Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was pivotal in creating our new United States. Visiting the places where Franklin, Jefferson and other founders met is awe-inspiring. No visit would be complete without seeing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. But be prepared. To protect these National treasures the security is high. It’s very similar to Airport security measures so factor this into your visit.

A good place to start, of course, is the visitor’s center to get oriented and a timed entrance ticket for the Independence Hall tour. Although these attractions are free they are organized from this location.

Do spend some time reading panels and plaques for a complete story and don’t miss Benjamin Franklin’s Burial Plot just down the street and the site where Thomas Jefferson completed the Declaration of Independence. Everywhere you turn in Philadelphia, History winks back!

Years ago in New York City, I went to a party for retail visual merchandise managers hosted by a mannequin manufacturer in a loft display room.  The elevator door opened to a low-light room filled with fabulously dressed people clustered in groups enjoying cocktails.  In an effort to mingle, I approached one cluster, only to discover that some among the group were mute and motionless!  What was even odder is that no one seemed to notice.  It was business as usual!

That’s the same feeling you get in Madame Tussauds Wax Museums.  See for yourself when visiting Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, New York City,  or Washington D.C.  The historic and contemporary figures are so life-like, for a moment you forget they aren’t.  What’s more, by interacting with your favorite celeb as you step into their world cleverly created through high tech accouterments, intellect and fantasy somehow get all knotted up.  You know they’re just wax figures, but for a moment you believe!

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The scenario plays out on any beach.  It’s instinctive and universal.  Walk along any beach just along the waterline where the waves roll rhythmically in and you’ll catch yourself doing it:  looking down.  Suddenly, right there, tumbling in sand and foam, you see it!  A fleeting hint of color, a minute rippled edge.  As the water recedes pulling a layer of sand and shell with it, it disappears.  Now you see it, now you don’t!  With impressive reaction time you reach down and grab the illusion.  Slowly you open a dripping handful of sand and peer inside, hoping for the perfect keeper – an intact shell, a wonder nature, strikingly beautiful, elegantly scrolled, perfectly fluted, delicately patterned.

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Lighthouses, those stoic, sturdy, silent sentinels perched on treacherous rock outcroppings in the swirling sea, atop protruding reefs and perilous shoals, or guiding the way to the safe haven of a protective harbor, do more than guide, protect and rescue seafarers – they captivate the imagination. 

Like a siren’s song, they call to us.  By day, we are compelled to climb to the very top to gaze out to sea, hoping to see we know not what. In the pitch black of night the unique rhythmic cadence of their flashing beacon signaling out into the unknown is at once haunting and comforting.   

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Of all the creatures in the sea, dolphins, hands down, win the popularity contest.  We are inexplicably drawn to them, we personify them, we see ourselves in them!

They appear playful, curious; they show off, display a certain joie de vivre, and even look us right in the eye – all personality traits we claim as our own!   Like us, they’re mammals, and are therefore warm-blooded, have lungs that breathe air, give birth to their young and nurse them.  Add these facts - they have large brains, live in complex societies, help one another, learn from experience.  It’s no wonder we’re intrigued. Continue Reading »

The Green Flash, not a comic book character, but an atmospheric event -  that startling glint of neon green that appears just for a second on the upper curve of the sun just as its last little sliver dips under the horizon.  An optical sunrise or sunset atmospheric phenomenon, it lasts but a second or two and is the piéce de résistance of an etheral event, if you are lucky enough to see it.    

So elusive and mystical, it’s the stuff of movies and books.  It’s the soul released in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; an indication of true love in Jules Verne’s 1882 book Le Rayon Vert (The Green Flash).

Florida Keys Sunset

Key West, the southernmost point in the United States, with its awesome sunsets and unobstructed views of the flat ocean horizon, is an ideal place to try to catch it…if you can. 

Sunsets all over the world are glorious phenomena – firery orange over a tropical sea, cool mauve, blue and silver streaks over a northern sky, golden hued haze through desert sand, saturated shades of coral overpowering for the moment the silhouette cut-outs of majestic mountains.  Sunsets, wherever they are, are magical, mysterious, unpredictable, yet consistently there, and the human response to them is universal.   

They have the capacity to hold us spellbound.  Regardless of who we are, or how many we’ve seen, we never tire of them. Never the same twice, each contains an element of surprise.  We may know precisely what time they’ll occur, but what they’ll look like is a mystery even as they unfold.  

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All across America, cities and towns and villages light up for the holidays, and the mundane, functional and ordinary are magically transformed. Harsh edges soften, familiar monochrome buildings turn luminous, everything glows, nostalgia sets in.  The traditional sights, sounds and tastes of the season are embracing, triggering memories of Christmas past, of loved ones now gone, of simple pleasures and simpler times. We take our children to experience these comfortable traditions hoping they, too, will catch the feeling and create memories of their own. Continue Reading »

New Orleans is an old soul. 

She’s a dowager queen, regal, foreign, and mystical, cloaked in chiaroscuro – filtered light and darkened shadows.

She’s a woman masked for Mardi Gras, mysterious and irresistible. Continue Reading »

Truman White House, Key West Florida

Truman Little White House – Key West, FL.
What do Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr and  Gloria LaRiva have in common?  They are all running for President  along with John McCain, Barack Obama and a host of others!

With less than a month away until the general election, the Harry S Truman Little White House, Florida’s only presidential museum, proudly opens a new exhibit entitled “Every Four Years”. Learn about the US Electoral College as well as see a large collection of pro and con presidential buttons used by Democrats and Republicans to encourage the selection of their candidate for President in the 2008 election.

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This was my favorite of the many New York tours offered! The guide is amazing and the content is funny, interesting and enjoyable. The New York TV and Movie Sites Tour starts at 11am daily next to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. For a treat, spend some time with the Diner’s singing wait staff!

The three hours flies by as one filming site after another is showcased on this tour. We even got treats! We saw current and classic sites, learned about the TV and Movie industry, best sites to spot a celebrity or see something filmed and where the stars lived. It was action packed. I appreciated several opportunities to step off the very nice shuttle bus for short walks to great sites like the “Friends” opening scene building (pictured) and the Cosby Show House.

What an adventure! We even sang theme songs. Got so much out of this tour and would do it again. (They also do a “Sex in the City T=tour” and “Soprano” tour.) One of the best tours I’ve taken anywhere. A must do in New York City.