Free Republic

Am I proud to call Oregon my home? You're damn right I am. Do we have problems here? Of course we do, everywhere has problems. But the thing about Oregon is, if you've ever lived here you can probably agree Oregon is truly is a special place to live, and our problems are really very minimal compared to so many other places you could live.

Enjoy breathtaking scenery without the winding roads and gnarled trafficOn a sunny and clear day, is there any scenery in the world more breathtaking than the towering mountains and sparkling waters that surround you as you travel up the Sea to Sky Highway? However, throw in bumper-to-bumper traffic and unexpected delays and the journey can be less than relaxing. Well, what if you could slow down and really enjoy that beautiful scenery without the worry of the car in front or behind you and the twists and turns of the highway? What if you could actually relax and make the...

From Alaska to New Hampshire, slow down and savor the sceneryWHEN you consider rail travel in this country, what comes to mind? Okay, we’ll go first. Inconvenient. Slow. Often excruciatingly expensive. Old trains. Dirty trains. Surly service. Bad food. Did we mention the old trains? Okay, we’ll stop. True, there are trains in developing nations more appealing and efficient than on many an Amtrak route, but if you think there’s no romance to American rail travel, you probably haven’t done all that much of it. From Alaska to the Rockies, we’ve selected five fun train trips to help you get...

Sometimes it's the journey, sometimes it's the destination—and sometimes, it's both. National Geographic Traveler has scoured the globe for the world's most beautiful, interesting, and off-beat road trips. Dive in to get directions, quizzes, photos, and more.

OK, so I'm serendipitously looking at a topographic image of a place generated with data acquired during the Space Shuttle topography mission. And I see a location that intrigues me topographically. And I say to myself "Where is that?". And so I do some investigating -- something you can do on the Internet, of course -- and I find out this is a very nice place. And so I'm going to let you guess where it is. It might be easy. After the guessing is done, I'll show the image that led me to it. 3 clues. Part of the...

Arizona home to one of the most beautiful locations in the United States. The USA Weekend Magazine has rated the Red Rock Country in Sedona as the Most Beautiful Place in America. The selection was made by travel writers, outdoor enthusiasts and relatives of the magazine's staff. Sedona beat out the likes of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and sights in Hawaii and Florida. The guidelines for voters were simple, that the place be accessible to the public and reasonably well known. For more information on the weekly Sunday newspaper supplement, visit its Web site at www.usaweekend.com.

Link post: any discussion posts should be posted in the thread linked below. This post is to alert readers who might possibly be interested to the post in the FR 'chat' section. You can skip the thread and go directly to the site by clicking on the article link above. Geology Picture of the Week, March 21-27, 2004: Superb Yellowstone site (with geyser videos).

Those of you who have "followed" the Geology Pictures of the Week may know that, one, Yellowstone National Park is one of my favorite places on Earth, and two, the Stromboli On-Line site is one of the best sources for high quality, volcanologically related pictures and media anywhere on the Web. Put the two together and you've got a winner. The best part of this site is the geyser videos; the photography is actually a tad sparse, but I've picked a nice one below. Click the linked article above to go to the site and enjoy! Norris Geyser Basin

Wife and I will be in Indianapolis near the end of July 25-28 - arrive very late Friday - stay through Monday AM. We have plans for Saturday Afternoon/night (Drum Corps International Midwest Championships). Looking for Sunday activities/must see places. We also like to try interesting resteraunts - so if you have a suggestion in that regard, please make your suggestions. Basically - this is our first time in Indy - and the Indianapolis tourism page wasn't much help.