On a cold September morning, the loudest sound on Banff Avenue could be a tour guide, or a bull elk near the Bow River lifting its head and letting out a low groan that ends in a squeal. During this season, elks mate, and the Town of Banff has already taken the swings off its playgrounds so male elks with new antlers won’t get caught in them. Cascade Mountain sits at the far end of
Browsing: North America
The first blue plaque that caught my attention was on a little shingled cottage in the West End, almost completely hidden behind a thick thicket of beach roses; the plaque depicted a Cape Cod house being carried across the waves on a boat, with a lighthouse in the distance behind it. At first I thought it was a fanciful kind of house sign, but it turned out to be a biography. The Pilgrims were the
… Thirty miles out in the Atlantic, past the last reliable cell signal, sits an island that once ran the world’s whale oil supply and now mostly runs on cranberry bogs, cedar shingles, and a waiting list for dinner reservations. Nantucket has spent three and a half centuries figuring out what it wants to be, and the current answer, equal parts historic seaport, art colony, and extremely well-funded beach town, seems to be working.
In 1659,
… Williams, Arizona bills itself as the “the gateway to the Grand Canyon,” and for good reason: here, just as would be sightseers have for decades, you can board the Grand Canyon Railway and ride to the canyon’s South Rim. But before we go any further, let’s clear up a few things about the Grand Canyon: it’s a canyon or, in others words, a great big hole in the ground. Like all holes, there are multiple …
A woman in a blue plastic poncho is screaming with delight eleven feet from a curtain of water falling fifty-seven meters onto rock, and nobody around her finds this strange. This is Table Rock, on the Canadian side, where the mist comes up off Horseshoe Falls in cold gusts strong enough to soak you through a poncho that was, until about ninety seconds ago, doing its job. Somewhere behind her, a busker plays “Can’t Help …
The drums start before the light is fully gone. On Kauai’s north shore, dusk does not so much fall as get absorbed; the sky over Kilauea falls dark while a line of torches gets lit along a gravel path. Somewhere behind the stage, dark and enormous against what’s left of the light, sits a mountain the old Hawaiians called Makana and the movies renamed Bali Hai. Nobody on stage mentions the second name. They don’t …
Having traveled extensively throughout Mexico, I have no hesitation in declaring Valladolid my favorite city in the south. From diving into the clear waters of a cenote to sampling delicious local cuisine or checking out Mexico’s largest private collection of Mexican folk art, there’s no shortage of fun and fascinating things to do in this colorful colonial city in Yucatan.
Not only are there amazing things to do in Valladolid, but the city also makes …
The road into Bath County narrows as the mountains close in. You pass through Warm Springs, the county seat with a population of 121, and something in your blood pressure drops before you even stop the car. The air here carries the scent of pine and cold stream water, and the light falls differently at 2,270 feet. Then the valley opens, and there it is: a colonnaded red-brick structure sitting against the wooded hillside like …
Lexington, Virginia, asks very little of you on arrival. What it gives you in return is considerably more complicated. The setting for the small town of 7,000 inhabitants is both beautiful and strangely captivating. You first come for the history. Lexington is a town that rewards the visitor who slows down enough to feel what is unresolved about it. Few towns of Lexington’s size have asked so much of, or given so much to, American …
Located easily within the Puerto Rican capital’s wider urban map, the barrio neighborhood of Santurce might still be missed by some travelers focused on the more commercial or oceanfront districts of San Juan. But including some time for Santurce on any trip to the island can certainly provide its own distinct and immersive encounter with this city.
In fact, Santurce’s present-day urban profile has its origins in a variety of historic, cultural and economic factors. …
Eight minutes. That is all that separates the roar of Manhattan from one of the most improbably pastoral escapes. Governor’s Island, a 172-acre jewel anchored in New York Harbor, has outlasted centuries of history, and emerged as the city’s most quietly extraordinary day trip, a place where the skyline just 800 yards away looks like a movie set. The pace of life on Governor’s Island, by way of contrast, is nearly surreal, a best-kept secret …
A mere hour by road from Mexico City, the mystical town of Tepotzlan in the state of Morelos, is a perfect escape from the metropolis. City dwellers, tourists and spiritual seekers alike, head along the winding mountain roads, leaving the smog and chaos of the city behind.
An ancient town believed to be the birthplace of the serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, Tepotzlan is situated in a lush valley, overlooked by soaring jagged cliffs and an Aztec …
Cape Cod begins with a curve on the map and a change in mood. One hour south of Boston, the city gives way to a 400-square-mile hook of dunes, harbours and cedar-shingled towns where life still moves to the pull of tide and season. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay, the peninsula gathers 15 distinct towns into one of New England’s most enduring coastal escapes.…
Inside the vibrant district of style, art, and food, expanding Miami’s travel landscape
In just over two decades, the Miami district of Wynwood has been making its own distinctive mark on the city’s wider landscape thanks to a growing arts and lifestyle presence here – and all inside what was once an unknown industrial and warehouse neighborhood. That transformation into a forward-thinking, creative, and small-business community includes a significant number of Afro-American and African-Caribbean entrepreneurs …