By RICH GRANT Not many Americans make it to Brittany. France’s northwest cul-de-sac that reaches out into the Atlantic Ocean like a crooked thumb is just too far off the traditional loop trip, the tourist route that takes busloads of visitors from Paris to the castles of the Loire Valley, then up to the Normandy beaches. The wilds of Brittany
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By RICH GRANT SAN LUIS VALLEY, Colorado – The young Spanish priest felt his wound where the arrow had gone in, and realized he was dying. His comrades fired a few more shots at the fleeing Indians, then laid the priest down on a patch of sand facing the mountains to the east. The peaks were blood red with the
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The Valley of the Kings is just 30 minutes away from Luxor
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By RICH GRANT Everyone knows George Washington was first in war and first in peace … but first in picking Caribbean vacations? George only left the continental U.S. once in his lifetime, and that was to sail to the Caribbean island of Barbados. The then-19-year-old George went with his ailing half-brother Lawrence in the hopes that the warm winter
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By RICH GRANT By a stroke of good fortune for the Mexican tourism office, both of Mexico’s revolutions began 100 years apart – in 1810 and 1910 (with the one in 2010 being just one year-long party). Routes that follow the various military campaigns have been laid out with one leaving from Guadalajara that goes to the three most historic towns
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By RICH GRANT With more than 5 million people, Mexico’s second-largest city can be modern, sprawling and congested, but it also offers a wonderful, colonial, pedestrian-friendly downtown worth spending a day or two exploring. Start at the Catedral de Guadalajara, begun in 1561, this is the heart of the city, surrounded by plazas, shopping and incredible architecture. The balcony of La
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By RICH GRANT At 10 p.m. on June 5, 1944, Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower stood by an airfield in England and, in the growing darkness, watched an incredible sight. One by one, more than 800 C-47 airplanes taxied down runways and rumbled off into the night. As they circled in the sky, they formed a flying squadron that was nine
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By RICH GRANT Branson, Missouri, and the Ozark mountains are the biggest tourist attraction in the midwestern United States, and an area of outstanding natural beauty, history and art. While Branson attracts millions of visitors a year for its 120 shows, making it sort of the family-style “Las Vegas of the Midwest,” the area around Branson is filled with lakes,
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By RICH GRANT The best way to enjoy a visit to Branson, Missouri, is to get out of town. Not that there’s anything wrong with Branson. The family entertainment capital of the Midwest has a staggering 120 live shows with more seats than Broadway. Nine million people a year visit the town for big-name concerts, a half scale replica of
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By RICH GRANT No other U.S. state is as fixated with altitude as Colorado. The state song is “Rocky Mountain High.” Locals are obsessed with climbing one of Colorado’s 54 peaks that soar to 14,000 feet, or standing exactly a mile above sea level on the steps of the State Capitol in Denver, or crossing the Continental Divide,
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