Four top battle locations to remember on Memorial Day

by Chris Owen on
Memorial Day is all about honoring those who gave their lives via military service to the United States. Picnics, celebrations and parties are typical to commemorate the day. Travel to typical Memorial Day locations like beaches, parks and theme-parks is too. But what about locations where some of the most famous battles of all times occurred? Check these four top battle locations with photos from Flickr users who give their impressions of what they mean today.

Gettysburg– Flickr user Soaptree tells us “the portrait statue of General Gouverneur K. Warren, Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, stands on the boulder from which he spotted the Confederate advance on Little Round Top the afternoon of July 2, 1863.”


Pearl Harbor survivors render a salute during Taps in this photo from Flickr user expert infantry taken at the joint U.S. Navy and National Park Service ceremony commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. “More than 2,500 people attended the ceremony on board Naval Station Pearl Harbor that honored those who gave their lives during the attack. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Hight)”

Midway was a major event in the Word War II campaign against Japan. Just 1,000 miles northwest of Hawaii, Midway atoll was an important strategic objective for the Japanese Navy who thought a victory there would prove their superiority in the Pacific. Little did they know that the United States had cracked Japanese message codes and set up an ambush. This Flickr photo from USFWS Pacific shows “Albatross and bonin petrel nests can be seen on both sides of the walkway. Sand Island, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. “

Iwo Jima This photo of The Marine Corps War Memorial, aka the Iwo Jima Memorial, in Arlington, Virginia comes from Flickr user NCinDC showing the iconic image of five Marines raising the U.S. flag, a photograph that brings support for American soldiers even today.

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Kids travel free on Utah summer rafting trip

by Kraig Becker on

Yesterday we told you that 2011 is shaping up to be an epic year for whitewater rafting and kayaking in the U.S., thanks in large part to the record amounts of snow that hit the western states this past winter. Now that the warm spring weather has started melting all of that snow, rafting companies are gearing up for what should be a very busy season, and some are offering great deals in an effort to lure adventurous travelers their way.

Take for example Dvorak Expeditions, which is offering a fantastic promotion for families who want to take a rafting trip this year. The company is running a “Kids Go Free” option that allows one child (ages 5-12), per paying adult, to travel for free on one of their week-long rafting trips this summer. That means a family of four only have to pay for mom and dad, and the two kids get to come along at no extra cost.

The six day, five night, trip runs the legendary Green River, located in Utah. It is one of the most spectacular and scenic paddles in the entire U.S., and a top draw for paddlers the wold over. River guides will lead the family through miles of unspoiled wilderness that passes by two Native American Indian reservations and through the deepest canyon in the entire state. The trip offers excellent meals along the way, plenty of off the water entertainment, and a number of day hikes that reveal ancient petroglyphs, hidden rock grottos, and outlaw hideouts from a bygone era when Butch and Sundance led their “Wild Bunch” through this very region.

But the real highlight of the trip is the Green River itself. Stretching 84 miles in length, the waterway is typically considered one of the best beginner and intermediate rafting spots in the U.S. This year however, it should exceed all of those expectations, as the extra snow will likely add an unexpected punch to what is already a great river experience.

If you’re wondering what to do with the kids on your summer vacation, consider taking them on a Dvorak rafting adventure. 2011 will be the prefect year for just such an excursion, and it is likely to generate memories for a lifetime.

[Photo credit: Jerry Magnum Porsbjer via WikiMedia]

Photo of the Day: Downtown Vancouver

by Chris Owen on

Flickr user James Wheeler brings us this photo of downtown Vancouver which was also featured on www.photo-blog.ca.

This one caught my eye because several contributors to Gadling will be in Vancouver next month for the second annual Travel Blogger’s Exchange, a networking and learning opportunity for new media travel writers. TBEX ’11 is June 11-12, 2011 in Vancouver and hosts Kim Mance and the Galavanting Gals are planning a dynamic and useful lineup of in-depth workshops and sessions.

Do you have an image you would like to share with us? Upload it to the Flickr Gadling group pool. If we like your image we might just pick it to be a future Photo of the Day.

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Memorial Day barbecue problems? Call the Weber Grill hot line

by Laurel Miller on

This Memorial Day weekend, I’m honoring our fallen heroes by exalting the art of grilling. Being a good grill master is how the average American male proves his manhood (in public, that is). Never mind that plenty of women can and do wield the tongs in the family (I do); being unable to operate a barbecue and produce an edible–if not outright delicious–end result is about as emasculating as it gets.

That is why I’m telling you about the Weber Grill hot line (1-800-GRILL-OUT, or email grillout@weber.com). The New York Times reports that the Schaumburg, Illinois-based company receives about 500,000 calls (mostly from men) a year and 75,000 e-mails. Operators–including Ms. Olsen, a 67-year old woman who’s been on the job for 14 years–deal with frantic issues related to everything from improper flaming to how to cook a squirrel.

Memorial Day is the busiest time of the year, but Weber wants people who sell their products to know what exactly they’re dealing with. The Grill Academy opened in Schaumburg in January, in order to educate salespeople about the care and feeding of Weber grills.. According to school director Kevin Kolman, students need to study hard, so they can answer questions such as, “What is the definition of a flavorizer bar?’ or ‘What is the importance of a damper system in a charcoal grill?”

Tough stuff. So should you find yourself slaving over a hot grill this weekend, and things aren’t going as they should, give Ms. Olsen a ring. Or allow your girlfriend or wife to take over.

[Photo credit: Flickr user rachelandrew]

Check out a clip from the UK Weber Grill Academy.


Blackbeard’s pirate ship gives up its anchor

by Sean McLachlan on


A pirate ship owned by the notorious Blackbeard is being investigated by archaeologists, who have just retrieved one of its anchors.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge, was grounded in 1718 while trying to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard had just come from blockading Charleston until he received a ransom. Currently the wreck lies in only 20 feet of water, as easily accessible to archaeologists as Captain Kidd’s pirate ship, which will soon become an underwater museum.

The anchor, which is 11 feet long and weighs 2,200 lbs, is only one of thousands of artifacts recovered from the ship in recent years.

While Blackbeard transferred to another of his ships and continued pirating, he didn’t survive for long. He was hunted down and killed in a fierce fight in late 1718, shown here in a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Blackbeard was decapitated and his head hung from the bowsprit.

Blackbeard was one of the kinder pirates. There’s no record that he hurt his captives or his crew. He could be violent when opposed, though, and in reality no pirate fit the heroic adventurer stereotype of Hollywood and Johnny Depp. That’s just a romanticism. One wonders what tales people will spin about the Somali pirates 300 years from now.

For more information about this amazing dig, check out The Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project’s website.