Acadia National Park

on Mount Desert Island, Maine Visited: April 21, 2004 NPS Site Visited: 29 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? The first National Park east of the Mississippi. The majority of Maine’s Mount Desert Island. Rugged Maine Atlantic Ocean coastline, granite-domed bald mountains, 45 miles of paved carriage roads paved by John D. Rockefeller and [...]

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Dear Boston – Part Two

Michael: Dear Boston: I never wanted to like you. I do not remember having many good times with you. I admit I was charmed many years ago as a pre-teen. The pictures show me re-enacting the Boston Tea Party and interacting with ducks in Boston Common. Not sure how those photo-ops occurred, but they did. [...]

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Dear Boston – Part One

Gab: Dear Boston: I am sorry. I am really sorry. For years, I have said horrible things about you. Blamed you for being boring, stuffy, expensive, snooty – all based on ill-planned weekend trips while I was living in Providence. I always had such high expectations yet never had a good time. I blamed you. [...]

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Salem Maritime National Historic Site

Salem, Mass. Visited: April 16, 2004 NPS Site Visited: 24 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? Second largest port in the colonies in the 18th and early 19th centuries. So many boats bore the name of Salem, that Eastern countries thought “Salem” was a nation to itself. Salem is also the site of the [...]

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New York City – Feels Like Home

Gab: There is no national monument in Brooklyn, but the apartment and the neighborhood that knew my mom as a girl are there. I could not wait to find them. There is no national park in Garfield, North Jersey, but Michael’s Uncle Steve lives there. Barcelona’s, home of the best pizza ever, is there too. [...]

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Ellis Island National Monument

In New York Harbor and off Jersey City shoreline, N.J. and N.Y. Visited: April 7, 2004 NPS Site Visited: Not an NPS Site NPS Website; Local Website. Want More? Click Here for Gab’s NYC story: Feels Like Home Click Here for Michael’s NYC story: We Are A Nation of Searchers WHAT IS IT? Immigration inspection [...]

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Federal Hall National Memorial

southern Manhattan, N.Y. Visited: April 7, 2004 NPS Site Visited: 19 of 353 NPS Website. WHAT IS IT? Neo-classical building completed in 1842 located at 26 Wall Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. At this site in 1789, but in a previous building, the Bill of Rights was adopted and George Washington took [...]

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New York City – A Nation of Searchers

Michael: We are a nation of travelers, a nation of searchers, a nation of immigrants. We have never been stagnant. We move for a better life, we move for answers, we move for adventure, we move to escape, we move. Almost 100 years ago my ancestors boarded a ship to come to the United States. [...]

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Castle Clinton National Monument

New York City, N.Y. Visited: April 7, 2004 NPS Site Visited: 17 of 353 NPS Website. Want More? Click Here for Gab’s NYC story: Feels Like Home Click Here for Michael’s NYC story: We Are A Nation of Searchers WHAT IS IT? Circular brick fort built between 1808 and 1811 to defend New York City. [...]

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Statue of Liberty National Monument

New York Harbor Visited: April 7, 2004 NPS Site Visited: 18 of 353 NPS Website; Local Website Want More? Click Here for Gab’s NYC story: Feels Like Home Click Here for Michael’s NYC story: We Are A Nation of Searchers WHAT IS IT? 152-foot high copper statue of Lady Liberty designed by Frederic Bartholdi and [...]

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