Travel&Vacation

When you think of a state fair, New Jersey isn’t usually the first place that comes to mind. Though nicknamed the Garden State, New Jersey is more often associated with its oil and chemical refineries and distinctive smell as you drive down the Turnpike than its expanses of farmland, vineyards, cranberry bogs, and forests.

But in fact, New Jersey hosts two state fairs annually. One is officially supported by the state's Commerce, Economic Growth and Tourism Commission. The other is the State Fair Meadowlands, which is not official, but still a whole lot of fun for everyone.

The Meadowlands is only a few miles from New York City. It’s home to Giants Stadium, the Continental Airlines Arena, and the Meadowlands Racetrack.

But for a few weeks each summer, it hosts a
(Read the full post about ‘State Fair Meadowlands: A Thrilling Summer Tradition Continues in New Jersey’…)

There is indeed something scary about this rare volcanic plug of solvsbergite rock, even though there never was a picnic which ended in disaster.
Peter Weirs 1975 film adaptation from the book by Joan Lindsay still haunts me to this very day, however, a night spent in the upmarket Hanging Rock Winery Retreat, overlooking the hillock of rock provided a security blanket.
Even at sunset, when its shadows further added to the mystery, the pinot noir from the cellar door instantly became a great nerve settler.
A plethora of discoveries in this Macedon-Kyneton-Daylesford region await.
Magnificent gardens of the Mount Macedon mansions, restaurant menus with local produce, scenery to die for and some of Victoria’s finest wines.
It’s almost as if this tiny region is a world unto
(Read the full post about ‘The eerie awe at Hanging Rock’…)

The morning has clagged-in, and the lowering murk is about to swallow the last of the field’s three chairlifts, but at Mount Hutt’s base building everything is running like the typical well-oiled machine.

Staff are crisply professional. The first-floor administration office is noisy with purposeful comings and goings, and somewhere below, a professional-development seminar is under way. (more…)

I have a friend who grew up in Japan and we have spent hours swapping military brat stories, my own of Spain, for hers of Japan. I was fascinated by the images her words brought to mind and I have wanted to visit Japan ever since. But living in a foreign country is completely different from spending a few days there. It can be hard to see and do all the things you would like to but a good guide can help you make decisions.

Tokyo, though very modern and efficient, is an old city. Founded by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 it was first called Edo and but was renamed Tokyo in 1868. Tokyo is full of history, having been the center of government, business, and culture for over four hundred years. Exploring the City of the Shogun was designed for the “non-Japanese speaking residents and