Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Old Orchard Beach is located in Southern Maine and is one of the most popular destination for local “stay-cationers”. It’s also a great vacation destination for people visiting the Pine Tree State.
Old Orchard Beach, pic by jennratonmort
Miles of white sandy beaches along the cool Atlantic ocean are lined with bed and breakfasts, motels, inns, bars, restaurants, and shopping. The focal point of the area is the OOB Pier (you’ve gotta get the pier fries!), and the beachfront Palace Playland amusement park.
Palace Playland, photo by chris knight
The beach is accessible year-round and is actually quite lovely even in the winter. However, the entire area really comes alive during the “tourist” months, between Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in September. Much of the Pier, the amusement park, and surrounding area are only open during these months. This is a great destination to bring the kids, who will of course gravitate toward Palace Playland and the many arcades. Couples can enjoy the romance of the many bed and breakfasts, walks along the beach, stargazing, outdoor dining, and night life.
Old Orchard Beach, photo by bradsearles
Old Orchard beach is located just south of Portland, and minutes from the Portland Internatioanl Airport. It is less than two hours from Boston, and five hours from Montreal or New York City.
A Tour of The Breakers Mansion - Newport, Rhode Island
The Breakers - Newport, RI
By Molly G. @ The Bumbles Blog
Have you ever wondered how the other half lives? Newport is known for being a playground of the rich. It was home to The America’s Cup for yachting and boasts the International Tennis Hall of Fame. But if not for the millionaires of the Industrial Revolution, it just might have become another sleepy ocean town in the smallest state of the U.S.A.
High society families in the second half of the 1800’s flocked to Newport to build homes for summer retreats and like all good people with money to burn they went above and beyond to out-do each other . Today you can tour many of these mansions set in a row like a parade of wealth, but the biggest of them all is The Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895.
The wealth and opulence of the Vanderbilt family is in full display via a new self-guided audio tour where you listen to memories of a gilded time as told by some of the relatives and servants who experienced The Breakers first hand. The mansion comes to life with the sound effects and background music making it easy to picture yourself peeking in on famous guests or making an entrance of your own to a grand ball. Conservators add interesting facts, such as how some shimmering wall panels were just recently determined to be Platinum. Or how a nod to the roots of the Vanderbilt fortune is subtly found in a certain frieze of cherubs.
The tour takes you through the first two floors of the mansion which is jaw dropping in it’s grandeur. These millionaires knew how to make an impression. Gold surrounds you in the Great Hall as well as most other rooms. Alcoves underneath the main staircase create impressions of Italy with peaceful fountains. The chandeliers glisten in the enormous Dining Room. The bright Billiard Room is surrounded by marble and frescos. The bedrooms on the second floor either have sweeping views of the Atlantic ocean or of the immaculate and immense grounds. And they all overlook the central Great Hall which acts as an interior courtyard.
But one of the best features of the mansion is found outdoors where there are loggias acting as an extension of the home with intricate tiles and pillars to decorate and frame them with elegance. You could spend hours just taking in the cool breezes and a view to take your breath away and the tour allows you the opportunity to explore them to your heart’s content.
View from Upper Loggia
Outside, take the wide steps off of the terrace just made for elaborate functions onto a perfectly groomed lawn that rolls out before you to the ocean cliffs. Easter egg hunts on the lawn of the White House have nothing on The Breakers. Side gardens are filled with blooms and there are endless spots for romantic strolls.
Side Garden
The talent of architect Richard Morris Hunt and the Vanderbilt fortune created this premier example of the Gilded Age which allows us little folk a tremendous opportunity to see how the other side lives and appreciate some of the most beautiful views New England has to offer.
Terrace view at The Breakers
QUICK HITS:
- COST = Adults $18, Kids ages 6-17 are $4.50, Kids under 5 are Free. Additional $2 charged to online purchases. Combination packages available in conjunction with other mansion tours.
- DURATION = Self guided audio tour so you can dictate the pace. Allow 1 to 1 ½ hours to listen to the full audio.
- HOURS = Daily, opening at 9AM. Closing times vary between 4-6PM depending upon the season. Closed Thanksgiving & Christmas.
- ENVIRONMENT = Wheelchair accessible. No strollers. Younger children love running on the expansive lawn and find enough inside to hold their interest.
- ACCESSIBILITY = By car - plenty of free parking on site. By Trolley. By Foot.
