Add the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898 to the list of historical events I don’t know enough about. I would “remember the Maine” if only I could. I know the incident triggered the Spanish-American War.…
I first meet Gertrude Stein during my Pablo Picasso phase, and my Hemingway phase, and my F. Scott Fitzgerald phase and then I come across her in Bryant Park in New York and I see her resting at Père-Lachaise in…
No matter how many houses of the rich and famous I visit (with the George Eastman house in Rochester, N.Y. probably being my favorite), I still feel a little strange traipsing through someone else’s home, no matter how long ago…
The frustration of any trip—especially one taken during peak tourism times—is waiting on line. If only all major world attractions had a FastPass, where I could return at a designated hour and cut right to the front of the line.…
Not every vacation can be a jungle adventure in the Amazon. Sometimes, a traveler just needs to get away and for the trip to be unthinkingly stress-free. For a quick escape, I tend to choose Florida. It’s all too easy…
Florida features so many destinations, and hotels are so numerous, that making a choice can be overwhelming. Even narrowing down a list of prospective hotels can be daunting. At the high end, chances are you won’t really go wrong no…
The Brawny Sherpa and I wander aimlessly through Captiva Island, Fla., having ditched our rental car somewhere with the optimistic hope that we’ll remember its color, make and license number when it’s time to retrieve it. This is a day…
Never super-keen on the Gulf coast of Florida for no particularly discernible reasons except Miami, Palm Beach, and Amelia Island, I headed there for a quick stay on Marco Island with the Brawny Sherpa before pointing north to a family…
On a trip to the west coast of Florida, the Brawny Sherpa and I are staying on Sanibel Island when we decide to take a little road trip to nearby Captiva. This is the most basic of vacations featuring beaches,…
