Explore miles of white sand beaches, hiking and biking trails, birding opportunities, and luxury lodging at Gulf State Park (GSP) on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. The 6,150-acre park is the boundary between the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and it’s the perfect place to relax any time of year. The Perdido Beach Blvd. divides […]
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Manitou Springs lies northwest of Colorado Springs at the base of Pikes Peak. Plan to spend at least a long weekend there. Here’s two reasons: The town offers the relaxed vibe of a mountain resort town with easy proximity to a metropolitan area’s services. Escape summer’s heat at 6,000 feet and enjoy Manitou’s milder winter
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The Union came for Mobile, Alabama, in August of 1864. They attacked because the Port of Mobile was the last major Confederate port still open in the Gulf of Mexico. The Union blockade was slowly strangling Confederate trade as the Civil War continued. As more Southern ports fell, the rebels could not export cotton. At
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Enjoy the relative solitude of Colorado National Monument’s otherworldly formations. “The Monument,” as locals call it, is the Colorado Plateau’s eastern gateway. The plateau’s Red Rock Country is full of colorful rocks. They include domes, fins, hoodoos, reefs, natural bridges, and slot canyons. The National Park Service has nine national parks in the Colorado Plateau. Except
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The Rockies are calling. There’s gold in those mountains, and you can find it—not just the yellow metal, but gold aspens in the fall and daily casino winnings. Sign up for a high-altitude adventure in Colorado’s former mining country. Parts of the historic drives are white-knuckle experiences through North America’s greatest gold camp. The famous
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Three weeks after Colonel John Chivington and his troopers slaughtered non-combatants at the Sand Creek Massacre, they triumphantly entered Denver. They waved Cheyenne and Arapaho scalps and other body parts on December 22, 1864. The Rocky Mountain News gushed, “Among the brilliant feats of arms in Indian warfare, the recent campaign of our Colorado volunteers will
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The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site stands where the Great Plains meets the Black Hills. For 44 years, the United States-led Free World and the Soviet Union’s Communist Bloc aimed nuclear missiles at each other. The nuclear deterrence was known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Never was an acronym more appropriate. The once-secret facilities are
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Camp Amache National Historic Site reminds visitors of the courage of Japanese Americans unjustly confined during World War II. After Pearl Harbor pushed the United States into World War, the War Relocation Authority forcibly removed the Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes. The wind-swept former camp is now a pale shadow of its 1942-1945 self. A
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You’ll learn all you need to know about the Mississippi River at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. I allowed three hours, but I could have spent days exploring the Dubuque, Iowa, attraction. Every member of the family will find much to enjoy in the three-building, 10-acre campus, and I highly recommend this great
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The Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island have witnessed more than 160 years of recorded American history. Most famously, Abraham Lincoln chased Black Hawk around Illinois in 1832. Since Lincoln was involved, I always thought Black Hawk was from central Illinois. And then I visited the Quad Cities. Black Hawk’s village, Saukenuk, stood on Illinois’
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