As we bring an end to our week-long fund-raising drive to keep the Traveler on-line, we'd like to thank the many readers who responded with donations, and make a final request to those sitting on the fence.

Here we are at the end of the Oregon Trail following a three-week drive of 2,600 miles from Independence, Missouri. This represents 500 more miles compared to the route taken by most of the pioneers, but the two of us were unable to follow many of the cross-country shortcuts favored by the emigrants.

After just wrapping up its latest star-gazing festival, the folks at Bryce Canyon National Park are inviting you back to take a closer look at the landscape on the ground. On July 30-31 the park, famous for its incredible hoodoos, will celebrate its first Geology Festival.

If you believe nature is poetry in motion, than you can understand why the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has named a poet laureate for the parkway.