On no levels is Gettysburg, which is commemorating its 150th anniversary, just a battlefield. The site in south-central Pennsylvania, run by the national park service, carries a big wallop even for those who find the History Channel a bore. A few years ago I went to find out how re-enactors decide who “dies” first during mock battles. To be honest, learned next to … Read on
I never considered going into the military but I’ve nevertheless saw the US Navy as my ‘armed service of choice.’ My dad served a couple years, and finished his tour of duty a few months after I was born — at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. So that sort of makes me a navy brat, right? Recently I got the chance to … Read on
I go to a lot of museums. The biggies are great, but I tend to prefer the pleasures from bite-sized portions of more out-of-the-way, unexpected ones like Bucharest’s National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (hand-written signs about how to love your grandma), Oklahoma’s Woolaroc (largely for nostalgic purposes) and Hanoi’s bizarre Ho Chi Minh Museum, with Soviet-inspired exhibits of winner detergent boxes. I’m … Read on
Getting ready for St Patrick’s Day? This year do it armed with truth. Leprechaun truth. 1. Are leprechauns real? Yes. And they have pots of gold to give if you catch them and don’t let them go before the tricksters give it to you. It’s all true. 2. Are leprechauns really Irish? Likely not. They’re more likely Scots. Leprechauns originally had different names … Read on
Several years ago in Guatemala, a couple shirtless sweating guys were hanging from a fence shaking their fist at me: the lone foreigner in the crowd. And that was a good thing. Here’s my column for Oklahoma City’s Daily Oklahoman on why going to sporting events — pro, amateur, high school — is a great way to ‘get local.’
Everyone wants to scare you on Halloween, I want to make you feel safe and secure. Here’s a 76-Second Travel Show episode from two years ago that tells how.
