American Express has long offered upscale and luxury hotels through their Fine Hotels and Resorts program — booking through them gets you benefits like a room upgrade if available, late checkout, breakfast, and another benefit like a meal or spa credit. This is offered to Platinum and to Centurion cardmembers (the Centurion version usually comes […]
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Virgin America is once again offering a promotion whereby you can earn a bonus on the purchase of Elevate points. The promotion isn't quite as generous as the 80% bonus they offered in October, though you have through December 12, 2014, to purchase Elevate points with a 70% bonus.
Virgin America Elevate points ordinarily cost 5.2 cents each to purchase, so through this promotion Virgin America Elevate points can be purchased for ~3.06 cents each. You can purchase up to 20,000 points per account per calendar year, before factoring in the 70% bonus (meaning you can purchase a maximum of 34,000 points through this promotion).
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The “Blue Mustang” sculpture was created by the widely recognized artist, Luis Jiménez, whose previous works are displayed in numerous museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Standing 32 feet tall and molded from polychromed fiberglass, the mustang is painted a vibrant blue with red, glowing neon eyes. Meant to represent the “wild” spirit of the old American West, Jiménez installed the glowing eyes as homage to the neon workshop he worked in as a youth. These glowing eyes have earned the sculpture the nickname "Blucifer."
The sculpture was commissioned in 1993, two years prior to the opening of the airport it stands outside of, but delays postponed its completion. Among these delays was the tragic death of the artist in 2006, when a 9,000 pound portion of the “Blue Mustang” sculpture broke loose and severed one of the artist's arteries. His sons completed the remaining work.
Finally in 2008, the mustang was installed at the entrance to the airport, much to the dismay of the residents of Denver. Public opinion has vilified the artwork with calls from many quarters to have it removed to a less prominent location. City officials have postponed any attempt to remove the work until after 2013 so that residents and visitors can grow accustomed to the statue in hopes that public opinion will soften over time.
Opened in 1923, Indiana's rustic theme park, Rose Island was a popular attraction for summer vacationers chasing after all manner of early 20th century fun, but the good times only lasted for a little over a decade when the park was destroyed by a flood, leaving today's haunting ruins.
The area once known as "Fern Grove," was already a popular recreation spot when entrepreneur David Rose purchased the land added some real attractions. Although the land is a peninsula, Rose renamed the area Rose Island to give it an air of exclusivity. Rose built a hotel, a swimming pool, and a wooden roller coaster in addition to a number of decorative flourishes. He also installed a tiny little zoo that held a wolf, some monkeys, and a bear named "Teddy Roosevelt." People swarmed to the island in droves, arriving to the suspended foot bridge in their motor cars, or riding a steamboat to the "islands" shore.
Not even the economic downturn of The Great Depression hurt the booming Rose Island business. It was not until the Ohio River Flood of 1937 that the amusement park was finally abandoned. The flood drowned the facilities in 10 feet of water, and by the time they receded, the damage was too great to salvage and the site was abandoned.
Today all that remains of Rose Island are the stone struts of its former footbridge, the swimming pool (which has held up remarkably well over the decades), and the crumbling remains of a stone fountain. After the original foot bridge collapsed, access to the grounds was restricted, but a new bridge was recently transplanted that allows access to the ruins.
