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A River Runs Through It: Weekend Train Hopping in the Hudson Valley
Many thanks to the Metro North Transit Authority, Visit Westchester NY, and Dutchess Tourism for supplying train and event tickets and for hosting me overnight on this trip. The support of businesses and organizations such as these helps me to create useful guides for readers like you. All opinions are my own. Breakneck Ridge, Cold Spring, Garrison, Manitou. I’d glimpsed the names of these Hudson Valley towns from the window of the Metro North commuter train dozens of times before, but never did more than wonder how many miles they were to my destination in New York City. I was, I reasoned, too busy to stop at every little town…
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O’ Parrucchiano La Favorita: The Sorrento Tourist Trap That’s Worth Visiting
After a day spent maneuvering through the crowded streets of Naples, we arrived in Sorrento. The intense heat of the afternoon had given way to rain, an unrelenting downpour that flooded the sidewalks and drenched our clothes in a matter of seconds. We raced uphill, on squeaking, waterlogged sneakers, to our Airbnb to dry off and take a breath. A couple of hours and a change of clothes later, the rain had stopped, and we went out again in search of a meal. It’s not easy to choose a restaurant in Sorrento—they all seem to have some combination of warm, comforting aromas and walls covered in rustic wood or vintage…
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Join Me for Two Travel Author Readings in November
On November 13 and 14, I’ll be giving two author readings from my recent narrative travel work, in a pair of Zoom-based literary events for local organizations. This summer, I served as the 2020 Writer-in-Residence at Arrowhead, the historic home of Herman Melville in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. For two months, I had the opportunity to work, undisturbed in Melville’s study (the same one where he created his best-known work, Moby-Dick), on my writing—a rarity for writers in general, but especially travel writers. I’ll be reading from work created during the residency on November 13 at 5:00 p.m., along with Arrowhead’s fall Writer-in Residence, Kevin O’Hara. Join the Zoom meeting here. The…
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Travel Regret: San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
I don’t even bother trying to pick favorite places in Spain; there are too many to count. Likewise, I can probably count on two fingers cities and towns I haven’t found utterly absorbing. So far, one of the regions I’ve connected with the most is the north, along the coast, in Basque country. Dense, green, and full of dramatic peaks rising above lush valleys, the landscape of Basque country is breathtaking. San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is the ideal example—which is why it’s also one of my travel regrets. We drove through this protected biotope (an area of land and water earmarked for conservation) on a road trip through northern Spain.…
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Salem Is the Coolest Destination in Coastal Massachusetts—and It Has Nothing to Do with Witches
A few years ago, my husband took a new job in Eastern Massachusetts. Moving there, he assured me, as we picked our way over rocky shorelines and through heritage gardens blooming with delicate spring flowers, would be an excellent new adventure. There were dozens of historic landmarks to check out, more parks and conservation areas than we could count, and hundreds of restaurants. Besides, wasn’t it more than a little like the sandy, boulder-strewn coast of Rhode Island, where I grew up? It was—and it wasn’t. Somehow coastal Massachusetts felt more old-fashioned, more upscale, even snobbier than the coast of my home state, let alone the Land of Crocs and…
Writing the waves of coastal travel
