@hundred wunders
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • SHOP
  • IMAGES
  • CONTACT

Retro Colorado

4/30/2018

0 Comments

 
In Manitou Springs, a place perched on the edge of a mountain and history, you’ll discover an enchanting, colorful rendition of the 19th century. The extra flair is for the tourists’ benefit. There are boutiques and museums that showcase local designers and artists, pottery shops featuring Native American craftsmanship, and fun places for kids. All of this is brushed with a sugary mix of hemp, hippies, and mysticism. Whether in for the day to ride the Cog Railway up Pike’s Peak or passing through Colorado Springs, there are hours of enjoyment to be had in this little town.
Picture
Picture
Picture
​In 1887, J.G. Hiestand built what is known today as the Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama Dinner Theater. From its origins as a candy and cigar store in 1880, the operation changed owners a number of times before the Iron Springs Company purchased it and began to use the venue to sell mineral water commercially. 
Nowadays, nostalgic fun starts in the evening with a three-course meal, leads into theatrics, and ends with a vaudeville sing-along.
​
​Audience participation is encouraged!
Picture
Satisfy your taste for old-school (cash only) at Mo's Diner & Lounge with its eclectic 1940s decor and friendly staff. Serving good traditional food, they specialize in generous, classic breakfasts, burgers, meatloaf, biscuits and gravy, and some Mexican dishes, like burritos and green chili. Nothing fancy and prices to match. A warm family atmosphere with lots of locals.

For some more adult refreshment, the Ancient Mariner Tavern, built like a ship’s galley, features some rocking local entertainment, often without a cover charge. It boasts a full bar featuring Colorado draught microbrews. It’s a rowdy place and the music is loud – perfect for quenching your thirst after hiking up and down the hilly streets.
​
Older than the state of Colorado itself, the walls of the Cliff House have seen history transpire. Once a stagecoach stop and gold rush boarding house, the inn was converted in 1886 to a sophisticated resort hotel capitalizing on the mineral springs in the region. The list of famous guests includes Theodore Roosevelt, P.T. Barnum, and Clark Gable. Food and service are impeccable at this reasonably priced vintage hotel.
The downtown Manitou Outpost has stood on the same spot since its beginnings as a livery stable in the 1800s. By 1913, a cafeteria pavilion showcasing an erupting geyser had replaced the stable. Later, a garage offering both mechanical work and tours of Pikes Peak was built at the site. Souvenirs, homemade fudge, and ice cream are the main attractions these days, along with the Navajo geyser well that is still preserved inside - but has ceased to spout.

Subscribe to get this walk
(and thousands more) on a
GPS-guided app from
Picture

ROCKEY’S STORYBOOK ART STUDIO 

Born in 1932, C. H. Rockey came to Colorado as a young child. First a Marine and then a teacher, Rockey paid his dues before earning a chance to do what he truly loved – paint. He is one of the Pikes Peak region’s finest and least commercial artists. His whimsical images of a Tolkienesque ‘Manidoon’ will charm fantasy lovers the world over.
Picture
PATSY’S CANDY The product of an Irish popcorn vendor’s vivid imagination, this family-run business has been churning out delectable confections for decades. Tour the factory in Colorado Springs, where chocolate, taffy, and butterscotch popcorn are still produced using specialized machinery dating to the 1940s or give your kids a taste of the past at their original 930 Manitou Avenue location.  

Right next door, an old-fashioned penny arcade houses an impressive antique and retro collection that includes pinball, coin-operated rides, 1964 skee ball, and the latest video games. Competing in 12-player mechanical horse-racing, you could win a fistful of tickets to exchange for prizes. A sweet treat for all generations, this whimsical spot will tickle your senses and put a smile on your face.
Picture
COLORADO, USA
Picture
0 Comments

March Break

3/4/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
pirate with pipe
Photo credit: C.W. McCain
​
​Newcomers to Tampa Bay may be unaware 'tis a pirate's haven, but what could be more beguiling to kids than a town that revolves around these legendary time travellers? From January through May, the city is invaded by buccaneers during the Pirate Fest Stage Street Festival, the Gasparilla Parade (tons of elaborate floats and marching bands), the Outbound Voyage with Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, and Searle’s Sack of St. Augustine, a thrilling reenactment of Robert Searle’s deadly raid in 1668 (complete with an authentic battle). Join the assault, and snatch up some sparkling beads and doubloons while yer at it!     
Picture
Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe is a whimsical eatery that offers eclectic cuisine, supports local artists, and features live entertainment on Friday and Soul Food Sunday nights. The creative menu reflects the personality of its chef, and is best washed down with one (or more) of the cafe’s beers, ciders, wines or specialty drinks. The quirky art collection will amuse and charm even young children. Not to mention the ‘world famous two-headed alligator of Seminole Heights’ (or a reasonable facsimile), captured by local trappers, and on display here.       
Picture
​Want to get right out of town to the ocean and fresh air? Drive for 25 minutes down the coast to see manatees in their natural habitat near the Big Bend Power Station at Apollo Beach. The station's discharge canal sends clean, warm saltwater back to the Bay where these gentle mammals seek sanctuary when the surrounding ocean reaches less than 68 degrees.

