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OREGON
Portland emanates a pleasant, small-city feel, both for its well-preserved Beaux Arts
architecture and walkable urban core, as well as its easygoing atmosphere. Most of the
city's major attractions are located within close walking distance of each other on the
short city blocks. Portland is an excellent spot for casual visitors to slack around
for weeks at a time, with a wealth of good diners, microbreweries, clubs, bookstores
and coffee houses. Its location, on a deep part of the Willamette River, just 78 miles
from the Pacific and surrounded by fertile valleys, made it a perfect trading port, and
it grew quickly, replacing its clapboard houses with ornate facades and Gothic gables.
Portland is a folksy city, smartly decorated with statues and murals.
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| Disarmingly pleasant and easygoing, Salt Lake City is a great relaxing place to vacation. And
its setting is superb, towered over by the Wasatch Front, which marks the dividing line between
the comparatively lush eastern and the bone-dry western halves of northern Utah. These two extremes
offer great hiking or cycling in summer and fall and, in winter, some of the world's best skiing.
Salt Lake City's bid to raise its international profile by hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics resulted
in a major building program both in the city itself and in the surrounding ski valleys. Salt Lake
City offers the chance to switch gears and slow down, enjoy its unhurried pace and the positive energy
and lack of pretense of its people. It can make for a surprisingly enjoyable experience. |
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| History and travel often go hand in hand. Those interested in
the Revolutionary War era know that Virginia was a virtual who's-who of founding fathers. Four of the first five
U.S. presidents, in fact, were from Virginia and most of them, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson being the
best known, have left behind impressive estates. The natural beauty of the Shenandoah region and some quality oceanfront beaches in the
Tidewater area, attest to that, but to go to this state without taking at least some notice of its past is almost
impossible. In Virginia, you'll best create your own vacation memories by moving among the memories of what came before. |
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