bbprushnok's VirtualTourist Home Page

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Slowly but surely I will build up the pages. For the time being, I don't have much to offer for what one must do in New York, especially what to do in New York City. There are members of VT who live in NYC who can tell you much better what to do, where to go, where to stay. What I can offer is a rather idiosyncratic point of view of a person who spends much of his free time white water kayaking and rafting. Most of the photographs that I have taken in recent years were taken on rivers. Therefore, what I offer you and what you'll get in my "travelogues" is the perspective of a river rat.

If you are from outside the U.S., I will list somethings that I think that you must do, or should at least consider doing. In New York: you must go to Adirondack Park, go to Lake Placid, climb or drive to the summit of White Face Mountain, visit Ft. Ticonderoga, take a ferry across Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vermont, swim in Lake George, visit Ausable Chasm. You should also visit Cooperstown, NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame. (I know, "Baseball is boring." In some sense 'though, if you don't get baseball, you don't get Americans. I won't lecture you on this, too much. I'll just say that if Stephen Jay Gould, a renowned naturalist, evolutionist, and science writer can write an essay on disentropic homogeneity and why batters don't hit 0.400 anymore, then you can't dismiss baseball. In order to get some sense of Americans, you need to appreciate how deeply the American consciousness is imbued with the love of baseball.) These places are all in the northeastern portion of the state of New York.

In Pennsylvania, you must visit Gettysburg National Battlefield. The park is about 100 miles west of Philadelphia. Most of that distance can be easily traveled on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Before you visit, you should read the book "Killer Angels" (a novel) and watch the movie based on that book, "Gettysburg." You should probably read another book on the Battle of Gettysburg by some serious historian. Then visit the battlefield. Allow yourself time to mill around at your own pace. Don't rush it. Try to reimagine the battle and the battlefield. Imagine that you were standing on Cemetery Ridge watching the Confederate soldiers advance and attack across 3/4 mile of open field. That brave and failed attack became known as Pickett's charge. Or imagine that you are with the 20th Maine on the left flank of the Union line, holding the line on July 2,1863. Or imagine that you are one of the soldiers thrown into battle, it doesn't matter which side. Imagine and the battlefield will become alive for you. During the summer the park is crowded with tourists. If you go in the off season, the park is nearly empty. The last time I went, which was several years ago in late December on a very cold day, I had the park almost to myself. For those who go to Philadephia, take a small side trip to Valley Forge National Park where the U.S. Continental Army, broken and dispirited, camped during the winter of 1776-1777. The Philadelphia area is replete with history from the Revolutionary War. If you're in that area and you are the type of person who "shops until you drop," well go to King of Prussia Mall. You'll be in heaven. A nice area to visit for walking around and visiting boutique shops is Chestnut Hill located in Philadelphia county. Also, when you are in Philadelphia, you should visit the Philadelphia Art Museum, drive along the Schuykill River on West River Drive and make sure that you see the boathouses of the rowing clubs, visit Fairmount Park, and consider visiting the main branch of the Philadelphia Public Library. A neat place to visit, and I don't know if it is still in existence, is the Franklin Institute.

You should visit Annapolis,Maryland. It is a pretty town on the Chesapeake Bay and the home of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Well, those are some hints. Not much on food, restaurants or accomodations.