​The site also features educational tours of the power plant, solar energy, a boardwalk, a wildlife observation tower, and an award-winning butterfly garden.     


​In Tampa, when it rains, it floods. And lightning strikes. It's no accident that's the name of their hockey team. So you'll want to have great accommodations, especially if travelling with little ones. For a taste of southern hospitality in a quiet location, you can't go wrong with a two-room suite priced at $149 offered by Palmer House Bed and Breakfast. You’ll be treated like royalty in this remarkable blend of the comforts of home and style of an upscale resort. The hosts could not be kinder, nor could there be greater attention to detail in the services. And it’s conveniently located just out of the city and close to parks and activities, such as canoeing, horseback riding and biking.
It's the most wonderful time of the year, especially for kids in the Northern Hemisphere. If they're really, really lucky, they may get the chance (and you, too!) to escape winter's last gasps by running away to a sunnier place. And how better to celebrate than with a Tampa Extravaganza! Here, we lay out a few of the lesser-known best times in this city on Florida's Gulf Coast - a blast for both the young and the young at heart.
Picture
Subscribe to GPS-guided travel article apps by hundred wunders and many more at:
Picture
​Heat is where it’s at in this city – in the weather, in the food, in the people. Sometimes the heat will make you want to hide inside. Instead, get lost in the crowd, melt in the melting pot, prowl with the pirates. There’s plenty to see and do, in or out of the water. It’s a theme park, a garden, a zoo – all rolled up into one big Cuban sandwich. So head down to the beach or out on the streets, and take a bite!
Picture
Ybor City
Photo credit: George
​
​Ybor City is a historic neighborhood near downtown Tampa, founded in the 1880s by cigar manufacturers and populated mostly by tabaqueros from Italy, Spain, and Cuba. Known as the “Cigar Capital of the World,” the factories rolled millions of cigars annually for 50 years – about 700 million at the industry's peak. Ybor City was unique in the American South as a successful town nearly completely owned and operated by immigrants - not a bad place to start a good discussion with your kids, if you're up for it.
Picture
Image courtesy of ​Ceviche Tapas Bar

​The delightful Ceviche tapas restaurant is intimate and romantic. Sparkling fresh sangria and spicy tapas make a great combination, either hot or cold: ceviche de la casa (chilled and marinated lime shrimp, seabass, and squid); tabla fixta (Spanish cheeses and sausages); calientes (stuffed artichokes in sherry sauce), gazpacho, paella… on and on into gourmet heaven. An authentic slice of Tampa that will make a great first impression.    
​
Picture
Photo credit: Matthew Paulson
Picture
FLORIDA, USA
0 Comments

hundred wunders launches new store 16/11/16

11/16/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
hundred wunders started out as a scrapbook for storing my good memories and doing something useful with the many albums of pictures I've taken over the years. Nothing intense, and much of the time it has simply been a nice place to visit. 

But with patience and dedication, hundred wunders has begun, slowly but surely, to live up to its name. I've been invited to write for travel websites, such as trip.com and GPSmyCity, spent a lot of hours wondering, but best of all, met a whole bunch of incredible people. This fascinating adventure recently inspired me to launch the hundred wunders brand and multiply the iterations of what can be done conceptually with archival photographs taken over the years and all over the world.
Picture

hundred wunders' leggings, dresses, scarves, gender-friendly baby clothing, and handmade soaps are all produced locally in Montreal, Canada, which helps to limit our carbon footprint. Our fashionable, eco-friendly leather bags are handmade by small, genuine leather crafters around the world. These manufacturers use vegetable tanning, a traditional process employed to tan leather without chemicals. Each satchel, duffel and backpack is unique, exhibiting its own grain, nuances and scars. The bags will be among the most reasonably priced and beautiful pieces of leather you will ever purchase.

Picture
'the Weekend' leather backpack
​Who knows what else you'll find, off the beaten track? Welcome, and enjoy! And please, shop! In so doing, you'll be supporting some of the finest lesser-known artists and artisans of the world.

