The relationship between America and Cuba is more than a little complicated. For many years, the U.S. government did not allow Americans to visit the communist country. Relationships with Cuba usually depend on the person in the White House. Former Presidents Obama and Trump notoriously had different ways of approaching that matter.
Technically, you can still visit Cuba, but there are complicated restrictions in place and be sure to check them before you book your tickets, because they may change at any time and with each change of administration of course.
Palisades Amusement Park
The Palisades Amusement Park, unlike some of the other parks we have seen, was successful for many years. The park was located along the steep cliffs on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River and opened in 1908. The Palisades offered visitors many rides and attractions, including an enormous 600X400-foot saltwater pool, which was the biggest in the world and the Cyclone, one of the biggest roller coasters around.
The park had a slump in attendance in the 1950’s and decided to start offering rock & roll shows to attract visitors. They also had the clever idea of advertising on the back of comic books. These moves made the park immensely popular and by 1967, the city of Cliffside Park decided to rezone the site for housing to stop the traffic jams and congestion in the area. The park was closed for good in 1971 and an apartment building was built on the site.
Jantzen Beach
In 1928, a 123-acre amusement park was opened on an island in the middle of the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon. Jantzen Beach was the biggest amusement park in America in those days. The park included a famous merry-go-round that was showcased at the 1904 World’s Fair, four swimming pools, a train, a funhouse and a wooden roller coaster called “Big Dipper.”
The park was immensely successful in the 1940s and managed to remain open until Labor Day 1970. These days, the less entertaining Jantzen Beach shopping mall resides there.
Pig Beach
There is an unhabituated island in the Bahamas which has earned the nickname Pig Beach, due to the feral pigs who live on it. No one knows how the pigs got to the island, but there is a legend that says that they were brought there as food for sailors who never returned. The beach used to be relatively unknown, but these days with Twitter and Instagram, it has become a hot spot for tourists.
Unfortunately, the growing number of visitors means more food for the pigs and the change in diet has led to some deaths. Less than half of the original pigs remain, and they will soon be gone if this continues.
The Dead Sea
Even though the Dead Sea in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine (which is actually a lake) is still around, it looks nothing like it used to and will most likely never return to its former glory. The extremely salty body of water is growing smaller at a frightening pace. Water levels are dropping at the rate of over three feet per year in the past several years. The banks of the lake lie at the lowest land elevation on Earth causing the shifting shorelines to hit all-time lows.
Also, the surrounding area’s need of water leaves less and less freshwater outlets that the lake needs to maintain its water level. The Dead Sea may disappear completely in the not so distant future.