Wandering through what is now Indiana, French explorers in the eighteenth century stumbled upon a narrow valley where hot mineral springs burbled from the limestone clefts. Animals supposedly licked the rocks and seemingly felt better for it, and the local Indians thought well of the spring's medicinal qualities. These springs are now called French Lick, and here 1,700 acres of woodland and trails, rolling hills and landscaped gardens are the setting for Indiana's world-famous French Lick-Sheraton Hotel. Its guests enjoy swimming, skeet and trap shooting, horseback riding and carriage rides, tennis, two golf courses and a miniature train. The springs of course are as healthful as ever, and their Pluto water is bottled and sold all over the world.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
America Vacation Spot : Louisiana
Louisiana IS A STRANGE and magical blend of old Europe and the deep South; a place of stately old mansions, and bayous hung with Spanish Moss. Cosmopolitan New Orleans is one of the most intriguing cities in America. The charming French Quarter, home of Dixieland Jazz and Creole cooking, hasn't changed much in the last 150 years. You'll want to see Old Absinthe House, the haunt of pirates; America's oldest apartment houses built in 1846 by the Baroness Pontalba; the Cabildo from which the Spaniards first ruled New Orleans and now site of the Louisiana State Museum; Pirate's Alley, now occupied by painters, and the St. Louis Cathedral. There are many other historic spots in the French Quarter plus some of the best restaurants in the country. You'll also want to see the city's Garden District, City Park and Lake Pontchartrain.
Grand Isle, in the Gulf of Mexico, once the headquarters of the pirate Lafitte, offers surf bathing and great fishing. The winding river roads that lead from New Orleans to the state Capitol at Baton Rouge meander past historic antebellum houses such as Oak Alley built in 1840. Baton Rouge is famous for its magnolias and old homes, and north of the city is Oakley, where John Audubon lived and painted.
America Vacation Spot : The Florida, Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coast
Florida’s Gulf Coast, with Pensacola Beach as one of its favorite resorts, and the Gulf coasts of Alabama and Mississippi together offer some fine vacation possibilities, featuring bayou country, antebellum mansions, and superb gardens. The first azaleas imported from France were planted in Mobile. One of the most magnificent displays is to be found at Bellingrath Gardens, south of the city, where 800 acres are covered with 250,000 azaleas and a wide variety of flowers that keep the gardens colorful whatever the season. Mississippi's Gold Coast resort area, centered at Biloxi, also features graceful and historic Greek revival mansions, splendid gardens and fine beaches, with excellent fishing just offshore.
America Vacation Spot : Florida West Coast
Heading up the west coast of the peninsula, you'll come to Sarasota, which boasts in addition to thirty-five miles of white sand beaches, an array of tourist attractions. John Ringling made his home here and it's still the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is built in fifteenth-century Florentine style and contains the greatest American collection of Rubens' paintings. Near the museum is the Ringling Residence, modeled after the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the Museum of American Circus.
St. Petersburg, to the north, is known as the sunshine capital and is a popular retirement center. The sun is so dependable here that the St.
Petersburg Independent gives away newspapers free any day it fails to shine by 3 P.M. Second only to Miami as a winter resort, St. Petersburg offers beaches, parks and a yacht basin along Tampa Bay. All this is set in a relaxed atmosphere devoted to wholesome pleasures of swimming, sunning and boating. Resorts include the Outrigger Inn.
North of St. Petersburg and just west of the city of Clearwater, is the Belleview Biltmore, an elegant resort set on 600 acres of waterfront property overlooking Clearwater Sound.
America Vacation Spot : Miami and the Keys
Metropolitan Miami is a 2000-square-mile, sun-drenched vacation-land that attracts nearly 5 million visitors a year. The city of Miami, more sedate than in years past, boasts skyscrapers, palm-lined boulevards and a bustle reminiscent of Caribbean capitals. Once an offshoot of the city, Miami Beach has long since surpassed it to become the greatest ocean side resort on earth. Here, perched on an island ten miles long across Biscayne Bay, is a staggering array of hotels, motels, apartment houses and restaurants. Along one eight-mile stretch called hotel row, gleaming towers of glass and concrete stand shoulder to shoulder facing the sea. The tempo is fast, and the crowd, decked out in everything from minks to bikinis, is exuberant, fun-seeking and usually sunburned.
Off the coast of Florida, stretching 115 miles from Key Largo to Key West, are a string of islands that seem to have been flung like beads into the sea. Although the Keys have both busy resort hotels and exclusive clubs, they are famed mostly for the sub-tropical climate, superb fishing, and a tranquil, fishing-village, get-away-from-it-all sort of charm. Once a haven for pirates, and now a year-round residence for artists, writers and fishermen, the Keys show traces of all the early settlers, who included Spaniards, Bahamians, Southerners and Yankee fishermen.
At the southwest tip of Florida you'll find Everglades National Park, third largest national park in the country and the biggest sub-tropical wilderness on the continent. The park, which covers 2,100 square miles, is a half-land, half-water wonder world with acres of saw grass, strangler figs, sea grapes and wild orchids. This was once the home of the Seminole Indians, and it still teems with all sorts of wild life. There are snakes, marsh rabbits, deer, turtles, alligators, black bear and magnificent water birds. Although much of the park is impenetrable, there are two roads and a number of trails maintained by the National Park Service.
America Vacation Spot : Florida East Coast
Dealing with Florida as a resort area is like trying to cover the snow crop in the Arctic. It's almost too much to handle. The temptation is strong to say simply that Florida is the greatest sun recreation area on earth that more has been written about it, probably, than about any other resort section, and then just to refer the reader to the forty-seven-foot bookshelf on Florida in his local library. Nevertheless we will be manful about it, and try at least to limn the bare outlines of this land largely dedicated to the happy pursuit of fun in the sun.
Here is an area of 58,666 square miles with more coastline than any other state in the Union, devoted mostly to the business of pleasure, good living, and happy retirement. Florida is growing so fast that census statistics are quickly outdated. There is nothing quite like it.
On the east coast just south of Jacksonville begins a 350-mile stretch of resort territory that culminates at Miami Beach. The Pedro Verde Inn and Club is set amid lagoons on a mile-long strand of glistening white beach. To the south is historic St. Augustine, site of the nation's oldest house and oldest stone fortress. Next is Daytona Beach with its twenty-three-mile-long, 500-foot-wide stretch of sand. A popular family resold in the summer, Daytona is also the site of spectacular auto-racing events in February and March.
Some 200 miles down the coast, where the Gulf Stream slipping close to shore brings sub-tropical climate, is Palm Beach. This is Florida's first great society resort, but it began humbly in 1878 when a ship carrying coconuts was wrecked offshore. The coconuts were planted by settlers and miraculously transformed a barren strip of sand into a palm-shaded paradise. Palm Beach is known for its quiet elegance, magnificent private estates, and the Breakers, a self-contained luxury resort covering 200 acres. Across Lake Worth is West Palm Beach, more friendly, relaxed and commercial than its sister city and far less socially conscious.
Boca Raton began as the dream of architect Addison Mizner, who bought 1,000 acres of farmland in the 1920's and set out to build the most beautiful city in the world. The Boca Raton Hotel and Club which grew from this dream look like a pink and white Spanish castle set amid 500 acres of exotic tropical gardens.
Residents of Fort Lauderdale are likely to park their cars in front and dock their boats in back. Sometimes called the "Venice of America," the city is a paradise for boatsmen and fishermen, offering over 270 miles of waterway, half of them navigable. There are also six miles of Atlantic beachfront, recently known as "the place where the girls are," and a springtime mecca for the college set.