Salt Lake City Utah

Flanked on all sides by dramatic granite cliffs, Salt Lake is a world-class alpine destination with outdoor recreation, a remarkable history, and an economy that has transformed a pioneer town into a sophisticated metropolitan city.

Big Cottonwood Canyon and the world-famous Snowbird Aerial Tram with vistas from the top of 11,000-foot Hidden Peak of over 100 miles. Also, a breathtaking backcountry as you horseback or bike ride in the Wasatch Mountains. Thrill seekers can ride down the alpine slide, a new addition to the Snowbird experience. 

The Great Salt Lake renowned for its high salinity which varies between 10 and 25%, second only to the Dead Sea, offers much in the way of recreation and relaxation. Antelope Island is ideal for a bike ride along the causeway or experience the trails as you hike, bike and animal watch: deer, bobcats, coyotes, many varieties of birds and waterfowl, and a small herd of elk call the island home. The Island's American Bison were introduced in 1893 and now number some 600 animals.

 

History and Culture on July 24, 1847, Mormon pioneer arrived seeking a religious refuge. Their leader, Brigham Young stated, this is the right place!

80,000 Pioneers Settled in the Rocky Mountains by the Great Salt Lake

The Church has played a major role in the development of the city, and many current residents trace their roots to those early settlers. This Is the Place Heritage Park is a bustling pioneer village brought to life by friendly folks in period dress who present everyday pioneer life. Visit Historic Temple Square and classic Salt Lake buildings and homes.

Anasazi State Park Museum Explore this ancient village in the heart of Utah's canyon country. One of the largest Ancestral Puebloan communities west of the Colorado River, known as the Coombs Site, is believed to have been occupied from AD 1160 to 1235 and may have housed as many as 200 people.
Archeological excavations at the site have revealed more than 100 structures and have produced thousands of artifacts, some of which are on display in the museum.

The Behive House is a National Historic Landmark and a monument to courageous people who conquered the desert. Built in 1854, it served as the official residence of Brigham Young when he was President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Governor of the Utah Territory.

Edge of the Cedars Pueblo is a village inhabited by the ancestors of contemporary Puebloan peoples from AD 825 to 1125. View the largest collection of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) pottery on display in the Four Corners area. Programs include archaeology and art exhibitions, storytelling, craft workshops, and an annual Indian art market held on the first Saturday every May.

Cultural Attractions in Basilicata Italy

Matera Melfi Venosa Cultural Attractions and Mount Vulture’s Volcano and Wine

Basilicata, also known as Lucania, is a southern Italian region bordering with Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, with one coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania and Calabria, and a longer one in the Gulf of Taranto on the Ionian Sea.

Matera’s stone dwellings are a unique, cave dwelling eco urban system, dating back to prehistory, and as such are a Unesco site since 1993, the first such appellation for Southern Italy. They are also efficient users of water, land and energy natural resources.

Melfi the emperor Frederic II proclaimed his "Constitutiones Augustales" at the Melfi Castle which retains to this day many of its medieval features. Among the modifications over the centuries:  the interior has been trnsformed into a baronial manor, albeit in the Norman-Swabian style; the Throne Room and Armigeri Hall maintain their Angevin look; finally, the Sala delle Scodelle, where the Melfi Constitution was proclaimed. The castle hosts the Melfi National Museum and archeological documents from the Vulture community, including bronze, iron and neolithic age finds, as well as Asia Minor’s Rapolla Sarcophagus.

Venosa is home to the famed poet Horace - Quintus Horatius Flaccus - Santissima Trinità Abbey, with an early Christian Church built over a pagan temple and a more recent one, never completed. An adjacent archeological park preserves finds from the Roman republic to the Middle Ages. The historic center features a beautiful borgo, a castle, Horace’s home and the Cathedral of Saint Andrew.

Monticchio Lakes and the Vulture Natural History Museum

The Monticchio Lakes are situated on Mount Vulture’s southwestern slopes over several vulcanic craters. S. Michael Archangel’s Abbey was built around a grotto inhabited by Basilian monks. Vulture’s National Museum of Natural History recounts the 750 thousand year history of this community and of a pleistocene volcano dormant for 130 thousand years. The museum is unique in that it is located in the natural setting that it recounts.

Mount Vulture is located 56 km (35 mi) north of Potenza and Basilicata region’s most important wine growing community with its Aglianico Vulture DOC wine. At 1,326 m (4,350 feet), it is unique among Italy’s volcanoes due to its location east of the Apennine mountain range.

Walking Biking and Cruising the Delaware and Lehigh Valley Trail

165 miles of nature history preservation recreation and education

From its origins as a means to transport anthracite coal from the mines of Luzerne and Carbon County to the markets in the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia, the D&L Trail is now a multi-use trail originating from the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania through the rivers and communities of the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County.

A Trail that Connects People to Unique Environmental and Community Experiences

Visiting The National Canal Museum, cruising aboard the Josiah White II, walking and riding your bike on the canal towpaths are among the ways to explore the Lehigh Valley and the 60-mile long National Historic Landmark located within Delaware Canal State Park in Bucks and Northampton counties.

Conversations on the Canal are dinner cruises that focus on the major ethnic groups in the D&L Corridor and why they came to America. Learn about the Ulster Scots, the first immigrants from the island known in Gaelic as Éire, who became known as Scots-Irish in North America.  An estimated 200,000 Ulster Scots left for the American colonies during the 1700s thanks to Pennsylvania’s tradition of religious tolerance. Between 1815 and 1834, a second wave of nearly 400 thousand immigrants also came here.

A Vision for the Delaware Canal the idea to construct a pedestrian bridge across the Lehigh River at Jim Thorpe was first conceived in the D&L’s 1992 Management Action Plan.  After countless steps from concept to design to funding and then re-funding, the bridge is the critical connector linking 40 miles of trail located north of Jim Thorpe to the Lehigh Valley.   Just south of Jim Thorpe, two separate but integral projects will make the connection between Carbon County and Lehigh County smooth and safe.  They include plans for a retaining wall and improved towpath trail between Jim Thorpe and Weissport in Lehigh Canal Park.   

Wineries and Breweries the Lehigh Valley is home to a Wine Trail and an Ale Trail. Selected bars and pubs have upwards of 60% of their taps consistently dedicated to craft beers. The local products can also be tasted while cruising the canal.