more un-touristy. Here, he stresses, you can still park your car alongside the two-lane road (they call it a highway), on a patch of sand bordered with sea grass, and walk right onto the beach – such a contrast to Daytona Beach, which seems to be competing to have as many high rises and parking meters as Miami Beach. (My cousin describes Daytona Beach perfectly: “a bit of an Atlantic City feel with a redneck flair.”)

“Florida as it used to be,” along A1A between Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This stretch between Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach, though, is exactly as he has described it and what he cherishes – there are the colorful, weatherworn, funky beach places, miles of undeveloped open beach (vacant of people) and thousands of acres of pristine land called the Loop – woods, water and marshland. “It’s like stepping back in time to what the rest of Florida once looked like when the Seminoles were here,” he says. He should know because my first memory as a child was visiting his family in old Miami and seeing Seminole Indians wrestling alligators.

Driving The Loop © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Driving The Loop © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
“Florida as it used to be,” along A1A between Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
“Florida as it used to be,” along A1A between Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Flagler Beach is a Florida town that is seems stuck in the 1950s. No high-rises here, only modest houses on the beach. (My thoughts alternate between thinking that the property they sit on would be $1-2 million in Long Island, and thinking that sea level rise caused by the climate change Florida’s governor denies makes them worthless.)  Ray points out several old style restaurants, stopping at Snack Jack’s right on the beach – his favorite and I can see why.

Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Flagler Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Back in Ormond Beach, we stop to visit The Casements, John D. Rockefeller’s 1890s winter home, so beautifully set on the river.

The Casements, John D. Rockefeller’s 1890s winter home, Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

On my own, I also discover some of the attractions that make actually living here wonderful – starting with the Museum of Arts and Science (MOAS).

When I arrive, I ask the receptionist what is special, what should I definitely look out for. She replies, “Well, we have the biggest collection of Coca Cola bottles, and a skeleton of a giant sloth.”

Root Family Museum of what is probably the largest collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia, at the Museum of Arts and Science, Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Root Family Museum of what is probably the largest collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia, at the Museum of Arts and Science, Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Walking into the Coca-Cola collection, you can’t help but let out an actual “Wow,” It turns out that the guy who invented and manufactured that classic glass Coke bottle in Indiana, Chapman J. Root (he got 5c royalty on every bottle sold), also had interests in Coca-Cola bottling plants in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois and Florida, and when he retired, his grandson Chapman S. Root took over the company and moved it, in 1951, to Daytona Beach. Over a 50-year period, Chapman S. Root and his wife Susan Root Fieblman, collected some 100,000 objects that make up the $5 million Root Family Museum collection – probably the largest of Coca-Cola memorabilia – housed within MOAS. We see not only a timeline of all the bottles and bottling equipment, but the delivery trucks, the different vending machines, all with the trademark Coca Cola red color. It is pure Americana – both for the Coca-Cola cultural iconography and the story of an entrepreneur and innovator making good. (See: For Coke Fans, Collection is ‘The Real Thing’, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2001-10-14-0110120609-story.html)

The Giant Sloth at MOAS, discovered just 2 ½ miles away © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Then I walk into the “Natural Florida” exhibit and there it is. When you think of “sloth” you might think of Sid in the “Ice Age” movies. Now imagine The Hulk but probably three or four times the size. The skeleton of the Eremotherium – the largest sloth to have ever existed – that we see assembled in its fearsome pose was collected just 2 ½ miles away. It would have weighed up to five tons and stood 15 feet tall – only the Wooly Mammoth was larger in the Western Hemisphere. Phenomenal.

A fantastic collection of African tribal masks, on view at MOAS © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The Warehouse at MOAS, Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The rest of the museum has some fabulous, unexpected and eclectic collections: African tribal artifacts including incredible masks, Chinese art, and the American decorative arts collection of Anderson Child Bouchelle (a fifth generation Floridian, his father was Florida’s first cardiologist, brought to the state by Henry Flagler). I especially love “The Warehouse” where you can peek at treasures that otherwise would be stored away. (352 South Nova Road, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114, 386-255-0285, www.moas.org/visit/index)

Walk the nature trail outside MOAS © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Before leaving, I follow the Nature Trail that starts just outside the museum that takes you on a boardwalk into the jungle (note the sign that warns of such creatures as snakes and alligators).

Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The next day, after my ritual beach walk to revel in the daily miracle of the sunrise, I go off to two other signature attractions, both very close together at the southern tip of the barrier island.