- WEBSITE = http://www.newportmansions.org/
- FUN FACTS = The Breakers is part of a group of 11 historic mansions and grounds falling under the Preservation Society of Newport County. One such property in Portsmouth, The Green Animals Topiary Garden, offers an affordable Children’s Party on 07/14/09 with games, rides, food and entertainment. This is a nice occasion for kids to let loose after tagging along on grown-up mansion tours. Another activity fun for all ages is the Cliff Walk which is free and runs behind several mansions, The Breakers included, providing stunning views overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
John and Mabel Ringling Art and Circus Museum, Sarasota, Florida
by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels
In the world of museums it would seem unlikely if not downright preposterous to find circus artifacts mingled with fine art, yet that is precisely what visitors find at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. With a name like Ringling, the circus connection is not surprising - the benefactors of the museum are the famed couple who owned and operated the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for many years. What does surprise is the impressive collection of European, Asian and American paintings and sculptures.
With the great fortune amassed through their circus, John and Mabel Ringling traveled extensively throughout Europe. In Italy, especially, they developed a passion for fine art, which led to John becoming a regular at New York and London art auctions during the 1920’s. He purchased masterpieces by Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Hals, Van Dyck, and Gainesborough, as well as a collection of Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By 1931, Ringling had built a museum designed after the Renaissance and Baroque palaces and museums of Italy to house their ever-growing collection.
One of numerous galleries displaying the impressive collection of Baroque paintings amassed by John and Mabel Ringling
Immediately inside the front doors of the museum hang five enormous paintings by Peter Paul Rubens from the series titled The Triumph of the Eucharist. At a time when the Catholic Church was losing membership to the newer Protestant denomination, Isabella Clara Eugenia, a devout Catholic and daughter of King Philip II of Spain, commissioned Rubens to paint a set of 11 scenes depicting the Catholic celebration of Eucharist or Mass. The paintings were produced for weavers of the day, who used them as templates to create tapestries that hung on the walls of royal palaces and homes of the wealthy. After Eugenia’s death in 1633, the paintings were dispersed throughout Europe. Four of the originals were destroyed in a fire, two eventually landed in the Louvre Museum in Paris; the remaining five were purchased by the Ringlings in 1926, becoming the only large-scale painting cycle by Rubens outside of Europe.
"The Triumph of Divine Love," one of eleven enormous canvases painted by Peter Paul Rubens for his series "The Triumph of the Eucharist"
Gallery after gallery display the collection of more than 600 paintings by Italian, Flemish, and Spanish artists; indeed the collection of Old Masters, highlighted by the 17th century Baroque period, is considered to be among the finest in the country and does not suffer in comparison with the collection of the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Even the outdoor courtyard in the center of the museum is filled with art. As in Vatican Square, sculptures ring the roof of the museum and gaze down upon the courtyard, which features casts of original antiquities and renaissance sculptures, including David by Michelangelo; the Fountain of Tortoises, one of three replicas from the Piazza Mattei in Rome; and Oceanus Fountain, copied from the 16th century original by Giovanni Bologna in Florence’s Boboli Gardens.
Interior courtyard of the Art Museum displays reproductions of famous fountains and sculptures such as Michaelangelo's "David"
Beyond the art museum is Ca d’Zan, the 36,000 square foot, 56 room mansion that was once the Ringlings’ personal home. Built in the style of the Venetian Gothic palaces they so loved, it became the cultural epicenter of Sarasota upon completion in 1926. Cà d’Zan was constructed from terra cotta “T” blocks, concrete, and brick, covered with stucco and terra cotta, and embellished with glazed tile. The original roof was made from imported 16th century Spanish tiles and the bayfront terrace is paved with domestic and imported marble. Lavish parties featured full orchestras on the marble terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay, where their private 70-foot yacht was tied up. Today the mansion, filled with art and original furnishings, is open for public tours.
The Ca d'Zan mansion, built for the Ringlings as their personal home, was modeled after the palace of the Venetian Doge
Two additional buildings on the grounds of the Ringling Art Museum house the Circus Museums. Though a visit to these facilities on the heels of the Art Museum and Ca d’Zan is somewhat like stepping into an alternate universe, the Circus Museums house a fascinating array of memorabilia from this bygone era, as well as authentic circus wagons, caliopes, rolling animal cages, boxcars, costumes, and even the original Pullman train car that carried the Ringlings to Big Top sites around the country.
Custom built Pullman train car that was home to the Ringlings during circus season
The Tibbals Learning Center is home to the world’s largest miniature circus, The Howard Bros. Circus Model. This 3/4-inch scale model is a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus when it was at its largest (circa 1919-1938). Occupying 3,800 square feet, it contains eight main tents, 152 wagons, 1,300 circus performers and workers, more than 800 animals, and a 57-car train.
Miniature Big Top, centerpiece of the 3,800 square foot miniature circus at the Tibbals Learning Center
Another portion of the 3/4 inch scale model of the Howard Bros. Circus
Even the grounds of the museum are stunning, featuring behemoth old-growth Banyan trees sprouting a dense tangle of air roots; gnarled oaks draped in Spanish moss, lush groves of ferns; and an exquisite rose garden originally planted by Mabel Ringling in an authentic Italian wagon-wheel design.
