Travel Games

One of my favorite travel games is chess. Okay, it's just one of my favorite games, and I have three-ounce set with a cloth board, so I can take it anywhere. The last time I used it was in the town center of a small pueblo in the Andes Mountains. The games below are primarily car travel games, but can be adapted to other forms of travel too. Have fun!

Educational Travel Games

Some games get you thinking, learning something, or at least showing off what you know. Here's one for the family. Have the driver, or another designated host, asks questions like "What temperature does water boil at?" or "What's the Capital of Columbia?" or "With sales tax of 7.6%, what's the total cost of a $23 sweater?" For the kids to love this one, you may have to pay twenty-five cents for each right answer.

Another car travel game starts with someone looking out the window and randomly selecting an object. Players then try to imagine a creative way to make money with it. Old barns become places to advertise, cows are rented out for kids parties, and an house that is being moved becomes a traveling discotheque.

"Red Car" Travel Games

Guess how many red cars will pass in the next ten miles or ten minutes. It can also be blue cars, trucks, or whatever everyone agrees to. It's considered bad form for the driver to slow down, letting more cars pass, so his guess will be the closest.

One classic travel game involves the alphabet. Try to spot something starting with an "a", and be the first to call it out ("apple tree!"). Since the Qs and Xes are difficult, they can be skipped. The player with the most "firsts," is the winner.

Using the radio, you can have a game in which everyone tries to be the first to call out the name of the artist when a song starts. Then change the station, so you don't have to wait through a whole song to continue the contest. In one car radio game, each player chooses a word. The player whose word is spoken (or sung) first on the radio is the winner.

Here is one you can play anywhere. Someone starts a story with a sentence or two, then each person in turn adds a line to the story. It can get personal, but this usually creates a story that has everyone laughing.

Try one of these on your next trip, especially if you have a car full of kids. They are easy, and unlike my chess game, you don't need anything but a few people to play these travel games.

Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. For travel stories, tips and a free e-book, visit: http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com

---

About the Author: One of my favorite travel games is chess. Okay, it's just one of my favorite games, and I have three-ounce set with a cloth board, so I can take it anywhere. The last time I used it was in the town center of a small pueblo in the Andes Mountains. The games below are primarily car travel games, but can be adapted to other forms of travel too. Have fun!

Secrets Behind Old Glory Revealed Part 2

Nathan T. Lynch

E-mail:webmaster@synergizemarketing.com

The famous name of ‘Old Glory’ was originated in 1831 by Captain William Driver, a shipmaster from Salem, Massachusetts. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard his ship the ‘Charles Doggett’, his friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened and waved in the ocean breeze for the first time, he cried out "Old Glory!" By the time the Civil War broke out, just about everybody in and around Nashville, where he had retired in 1837, recognized Captain Driver's banner as "Old Glory." William Driver's grave rests in the old Nashville City Cemetery and is one of only three places authorized by an act of Congress where the Flag of the United States can be flown 24 hours a day - quite an honor.

Although schools around the country had already been celebrating the American flag’s ‘birthday’ on June 14 every year for over 30 years, it wasn’t until August 3, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th as National Flag Day.

During the War of 1812, a young lawyer and amateur poet named Francis Scott Key wrote what later became the United State’s National Anthem. While witnessing the final enemy attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, he became greatly inspired by the flag’s survival through the bombings and fires. He wrote his verses on the back of a letter he had in his pocket and after his brother had the words published, it immediately became popular across the country. In October of that year, a Baltimore actor sang Mr. Key’s song in a public performance calling it "The Star-Spangled Banner". History had been made and finally, on March 3, 1931, his song was adopted as our national anthem.

As a child growing up in the United States, you learned to pledge your allegiance to the American flag. But did you know, that after all the current controversy about omitting the ‘Under G-d’ part, that the original pledge went like this: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands - one nation indivisible - with liberty and justice for all." Ironic, isn’t it? But true nonetheless. That original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy on September 8, 1892. Bellamy was a circulation manager in Rome, New York and printed those words on thousands of leaflets that were sent out to public schools across the country. Then, on October 12, 1892, more than 12 million children recited the Pledge of Allegiance in their morning classes, thereby beginning a mandatory school-day ritual.

Need eagle with the american flag? Check out American flag for all of your old glory needs.
Copyright ArticleBar.com All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Finally! Secrets Behind Old Glory Revealed

Nathan T. Lynch

E-mail:webmaster@synergizemarketing.com

If you are an American and grew up attending school in the United States, you were taught the lesson of how Betsy Ross sewed together the first American flag in 1776. But how many recall exactly what the stripes, the stars and the colors represent?

Believe it or not, the colors red, white, and blue didn’t have any significance when the flag was adopted in 1777. The Continental Congress actually passed a resolution on July 4, 1776 which authorized a committee to come up with a seal for the United States of America. That committee was instructed to create a design that reflected the Founding Fathers' beliefs of values and independence for the new Nation. It wasn’t until the seal was completed and approved on June 20, 1782 that the national colors and symbols on the American flag had any defined meaning. The explanation for the flag’s design, taken from a book written by the House of Representatives during that time, is as follows:

* The Stripes – White to denote purity and innocence – Red to represent hardiness and valor
* The Field – Blue for vigilance, perseverance and justice
* The Star - “…a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial; the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."

In 1777, the number of stripes was congressionally mandated to stand at thirteen to represent the original thirteen colonies, however, designs throughout America still varied greatly. A hero of the War of 1812 and Naval Officer named Samuel Chester Reid got together with New York Congressman Peter H. Wendover in 1818 and initiated a bill to establish uniformity for the design of the American flag. Samuel Reid was the person who actually suggested that stars be added as new states were admitted into the Union. That bill was passed on April 4, 1818.

Over the years, there have been twenty-seven versions of the flag. The current design dates to July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the United States of America’s 50th state.

You should fly your flag from sunrise to sunset, especially on suggested holidays and any additional state and local holidays, but only if weather permits:

New Year's Day, January 1 * Inauguration Day, January 20 * Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, 3rd Mon in Jan * Lincoln's Birthday, February 12 * Washington's Birthday, 3rd Mon in Feb * Patriots Day, * Armed Forces Day, 3rd Sat in May * Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), last Mon in May Flag Day, June 14 * Independence Day, July 4th * Labor Day, 1st Mon in Sep
Constitution Day, September 17 * Columbus Day, October 12th * Navy Day, October 27 * Veterans Day, November 11 * Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thu in November.

Need American flag clipart? Then check out American flag for all of your old glory needs.
Copyright ArticleBar.com All Rights Reserved Worldwide