Marine Science Center, Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Marine Science Center, Daytona Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The modest but intimate Marine Science Center, is mainly an aquarium but also is where you can see its medical facilities where sea turtles are being restored to health (you can even watch operations through a glass) and a sanctuary for rescued birds. The small area is packed with fun things to look at, interact with and learn about Volusia County’s rich marine life – like how they are re-growing (not just restoring) coral so crucial to the survival of ecosystems. This is a delight for families with children (100 Lighthouse Drive, Ponce Inlet, Fl 32127, 386-304-5545, www.marinesciencecenter.com)

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Walk up the 203 steps to the top of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Nearby, The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, constructed in 1887, is a treasure. At 175 feet tall, the lighthouse is the highest in Florida and second highest in the country. You can walk up all 203 steps winding around and around, and step out for a 360-degree view. Most interesting are the other structures and buildings – all original – that you can visit and the exhibits that show the life and times of the lighthouse keepers, and wonderful videos showing the history. In the modern Ayres Davies Lens Exhibit Building, you can see a world-class Fresnel lens collection. There is also an exhibit of Cuban Rafts that carried refugees trying to make their way to freedom on these fragile homemade boats and rafts. There is really a lot to see and explore, including nature trails and you can walk out to a very long break-water. (4931 S. Peninsula Drive, Ponce Inlet, FL 32127, 386-761-1821, ponceinlet.org)

Ayres Davies Lens Exhibit Building at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse has a world-class Fresnel lens collection. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

For more historic sites, you can trace the footsteps of educator and civil rights activist Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune on a tour of her former home, and visit the historic Jackie Robinson Ballpark (where in 1946, a year before he broke the major league racial color barrier in Brooklyn, Robinson broke the color barrier with the Montreal Expos, the triple A minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers, after being rejected from other Florida cities, Ray relates).

Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The next day, I visit the extraordinary Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, which is on the same campus as MOAS. This is the most astonishing find of all. Since 1997, the Browns made it their mission to collect art representing Florida. After being a traveling exhibit for some time, what is the largest collection of Florida art is now housed in this stunning, brand new two-level structure. The museum features a rotating collection of 2,600 Florida-themed oil and watercolor paintings. The Museum’s grand central gallery and mezzanine showcase the collection’s signature pieces, while six smaller galleries feature beautiful changing exhibitions with Florida themes. Most impressive are the way the paintings are selected, framed, how they are hung together, and the absolutely fascinating notes that accompany each and every one – not only a biography of the artist, but the context for the painting, something of history, and then really fascinating notes that are like a painting tutorial. (https://www.moas.org/explore/cici-and-hyatt-brown-museum-of-art/index)

Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Sunrise on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Jeffrey Dunne, who has come out every morning to photograph the sunrise on Ormond Beach, while his friend feeds the sea birds © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Jeffrey Dunne delights in taking photos for beachgoers on Ormond Beach © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

While not my focus on this trip, I would be remiss not to include some of the immensely popular and new attractions in Daytona Beach:

Speedway Indoor Karting (SIK), which opened in late 2020, offers state-of-the-art electric powered karts and gives guests of all ages and skill levels a full racing experience on a 16- turn road course featuring multiple elevation changes and a slick tri-oval.

Daytona Lagoon Premier Waterpark and Family Entertainment Center, just north of the pier area and steps from the beach, added a wave maker Treasure Lagoon Wave Pool, arcade games, and two water slides: Kraken’s Revenge, a 54-foot-high, four-lane mat racer slide; and Shaka Halfpipe, a thrilling inner-tube experience that shoots riders backwards over a 50-foot drop. These new features, along with mini golf, go-karts, the MEGA arcade, and Sky Maze indoor ropes course make this a favorite year-round family spot.

More my speed: a new Riverfront Esplanade. The park that runs the length of historic downtown Daytona Beach is being transformed. When complete in 2022, the Riverfront Esplanade will extend a mile along the Halifax River and include a promenade along the water’s edge, running and walking trails, and landscaping designed to encourage relaxation and reflection including water features, shade trees and raised botanical gardens.

Interactive maps for themed trails are available on DaytonaBeach.com including the new Cars, Craft and Culture trail, Share The Heritage Trail, Monuments & Statues Trail, an Iconic Trail and a Motorsports Trail to add to its popular Hiking & Biking Trails and the Ale Trail.

For more information, Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,126 E. Orange Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, 386-255-0415, DaytonaBeach.com.

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© 2022 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Wilmington/Brandywine Mansions & Gardens Welcome Mobility-Challenged Visitors

The Sunken Garden at the Nemours Estate, Wilmington, DE © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Laurie Millman and Martin Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

We’ve heard for years about the beautiful DuPont family mansions and gardens in the Wilmington, Delaware and Brandywine Valley region. With Marty now mobility-challenged, we set out on a long weekend to visit these fine architectural examples of Gilded, Industrial Age homes and gardens, to check out first-hand how the DuPont historic sites accommodate visitors with accessibility issues:

Winterthur Mansion and Gardens

The Winterthur grounds are expansive, with walking trails running through 1,000 acres of woods, meadowlands and farmland. Natural and groomed paths are also found throughout the 60-acre gardens surrounding the childhood home and country estate of Henry Francis DuPont (1880-1969). The Mansion complex includes the family home, botanical labs, Library and Museum galleries revolving exhibits.