Exquisitely landscaped grounds at the John and Mabel Ringling Art Museum
When John Ringling died in 1936, he bequeathed his art collection, mansion and estate to the people of the State of Florida. Now managed by Florida State University, the Sarasota Bayfront site is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Days. Admission is $20 for adults, $17 for seniors (65+), $7 for students, Florida teachers, and military, and children ages 6-17 (free under 6). However, Ringling’s bequest mandated that admission to the Art Museum be free one day a week, in perpetuity (does not include free admission to the Cà d’Zan and Circus Museum). Although the Museum does not divulge it on their website, there is no admission charged for the Art Museum on Mondays, and (also a little known fact) the grounds can be wandered for free any day of the week.
Photos courtesy of Barbara Weibel
Guide to Florida Closings and Construction
These are projects planned for this week by the Florida Department of Transportation that could make traveling more difficult in Polk County. For comprehensive coverage of road projects in Polk County, turn to page B3 in today’s Ledger. Interstate 4:
Michigan I-75 Gateway Project Reopens Thursday
Construction is wrapping up on a 1.5-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in southwest Detroit that has been closed for more than a year.
Get Ready to Drive the New I-75!
When I-75 reopens Thursday, after an overhaul that shut that part of the expressway nearly 17 months, drivers will notice the familiar and the new.
Tennessee Weekly Road Construction Report
I-75 widening project from 1.1 miles south of Lee Hwy. (SR-2/US-11) to 1.2 miles north of Lee Hwy. (SR-2/US-11) Each night throughout this report period, the contractor will have lane closures on I-75 northbound and southbound between mm 10 – mm 12 from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the following morning to set new barrier rail, realign existing barrier rail and accommodate paving and demolition …
Georgia I-75 Update
Contractors for the Georgia Department of Transportation will perform major reconstruction of Interstate 75 at different locations between Exit 37/Adel-Old Quitman Road and the Crisp/Dooly County line.
New Ramps Connecting I-95, Beltway to Open Tomorrow
Motorists on Interstate 95 north of Baltimore can look for new ramps connecting the highway with the Beltway.
Farm Animals + Rides = Family Fun Near Seattle
What's More Amusing than a Canoe Ride?
People in the Seattle area are not easily amused. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we here in the Northwest are not funny people. Quite the opposite really. I mean, take a look at some of our most famous citizens: Bill Gates - A laugh a minute. Kurt Kobain - What’s funnier than checking yourself out when you are at your prime? Ichiro - Most hilarious Japanese import since Mr. Miyagi.
Actually, we would be a lot more amusing up here in the Seattle area if it weren’t for the dearth of amusement parks we have to deal with. Perhaps it is the months on end of drizzle, outright rain, and grey skies that doesn’t lend itself well to outdoor family fun. Conversely, when the weather does get nice, there are endless natural wonders to behold. Whatever the reason be, when we do come across just such an amusing place, however small scale it may be, it is certainly worth mentioning.
This past weekend, my wife, son, and I visited Remlinger Farms and Family Fun Park in Carnation, Washington. Located about 35 minutes east of Seattle, Remlinger Farms is a unique family experience complete with acres of berry fields ripe for picking, a market loaded with fresh farm produce, a family friendly restaurant, various farm and fire vehicles to crawl in and around, a petting zoo where the little ones can get up close and personal with any number of goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens, or ducks, daily performance shows AND - you guessed it - rides.
Ever Rode in a Spinning Pumpkin?
Now these rides are not going to thrill many kids in the teen and older set. However, for the little ones such as my 2-year-old son, this park was a thrill a minute. There were pony rides, a slow paced canoe ride around a ‘raging’ river, a hay maze, old-time cars moving around a track where the little ones could get the sensation of driving, a long pedalcar track, bouncy rooms, a mini roller coaster and other carnival type rides including a thrilling pumpkin spin, and best of all for my son - a steam train leaving every 10 minutes. The train would circle the farm and view various farm and western themed displays before traveling through a darkened tunnel as it pulled back into the station.
Feeding the Animals at Remlinger Farms
The only issue I had with this park was its hours of operation. 10:30am - 4:30pm is not an ideal time for a toddler who naps at noon to see enough of this fun filled farm theme park. We ended up stretching his nap schedule but still left without doing all there was available. So, if you are vacationing in or around the Seattle area this ‘dry’ season, or if you live nearby and are just looking for a fun afternoon for the little ones, consider a visit to Remlinger Farms. Admission is $13.00 for ages 1 and up.
All Photos by Mrs. LIAYF
