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!

I was excited to be there, puffed up a bit, I admit, with a hushed pride. After 46 years, you’d think I’d be used to it.  But, as I inked up the ovals, I felt it once again – goose-bumps that come with doing something important.  It never fails. Each time, no matter how unsettled I feel about the nastiness of an election, I feel this way. Here’s why. 

I grew up outside of the U.S., sometimes in countries that were not democracies.  While living in one as an impressionable 14 year-old, the reigning dictator was overthrown in a bloodless coup.  There were tanks as well as jubilation in the streets as a democracy was born.  

During the first election, the turn-out was huge. Stamped in my memory is that each party was identified by a color: red for the communist party; yellow for the socialist party; white or green for the more moderate parties, the choices of my friends’ parents.  In this fledgling democracy, a vote was cast for a party slate, and because the majority of the population was illiterate, the ballots proudly placed in slotted boxes were color-coded.  

I also remember my older sister’s boyfriend, a young man who spent time in prison for protesting the dictatorship, something I only learned when he was released.  I admired him – a lot.  I was young, but I understood what was sacrificed for an ideal.

Although we lived abroad, we kept up with American politics during dinner table conversations. I learned that opinions differ and opinions matter. I became passionate about politics. My parents always voted – at the U.S. Embassy. When I came to the States to live, as soon as I was eligible to vote, I did.  It never occurred to me not to.  To this day I can’t comprehend people who don’t. 

When my children were little, I took them to vote with me.  It was always an exciting ritual to walk into the booth, close the short little curtain around us with great flair, and begin to choose. They particularly liked being allowed to punch my choices with the punch tool. It felt special.               

The other night, my granddaughter, age 4 ½, called me to proudly announce she had voted.  Mommy took her.  She told me she was wearing her sticker.  I asked for whom she voted.  Resolutely, she told me.  I cheered; she laughed. 

I am grateful to my daughter-in-law for making the act of voting – of choosing – important, and for passing on to yet another impressionable child that our opinion matters.  Each of us has a choice in the direction of America, and we have the right – and the duty – to express it through our vote.  Many people around the world don’t have a choice.      

As the scanner grabs my ballot to be counted, I feel for an instant that the only vote that counts is mine.  Mine will make the difference.

Here are some tidbits and lore on the interesting origins of Halloween which are not widely known. This can help you start a conversation with a Halloween party guest you’ve been dying to meet.  If you’re hosting a party, you can make a booklet on your PC to hand out as party favors. Illustrated with Halloween icons, Gothic fonts or scary photos, adds to its value as an unusual memento and trivia collectible.

The Celts were the first Halloween celebrants, around 2900 B.C., although the name of the original celebration was Samhain. The occasion of Samhain was to mark the end of their year, October 31, probably relating to the end of harvest. However, the Celts also believed that the dead had their day each year on Samhain, allowed to roam the earth, sometimes disguised as animals. This put a little spookiness into the harvest season.

The Celts were pagans at this time. One of the customs on Samhain was to collect and exchange food to appease the gods and keep evil spirits at bay. To this end, they dressed in costumes, wearing and brandishing scary masks, designed to frighten off these evil spirits, in much the same way gargoyles were later used on churches. Bonfires were also customary, as an added measure to ensure the evil spirits did not gain a foothold in their community. So costumes, masks, pumpkins and treats were an integral part of the history behind Halloween from the beginning.

Christians converted the pagan Samhain celebration into a Christian celebration of Halloween, followed on November 1 by All Saint’s Day. This cleverly served to divert the offerings to pagan gods and point celebrants in a Christian direction. This strategy did, eventually succeed.

Over a period of hundreds of years, Halloween gradually picked up superstitious myths and stories, still hanging on to some of the pagan rituals and ideas. Thus, today’s ghost stories passed from generation to generation, became part of the history of cities like Atlanta, Savannah, New Orleans and San Diego, which are rich in supernatural folklore. 

Around the 1980s, adults celebrating Halloween came back in vogue. Although most adults still don’t go trick or treating, due to the typically chilly reception they receive, they do attend adult Halloween parties where the host provides the treats and everyone gets into costumes, just as the ancient Celts did.

Say, how about a Celtic Halloween costume?  That would turn up some interesting conversations!

For insight, look no further than to those who have come before them.  Visit a Presidential Historic Site.  What you’ll find depends on the era, and the president. All former presidents have at least one, with the exception of Zachary Taylor, who has none. Abraham Lincoln has six, the most by far.

A presidential site can be a birthplace, homestead, residence, museum, or library.  Some are thought-provoking in their sheer simplicity; others are Disney-esque complexes designed to dazzle and engage through multimedia presentations, interactive displays, and full-size replicas of Oval Offices. One even has a real Air Force One! Some are cold; others vibrant. Regardless of style, they are a snapshot of the American presidency at a moment in time and provide a sense of the individuals who aspired to, and reached, the pinnacle of power. 

The sites honoring early presidents are time-frozen, allowing visitors to imagine.  Established post mortem, they are biographical interpretations – items collected, pieced together, displayed and staged to educate as well as preserve and perpetuate a legacy.

Some early sites are quite simple, like the sturdy, salt box style birthplaces and the four-generation homestead of the two presidents who were father and son, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, in Braintree, Massachusetts, 30 minutes outside of Boston.  Tucked comfortably into the New England countryside, they, along with John Adams’ Stone Library, which contains more than 14,000 historic volumes, provide a real sense of the men and a young nation.  

Other older sites are fully restored estates, re-enactments of life as it was. The most popular, Mount Vernon, home of George and Martha Washington from the time of their marriage in 1759 until his death in 1799, is just 16 miles outside of Washington, D. C. While part of the pastoral 500-acre estate remains as it was, it has kept up with the changing times with a new state-of-the-art museum housing 25 galleries and a high tech theater placed underground, beneath pastures where sheep graze, so as not to detract from the 18^th century ambience of the home. From D. C. get there by car or take it all in on a Potomac boat cruise .  Avid cyclists might consider biking there via the invigorating 18-mile long Mount Vernon Trail.  

Thomas Jefferson’s grand, 43-room Monticello, outside Charlottesville, Virginia, layered with porticos and pavilions, surrounded by gardens and vineyards, and filled with mementos of his travels abroad, reveal the legendary broad interests of America’s 3^rd President. However, you won’t find his many books there.  Before there was a Presidential Library system, Jefferson donated his books to what is now the Library of Congress.

Some sites are off the beaten path and easily overlooked: 

• Theodore Roosevelt’s birthplace, a rebuilt and redecorated brownstone in New York City, reflects the opulence of the Gilded Age.
• The elegant Woodrow Wilson House is the only presidential home in Washington D.C.
• John F. Kennedy’s birthplace in the Town of Brookline, just outside Boston, is a place of early memories.
• Key West, Florida is probably the last place one would expect to find a presidential site, but Harry Truman loved it and spent 11 working vacations there, in the Little White House.

John F. Kennedy Library

The 12 full-fledged Presidential Libraries of more recent presidents, large complexes loaded with bells and whistles, are designed to attract, engage, and entertain. They came to be through a plan initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, and agreed upon to by Congress, through which presidential libraries are constructed with private and non-Federal funds, but operated and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration in accordance with the Presidential Libraries Acts of 1955 and 1986.

From FDR through Clinton, and including FDR’s predecessor, Herbert Hoover, their mission is to preserve and protect the written record and physical history of American presidents.  These “Classrooms in Democracy,” as Reagan called them, focus more on policies and politics, reflecting the role of the presidency today: negotiating the needs of a complex country through a polarized world moving at breakneck speed.

In contrast with the earlier presidential sites, most of these were designed with input from the presidents themselves, and are therefore purposeful, with a legacy in mind.  While large and showy, they are also scholarly places, repositories of thousands of documents available for research, many converted digitally for online access.    

• The largest building is the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas; the smallest is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa.
• The second largest by mere feet is the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, dedicated in memory of our nation’s 35th president.  A 1960s time capsule, its optimistic idealism is a tribute to this president who placed such a high value on public service. 
• The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum is a 2 ½ hour drive from New York City in Historic Hyde Park. There’s a lot to see in the 500-acre compound on the Hudson River: FDR’s birthplace, home and final resting place; his retreat, Top Cottage; and Eleanor Roosevelt’s home.     
• The Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, Missouri is a scholarly place, sponsoring on-going conferences, lectures and symposiums focusing on the legacy of Truman’s national and global decisions.
• The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, constructed of Kansas limestone and set on the flat Kansas prairie, is remarkably stark. It highlights Ike’s distinguished military career as well as his presidency, for without the former, the latter might not have happened.
• Richard Nixon’s legacy was, until recently, tangled in the affairs of Watergate and only included within the Presidential Library system in 2007, through an agreement with the private Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation in Yorba Linda, California and the National Archives to give the Federal government controversial presidential materials, including the famous White House tapes, previously returned to Nixon in the 1980s and 1990s.  Over time, they, along with countless manuscripts and photos, will be available online through the Library’s Virtual Library.
• Some presidents chose to build their libraries on the grounds of universities, providing easy access for scholarly research. The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is on the grounds of Texas A&M in College Station; the Gerald R. Ford Library is on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, while the Gerald Ford Museum is in his hometown of Grand Rapids.
• The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is upbeat, just like the man. Located in Simi Valley, just ½ hour from L.A., it feels like a movie set.  It’s the one with Air Force One … and Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and an entire presidential motorcade!
• In Atlanta, the Jimmy Carter Library is open for research, and the Museum portion of the Library includes historical memorabilia of the Carter presidency, including photos and exhibits related to the Middle East peace efforts and an exhibit of Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize.
• The William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas has the largest overall number of textual, audiovisual and artifact materials. It took eight flights of fully loaded military cargo planes to get all 625 tons there from Washington!  

