Composting Curbside Makes Portland Proud
In Portland, Oregon, the trash trucks no longer rumble through the neighborhoods every week. That’s because the city has embarked on a new way of dealing with trash, instead they pick up composted food waste mixed with yard trimmings weekly and now do half as many regular trash pick ups […]
Gifts of iPhones Come With a Catch
Last Friday I joined a group of travel writers on a sort of scavenger hunt, photography/video contest, we made our way from Denver to Keystone Colorado and created a trail of evidence to show what we did. It was a fun day–a tour of the zoo, of Red Rocks concert […]
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars: The Pulsing, Enervating Beat that Sweeps Us Up in Dance
Five men with the same five instruments can produce diametrically opposite music. I thought about this last night when we listened to Sierra Leone’s All Star Refugee Band at the Iron Horse and contrasted the effect of their music to other groups playing the same instruments. Take the guy with […]
Two Little Citizens Coming to Visit
What a treat! Today I go up to my daughter and son-in-law’s house and pick up two delightful companions for the day. Sofie, age 3, and Nathan who is 7. These guys are coming with me while we hit the farmer’s market, then I have a lot of fun things […]
Strictly Sexual: Can Women Hire Out their Sex Lives to Poolboys?
On this heated night with fans awhirlin’ I streamed a movie from Netflix, it was called Strictly Sexual. The premise goes back to the beginning of time, one of the six original plots known to drama. Two women meet two men, confuse them with gigalos and then proceed to install […]
Mutton and Mead: No Need to Put On Your Tights
Last year I decided I had to wear a costume, so I visited a thrift shop and found a gown that sort of looked like something a monk might wear. Then I grabbed my son in law’s big gold cross, and my outfit was complete. I was ready to step […]
Waking Up Alone, and Delighted
I woke up with one of my ears still plugged up from my three days at Keystone’s high altitude. But I sprang out of bed because I realized, wow, nobody else is in the house–they’ve all moved out! Seven years of living with a family had meant that I never, […]
TBEX Energizes and Exhausts: So Much to Do!
I’ve had a great time meeting with fellow travel writers here but the 9299 altitude over the two days has taken its toll. I am so dried out that I have to drink every hour, resulting in waking up so often it’s making me feel a little crazy. I can’t […]
Clear Creek County’s Gold Mining Era Sites Are a Step Back in Time
We took a long leisurely route from Denver to Keystone resort, a bunch of bloggers all wearing yellow wristbands identified as team yellow. We had photos to shoot and QR codes to scan with our next stop. Between the Denver Zoo, a restored 1875 mining town hotel, a narrow gauge […]
Tips for My Fellow Travel Website Publishers
How to make more money with your website… a talk to travel bloggers at the TBEX show. I have made a full time living from our website, GoNOMAD.com since 2005. I know many of you work hard at your sites and want to do the same. I spent two years […]
Peter Heller’s New Book, The Dog Stars, Is Going to be Big
Peter Heller is on the verge of something big. His first novel, The Dog Stars, is coming out in August and it’s one of Knopf’s big books for the season. The book’s been called The Road meets a River Runs Through It, it’s a post apocalyptic story set in a […]
Travel Bloggers Converge in the Rockies and I”ll be There
I’m in that state that only comes when you’ve just gotten home from a trip and another looms tomorrow morning, starting at 4 am. Ugh. An early flight made a little easier because Bradley is so easy vs. Boston or New York. Tomorrow’s destination is Denver, and on Thursday I’ll […]
Catching the Island Spirit in a Quiet Cove
Chick Stapleton was born on the island, and thirteen years ago she started her business renting kayaks and guiding, when she was just 21. Today, Island Spirit Kayak boasts a fleet of 50 boats that can accommodate 64 paddlers, and she also rents out paddleboards. She’s successful enough to spend […]
Catching up with Martha’s Vineyard: Old and New
There is nothing quite as satisfying as plunking down in a seat at the top of the MV Martha’s Vineyard on a sunny Saturday bound for a weekend on the island. You’ve managed to park the car, taken the seven-mile bus, and now the it’s just you the happy crowd […]
A Visit to a Place I Once Felt Like I Owned
This weekend I’m headed for a destination that once was a big part of my life. For forty-five years, Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard was where our family spent their vacations, then for the last eight years or so it became my workplace. I used to go to the island about […]
Few Mass Residents As Against Individual Mandate as Its Creator
In Massachusetts, we have a distinction that we all can be proud of. Of all the US states, we have the highest number of citizens with health insurance. And the individual mandate, requiring us all to buy it or face a tax penalty, raises nary a peep among us. Go […]
Mutton & Mead Fest to Bring Olde England to Turners June 23-24
Have you put the Mutton and Mead Medieval Festival on your June calendar? Last year I wrote enthusiastically about the experience of removing one’s watch and stowing the cellphone in order to fully immerse myself in England during the 1200s. Last June more than 2000 people made their way from […]
Screens, Screens, Now There are Screens at the Table
Screens, screens, never have their been so many screens all around us. Last week a story in the WSJ explained a new use for screens, to order food and keep kids entertained while their parents wait for food at restaurants. Now at some Chili’s Grill and Bar and Applebee’s locations […]