A Dupont Family Home – Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library© Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Winterthur offers a number of accessibility options to tour the garden area and the mansion complex:  a) Companion-guided wheelchairs and strollers are available at no cost at the Visitor Center where you pick up your tickets, as well as at the Galleries Reception Atrium. b)  Shuttles and trams for touring the gardens and reaching the mansion and galleries have wheelchair lifts and ramps, and designated wheelchair spots that allow a wheelchair to be securely locked in place.  There is a sharp incline leading up to the mansion’s main entrance from the tram stop, which will require some effort to push a wheelchair up the hill; but once inside, it is easy to navigate around the main floor of the house with an accessibility device.

Guide and therapy dogs are allowed on the shuttle and tram, as well as in the buildings. Assistive listening systems are available for guided tours and special presentations. With at least one week’s notice, a sign-language interpreter can be hired for your visit. The grounds have restrooms with ADA bars and are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair or mobile scooter.

Winterthur is open to the public from late February through mid-November.   Tour tickets are currently available by calling 800-448-3883, or on-site in the Visitor Center. Reserve a wheelchair when you make a tour reservation, to ensure availability when you arrive. To learn more about accessibility options at Winterthur, explore this link: https://www.winterthur.org/visit/plan-your-visit/transportation-and-special-needs-access/. For a virtual tour of Winterthur, go to https://tour.winterthur.org/.

Winterthur Mansion and Gardens, 800-448-3883, 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 197350, www.winterthur.org.

Nemours Estate

The early 20th century home and grounds of Alfred I. DuPont was designed in a late 18th-century French style. Nemours offers self-guided tours of the mansion. You will have to bring your own mobility devices, as the Estate does not rent wheelchairs, electric scooters or strollers, nor does it offer a shuttle or tram to tour around the 200 acres of grounds and gardens.

A fine example of a Gilded Age Home at the Nemours Estate, Wilmington, DE © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Nemours mansion and gardens is a hike from the parking lot. For those walking the grounds, wear comfortable walking shoes.   Although the roads and paths leading to the mansion are flat, paved, and accessible by wheelchair, scooter, and stroller, the garden paths are not paved nor handicap accessible.  However, between the beautifully manicured sunken gardens, reflection pools and Art-Nouveau statues, there is a wide overlook for picturesque views, which can be reached by a mobility device.

When arriving at the Nemours mansion, the staff is very accommodating for visitors traveling with mobile devices (strollers are not allowed inside): they put out small ramps to get our wheelchair over a few steps leading into the mansion’s main floor. Once inside, visitors take a self-guided tour of the two accessible floors. Nemours has a huge, grand spiraling staircase leading up to the bedrooms on the second floor. Alternatively, for assistance to go up to the second floor, a first floor mansion attendant will contact a member of the staff on the second floor and direct you to an elevator that opens to a mezzanine level. The second floor attendant will be waiting to assist with a stair lift to the second floor.

The Estate is open to visitors from April through December, with self-guided tours of the mansion and chauffeur’s garage. ADA bathrooms are located a short walk from the parking lot and in the mansion. Food and water are not available onsite, but visitors are encouraged to bring food and water, even to bring a blanket to picnic on the grounds.  Service animals are allowed on the grounds and in the mansion.

Nemours Estate, 600 Rockland Road, Wilmington, DE, 302-651-6912, http://nemoursestate.org

Hagley Museum and Library

The Hagley complex offers a hands-on learning experience for all ages about early American commerce and life. The 235 acres of the Hagley grounds, founded by E. I. DuPont in 1802 for manufacturing gunpowder, rise above the Brandywine River.  Open daily, Hagley currently offers small-group tours of the ancestral DuPont family home and garden. Interpretive docents and demonstrations are also found at the restored mill, the artisans building, and the Workers Hill Community, where the gunpowder works employees lived.

Pick up tickets for your timed tour at the Hagley Visitor Center and Gift Shop. A bus with a wheelchair lift leaves from the Visitor Center parking area.  Some areas of Hagley are not easily navigable in a mobility device – ask the staff in the Visitor Center to highlight those areas on a grounds map. To reserve a group tour or a lunch and learn tour, go to https://www.hagley.org/plan-your-visit/hours-admission, call 302-658-2400, or email tickets@hagley.org. Call or email to confirm wheelchair availability.

Hagley Museum and Library, 200 Hagley Creek Rd, Wilmington, DE, 302-658-2400, www.hagley.org.

Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens was developed initially in the early 20th century by Pierre DuPont to be enjoyed by family and friends. To perpetuate and expand his vision, after DuPont died in the mid-1950s, the mission of the Gardens was to continue for public enjoyment and education.  This is one of our favorite gardens in the country and one of the largest in the world. With 1,100 acres of outdoor gardens, Longwood is open year-round for visitors (even Christmas Day!) to enjoy the ever-changing seasonal displays of outdoor natural beauty, along with “dancing” fountains scattered throughout the grounds and beautiful, indoor glass conservatories (one of them a massive 4.5 acres).

Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Over the past few years, the Main Fountain Garden area has been the location of beautiful fountain, light and fire shows with synchronized music. Fountain performances will resume on May 5, 2022. 

Longwood does not offer a shuttle or tram to tour around the large park, but the hilly garden paths are primarily paved and mobility device accessible, as well as most buildings. Visitors to Longwood Gardens are strongly recommended to bring their own mobility devices (strollers, wheelchairs and scooters with 3 or more wheels).  Through our experience, electric-powered mobility scooters will handle the steeper paths better than companion-pushed wheelchairs.  The Visitor’s Center offers a limited supply of electric scooters on a first-come, first-served basis, with a “pay as you wish” rental fee policy for the entirety of your visit – more of a donation than a fixed price. A limited number of free wheelchairs and strollers are also available at the Visitor’s Center. The Gardens provides many water fountains and bathrooms that are mobility device accessible. Service dogs are permitted on the grounds and in the buildings. With at least two week’s notice, a sign-language interpreter will be available for a private, guided group walking tour; amplified listening devices are also available for use on the private tours.

At this writing, the Gardens is selling timed tickets. Check out availability and ticket prices at https://longwoodgardens.org/visit.

Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Rd, Kennett Square, PA 19348, 610-388-1000, https://longwoodgardens.org.

As our experience shows, there is no reason not to continue to explore and experience attractions and destinations, just prepare in advance.

April is National Garden Month

April is National Garden Month. As the colors of spring begin to appear across Wilmington and the Brandywine Valley, enjoy the warmer weather and change of seasons with a weekend tour of the region’s numerous botanical gardens, all within a short distance of one another.

Jennifer Boes, Director of Marketing Communications and Media Relations for Greater Williamsburg prepared this driving itinerary:

Start at Rockwood Park, just off I-95 in north Wilmington. Though not as well known as some of the area’s other gardens, the grounds surrounding the rural Gothic-style Rockwood Mansion are sublime. Explore the 72 acres of parkland including a six-acre formal garden. Unique features include a monkey puzzle tree (an unusual-looking evergreen native to Chile); a ha-ha (a sunken wall used to keep livestock away); and a stone from the Giant’s Causeway, a distinctive hexagonal rock formation along Ireland’s coast. An apothecary garden, filled with medicinal plants, was added in fall 2019.

Hagley Museum & Library’s gardens are as much about function as they are about form.  It has two very different restored gardens that date back to the 1800s: one that fed the du Pont family and another that fed company workers. A pollinator garden, new in 2020, attracts a variety of butterflies and bees.

Nemours Estate’s French-style gardens, inspired by Versailles, are among the finest and largest of their kind in the U.S. There’s a formal boxwood garden and a maze dominated by a sculpture gilded in 23-karat gold leaf. The Baroque-style Russian gate was acquired from a palace built by Catherine the Great. The English gate was once used at Wimbledon Manor. In addition to the formal gardens, there are family-friendly woodland walking trails to explore.

The Sunken Garden at the Nemours Estate, Wilmington, DE © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Winterthur Museum & Gardens features 1,000 acres of rolling hills, streams, meadows and forests. A favorite of the young and young at heart is the fairytale-like Enchanted Woods with its Faerie Cottage and Tulip treehouse. From April into May, the Azalea Woods, with thousands of Kurume azaleas and wildflowers that weave through the forest, is a must see.

Winterthur Enchanted Woods – Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Wilmington, DE © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The nationally renowned Longwood Gardens is home to 11,000 varieties of plants spread across 1,100 acres of meadows, woodlands, and elaborate horticultural displays. In the four-acre conservatory, don’t miss the Wood’s Cycad. Called Longwood’s “King of the Conservatory,” this palm tree-like plant is extinct in nature and one of the rarest plants in the world.

Dancing Fountains at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA © Laurie Millman/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The final stop on the garden tour is Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware. Opened for general admission to the public in 2013, it is home to more than 1,000 native plants, many of which are threatened by extinction. On the gently rolling hills of the Delaware Piedmont, part of the Appalachian Mountain system, it consists of 630 acres of historic pastures, fields, ponds, native forests, a woodland wildflower garden, and formal landscapes. One notable feature is the trillium garden, containing every trillium species native to the eastern U.S.

The Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau is an excellent source of information to preplan your visit to the Wilmington-Brandywine region: 800-489-6664, www.visitwilmingtonde.com.

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© 2022 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures