Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown

by Jamie Rhein on

A celebrate your town event seems to me like a great idea to get people out of the house in the winter if you live where it’s colder. Starting today through this weekend that’s what folks in Victoria, Vancouver Island are doing. For the next 5 days various attractions around the town are welcoming their folks for just $9 Canadian dollars. Normally, admission to all of them would have a $425 price tag. This event called “Be a Tourist in your Own Home Town” happens every year. This is its 35th.

Included in the mix is: Royal London Wax Museum, Pacific Undersea Gardens, Beacon Hill Children’s Farm, Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse, Glendale Gardens and Woodlands, Navel & Military Museum CFB Esquimalt and more. More than 15 places are included in all. Plus there are discounts at several hotels, tour companies and various shops about town.

Considering that reading about this event makes me want to head to Vancouver Island immediately, I wonder what other towns could offer such bounty that would get me to make a trip. What’s your hometown like and what things make you want to be a tourist there?

Black History Month: Harriet Tubman and Underground Railroad Tours

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was a kid I was enthralled by Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. I remember it took a little while for me to understand that the Underground Railroad wasn’t actually a railroad under the ground, but a series of “safe” places for slaves to stop for the night or get help as they fled from the southern part of the United States to their freedom in the north.

Harriet Tubman, often called the “Moses of her people” led hundreds of slaves along the Underground Railroad in several trips from the south to the north. Since I live in Ohio, a state that’s rich with Underground Railroad history, every once in awhile, someone will mention to me about some house or church they know of that was a railroad “station.” It’s possible to take in several of them on an Underground Railroad tour. Here is a list of tours I found in Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Canada. Also, in Auburn, New York you can visit Harriet Tubman’s house.

Hike with Dogs–or Not

by Jamie Rhein on

I once co-owned a Russian Wolfhound. When hiking with this dog, people noticed. “What kind of dog is that?!” they’d exclaim as we rounded a mountain switchback. This dog looked flat when it lay on the ground. When hiking, he looked downright downtrodden. In retrospect, hiking may not have been his favorite pastime. Or, perhaps it was. Regardless, when we hiked, he came along.

I thought about these hiking days after I came across an article about the mountain climbers who were rescued recently on Mt. Hood. They had a dog to keep them warm. According to the article, some experts think it’s not the best idea to take a dog on hikes up mountains. Who these experts might be, or how many experts there are who feel this way, I have no idea.

There are loads of articles about the joys of hiking with dogs. One website offers a bundle of info. Hiking with Dogs tells about the best places to hike in the U.S. and Canada with your canine buddy. It looks like Canada may have more dog friendly options if you’re talking national parks, but if you like beaches for your dog outings, check out the site’s link to A Bark on the Beach, an e-book you can download.

Sleddog Vacations: A Winter Travel Adventure

by Jamie Rhein on

Sometimes when one is looking for information on one topic, another topic appears. Such is what happened when I came across sleddog vacations. I wasn’t actually looking for information on sleddog vacations. They hadn’t occurred to me, but somehow with a click of a mouse, there I was wandering through websites on a winter sport that welcomes participants.

Winterdance Dogsled Tours in Ontario, Canada offers two-hour to full-day excursion packages, as well as a moonlight tour. You can stay overnight at their cottage or at one of the nearby resorts. Even with the two-hour tour you can try your hand at driving the team with an experienced guide as an instructor.

Ontario, Canada also has several sleddog races, although according to the website of Ontario Federation of Sleddog Sports, the lack of snow has led to some postponements and cancellations. They are scheduled through the first week of March and there are contact numbers to find out what’s up with each. Ontario Dog Sleding Getaways website has a list of resorts that offer sleddog vacations.

For some hardcore sleddog travel adventure, head to Iceland, Finland, Lapland, Norway or Sweden. Each has sleddog trips that run from a few days to a little over a week. I found a list of several choices at Adventure Sport Holidays. Lest you think this is totally roughing it travel where you freeze at night curled up in a sleeping bag trying to create warmth with your body heat, lodge and cabin stays are the nightly fare. Some packages like Dog Sledding Along the Finnish-Russian Border include saunas, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and elk viewing.

[murmur] Makes A City Come Alive

by Willy Volk on

When I attended the Bodies exhibit, I received a hand-held device. Throughout the exhibit, when I saw a sign with a number, I entered the number on the device, and a pre-recorded message explained what I was looking at. Of course, many museums offer devices that provide visitors information upon demand. Cleverly, Toronto is doing something similar — for the entire city. Believing stories make a city come alive, [murmur] allows people to infuse communities with life.

An archival audio project that collects stories set in various locations — from parking lots to diners, to front lawns — the stories of [murmur] are told by Torontonians themselves. At each [murmur] location, a [murmur] sign with a phone number and location code indicates that stories are available. By calling the number, users are able to listen to the story. Some stories encourage the listener to walk around; other stories assume you’ll stand in place. If you have a response to the story you just heard, you can record it. [murmur] also has a companion website, which allows you to virtually tour the city and listen to the stories by clicking the map.

Evidently, [murmur] has spread to San Jose, California. What a great way for residents and tourists alike to learn about the city.

[News tip: Great Map; Photo: cjw333]