Authors and Places Have Their Moments in the Sun
I’ve managed to split my time in almost exactly half today—beginning at 6:30 am at the cafe, helping Sara open up and minding the register, and ending publishing my article about Beaumont Texas at 5:45 pm. Today we published an article by Elizabeth Bagley about the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, a place I was in love with when I visited in 1999.
Publishing an article about a place gives you a little window, that day, into that place. I spent some time looking at a map to determine the name of the body of water that contains the four islands (Puget Sound) and got that info from a friend on Twitter named Mika who lives in Portland.
I also spent time poring over a map of Nova Scotia, planning a trip on the hydrofoil Cat ferry for Steve Flahive, who will go north in June. I asked Skip the PR guy if they had any good breweries there, and he said no. He added that there is a distillery that makes super high test whiskey, even too strong for him to enjoy.
I’m also trying to get an idea of where to visit in Portugal, where I am looking at going to the southernmost tip, called Sagres, and over across the Algarve region, at the bottom of Europe. This will be a road trip with Sam along for the ride. I enjoyed traveling with him in England, so he’ll join me on this September trip.
May 27, 2009 @ 2:34 am
Nova Scotia does have good beer–The Granite Brewery at 245 Eglinton Ave Halifax, NS, is a nice brewpub, and Propeller Ale is available in tons of stores there (tho no brewpub).-Daphne
May 29, 2009 @ 12:43 am
I always think that my work as a writer helps to keep me curious. You have to be open to learning about so many things/places.
June 1, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
If you’re going to Portugal, you should really make sure you have time in your schedule for Sintra. The palace is excellent!!
June 1, 2009 @ 9:22 pm
You might want to check your facts before you publish your story about a city. Beaumont is about an hour east of Houston, NOT 2 hours north. Our sidewalks along Calder are being torn up in order to install giant culverts to alleviate flooding issues in the Oaks Historic District (where I live), not to make them pretty with brick pavers. You ate at a restaurant named "Easy's", NOT "Easy Street" (proprietor, Karen would not be happy). The city you visited near Village Creek was Silsbee, NOT "Silsby". You misspelled our river "Noches" instead of "Neches".As someone who reads Travel & Leisure and other travel publications on a regular basis, I found your report on Beaumont to be very provincial, and borderline racist. The misspellings and incorrect names makes me hope they didn't pay you too much to write this article. I would be embarrassed to be responsible for an item with so many problems.
June 1, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
Texas readers, thank you for informing us that we had errors in our story about Beaumont. Our bad for letting spelling errors run, but at least on the web you get a chance to fix it. My comments on the Calder Ave fix up were based on what my hosts told me, and I sense that it’s a combination of drainage and aesthetics, though that seems to annoy both of you commenters. We will get 2nd opinions of your claims and correct the story based on that information.