Each presidential historic site tells a chapter of the American story and provides clues as to why ordinary individuals take the arduous path to the presidency. Whether by choice or by fate, by circumstance or happenstance, by divine providence or a desire for power, the journey for each, as portrayed in these museums, is fascinating.

As they tumble their way across the Atlantic, if they hold together they are given names, personified so that the mere mention of a single name begins to shape our lives.  Everyone, save for old-timers, seems to forget that hurricanes have been coming down this path from Africa forever, doing what they always do.  Once one is named, everyone, not just in the Florida Keys, but anywhere along the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, assumes it’s coming right at them, whether it is or not.  Everyone sees themselves in the center of the dreaded “cone.”

We all begin acting really weird.

• We become glued to the hurricane forecasting websites, becoming experts on steering currents that will hopefully send it anywhere but here.
• We fixate on the cones of uncertainty, the 3-day and the 5-day, hoping we’re not in them.
• We dread the call for a mandatory tourist evacuation, which is beyond our control.  It usually occurs way too early, long before the storm has even commited to a path of high probability, and it sucks away our livelihoods.   Since Katrina, no public official wants to take blame for making the wrong call, so tourists are asked to leave on beautiful sunny days, when the storm is over 1200 miles away, on the chance that it may come this way.  (In the Florida Keys, evacuations are staged, with visitors going first).
• Our vibrant communities become ghost towns, but hotels, restaurants, bars and tourists attractions stay open as long as they can, near empty, hoping to catch the last stragglers.
• We begin to hate the non-stop media crescendo of fear: the barrage of hyped-up cliches: “hunker down,” “barreling towards,” ”devastating force,” on gorgeous, sunny days.  While we know it’s done to sensationalize, it nonetheless plays to our fears and does a number on the psyche.
• Weariness sets in as we anticipate the sheer physicality of the work that lies ahead: shuttering our homes and businesses, hauling in patio furniture and potted plants, securing boats, and everything not permanently tied down, and knowing that once the storm has passed, we have to put everything back in place again.
• Instinctively we double-check our supplies, filling in what we used since the last event.  We haul out and stage generators, gas, coolers, ice, water, propane stoves, making them accessible should we stay.  We gas up our cars or gas stations may be out if we wait.
• Despite ourselves, we run a mental checklist of what to take and what to leave behind, should we decide to leave.
• If a mandatory resident evacuation is called, the roulette game gets edgier. The term ”mandatory’ is misleading as no one is forced to go – those who choose to stay, however, are on their own … no emergency services, no hospital.
• A mandatory resident evacuation is called, but we’re on the outside edge of the cone, and it’s 3 days away.  People scurry about like rats abandoning ship, going in every which direction.  It’s gorgeous out.  Stay or go?  Intellect and emotion are on a collision course.
• If we do leave, we pray, as we walk out the door, that our homes and everything we own will be OK.
• If we do leave, we wonder where we’ll go, and how we are going to afford this unplanned “vacation.”
• If we do leave, we hope, once it’s over, we’ll be allowed back in quickly.
• If we do leave, we live hour by anxious hour, our imaginations running wild.
• If we do leave, we wish we hadn’t, as if by being there we could will it away.

After all this angst, we’re out of the cone!

Like the stadium “wave,” it’s moved on; it’s someone else’s turn.  The tension vaporizes.  We disconnect, go back to normal, crank up our business and lives again as though nothing ever happened.  We’re ready to welcome visitors back to our islands of sunset sails, spectacular coral reefs, wonderful fishing, interesting sights, great restaurants, and fun nightspots, all in that unique relaxed atmosphere that permeates the Florida Keys.

