I don’t know how many times I visit Florida’s Epcot before I realize Russia and former Soviet-bloc countries are not represented in its World Showcase pavilions. France and the UK most certainly are on its map, as are Mexico, Morocco, even China. But where is Russia? Czech Republic? Latvia? It turns out that back in…
Author: BashfulAdventurer
On Lake Vacations
If I live on a lake, do I really need to vacation at a different one?, I wonder as the Brawny Sherpa, the Bonus Adventurers, and I jump into the car and head north toward Lake George, N.Y. I laughed when a Manhattan-based editor asked me whether, as a resident of a more rural part…
Greening My Road Trip
Sigh. We all know it’s less than environmentally correct to hop into the car on one of the most traffic-ridden weekends of the year, but sometimes we all just need to get away. Two environmentally cool things about my road trip to Lake George, N.Y.: Seeing a farmer’s market at a travel plaza on the…
Wacky Wednesday in Woodstock
Of the many things I like about Woodstock: It has a sense of humor about itself. —Lori Tripoli
Beaches with Something Extra
The week before Labor Day is the time of summer when everyone seems to be at the beach. My days of simply sunning are long past; now when I am seeking a beach vacation, in addition to wide swaths of smooth white sand and swimmable (and preferably warm) water, I look for beaches with something…
Paris as Protagonist
The City of Light plays a leading role in the 2013 film, Le Week-End, about a long-married British couple celebrating—or, at least, observing—an anniversary. It’s sort of a Before Midnight with a slightly older couple (Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan) as more annoying characters. The wife seems not to care for the easygoing complacency of…
Signs of Summer Down the Shore
Where to stay on the Jersey Shore–or thereabouts.
August Anywhere: Beaches
Mid-Mid-August, end-of-summer, work slowdown, mind elsewhere, vacation, a break, who can concentrate? I am here, but my head is at the beach. —Lori Tripoli Planning a beach vacation? Consider these destinations: Gulf Getaway: Oasis in Condo-Land Biscayne, Largo, West My Kind of Camp: The Jersey Shore Stay in a Sandcastle on Coney Island
Life and Death at the Key West Cemetery
The Key West Cemetery is probably the first one I visit recreationally. No relatives of mine are there. I hesitate: Is this okay? Just going in to look? Appreciating the stillness, the spookiness, the peace, the quiet, the flowers? Is it wrong of me to be there just gawking? I make that first visit in…
Remembering the Maine Far from Havana
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 recall that the reason the boat exploded is perhaps a little murky. Conspiracy theories…