Located at the mouth of Hudson River, New York City became America’s main immigration entry point in the 18th century. The city was named the first capital of the United States in 1785. The first Congress met in Federal Hall on Wall Street and drafted the first Bill of Rights, as well as the Northwest Ordinance that same year.The Northwest Ordinance was the first step in expanding the United States. George Washington was inaugurated in New York in 1789. A new street grid system was put in place in the early 1820s, which mapped all the streets on the island of Manhattan. The street grid divided the city in sections in order to accommodate the immigrants that were moving into the city in large numbers.
Located at the mouth of Hudson River, New York City became America’s main immigration entry point in the 18th century. The city was named the first capital of the United States in 1785. The first Congress met in Federal Hall on Wall Street and drafted the first Bill of Rights, as well as the Northwest Ordinance that same year.The Northwest Ordinance was the first step in expanding the United States. George Washington was inaugurated in New York in 1789. A new street grid system was put in place in the early 1820s, which mapped all the streets on the island of Manhattan. The street grid divided the city in sections in order to accommodate the immigrants that were moving into the city in large numbers.
By 1850 the population of New York City was over 500,000 and by 1890 the population had grown to over 1.5 million. In 1898 Brooklyn, which was an independent city, was consolidated with Manhattan and the Bronx. At that same time the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island were created to form what is now known as the five boroughs of New York.
One of my husband's favourite places is Florida, since he is an avid golfer and likes to get away from the cold Canadian winter for his birthday in early December.For a while now we had planned to visit Orlando, but neither one of us are into theme parks. So there was the challenge for me: would we be able to visit Orlando without setting foot into Disney or Universal Studios? For someone as curious as me this was a suitable challenge and I had been doing weeks of searches on the Internet and communicating with the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau to find out about interesting destinations off the beaten p
Well, I am happy to say, we arrived back safely yesterday from our trip, and the trip itself was quite an adventure since we decided to drive from Toronto to Orlando, about 2100 km each way! Actually, the drive was not as painful as I expected. The drive through Pennsylvania and West Virginia was nice and hilly, and I particularly enjoyed coming over the ridge of the Appalachians, right where Virginia and North Carolina meet, where you get a beautiful view of the piedmont area around Winston-Salem that spreads out towards the Atlantic in front of the mountain ch
And I am even happier to say that in the 14 or so days that we spent in Orlando, not only did we get to play a lot of golf (to make my husband really happy...;) - including Mystic Dunes, Champions Gate, Royal St. Cloud Links, Hawk's Landing and Timacuan Golf and Country Club, not to mention the Walking Hall of Fame experience of the PGA Father Son Challenge at Champions Gate, but I also got to explore some really interesting places, destinations I would not have expected in Orlando and its surrounding region. I also had a chance to do an interview with GolfOrlando to get a much better idea of why Orlando is called "The Ultimate Golf Theme Park".
The next item on my off-the-beaten path agenda was a discovery of the City of Winter Park, a beautiful suburb of Orlando, reminiscent of Old European towns. I also went on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, which was an entertaining, informative and visually appealing excursion.The adrenaline revved up significantly on our next outing: a very high-speed airboat ride at Boggy Creek, that was followed up by a much lower speed swamp buggy ride in a custom-built monster truck that took us through authentic Florida landscape.
After our golf outing at the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links we enjoyed a wonderful picnic by the waterfront in sunny downtown Kissimmee. Then, on a beautiful Sunday morning we drove about an hour outside of Orlando to reach the quaint town of Mt. Dora, where I hopped on the "Herbie Express", part of the Mt. Dora - Lake Eustis Scenic Railway.
