“Ghost Ship” of the Yukon found

by Kraig Becker on

The shipwreck of a gold rush-era steamboat that sunk in a lake located in the Yukon Territory of Canada has been recently discovered and photographed for the first time according to this story from National Geographic. The boat went down in a storm back in 1901, and was found by salvage crew in October of 2008.

The ship, known as the A.J. Goddard, is said to be sitting upright in the water and in remarkably good condition. How good you ask? Apparently it settled to the bottom of the lake with firewood still in the boiler and tools still in place on deck where the crew had left them. There were even five sets of boots still in place where the crew tossed them aside before abandoning ship.

Nautical archeologists are now studying the vessel intently, saying that it is a “snapshot” of what life was like aboard these boats at the turn of the 20th Century. Finding a wreck that is as preserved as the Goddard is a rare and remarkable find, that will no doubt offer some interesting insights into the daily lives of sailors.

Gadlinks for Friday 11.27.2009

by Brenda Yun on

It’s Black Friday! I hope you all survived the mall madness. We can look forward to more Christmas lights and even more shopping deals through the weekend and then Cyber Monday! It will be an exciting few days for sure. Here are a few exciting travel reads from across the web, too.

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend. Don’t spend too much money!

More Gadlinks here.

Latest tourist attraction in New Zealand? Icebergs!

by Kraig Becker on

The waters off the southern coast of New Zealand have gotten very crowded lately, as dozens of icebergs have been spotted floating through the region. According to this story from the Daily Mail, the huge slabs of ice have broken off from the Antarctic shelf, and have been flowing north, into the Pacific Ocean, with increasing frequency. In the process, they have become popular tourist attractions, with curious travelers hoping to catch a glimpse of the white walls of ice.

According to the story, icebergs had been traditionally rare in and around New Zealand. In fact, prior to 2006, they hadn’t been seen there since 1931. But in the past few years, they’ve been showing up in large numbers, thanks to global warming causing more dramatic melting in Antarctica.

The exact number of icebergs off the Kiwi coast at the moment is unknown, but they do number in the hundreds. Many of those are quite massive in size. Earlier this week, one was spotted that measured 150 meters in length, while another was estimated to be over 30 meters in height. They are traveling north at a speed of about 16 miles per day, and could be potentially dangerous to shipping traffic, although ocean currents are expected to carry them east, harmlessly out into the ocean.

Meanwhile, the massive chunks of ice are expected to generate lots of interests amongst New Zealanders and visitors from abroad alike, with many taking to the high seas to get an up close and personal look at these gigantic invaders. Over the next few weeks, the icebergs will be another great, natural attraction in a country that seems to have an abundance of them.

Eel, venison, and pumpkin pudding: where to get a really traditional Thanksgiving

by Sean McLachlan on

As we sit down to eat huge quantities of turkey, pumpkin pie, and cranberries, we might want to remember that this traditional Thanksgiving feast isn’t so traditional. Like all traditions, Thanksgiving dinner has changed over time and has little in common with the event that inspired it.

Most history books mark the first Thanksgiving as the feast the Pilgrims had at Plymouth Colony after their first harvest in 1621, even though there had been a Thanksgiving feast at Berkeley Plantation in 1619, and various Thanksgiving feasts by Spanish settlers in Florida and the Southwest decades beforehand. Inconvenient historical facts aside, let’s look at what everyone ate on that “first”, most famous Thanksgiving.

No exact menu exists, but several accounts of the feast let us make a good guess at what they served, and even come up with a list of recipes. The Wampanoag tribe had saved the Pilgrims from starvation by showing them how to catch eels and gather food from the forest, so we can imagine eel would have been included. There’s also specific mention of wild turkey (much smaller than today’s hormone-stuffed factory turkeys), venison, and cornbread. Pumpkin pudding was also on the table. Pumpkin pie wasn’t invented until years later.

If this is all sounding tasty, why not try it out yourself? Plymouth, MA, runs a series of events every November to celebrate the season. This year they sponsored National Indian Pudding Day (cornmeal with molasses, yum!) to showcase what they call “one of the ugliest, yet great tasting, bicultural culinary treats”. There’s also a series of dinners with traditional fare, some of which you can still catch. If you’re too full to eat another bite, don’t worry because they’ll do it all again next year. You may also want to check out these other historic Thanksgiving places for their events.

Pass the Indian pudding, please, but hold the eel. I tried it in Denmark and I can’t say I’m a fan.

New website, PublicEarth, shares hidden gems from around the globe

by Kraig Becker on

The new website PublicEarth may still be in beta, but it’s already showing plenty of promise for travelers looking to find hidden travel gems and inside information for their next trip. The idea behind the site is that it is set up in a wiki format allowing contributors to share their experiences and favorite locations with others in a unique and interesting format.

PublicEarth is the brainchild of Duncan McCall, an avid adventure traveler who has explored the far corners of the globe. While on those travels, he would often meet up with other adventurers, and swap stories over a few beers, sharing tips and secret destinations. Those conversations proved invaluable in getting the most out of those journeys, and upon returning home to the U.S., McCall wanted to come up with a way to create that same experience for travelers everywhere. PublicEarth was born from that idea.

The website’s concept is simple. The plan is to combine “location searching and place discovery” with well designed and easy to use tools that make it simple for travelers to not only sift through the content, but also share their own experiences as well. With nearly five million places already in the system, it is clear that the concept is already resonating with travelers, who are contributing as much as they are reading.Visitors to the site are able to find places in a number of categories, such as “food & drink”, “history & culture”, “outdoors & nature”, and more. The entries are then dropped on to a map, showing locations and general proximity to one another, making it a perfect tool to plan your next escape.

PublicEarth looks like it has the potential to be a very powerful and useful tool, and it is already growing quite quickly. It just might earn a spot in your list of favorite travel sites as well.