So, why do we live here?  For the  tropical beauty, the quaintness, the quirkiness.  For the small-town lifestyle; for interesting friends.  And, for the proximity to nature - the good and the bad.

From Key West, America’s only Caribbean island, favorite cruise ship port of call, with spectacular sunsets and amazing coral reefs:

• Visitor trying to get it all in: Will there be another sunset if I miss the first one?
• Cruise ship passenger who had one too many at Sloppy Joe’s Bar: What do you mean, my ship didn’t wait for me?
• From a shopaholic planning a boat trip out to the coral reef:  Can you shop at the reef?
• Tourist who slept through geography class:  Does the water go all the way around the island?
• Ditto: Can you dive under the island?
• Asked by visitors so obviously taken in by the island’s tropical ambience that they forget where they are:  Do you take American dollars?

From Washington, D.C., America’s capital, whose splendid monuments, memorials, and iconic buildings are visited by people from all around the world:

• Upon passing the National Mall, a perplexed visitor asks: Where are all the stores?
• Driving past the Executive Mansion, a question from a visitor missing the obvious:  “Why is it called the White House?
• In front of the U.S. Capitol, a mom is overheard eargerly telling her child: Look, that’s where the President lives!

From San Diego, America’s Finest City, a place with ideal weather, wonderful beaches, a sparkling bay, trendy restaurants, a large US Navy presence, lounging seals, and interesting history:

• From a visitor clutching a Passport to Adventure (a little booklet of tickets to various San Diego attractions):  Can I use this for identification?
• Asked more often that can be believed:  How long is the 2 hour tour?
• Ditto:  How much is free parking?

From St. Augustine, America’s oldest city, whose narrow cobblestone streets are lined with diminutive 16th century buildings made of coquina stone and wood, and whose centerpiece is the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in continental North America:

• While purchasing tickets to the Old Town Trolley Tours of St. Augustine’s Ghosts & Gravestones tour, a visitor sincerely asks:  Will I see a ghost on the tour tonight?
• From a guest standing on a cobblestone street:  How do I get to historic St. Augustine?
• Along the tour, upon passing a shady stand of moss-draped Live Oak:  Is that a live oak as opposed to a dead oak?
• An inexplicable favorite:  How long is it going to rain?

From Savannah, ever gracious, where tourists enjoy historic homes lining tree-shaded historic squares, and fabulous lowcountry cuisine:

• From a visitor not too keen on geography or international current events:  I’ve been driving through Georgia, and I haven’t seen even one of those tanks in the streets they’re talking about in the news.

From Boston, whose colonial era ambience and historic sites draw visitors from all over the world:

• The distinctive Bostonian accent, which can sound a bit foreign to everyone, even to American visitors, is the subject of many funny stories.  The most common feature of Bostonian speech is the turning of the syllables ”er” or “ar” into ”ah.”  In Boston, “Parking cars in Harvard Yard” sounds like “Pahking cahs in Hahvahd Yahd”!  With that in mind, after being urged by the tour conductor not to leave Boston without trying its famous clam chowder (hear: chowdah), an American visitor, literally salivating to try this exotic Boston specialty and fearing she would not remember what to ask for, asked:  How do you spell it!  To which the conductor responded in surprise:  Just the way you do!
• Perplexing to many visitors is the pronunciation of Boston’s famous historic Faneuil Hall.  Some favorites:  Fanewli Hall, Nathaniel Hall, Nathaniel Hawthorne Hall.
• After giving a visitor instructions to get the the historic Paul Revere House, open to the public, the guest asked:  Is he there?  It took the perplexed trolley tour conductor a few moments to realize that the visitor was indeed looking for Paul Revere!

Intelligent Travel reminds us that the deadline for submitting sites to the National Geographic sponsored GeoTourism Challenge is April 16th.

They have quite a list so far and the goal is to identify sites that “sustain, enhance, and preserve a sense of culture and place.”

If you are interested in Green Travel this is a great place to start.

Seth Godin has another great post about customer service.

I visit many tourist sites and it’s not uncommon for the front line staff, the people closest to the guests, having the least ability to please them. Too often we hear a scripted response to an important question. I cringe when I hear someone say,”I’m just doing my job.”

Seth’s point is clear. Your ambassadors, the folks talking and interacting the most with the customer, must have the power to delight.

It’s simple, but it’s not easy.

Here are 9 Valentine’s Day Surprises from Trusted Tours. Your Sweetie will be overjoyed!

