There is nothing like a wholesome day at an amusement park all decked out for Halloween to make one wonder about the future of civilization. A beautiful, sunny fall day combined with a theme park dressed for frightening makes for the strangest of adventures at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J. At night, skeletons…
ISO Lemon Drop
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…
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…
To Oktoberfest
Although Oktoberfest started in Munich in 1810 as a wedding celebration, beer festivals now seem to be universal. —Lori Tripoli Planning a trip to Germany? You might also be interested in these posts: Tracking the Beatles in Hamburg Reason to Visit Hamburg: WWII Bunker Transformed to Green Energy Plant When One Place Leads to Another
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…
Paris, Incidentally
I prepare for a trip the way I get ready for everything else: by reading, talking about it, watching movies. I don’t always need the intensity of historical accounts; something light sometimes suffices. I just like to see where I might be going. So I marvel at a frothy spy movie starring Kevin Costner—3 Days…