Picture
The creations in the hundred wunders collection are inspired by photographs of urban environments, representing otherwise random moments in city time. Each piece is completely original - you will not find either the concept or the designs anywhere else. A far cry from the standard framed print, although I love those too, they capture something precious about each of the strange cities I've travelled, mainly on foot. They are the canvas on which these pieces will live from now on.
Picture
urban meadow big silk scarf
​The 'architecture' series is the heart of the project, and it plays upon the notion of where the environment stops and the people start. The process involves transforming a single view of a place at a given moment, with all its qualities and limitations, to create a completely unique article of clothing that is true to that view: a snapshot of the city has been laid across cloth so that it can wrap around your body, making you one with the urban environment.
 
cambridge cycle leggings
Picture
from a photograph of a bike rack on Harvard University campus
Picture
0 Comments

November giveaway! GPS-guided travel article

11/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
It's hard to say what came first, traveling or travel documenting. There are accounts of travelogues dating to the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279) through Medieval times and into recent history. The Italian poet Petrarch described in personal terms his experience of climbing Mount Ventoux in 1336. A few years later, Moroccan world traveller Ibn Battuta wrote ‘Rihla’ (The Journey), A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling. Source: The Travel Tester Ships logs, journals, diaries, journalism, and until recently, postcards and letters have served to carry compact, condensed perspectives of an individual’s travel experience to others, either loved ones or strangers.
A city seen through the eyes of another is a different city.
When you travel it will more often than not be solo, certainly if you travel frequently, for business, or take a number of extended trips to different destinations in a year. You may have time on your hands in some of these places, but how much of that is used up working out details once you arrive? Travel article apps are a fun and pressure-free option for exploring intended locations in advance, as you prepare to go away or while you’re en route.
Picture
And while they will save you time by giving you directions, they will also enhance the pleasure of exploration and discovery. Like the places you visit, each individual guide has its own flavor, context or story. You can mix and match, and come away from even the most rushed stay in a new place feeling like you’ve actually connected with the destination. You’ll be both relaxed and enriched, because the time you’ve spent there was well spent.
Picture
There is always a single writer. Travel writing is by definition a solitary activity, much like the experience of travel itself. But it is an activity that strives to reach out and connect another person to that same very subjective and personal experience.
Picture

What is a GPS-guided travel article?

A GPS-guided travel article embeds GPS coordinates of locations mentioned in the article, along with a map guiding you from place to place. There are thousands of articles available from more than 700 cities at GPSmyCity that you can upload free of charge, to read at your leisure without wi-fi. There is a small fee to upgrade ($1.99) to access the GPS-guided article you would like to select for your trip. For just a few dollars, you can plan your entire downtime itinerary within minutes, according to your interests, without having to search any further than a few key words.
I want to try a GPS-guided article!
Picture
Like virtual postcards transcribing different individual perspectives, travel article apps can be superimposed and shuffled, depending on your time and interests. You might follow a map in one area of a city simply because it surrounds your hotel, then choose a guide that is a little more specific and to your tastes. Bookstores and great coffee? There’s probably an app for that. It’s a great way to quickly get to know a place you’ll be returning to time and again or to throw a different light on familiar territory if boredom sets in.

Picture
Niagara. Enigma. is a GPS-guided article that takes you on a walk up Clifton Hill, an attraction that will masterfully distract you from the waterfall when you wander out of the conference center for coffee one morning. The waterfall IS grandiose, but there is a whole other side to this town that deserves an introduction. From November 14-20 you can upgrade the app for FREE at GPSmyCity.
0 Comments

Niagara. Enigma.

7/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Clifton Hill
Located right next to the SkyWheel, classic competition can be had between friends, family or colleagues at Strike Rock N'Bowl, a 14-lane, 10-pin bowling facility. Features include high-definition audio-visual systems, LED lighting, touch screens, and adjustable bumper rails to set game levels for kids and novices. You can also play pool, pinball and other arcade games, and even ride a racing simulator.

