June 2009 - Sightseers' Delight

Photos: Portland, Oregon Named Top Underrated and Cleanest U.S. City, but Travelers Throw Detroit Under the SUV

June 29, 2009 The Travel Trolley

Photos: Portland, Oregon Named Top Underrated and Cleanest U.S. City, but Travelers Throw Detroit Under the SUV

Hiroshima: Streetcar system like taking a step back in time

June 25, 2009 Todd DeFeo

My friends and I walked to the streetcar terminus, certain of which trolley to board. An agent approached us to help; he didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Japanese.

Antebellum railroad tunnel still a marvel after all these years

June 22, 2009 Todd DeFeo

Crews building the Western & Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tenn., faced a number of natural obstacles. None, however, were as foreboding as Chetoogeta Mountain.

Athens, Ga., landmark destroyed in blaze

June 19, 2009 Todd DeFeo

An Athens landmark was heavily damaged during a fire today. The Georgia Theater, a music institution for 30 years, was gutted in the blaze that started about 7 a.m. The owner plans to rebuild, according to media reports. “If ever there was a landmark central to Athens’ identity, it would have to be the Georgia theatre,” one poster to OnlineAthens.com said. “I grew up watching movies there and progressed to REM and Wynton Marsalis. There

Survey: Teens Going Online Wirelessly Without Limits or Control

June 18, 2009 HarpBlaster.com News Wire

For the fifth consecutive year, Cox Communications, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and America’s Most Wanted host and children’s advocate John Walsh, will present the results of a new survey on the behavior of young people online. This year, the survey also looks at teen behavior using wireless devices.

The souls of Japan’s militaristic past

June 18, 2009 Todd DeFeo

As prime minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi made a number of official visits to Yasukuni Shrine. After all, the shrine honors those who fought and died for Japan, and what better way for the country’s leader to honor the sacrifices of previous generations?

Northern Iraq travel is safer … kind of, sort of

June 18, 2009 The Travel Trolley

Anyone looking to travel to Iraq may find solace in the fact that a number of governments in the northern portion of the country are more stable, relatively speaking. That was enough for the Kurdistan Regional Government to issue a news release that “lauded the US Department of State’s updated guidelines for travel to Iraq, affirming the relative safety and security of the Kurdistan Region.” Clearly the Kurdistan Regional Government is in the midst of

Survey: $4 gas is a problem for travelers

June 17, 2009 The Travel Trolley

Eighty percent of people “plan to take as many or more trips this summer as they did last year” – splitting time close to home and on the road, according to a news survey. The survey from BedandBreakfast.com found that 67 percent of would-be travelers would cut back on travel if gas prices hit $4 per gallon. “With gas prices reaching a 2009 high of $71 per barrel, and prices at the pump rising by

Fort King George features faithful recreation of important British post

June 17, 2009 Todd DeFeo

DARIEN, Ga. – South Georgia in the 1720s and 1730s wasn’t a pleasant place to be. The men who settled Fort King George along the Altamaha River near what is modern day Darien learned that during the fort’s rather short existence. Built in 1721 – 12 years before “Georgia’s First City,” Savannah, was founded – Fort King George was both the first English settlement on Georgia’s coast and the British Empire’s southernmost outpost in North

Survey: New York drivers the least courteous

June 16, 2009 The Travel Trolley

New York drivers are the nation’s least courteous, according to a new AutoVantage survey. Conversely, Portland, Ore., drivers are the most courteous.