Some days just call for steakhouses and martinis, especially if the nights are growing longer and the world is growing darker. Why not celebrate the night? My new favorite place for a walk back to the ’70s—when the grownups dressed for dinner and drank many martinis—is the sadly underrated Blackstones Steakhouse on East Main Street…
Category: United States
Extended Stay Okay
To the extent that I actually contemplate extended stay hotels, I think of the higher-end ones as refuges for corporate sorts on months-long assignments. This may be a branding problem, or it may just be me, but when I think of low-budget extended stays, I think “welfare motel.” Sometimes when traveling, though, I really need…
Why My Great Adventure Is Only So-So
On a trip to New Jersey for a 50th wedding anniversary of some cousins, the Brawny Sherpa and I decide to spend a day at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson with all three Youthful Adventurers. We’ll gladly pay the price of admission in exchange for a blended-family bonding experience—and to reward the youthful ones…
Graveyard Art Westhampton: Earthly or Angelic
At Westhampton Cemetery, at Station Road and Montauk Highway in Westhampton, N.Y., I am struck by the contrast of artistic embellishments on old gravemarkers: corporeal skulls suggesting, to me, the deceased’s present existence, or smiling angels with wings, indicating the gone one’s aspiration. The place, these stones, the occupants continue to inspire. Consider, for instance,…
Graveyards in October: Sellecks Corners Cemetery
Need a reason to take a drive through Pound Ridge, N.Y.? Head to Sellecks Corners Cemetery at the corner of Barnegat Road and 124 right over the border in New Canaan, Conn. Marvel at the little Methodist church there that opened to worshippers in 1851. Enjoy the peacefulness of the adjoining graveyard, and look out…
Heightened Awareness
I am in New York City on a day when politicians ride the subways to reassure people that there’s no threat posed by terror. I pass through Grand Central Station at a time when there seem to be a lot of police around and other enforcement personnel –not sure whether they’re federal, state, or possibly…
Meeting Montana on My Terms
Planning a visit to the Ranch at Rock Creek ~Sponsored post~ The first time I meet Montana, I am seated on my duffle bag at the side of railroad tracks in Havre. My cross-country romance with trains has dumped me, unapologetically, in the hot summer sun with very little notice. The train can’t make it…
Need a Pumpkin? Pick Harvest Moon
Living in North Salem, N.Y., I just love seeing the party every weekend whenever I need to drive by Harvest Moon on Hardscrabble Road. Pumpkins, hayrides, country music, apple picking, coffee, donuts, pies, plants, and now New York-made spirits are available here, along with a big dose of fun. Yes, the parking lot is seemingly…
Prospect Mountain Summit: An Easy Ascent or Less So
What to Do on a Lake George Vacation Things I think about on my way up Prospect Mountain in Lake George, N.Y.: the state of man in nature, the state of nature in nature, preservation versus conservation, getting to the top, whether the brakes will fail on the way down, whether it’s fair to drive…
Massacre on the Shore
I am not exactly looking for the American Revolution as I walk from a parking lot on Long Beach Island, N.J. toward “Old Barney,” the lighthouse at its northern end. A plaque near the walk toward the light house tells the story of a not particularly positive development during the War of Independence. After having…