Roads Less Traveled

OK, so you want to visit Champagne country and you only have one day to do it. That’s enough, if you limit your itinerary to Reims, in the heart of the region. Here’s how: Continue reading →

For most Americans, their first trip abroad includes a mandatory visit to the City of Light. I just left Paris a few days ago, and I am happy to say that, contrary to what you may hear on the news, it isn’t yet a radical Islamic colony bent on killing infidels like you and I.  It’s actually relatively safe to travel there, but a vacation in Paris can be a bit scary and confusing for a first-timer, so I thought I would pass along my hard-earned wisdom for those of you who’ve yet to go. Continue reading →

You have to want to go here pretty badly, because it is way off the normal routes, which whisk you up and down the Interstates without even coming close to these high-duned beaches, yet the Outer Banks do offer up some unique history and activities that make them worth a visit. If you decide to go, you’ll be presented with a plethora of tourism options, and, given the limited time most of us have for vacation, making the right choices to winnow down your activities to something manageable will prove to be a daunting task (unless you just want to sunbathe and relax, which isn’t a bad option at all). I’m here to make that job easier, and I’ve ranked the most popular activities below to help you choose:

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Many people, when visiting the Southern seaboard, will take side trips to both Savannah and Charleston, often at the same time, since they’re only about two hours apart. Both are justifiably recommended as great tourist destinations. But if you can only visit one, which should it be? Continue reading →

You can tell a lot about a town by the way they treat strangers and vacationers. I’ve only been walking around Savannah with a map and a camera for about a half-hour before two people stop to ask me if they can help with directions. It doesn’t hurt any that one of them has a nice Southern drawl as in, “Can I help y’all?” Gotta love it, and I DO love Savannah, the quintessential Deep South town. Continue reading →

The sign in front of a closed bar in Cocoa Beach says it all: “Go Away Irma, You Bitch!” In the immortal words of George Patton, you’ve gotta love such eloquence, especially when it’s bolstered by reports that potential victims of Hurricane Irma are taking matters into their own hands by calling on residents to fire aimlessly into the storm in an effort to shoot her dead, which is much to the consternation of the state authorities, not to mention those unlucky enough to be in the path of the stray bullets, but what can you expect when Florida law explicitly states that you’re supposed to be able to “Stand your ground”? Well, stand we did against Irma, at least in my home, but I can’t say it was a smart choice. Continue reading →

I’m driving up to the Carolinas with my RV trailer in tow in order to “to get away from it all”. In the context of leaving my home at the beach that might sound a bit incongruous, kind of like escaping from paradise, and yes, somehow the idea of towing a small house up a mountain is of limited appeal to me, but my wife managed to convince me that it is possible to live, and even thrive, without air conditioning or cable TV, because we will be too busy enjoying nature up in the higher and cooler elevations. Ha, Ha! Yes, I actually believed that! Continue reading →