Black Hills of South Dakota

Fans of the history of the America West will love the cultural and scenic drama of the Black Hills of South Dakota. The name of the region refers to the gently rolling forested hills of the area, but this part of South Dakota is also home to Mount Rushmore and the beautiful Badlands with their many stark painted desert landscapes. The difficulty and danger for pioneer crossings are what gave the Badlands their name.

Check out the The Black Hills Travel Blog which features stories and information about this great American Destination. Here is their Black Hills and Badlands history and culture section.

South Dakota Travel
South Dakota History
South Dakota's Official Travel Website is here

US History through the year 1630

You really should be catching up on your US History because those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and we really don't want that now, do we?

Here are our US History pages for the early eras of Native Americans and the European "exploration" which some would suggest was less exploration than a European invasion and subjagation of native peoples who lived in the Americas at the time. Here at US History and Travel we'd rather have people argue that issue here in the blog comments rather than try to force our opinion on you:

US History through 1630:
Early America Pre-contact.
Native American Origins and Cultures.

Early Exploration of what is now the USA:
The Spanish. The French. The English. Roanoke Island. Jamestown. Leif Ericksson. Christopher Columbus. John Cabot. Sir Francis Drake. Jacques Cartier. Henry Hudson.

Portland Oregon Vacation

Sunset has a nice piece about Portland Oregon travel right here.

Portland is one of the USA's most charming big cities and in some ways has the look and feel of a rural small town with a big footprint. Here, the Columbia and Willamette Rivers converge and big ship traffic makes its way to the Pacific some 80 miles to the west of the city at the seaside town of Astoria (hence the name Port-land).

Oregon Travel
Portland Travel

Peking Duck, Beijing

Peking Duck, Beijing
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Peking was a Western description of Beijing. For most cities in China it is almost required form to use the Chinese naming system which is quite interesting as it often uses combination words that have a word for a compass direction and physical features like rivers and mountains:

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/history/stucker/ChGeogMeaning.html

Peking duck is the signature specialty of Beijing. The duck is carved carefully, some fat removed, then reassembled for serving. For a small extra charge the remaining parts are deep fried - bone and all - and served as a separate dish.

Frommer on Historical Travel destinations

In the following video, Pauline Frommer offers her top five destinations for history travelers:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/05/08/road.warriors.bernholtz.cnn

Hill of Accumulated Elegance, Beijing

Hill of Accumulated Elegance, Beijing
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

The Hill of Accumulated Elegance is in the Gardens of the Forbidden City in Beijing China. Carefully built from pieces of weathered stone, this area is surrounded by very pretty gardens and a serenity that was enjoyed in the past only by the royal family and I think also some of the 3000 concubines who lived in this walled city, the largest Palace grounds on earth.

Stone Sculpture, Forbidden City

Stone Sculpture, Forbidden City
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

This magnificent stone sculpture in Beijing China's Forbidden City was transported to the city during winter when an "ice road" was created by pouring water on the ground in front of the sculpture as it was moved to Beijing.