Roadtripping

Dueling re-enactments of Civil War's Battle of Antietam

If you’re intrigued by battle re-enactments, you’ll want to know about the dueling re-enactments of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Monday is the 150^th anniversary of the battle — also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg — in which more than 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. The re-enactment is the biggest Civil War event of 2012, attracting 8,000 participants. But here’s the interesting part: the participants are divided between two re-enactments, one last weekend, one this coming weekend, with distinctly different styles. Last weekend’s event featured the sticklers for historical accuracy. The upcoming event features re-enactors more interested in putting on a show for spectators. Click here for a report on the two events. If you’re interested in going to this weekend’s re-enactment, click here.

Photo: A Union officer, center, leads his troops during a Civil War re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam last weekend. Credit: AP Photo/The Herald-Mail, Kevin G. Gilbert

Statue of Liberty to reopen Oct. 28

The Statue of Liberty, at least part of which has been closed to the public for most of the years since Sept. 11, 2001, will re-open to the public on Oct. 28, the statue’s 126th birthday. This time, the interior has been closed for a year while the National Park Service installed a second stairway and made other safety improvements.

In July 2010, when a smoke alarm was tripped in the Statue of Liberty and hundreds of tourists had to be evacuated via the only stairway that runs to her crown, officials decided she needed another set of stairs. The monument – including the museum in the pedestal – was closed a year ago, the day after her 125th birthday. Visitors could still tour Liberty Island. The statue was closed for three years after 9-11 and got a $20 million renovation, most of it security related. The crown remained closed to the public until 2009.

“We have reached a critical milestone in our Fire and Life Safety Project where we can begin to allow visitors back in to the monument on a limited basis while the project moves to completion by the end of the year,” David Luchsinger, superintendent of Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, said this week in announcing the reopening. Check here for updates.

Photo credit: McClatchy Tribune

Countdown to Endeavor's final departure from Kennedy Space Center

As space shuttle Endeavor is being prepped for its final trip — to Los Angeles, where it will go on display at the California Science Center — consider its vital statistics: 25 missions, 299 days in space, 122,883,151 miles traveled, and 133 astronauts carried.

On Sept. 17, Endeavor will begin its flight to California on the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a specially designed Boeing 747. Kennedy Space Center is offering special tours in advance of the departure and special seating to watch the takeoff.

On Sept. 14 and 15, the Endeavor Bus Tour will drive by the mate-demate device as the shuttle is being mated to the aircraft; it will also drive by Launch Pad 39-A, from which most shuttle missions were launched. Cost is $20 ($14 children) in addition to admission to the center.

On Sept. 17, visitors can watch the takeoff and fly-over of Endeavor from the shuttle launch facility at about 7:30 a.m.; seats are $40 (plus admission). They can also watch the fly-over from the Rocket Garden of Kennedy Space Center or the live NASA broadcast in the center’s IMAX theater at no extra charge above regular admission ($50 adult/$40 child ages 3-11).

The public also can see the departure from outside Kennedy Space Center. The aircraft carrying Endeavor will fly over various parts of the Space Coast at about 1,500 feet above the ground, said Michael Curie, a NASA spokesman.

For tickets and information, click here or call 877-313-2610.

Endeavor is the last of the shuttles to depart for a permanent home in a museum. The Enterprise is in the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, and Discovery is at Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.

Atlantis will remain at Kennedy Space Center, where it will go on display in the summer of 2013 in a building now under construction. 

Photo: Space shuttles Atlantis (L) and Endeavour face each other as Endeavour backs out of the Orbiter Processing Facility and Atlantis is moved out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Aug. 16. Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images

My foodie day in Naples

You might not be lured by the promise of an olive oil tasting. I was.

I was planning a road trip to Naples to try out the Scion iQ, Toyota's answer to the Smart Car, when I heard about a new food tour in that city. What better way for a foodie like me to spend half a day in Naples, city of snowbirds and money? So I bought a ticket for the end of my stay.

Right now,  Naples is in its low season. Seasonal homeowners shutter their places and leave til the holidays. Restaurant owners take long vacations. Even the art museum is closed for the summer. So Naples Food Tours is doing only one food tour a week, on Saturdays, until the snowbirds start returning. In the spring, the company was doing three tours a week, varying the shops and restaurants so that someone who took a tour in March could do another in April and have little or no overlap in the stops. But in the slow season, there are fewer choices.

We had five stops, starting with the Naples Olive Oil Co., where we sipped thimble-sized samples of several olive oils and several balsamic vinegars. We were all stunned by how good the combination of strawberry balsamic vinegar and basil-infused olive oil tasted -- there we were, happy to be drinking salad dressing out of tiny paper cups.

We went to a pizza place for a slice, and some of the guys snuck off to the bar for a beer. We ate calamari at a seafood restaurant, Greek cheese and Hungarian and Bulgarian sausage at a cheese shop, and had a glass of wine at both places. We ended at Norman Love Confections, sampling beautiful and expensive chocolates.

