Travels in the 2nd half

You find them all across the United States. Small towns, about an hour outside of a major city, that have transformed themselves. They started as industrial or farm communities. Today, they have become havens for artists, antique shops and good food. Sometimes, playing to tourists, they have grown around a specific theme, like Solvang CA or Woodstock NY. Sometimes they have grown organically, over time, into a well-integrated community, making visitors welcome to a town that is more than just a bunch of stores. Port Townsend WA is this type of town. The settlement of Port Townsend by European-Americans began in 1851. By the 1870’s it was a major seaport, and home to the U.S. Customs House for the Pacific Northwest. It location, at the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the entrance to Admiralty Inlet gives Port Townsend a protected harbor. During this time period many people believed (or were promised) that the trans-continental railroads would...

Some people feel that Christmas in New York City begins with the Thanksgiving Day Parade. To me, the real start of the Christmas season is the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Everything else just marks the end of fall. Rockefeller Center is the Art Deco office complex that takes up four square blocks in the center of Manhattan. It was built in the 1930’s and spans the area from 48 th street to 51 st street between 5 th and 6 th Avenues. They were built in the early 1930’s and are some of the most stately and gorgeous buildings in the New York. No expense was spared. There are fourteen buildings, each with a different theme and set of decorations. At the center are 30 Rockefeller Center, home to NBC broadcasting, and the skating rink, built below ground level, complete with a golden statue of Prometheus rising. In 1931, workers helping to build Rockefeller Center put up a Christmas tress on December 24 th . They decorated it, along with...