travel
-
Nineteenth-century fort? Gold Rush ghost town? Historical museum straddling the Platte River in Nebraska? I’m so there. The Platte River is striking, a braided river whose waterways eddy and surge around willow-dotted islands and sandbars some 310 miles, with a tributary — the North Platte River — that takes the river’s entire length to more…
-
Am I obsessed with the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush? Yes seems an understatement. Name the California or Oregon trail-related landmark and chances are good I’ve been there. Ghost towns? Yep. Gold mines? Oh, so many. Swales and wagon ruts, tailing wheels, blacksmith shops and more. I’ve panned for gold and sipped sarsaparilla…
-
There might be a few people out there who never saw the famous TV show when it aired back in 1974. OK, one person. Maybe two. The “Little House on the Prairie” series is so much a part of pop culture even now that the now-50-year-old series racked up an astonishing 13.3 billion minutes of…
-
I’ve long been obsessed with the 19th century’s western frontier, from the breathtakingly hardy (and on occasion foolhardy) pioneers who trekked the Oregon Trail to the Gold Country towns of the California foothills. Take Sutter Creek, for example, a tiny Gold Rush-era town that offers great little restaurants, charming B&Bs, wine tasting rooms and a…
Jackie Burrell, Writer 