Since when did camping become expensive? I live in Chicago and have spent a ridiculous amount of time researching places to camp over the Memorial Day weekend in the last two weeks. If I had planned ahead, booking a campsite would be quick and easy but we tend not to plan ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Stories
$56 A Night To Pitch A Tent? Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Since when did camping become expensive? I live in Chicago and have spent a ridiculous amount of time researching places to camp over the Memorial Day weekend in the last two weeks. If I had planned ahead, booking a campsite would be quick and easy but we tend not to plan ...Coney Island 2013: Weathering The Storm
A photo of Coney Island from May 2013
When the first structures were being built in Coney Island in the 1840s, the surrounding community was in uproar. Residents wanted to preserve the land's natural beauty. In the early 1900s, the City of New York endeavored to condemn ...Intoxicating Bend, Oregon
Who wants to move to Bend, Oregon, with me? Oh, I know what you're thinking. I already have a perfectly good place to live. Why would I need to move to a small city in Central Oregon? If you're asking yourself this question, you've probably never been to Bend, because it's ...A Creative Way To Market In-Room Porn: No Malware! No Spyware! No Viruses!
The pretty young woman in a miniskirt on my TV screen had an interesting sales pitch that caught my attention.
"Access your in-room adult movie selections," she purred. "Where there's no spyware, no malware and no viruses!"
Here, on my television screen at an inn in ...It's Still Snowing Somewhere In Oregon
When you think of wintery weather, Oregon might not be the first state that comes to mind. It certainly wasn't for me until I visited snowed-under Crater Lake National Park and other snowy, high altitude spots in the Beaver State last week. It was 76 degrees and sunny on the ...Video Of The Day: A Spanish Roadtrip
"A Spanish Roadtrip" from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.
Want to get a taste of Spanish food, hear Flamenco music and see beautiful footage of the Spanish city and countryside? Then take a few minutes to watch this beautiful video from The Perennial Plate. Cut together with ...
Recovery Vacations A Hit With Soldiers Returning From War
Troop Rewards provides recovery vacations to returning U.S. soldiers and their families who served overseas. To do that, Troop Rewards relies on hotels and private vacation property owners to donate unused inventory, sort of like a hotel might release a number of rooms to ...Airlines Use Loopholes To Avoid Paying For Damaged Bags
If an airline damages a piece of your luggage, surely they will pay to repair or replace it, right? Don't be so sure. I've been very lucky over the years in checking bags but my luck ran out on a flight to Chicago from San Francisco over the weekend, when I found out that ...The Wandering Writer: A Tour through Inner Northeast Portland with Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed wants to show me the "dog bus" – but first we have to find it.
We walk along her quiet residential streets in Northeast Portland trying to track down the intriguing vehicle, my imagination running wild. Are we about to free a group of shackled ...Clermont State Park, New York: When The Scenery Changes
The traffic of New York City is behind me now. The trees to each side are becoming increasingly taller; the sky is growing darker. We're heading up to a friend's house in a small town upstate called Germantown. He moved out of Queens and up there a few years ago with his ...An Odyssey Ending For The Backseat Atlas
Before a 15-year-old Tim Gravenstreter hopped on a Trailways bus for his first solo trip to the Windy City, his father gave him a piece of advice he still follows.
"Don't stand on a street corner looking at a map trying to figure out where you are," the elder ...Please Don't Smoke Or Steal The Signs In Weed, California
I'm not a smoker but I can't resist unusual town names so when I saw an exit off of Interstate 5 in Northern California for a town called Weed, I pulled over, eager to find out how the town got its name. This being California, I imagined that some hippies moved into the town ...Travel Writing Legend Jan Morris To Appear Onstage In New York May 8
Legendary travel writer Jan Morris is making a very rare visit to the U.S. next week to appear in an onstage conversation with me in New York City on Wednesday, May 8. The Wales-based author of more than 30 books, ranging from the masterful essay collections "Journeys," ...An Interview With Paul Theroux, Author Of 'The Last Train To Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari'
After writing eight travel books that took him around Britain on foot, through the Pacific on a kayak, across Latin America, Europe and Asia on trains and up and down Africa by his wits over the last 30 years, one might think that Paul Theroux would be hard pressed to find ...24 Almost Perfect Hours In San Francisco
A pair of hairy middle-aged Chia Pets are blasting Wham's "Careless Whisper" from a new age boom box. A cluster of Latino immigrants is fishing and drinking cans of Tecate just steps away from a male paddleball player in a tight speedo with a Taliban-style beard and his long ...Saying 'No' To Add-Ons At The Car Rental Counter
I'm a rental car company's worst customer. I always refuse all the additional insurance coverage options, the pre-paid fuel option and the toll pass. I bring my own GPS and car seats for my little boys, I tend to say, "no thanks" when they tell me I can upgrade for a fee, ...Fiddles, Bagpipes And Empty Beaches On Cape Breton's Cabot And Ceilidh Trails
After driving for miles on a dirt road through the pitch darkness and seeing no signs of life anywhere, I was certain we were lost. It was a perfect early August evening in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and we were looking for the Thursday night square dance in Glencoe Mills, a ...Video Of The Day: Coconut A Million Ways
"Coconut: Nose to Tail" from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.
The Perennial Plate folks are always impressing me. This video examines the role the coconut plays in the life and culture of the people of Sri Lanka. After spending the day with a family of eight on a coconut ...
UK Passenger Jet Barely Misses UFO
They were on their final approach to Scotland's Glasgow airport when an unidentified object passed within 300 feet of the Airbus A320 passenger jet. "Er yeah we just had something pass underneath us quite close [1255:30] and nothing on TCAS have you got anything on in our ...Green-Wood Cemetery: I Know Why The Free Bird Sings
After spending two years in Austin, I moved back to New York City in October and into the relatively elusive neighborhood of Green-Wood Heights Brooklyn, directly across from the Green-Wood Cemetery. My first thought was, "At least the neighbors are quiet."
I spent my ...
