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Best of the Upstate: Furniture Shopping in Hudson
Whether you’re in the 50 percent of the population who loves thrill of browsing antiques, or you’re in the other half and won’t step foot in a store until your sheets have worn to sheers and your coffee table is on its last leg, I’ve got some good news: Hudson, one of upstate New York’s fastest-growing travel destinations, has become a shopper’s paradise. Furniture shopping in Hudson is easy, with more than a dozen independent shops in a span of less than four miles. From sofas and bedrooms sets to soft goods like blankets and pillows, hand-thrown ceramic bowls, original art, and Asian décor, you’ll find it in Hudson. Note:…
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The Forgotten Island Chronicles of Minna Anthony Common
On sparsely populated Wellesley Island—part of the Thousand Islands archipelago, on the New York side of the St. Lawrence River—you can drive for miles without seeing a home or a business. If you’re like most visitors, you might point your car down the long, tree-lined path on the southeastern tip, into Wellesley Island State Park, stop at the Minna Anthony Common (MAC) Nature Center, check the trail map, and head out for a scenic hike. As you step onto River Trail, which winds along the water, you might give only a passing thought to the facility, which sounds like it could have been named for a wealthy benefactor. But the…
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Weekend Coastal Maine Road Trip
I’ve been wanting to write a story on birding ecotours and conservation for over a year. When I finally placed the story with National Geographic (look for it in September), I had a great excuse to go on a puffin cruise—something else I’ve been wanting to do for eons. But it was already late July, and puffin tours are usually booked in advance for the summer. In a huge stroke of luck, I found a tour with availability in five days. The problem: I didn’t have much time to plan my trip. Knowing that even a hastily planned coastal Maine weekend road trip was better than none at all, I…
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WITS Virtual Tour: Prague Jewish Quarter
Of all the virtual tours I participated in during the 2021 Women in Travel Summit, touring the Prague Jewish Quarter was the most touching and culturally resonant. Focusing on just a tiny portion of one of Europe’s most scenic waterfront cities, it offered an up-close look at life during the Holocaust, and how the city today remembers this dark chapter of its history. Our guide for the tour was Nikola Moustafa of Prague City Adventures, who walked us through some basic history: Jews first came to Prague around the tenth century. It didn’t take long for violent riots to break out, and the new residents to be ushered into a…
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WITS Virtual Tour: Phoenix, Arizona
For all the traveling I’ve done, I’ve yet to spend much time in the Southwest. Sure, I visit my sister’s family in San Antonio every year, and I’ve taken a couple trips to Southwest-adjacent Salt Lake City, but that’s been the extent of it. Yet I’ve had dozens of Southwestern destinations—from Santa Fe to White Sands National Park, Sedona to the Grand Canyon—on my must list for years. What this means: it’s high time I get out there and start exploring. And a good place to start is Phoenix, which lies along the Salt River. The first of my virtual tours at this year’s Women in Travel Summit came courtesy…
Writing the waves of coastal travel