If wax museums are your thing (and let’s face it, they aren’t everyone’s…), Niagara Falls is your place. Since 1983, the Ramunno family has been running a rock music souvenir store, while patriarch Pasquale perfected his sculpting technique. The resulting Rock Legends are not to be missed. You’ll discover a one-of-a-kind collection showcasing over 70 excessively famous and lesser-known rock stars, from Buddy Holly through Ozzy Osborne to Slipknot.
Picture
So too, on the outskirts of what is less a town than a motley collection of mismatched streets, you cannot help but be struck by the number of abandoned homes and businesses (700+ in fact), often standing alone in vacant lots against a backdrop of monster hotels. The cause is a 50% population drop since the 1960s, and the lack of a realistic recovery plan. You may wonder where the residents of the remaining shacks have gone. You won’t see them, and the people left over seem somewhat tired and worn, as if dependent on the next wave of seasonal visitors to wind them up again.
Picture
Casino Niagara
Niagara is an enigma, a place of paradox. She has dual citizenship, and on either side of the Canadian-American border the chasm between tourists and locals is about as deep as the gorge itself.
Get this article as a GPS-guided app from
Picture
At any given moment you can find all kinds of weird exhibits and activities to pass the time on Clifton Hill, from the famous Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum to the Moving Theater to limited engagements such as Wigan's Micro-miniatures, a display you can only see through a 400x microscope. How long each attraction holds your kids’ attention is subjective, so you may want to consider discounted flex combo packages. Wizards’ Golf is a climate-controlled, wheelchair-accessible miniature golf course – one of the largest in North America and one of the newest attractions in Niagara Falls. It’s also one of the best. A mystical, intriguing, glow-in-the-dark world of fantasy will enchant you, and no two holes are alike. If you enjoy a great challenge among good company (wizards, trolls, fairies, and dragons), you’ll get your money’s worth here.
Picture
In warm weather, both the Canadian and American towns are over-run with sightseers and impossibly crowded. On the off-season, the streets are somewhat bleak, and despite the bright lights and gaudy painted frontage of popular attractions, there is a kind of faded grey emptiness to the in-between spaces. You get the impression that everyone who works at this great pantomime is either unnaturally young or significantly old: the absence of lifeblood in the middle range is striking.
Picture
Picture

Nevertheless, whatever the weather, there’s always action within the walls of the town’s two casinos. Casino Niagara is slotted into the Crowne Plaza-Sheraton hotel complex, while Fallsview sprawls the length of the downtown mall. With 150 tables and 4,500 slot machines between them, these vast adult arcades excite the senses, day and night. Clearly, cash runs through this town like water, but there is no reservoir. Rather, it rushes over the city like the cataract, and away again, down the river.
Picture
There is no shortage of metaphors to describe Niagara – she’s a puzzle constructed of riddles, fashioned from legend, built on hearsay, fuelled by invention, marred by broken dreams. She’s a showgirl without her makeup – natural and artificial, mysterious and obvious, handsome and tiresome. But if melancholy and nostalgia is a mix you enjoy, then drive on down to the waterfall and take a good, long drink.
Picture
ONTARIO, CANADA
0 Comments

Win a Self-Guided City Walk - in New York City!

3/23/2016

0 Comments

 
UPDATE March 2017: This CONTEST has now ended, but watch this space for similar contests from hundred wunders in the future. Thanks for participating and congratulations to all the winners!
Picture
GPSmyCity.com publishes iOS and Android apps featuring self-guided city walks in 700+ cities worldwide. Once installed on your GPS-enabled mobile phone or tablet, their apps turn your mobile device into a personal tour guide. With over 5,500 city walks available, GPSmyCity.com is the largest travel portal of its kind. Each city walk offers a precise route map guiding you to the famous attractions, monuments and interesting sights as well as hidden gems; as if you had brought along a local guide. No need to hop on a tour bus or join a tour group!

HOW TO ENTER

To win a free app promo code, find a blog post @hundred wunders about New York City and tweet @juniorange using the button below the post.
That's all there is to it!

Picture
Lose Yourself Without Getting Lost
Picture
@hundred wunders and GPSmyCity.com are thrilled to bring you this awesome opportunity to win a free city walks app for New York City. Included is a 2-hour audio guide dedicated to the Highline!
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    The author is an artist, writer, and instructional designer with an overactive imagination and too little time. Ceci en est un exemple...
    ​

    RSS Feed


    Pssst... want to advertise your travel guide or products on hundred wunders? Contact us!

    Picture
    Follow

    Categories

    All
    Amusement
    Architecture
    Art
    Audio
    Britain
    Canada
    Desert
    Forest
    History
    Island
    Mountain
    Ocean
    Opinion
    Park
    Photography
    River
    Shopping
    Town
    Transportation
    United States

    Picture

    Picture

    Recommended

    Environnement-voyages
    en français
    GPSmyCity.com
    Trip.com
    Ask Wonder
    ​
    The Blind Blogger
    ​
    Women & Wanderlust
    ​Streetfilms
    Grist
    Junkculture
    Rough Guides
    Off the Beaten Path
    Tom Hussey
    Griffintown Tour
    ​


    ​
    Google
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
ⓙⓤⓝⓘⓞⓡⓐⓝⓖⓔ