Linda A. Tancs's Blog: The Long and Short of It, page 25

The Center of Portugal

By Linda Tancs

Portugal’s first natural park, Serra da Estrela Natural Park is literally at the center of it all. Over 200,000 acres, it’s the largest protected area in the country. The landscape is characterized by rocky outcrops, boulders and crags, a terrain prized by hikers who are spoiled for choice with over 40 trails. The locale is also where you’ll find Queijo Serra da Estrela, a cheese made in this mountainous region for centuries from sheep that graze in the meadows blanketed by buttercups this time of year.

New Mexico’s Most Visited Museum

By Linda Tancs

Just minutes away from Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has an exciting new addition to its dinosaur collection, Tyrannosaurus mcraensis. Unearthed in western New Mexico, the predator is older and more primitive than its better-known cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. Another dinosaur with deep ties to the state, Alamosaurus, is on display in Cretaceous Hall. You’ll find many more dinosaur specimens at the venue, billed as the state’s most visited museum. Its Triassic Hall, exploring the era of the early dinosaurs, is the only one of its kind in North America. 

Switzerland of the Arctic

By Linda Tancs

Just 31 miles south of the Arctic Circle lies the Inuit hamlet of Pangnirtung on Baffin Island in Canada. Known commonly as Pang, its towering peaks (the highest in the Canadian Shield) and glaciers give it the nickname “Switzerland of the Arctic.” It’s conveniently located near Auyuittuq National Park, which offers hiking, camping and climbing in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. In Pang, visitors enjoy a range of activities like igloo camping, dog sledding and snow mobile riding. In August the average temperature is 37 F. Warm up at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts, where traditional Inuit arts and crafts are displayed, particularly woven tapestries, lithographic prints and the popular, crocheted winter hat called the “Pang Hat.”

Older Than Yellowstone

By Linda Tancs

Brazil’s Tijuca National Park in Rio is older than Yellowstone, which was established in 1872. It’s a bragging point, of course, as is the fact that it’s one of the largest urban forests in the world. Part of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Preserve, it should come as no surprise that it’s a haven for more than 1,600 plant species and more than 300 different species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Covering more than 9,600 acres, it’s divided into three sectors: Forest, the Carioca Range and Pedra Bonita/Pedra da Gávea. Hiking trails abound in the forest sector; the more adventurous will find activities like rock climbing and hang gliding at Pedra Bonita and Gávea. Carioca is home to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, the only part of the park requiring an entrance fee.

The Library of Mistakes

By Linda Tancs

Make no mistake about it: The Library of Mistakes highlights financial mistakes of the past in an attempt to avoid their repetition in the future. Located in Edinburgh, Scotland, the facility is a free-to-use public library dedicated to the study of financial history. In addition to their vast collection of books, the library offers online and in-person courses to help financial professionals perform a better service for their clients and to educate the general public.

The Mother Spring in Colorado

By Linda Tancs

Certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s deepest geothermal hot spring aquifer, the Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, is indeed the mother of all springs. It isn’t a site for soaking or bathing, considering that its depth is at least 1,002 feet (based on at least one instrument of measure) although no one has been able to get to the bottom of it (no pun intended). It acts as a feeder spring for other popular sites in the region, like Springs Resort and Spa (home to the most geothermal hot spring pools in Colorado) as well as several free “hippy dip” springs along the San Juan River.

A Presidential Church in Rhode Island

By Linda Tancs

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church is the first Catholic church in Rhode Island, but it’s perhaps better known as the venue where Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was married to then-Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (later the 35th president of the United States). The Newport church is now open to the public Monday through Friday, year-round, in addition to regularly scheduled Mass times. Tourists flock there to see the site of the famous wedding along with the kneelers used during their nuptials. When in town, the couple sat in pew #10. Arguably one of the most stunning churches in New England, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

A Bewitching Place in Massachusetts

By Linda Tancs

Salem, Massachusetts, is famous for its witch trials in 1692, during which many locals were executed for allegedly practicing witchcraft. The Salem Witch Museum explores those unfortunate events and chronicles the history of witchcraft through the ages. In nearby Danvers the Witchcraft Victims’ Memorial is the first such memorial to honor all of the witchcraft victims and is located across the street from the site of the original Salem Village Meeting House where many of the witch examinations took place. 

A Presidential Homestead in Vermont

By Linda Tancs

It’s not everyday that a U.S. president gets to take the oath of office in his childhood home. Yet when President Warren G. Harding died, that’s what Calvin Coolidge, his vice president, did. The modest frame and clapboard house is located in the tiny community of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, all or most of which is included in the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District, a National Historic Landmark. Like a time capsule, the district remains largely unchanged and includes not only the Coolidge home but also the homes of neighbors as well as the town church, a cheese factory, a schoolhouse and a general store. Coolidge and his wife are buried along with seven generations of the family in the town cemetery.

Step by Step in Colorado

By Linda Tancs

You’ll want to take it literally step by step, walking the 1,257 wooden planks suspended 956 feet over the Arkansas River across the Royal Gorge Bridge. It’s a popular tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, a 360-acre amusement park located along the edge of the Royal Gorge around both ends of the bridge. If the walk isn’t adventurous enough for you, then you might consider the zip line, or a guided climb or a 50 mph swing from the top of a 100-foot tower, the Skycoaster.