Amusement Park Politics

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,…

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…

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…

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)…

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…

Paris: First Photo

Paris becomes Paris right away. I don’t have to go looking for it; wonder where the images I’ve seen in other pictures are. Right away I know my place, Paris, and that it’s the right one. —Lori Tripoli Headed to…

Not Shopping

My riffs on street art and graffiti in Germany, Italy, New York City, Mexico, Ecuador, and Russia are not meant to be exhaustive catalogs of either street art or graffiti in any of these places. Instead, they are meant as…