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We like history and this iphone app is about that and much more and beside that it is presidents day …

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Novato company releases president-themed iPhone travel app

A Novato company has released a new iPhone application just in time for Presidents Day that features more than 1,000 presidential tourist attractions in every state of the union.

RoadsideAmerica.com’s Roadside Presidents app includes traditional sites like Ford’s Theatre Museum and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, as well as off beat attractions, such as a statue of Ronald Reagan eating a potato pancake in Doylestown, Penn. and a sporting goods store in Sparks, Nev. with 14 animatronic U.S. president dummies.

“We don’t claim to be presidential historians,” said Doug Kirby, a Novato resident and the company’s publisher. “We’re more taking a view of what would a family
Doug Kirby of RoadsideAmerica.com shows a map page from his new app, Roadside Presidents, in his home office in Novato, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. (IJ photo/Alan Dep) Alan Dep
have fun seeing and get some education out of.”

Kirby runs the five-person company with his longtime friend, Ken Smith, his wife, Susan Kirby, and contributions from Mike Wilkins, of Albany, as well as developers.

Kirby, Smith and Wilkins have known each other for more than three decades and co-authored two books: “Roadside America,” published in 1986, and the 1992 follow-up, “New Roadside America.” The friends have taken too many road trips together around the United States to count, gathering information for their books and website.

The company’s 2010 app Roadside America was iTunes’ No. 1 travel application in January 2010 and a staff favorite in 2011, Kirby said.

“Roadside is a handy app to have if you are into checking out random roadside oddities when you are exploring different areas, especially if you are on a road trip,” user Keyboard Stories wrote in an iTunes store review. “I love that the app locates where you are and then gives you a list of all the local spots to see, telling you how many miles away they are. … You can also read tips by other users, and see or submit photos. I dig it!”

Roadside Presidents, which costs $2.99, has a similar “Near Me” feature that lets travelers look up nearby attractions based on their location. Users planning a trip or just seeking interesting tidbits on our nation’s leaders, can also look up entries by city or president.

And the attractions aren’t limited to presidential tributes and sites our chief executives have visited — first ladies, presidential siblings, assassins and would-be assassins also get their day in the sun.

“We have something in every state — Idaho’s coming up short, but even Alaska has interesting things,” Kirby said. “Warren Harding ate crab meat in Alaska that made him sick enough that by the time he was …
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