Honolulu Volcano Adventure on the Big Island

Explore Volcanoes National Park, Jagger Museum, Thurston Lava Tube, Kilauea Iki Crater and Rainbow Falls. This narrated volcano excursion features a hike over the lava flow that covered the village of Kalapana and famous Kaimu black sand beach in the 1980’s.

Niagara Falls VIP Tour

This special tour includes:

Up close views of Niagara Falls.

A ride on the Maid of the Mist boat.

Enjoy a beautiful view from Prospect Observation Tower.  

A presentation of ‘Legends of Niagara Falls’ at Thunder Theater.

An escalation adventure up into the Skylon Tower.

A walking experience through the Cave of the Winds.

Tour also includes a delicious buffet dinner with a splendid view of the Falls from the Penthouse Restaurant atop the Sheraton on the Falls.

Philadelphia Deluxe Carriage Ride

Journey back in time on an enchanting carriage ride through the tree-lined streets of Philadelphia’s Independence National Historic Park; the nation’s most historic square mile. This tour includes Society Hill, the largest collection of original 18th century homes and churches, Old City, the Betsy Ross House and much more!

Romance over Manhattan Helicopter Tour

Experience the thrill of a private helicopter flight and see the grandeur of Manhattan’s famous skyline. A unique 15-minute tour that flies OVER Central Park, Empire State Building, United Nations, and around the Statue of Liberty, so close you can almost reach out and touch her.

Orlando Hot Air Balloon Ride

Do you remember when you were a child, and you were lying on the grass gazing at the sky wondering what it was like to be a cloud, gently floating in the big blue sky? Well it is time to make your childhood fantasies come true. Sail the skies with Orlando’s premiere hot air ballooning experience.

Palm Springs Aerial Tram ride

Ascend 2 1/2 miles to Mt. San Jacinto State Park, a pristine wilderness of 14,000 acres, aboard the World’s largest rotating tramcars, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The construction of the tram has been labeled the “eighth wonder of the world.” What a View!

D.C. Odyssey Dinner Cruise

Take a seat at your private table for a three hour escape to the signature elegance and total entertainment experience only a true luxury cruising vessel can provide. Then dance the night away and enjoy Washington dressed up in lights for spectacular views drifting past your table.

Napa Valley Wine Train Experience

Enjoy a most unique culinary experience of fine dining combined with complimentary wine tasting on a 3 1/2 hour non-stop passage through the vineyards of the Napa Valley. The three-course gourmet luncheon is prepared fresh on-board this classic train, served on tables with linen and bone china..

Sedona Red Rocks Adventure

Travel through the Sonoran Desert to Sedona and learn about the area’s unique vegetation and Wild West history. Sedona’s colorful red rocks have long been an inspiration to artists, filmmakers and visitors. Breathtaking scenery and photo opportunities.

Now you have 9 ideas to impress and delight your Valentine. Enjoy!

Punxsutawney Phil is a legend. They claim he is over 120 years old and predicts the weather with 100% accuracy. According to legend, if Groundhog Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring. The first official trek to Gobbler’s Knob was made on February 2, 1887 although the celebration itself is much older. Since then, the official spectacle of all spectacles takes place each February 2^nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Here are 5 reasons I love Groundhog Day.

The Movie “Groundhog Day”

How can you not love director Harold Ramis’s wonderful movie starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot and a great supporting cast? It’s funny and profound. The lesson I get is to live each day to the fullest and appreciate everything around you. Like It’s a Wonderful Life meets Caddyshack. Sweet.

It’s also Candlemas Day

February 2^nd historically celebrates the midpoint of winter called Candlemas Day. Winter’s half over (at least) and Spring is on the way. Let’s celebrate!

I’m a Groundhog

I was born on Groundhog Day. Yes, every year thousands of people ask me if I saw my shadow. It never gets old.

Pennsylvania is worth a visit

Pennsylvania doesn’t get the credit it deserves.  There’s more to it than Philadelphia and Pittsburg. Hershey and Lancaster. I grew up in Maryland so Pennsylvania is one of my favorite states. Do yourself a kindness by venturing out to Punxsutawney and experiencing a new side of this rectangular state.

It’s a great excuse for a party

Gather your friends and family and throw a Groundhog theme party while watching this amazing event. If for some reason you can’t travel to Pennsylvania, you can watch the pageantry live here. You can even send free Groundhog Day postcards to invite your guests from the site.

So bake your chocolate groundhog-shaped cake, paint your face brown while dressing up in your fur suit, decorate in a Winter-Spring theme before playing Sonny and Cher’s

“I got you Babe” endlessly to join the festivities!

It just doesn’t get any better than this.