Hiking to Phelps Lake
Photos from a cool, rainy day of hiking in Grand Teton.
All posts filed under: Heritage Travel
Posts about travels to places around the globe that reflect our shared heritage
Eating our way through New England
From Blue State Coffee in Providence, where Claire and I are enjoying a couple hours relaxation after an early morning wake-up and drive, here are some reflections on the good food found in New England on our trip. Sorry Blue State, but the best coffee we found — hands down — was at Bard Coffee in Portland, Maine. (That’s not really fair to Blue State, since neither Claire nor I are actually having coffee here…she’s into a great blueberry smoothie and I’m having a delicious iced tea, so we’ll rate them best smoothies and tea…but I digress.) We had breakfast at Bard two days in a row and our various cups of coffee and pastries were terrific. Everything is fresh and the staff is incredibly friendly. Plus, when I came in on Thursday, they had Nickel Creek’s The Fox coming out of the speakers, and on Friday, it was Old Crow Medicine Show followed by Alison Krauss and Union Station playing the great Jerry Douglas tune We Hide and Seek. How can you not love …
The most ignored building on campus (tours)
Quick Quiz: Name the most beautiful building on any college campus that student tour guides do their best to ignore. Answer: The College Chapel. (I know, the picture at the top gave it away.) Based on my experience now with 17 campus tours in the past year, colleges are doing everything possible to ignore their chapels when selling their schools to prospective students and their parents. We’ve seen it time and time again on our most recent northeast tour as we visit some of the most beautiful and well-maintained campuses this country has to offer. These schools just ooze heritage. We’ve toured an amazing adaptation of an old swimming pool into a state-of-the-art concert hall. We’ve seen an old field house turned into a lively student union. Two historic structures on one campus are under complete renovation as they become 21st century academic buildings. In every instance – no matter the school – we’re given the full fire hose of information about the reuse of these older buildings. But when we pass arguably the loveliest …
Snapshots
Snapshots (visual and otherwise) from the road, including… #1 – We all laughed when we saw the bumper sticker pictured at the top of the post in Brattleboro, VT – that hot bed of liberalism – which reads, “Caution! I don’t Brake for Right Wing Nut Jobs!” #2 – The best food in America is being served in small, independent cafes and restaurants. Our two-week streak of not eating in a chain restaurant is intact! #3 – Just about the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever eaten was made at Amy’s Bakery Arts Cafe in Brattleboro. The turkey was perfect, and the cranberry chutney and sourdough bread only made it better. #4 – After hearing about the wonderful Ragged Mountain Club in New Hampshire from our friends John and Bizzy Lane for decades, we finally made a visit and found out they were right on the money. What a great place to spend a summer! Andrew swam across the pond, making that the second body of water he’s crossed on this vacation (the first being Lake …
A Few (More) Observations from the Road
Two years ago today, I was blogging during a tour of the American Southwest and made a few short observations from the road. This year we’re touring New England and I have a few more observations to share. Observation #1: Our family tends to gravitate to the food choices in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I wrote a few days ago that we visited Pepe’s Pizza in New Haven. Today we found Lickety Split ice cream store in Williamstown, Massachusetts. I’m not sure how long our waist-lines can stand this focus of our travel. Luckily, I’ve also found the fitness room every day along the way. Observation #2: The Porches Inn in North Adams (pictured above and also listed in 1000 Places) is just about the coolest property of the 200+ hotels that are members of Historic Hotels of America (HHA). The twins and I stayed here about 2 1/2 years ago, and we couldn’t wait to get back and show it to Candice. As the marketing materials describe it, …
Just another wonderful visit to Mohonk Mountain House
Taking the family for their first visit to Mohonk.
Architecture Old and New
Too often college campuses can be poorly designed landscapes for a hodgepodge of mediocre buildings. So when you come across good – or great – buildings in the academic setting it is a real treat. On this year’s vacation/college tour, we’ve seen some of both, but I’m pleased to say we’ve been fortunate in visiting colleges that through the years have been thoughtful about their buildings and their settings. We’ve now become old pros at the campus tour. Andrew and Claire head off with one tour guide so they aren’t intimidated (if they ever are) by having the folks in the same group. Candice and I then follow a second guide. Candice pays attention to what the guide is saying, while keeping her eye trained on the design and maintenance of the buildings. I take pictures of the architecture and any landscape feature that strikes my fancy. We all come together at the end and share what we’ve seen and heard. Hey, it works for us! At the end of week one, we’ve seen some …
The people and places on Main Street
There are few things I like better than walking along a great Main Street. For the past two days, I’ve been lucky enough to walk around four terrific Main Streets: Middletown, Connecticut; Amherst and Northampton, Massachusetts; and tiny Red Hook, NY. You can pick up life lessons on Main Street – like the bumper sticker I saw on a car parked along Northampton’s Main Street this morning: Just say NO to Negativity. You can also meet very interesting people. While taking photos around Northampton, I was approached by a resident of the streets of the city. He must have seen my inner preservationist (sometimes people who look at the world a little differently have great powers of observation), because he told me he liked to work for the “hysterical society.” He then proceeded to point out the historical courthouse (where Calvin Coolidge first practiced law) – a very nice 1885 building seen in the photo above. My new friend then pointed in the opposite direction and identified the Northampton City Hall. “See those turrets?” he …
Two Years and There’s Still More to Come
I began writing More to Come… two years ago as a way to keep friends and loved ones updated during a family trip out west. As I wrote I found I enjoyed capturing not only experiences from travels, but also observations about books I was reading, music I was hearing, or simply life. The feedback was also positive (probably helped by my admonition in the “About” section that if you didn’t like what I was writing you should “get your own blog”). Two years later I find myself on another vacation with the family and More to Come… has over 300 posts to date. So look forward to some more vacation reports. I should warn you that it is that type of vacation that hits families with teenagers: the college visits. We’re in the northeast for this trip, and while I won’t bore you (or embarrass my kids) with litanies of schools visited and reactions to the tours, I will post a few stories and photos along the way of great architecture and interesting people …
After Pepe’s Pizza, Only 999 to Go!
Some time ago Candice purchased the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die: USA and Canada to spur us to find some interesting places to visit as we traveled. So as we headed out to the northeast for vacation and college tours (not in that order), she picked it up and began to check what was on the list in the cities we planned to see. If the first day is any indication, we’re going to eat well. As we pulled into New Haven, she read, You can appreciate the city’s self-anointed role as ‘Pizza Capital of the World’ by visiting Little Italy, specifically Wooster Street, where a few acclaimed pizza joints stand cheek by jowl, the most famous being Frank Pepe’s, which has been turning out incomparably delicious thin-crust pies since 1925. Never one to pass up “the most famous” of any restaurant, we went, stood in line for 45 minutes on a Monday evening, and then entered the no-frills dining room (we were in booth 17) where we feasted on two fabulous …
MORE TO COME... 