Will Fall Foliage Be Worth Seeing This Year in New England? Here's An Expert's Forecast
Posted on 09/03/2019, 8:15 PM
New England’s fall foliage show is right around the corner. Leaf peepers are polishing their binoculars, planning their routes, and booking their B&Bs. In preparation for this popular season, I spoke with Mel Allen, the Editor of Yankee Magazine, to get his take on what road trippers can expect in the coming months. Pauline Frommer: I need to start this interview by saying that the website of ...
A Major Newspaper Asks If It's Ethical to Fly. Arthur Frommer Wants Your Thoughts
Posted on 08/26/2019, 12:00 AM
Depending on your politics, you either do or you don’t regard The New York Times as the nation’s leading newspaper. But after that paper’s recent examination of the relation between travel and climate change, you must surely regard it as the nation’s boldest newspaper. The Times’ startling discussion (which you can read here) results from the belief held by almost all prestigious ...
Closed for Three Years, D.C.'s Washington Monument Finally Has a Reopening Date
Posted on 08/20/2019, 12:00 AM
The Washington Monument in America's capital will reopen to the public on Thursday, September 19, the National Park Service has announced. The 555-foot-tall marble-and-granite obelisk on the National Mall has been closed for elevator repairs since 2016. Before that, visitors were barred from entering the monument for more than two years starting in 2011, when an earthquake rattled the structure....
New Zealand Unveiling Epic New Hiking Trail
Posted on 07/29/2019, 4:30 PM
New Zealand's officially designated, government-maintained Great Walks give hikers access to the country's premier scenery—and that's saying something in New Zealand, whose North and South Islands serve up enough ruggedly beautiful landscapes to put even watercolor virtuoso Bob Ross to shame. On December 1, the 10th Great Walk—and the first to receive that designation in more than 25 years—will ...
Yosemite's Historic Names Restored: Company Holding Them Hostage Relents
Posted on 07/19/2019, 12:00 AM
One of the most asinine instances of overlawyering in a genuinely asinine age has finally come to a resolution. In 2016, the year the National Park Service marked its centennial, California's Yosemite National Park reached the end of its contract with Delaware North, the vendor that had been running the onsite hotels and services. The company was not rehired. In a fit of legal pique, Delaware...
An Animal Rescue Group Is Opening Its Own Hotel—Humans Allowed
Posted on 06/17/2019, 9:30 PM
An animal rescue organization is opening its own hotel, which won't just be pet-friendly—it'll be "pet-centric," according to a news release. Set to welcome two- and four-legged guests as of August 15, Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile is a new, 40-room property with a desert-modern look in Kanab, Utah. The hotel is owned and operated by Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit no-kill resc...
Arthur Frommer: Are We Hypocrites to Visit the Statue of Liberty?
Posted on 04/24/2019, 9:00 AM
On an island in the waters off New York, is a giant statue inscribed with the immortal words of Emma Lazarus: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” It—the Statue of Liberty—is visited each year by three million American tourists who often weep when they read those words. In the months ahead, those same tourists, by their political inaction, will h...
Meet the USA's Newest National Park
Posted on 02/22/2019, 3:45 PM
The United States has a new national park. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has been re-designated Indiana Dunes National Park thanks to a provision in the same spending bill that averted another government shutdown on February 15. The Northwest Indiana site, which has been a federally protected national lakeshore since 1966, stretches for 15 miles along Lake Michigan, encompassing 15,000 acres...
Martin Luther King's Family Home Will Open to the Public
Posted on 02/04/2019, 5:45 PM
The house in Atlanta where Martin Luther King, Jr., lived with his wife, Coretta Scott King, and their four children will soon be open for tours. The nonprofit National Park Foundation purchased the home, located in the Vine City neighborhood, from the estate of Coretta Scott King on January 8 and promptly transferred the property to the National Park Service. The building will become part of ...
Arthur Frommer: Rejecting an Army Made Life in Costa Rica Better
Posted on 12/06/2018, 12:00 AM
Of all the documentary films recently shown in America, one has a special relevance to the world of travel. It is called A Bold Peace, and it deals with the Central American nation of Costa Rica. To the extent that it showcases that country’s superb beaches, its forested mountains, and its beautiful cities, it is a superb travelogue, encouraging Americans to vacation there. (You can purchase ou...
Arthur Frommer: On an African Safari, Budget is Better
Posted on 12/04/2018, 12:00 AM
To a great many travelers, including myself, the African safari is one of the top travel experiences. There is something mystical, indeed mind-changing, about seeing the world inhabited by animals, as it was before the earth was populated by human beings. But not all African safaris are equal in bringing that vision to you. Upon looking for a safari to book, you are often inundated by marketi...
