By RICH GRANT No trip to England is complete without seeing a redcoat. There’s no more iconic image of the British Empire than a redcoat soldier, either at a changing of the guard, protecting one of the royal palaces (as they have done for 362 years), or in paintings from Bunker Hill to Waterloo. And yet the place most people
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By RICH GRANT At just 36 miles in length, the Niagara is one of the shortest rivers in the world. And one of the most violent. Almost a million gallons of water cascade down the river every second, reaching speeds of 30 miles per hour. The river is actually not a river at all – it is the drainage runoff
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By RICH GRANT The little resort village of Estes Park sits at the edge of Colorado’s No. 1 attraction – Rocky Mountain National Park – nestled in one of the world’s most beautiful locations. Surrounded by snowcapped peaks with vistas in every direction, this small town has been attracting visitors for more than 150 years. World famous artists, best-selling novelists,
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By RICH GRANT On Sept. 7, 1876, six of the most notorious outlaws in the United States rode their horses over an iron bridge and entered the quiet little country town of Northfield, Minnesota. At the same time, two more bandits rode into town from the south. All of them wore long, white linen coats to hide the fact they
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By RICH GRANT It’s hard to pinpoint the attraction of Billy the Kid. Viewed in one light, he was probably a psychopath who gunned down a sheriff and two (maybe three) deputies in cold blood, as well as some other assorted enemies. He was an outlaw, a rustler, a hired gun and a murderer, who was himself shot dead at
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By RICH GRANT This much, everyone agrees on. At 3 p.m. on the cold, blistery afternoon of Oct. 26, 1881, Wyatt Earp, his two brothers Virgil and Morgan, and Wyatt’s friend John “Doc” Holliday set off down Fremont Street in Tombstone, Arizona. They walked side-by-side. Virgil Earp was the acting town marshal, the other men had been deputized. Each man
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By RICH GRANT “When I first came here, almost 30 years ago, Vallarta was a fishing village of some 2,000 souls. There was one road to the outside world – and it was impassable during the rainy season.” So wrote American film director John Huston about his first encounter with the sleepy, isolated fishing village he was destined to change
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By RICH GRANT WELLINGTON – The Lonely Planet travel guide books once called Wellington the “coolest capital city in the world,” an accolade the town loved so much, they made it their official slogan. And why not? New Zealand’s capital city is a pretty cool place, and the 300,000 people who live here know it. More than a quarter of
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By RICH GRANT With 25 million visitors a year, New York’s Central Park is the most popular green space in the United States – and the most recognizable. More than 200 films have been shot here. From romantic “Annie Hall” to blood-ridden “Death Wish,” from tender “Love Story” to brutal “Fatal Attraction,” Central Park is one of the biggest Hollywood
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BY RICH GRANT If Golden, Colorado, had put together just a little more money in 1869, it would have become the most famous city in the Rocky Mountains. The town was in a race against Denver to build Colorado’s first railroad. Golden was the capital of the Colorado Territory; Denver was an upstart – a frontier town of saloons and
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