Then I went to Trader Joe's. Why this purveyor of discounted wine and gourmet goodies would open its first Florida store in a city with perhaps the state's highest concentration of wealthy residents, I can't figure out. Seems like the wrong demographic. I know people from this side of the state who drive the 100 miles or so to Naples just to go to Trader Joe's and buy Three-Buck Chuck (the store's private label wine, at $3 a bottle). On this day I joined them.

So I drove back home with a stash of goodies I had bought on my foodie day in Naples: wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese, chocolates, spiced nuts. I'll be tasting those memories for some time to come.

 

Mini-car road trip adventures Part 2

Last month, at the invitation of the Smart Car people, I took one of the tiny cars to Sebring for the weekend. This weekend, I’ve got the Smart Car’s competitor, the Toyota Scion iQ, 14 inches and one cylinder larger. The road trip: Marco Island and Naples.

The iQ has a very different personality. That fourth cylinder – the Smart Car has only three – makes an enormous difference, for this car has a lot more get-up-and-go. Unlike the Smart Car, the iQ has a pretend backseat, a bench that wouldn’t seat two full-grown adults or anyone with knees. But that backseat folds down and turns into cargo space approximately the equivalent of the Smart Car, which is plenty for two people going away for the weekend. The Smart Car’s front seats are more comfortable, however.

Stuff stowed in the back seat, I headed across Alligator Alley, with Daniel Silva’s latest audio book, The Fallen Angel, in the CD player.

This is low season for Collier County. The advantages: I got a great deal on Priceline for a room at the Hilton Marco Island Resort, $99 a night, compared to $199 a night on Hotel.com. I booked a massage at the hotel spa at the last minute.  I had my choice of waterside tables at the Capri Fish House.  Disadvantages: The art museum is closed until late September, as are some restaurants.

And the car? It's just fine for a weekend getaway.

Road trip attraction: Quilt barn trails

Here’s an idea for a road trip with a retro theme: quilt barn trails.

Old-fashioned quilting — albeit sometimes on high-tech sewing machines — has survived and even thrived as a hobby. About a decade ago, an Ohio woman got the idea of decorating her barn with a different kind of mural, a painted quilt square to honor her mother, a quilter. The idea grew. Before long she and a group of volunteers were talking about entire art trails of quilt barns. In 1991, the first quilt square was painted on the first barn, and the trend took off. The Associated Press reports that 43 states now have quilt barn trails, and a book on the quilt barn trail movement has been published. Click here for the American Quilt Barns website and a still-in-progress list of trails in 30 states and provinces. Read the AP story here.

It's Craft Beer Month in Virginia

You may not have known — I didn’t — that Virginia is developing quite a craft beer community. The state has about 40 craft breweries, not enough to call it an industry yet, but enough to organize a festival this weekend to celebrate the local brews. If you’re not already on the road to Virginia, you’re not going to make it in time for the celebration. But the state tourism agency has a list of breweries and an interactive map on its website, so you can design your own road trip tour of the breweries at your leisure. (Without knowing anything else about the breweries, I’m kind of partial to the animal names — Mad Fox, Lost Rhino and Wild Wolf.)  Click here to read about Virgiania’s burgeoning craft breweries. And by the way, if you’re more interested in wine, here’s a website for Virginia’s wineries. That industry is a little further along -- Virginia claims more than 200 wineries.

Florida road trips: cattle, cars and seafood

For anyone planning a road trip in Florida, we’ve got all sorts of stops for you. In Sunday’s Miami Herald, we tell you were to go scalloping (but hurry — the season ends Sept. 24), where to get your cowgirl/cowboy on, and where to get your horsepower fix (if you love road trips, you must have at least a little love for classic cars and fast cars).

Photo: Florida EcoSafaris at Forever Florida

Road trip attraction: mushroom foraging

Foodie alert! The Four Seasons Resort in Vail, Colorado, has found a new way to entertain and educate its guests and town residents: mushroom foraging. The luxury resort offers a luxury outing, called Mushrooms & Mercedes. For $200 a person, a guide leads guests into the woods, teaches them what to look for and sorts through the mushrooms they pick. The price includes transportation in Mercedes SUVs, lunch, and a mushroom-themed dinner. Two outings remain this summer, but nearly every slot has sold out this first season. The resort plans to offer Mushrooms & Mercedes again next year. Read the full story here.

Photo credit: Don Riddle/Four Seasons Resort Vail

Road trip stop: New hiking routes in Adirondacks

When Hurricane Irene struck the northeastern U.S. last year, it created an unexpected benefit for hikers: new routes to climb in the Adirondacks. Flooding caused landslides that opened new paths in the backcountry near Cascade Mountain. Read the full story here.