Painting Summer in New England

I hope to run into Homer, Hopper, Wyeth, Sargent and a few others this morning. They will all be represented at the Painting Summer in New England exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum. The exhibit runs from April 22- Sept 4 2006 with over 100 paintings adting from 1850's. The scenery and lighting in Cape Ann brought artists from all over. Still today communities such as Rocky Neck and Rockport maintain strong artist ties.

My Place by the Sea, Rockport

Dinner while the sun sets is always great, at My Place in Rockport it was just stunning! The food wonderful and matched the view. Not since visiting Max at the family home in Martha's have I been so relaxed. the lighthouse on an island out on the ocean has just started to swirl. The currents rise and the wind blows cool. In the morning I head to see some of America's great art work in Essex then out to watch some whales. My Place by the Sea is at 68 Bearskin Neck, Rockport MA see you there.

Cape Ann, Oh Man

Ever since I left AZ a few years ago, I head to the New England coast when I can to see the sea, in AZ there was no sea. I am now in Mass's other Cape, Cape Ann. The sun is shinning and so cleansing to be here! I am smack dab in the middle between Gloucester and Rockport. Gloucester is working man and Rockport wealthy land. The sound of the Atlantic can be heard from my room, this is perfect!

Hit the Beach in Manhattan NY

Imagine packing your bags with bathing suits, flippers and mask for a trip to Manhattan? That would be the one in NYC not Manhattan Beach, California. It may become a reality if the advocacy group, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance has its way. The ‘beach” would be located on the Hudson River near the Meatpacking District in Manhattan.

Even thought the river has gotten remarkably cleaner, I would still hesitate planning any NYC beach time soon. Advocates warn that swimmers must stay out of the river for several days after rainfall- when the city’s drainage system dumps raw sewage directly into the Hudson. I guess packing for the Hamptons in Long Island will remain in vogue for quite awhile.

Antiques in High Falls, Ulster County NY

Browsing the Barking Dog Antique Store in High Falls is one of my favorite ways to spend a summer Saturday. After a coffee at the New York Store has become a ritual. Have a great long weekend! 

Let the Summer Begin

 

Green House Interior

The interior is filled with items brought back from trips around the world and I love living with the memories that surround the farm table in the dinning room. On cool nights the fireplace is crackling and conversation flowing, especially when those met abroad come to spend a few days. This area has been called the, "new Hamptons," as in cool spot for wealthy NYC people to rent for the summer. I would rather trade for some overseas home, done just as the owners like. It would be like trading lives for a bit, cats included!

The Green House, 1845

After writing about the book, Red House in the last blog it occurred to me that a picture of my Green House should be shown. Ah, the country life! 

No Place Like Home

Every once in awhile I pick up a book that really hits with a powerful force. This one is called Red House by Sarah Messer and is centered on “being a mostly accurate account of New England’s oldest continuously lived-in house”. It sent me out to the small barn here yesterday to look over the bags of stuff past owners have found on the property over the years. Old nails and pottery shards mostly but also remains of an old shoe and other strange items. I recently added some stuff like an old marble found while digging in the garden. The house only dates from 1845 but I moved here from my home in Scottsdale where my 1972 house was considered ancient. Down the road my sister’s house dates 1750 but that was the second house built on the property. The first was in 1682 and indeed this area is filled with pieces of the past.

While both my sisters have always stayed in the area, I was always off somewhere else. I really feel like I am back where I belong. We bought this house without my wife ever seeing it, she is a trusting woman, and luckily she feels as home here as I do.

Press Trips, A Way of Life

I have had a bit of bad luck with the press invites lately, something that hasn’t happened in over ten years of travel writing. I got a last minute invite to a place I have always wanted to return Buenos Aries and Iguassu Falls; unfortunately I had a previous commitment. Upon my return from Jordan I was due to head immediately to Monaco but that got postponed. Today I got an invite to Malaysia but sent it on to Max, ever since I have known Max he has talked about going. Some people are meant to see some places, this is a great example.

I live to travel so missing a trip used to kill me, I think I am chilling a little and realize that I just might not get everywhere I want to. Still the thrill of flying out is a powerful draw, I have been known to commit a day before departure. It has been however a good few months with visits to Croatia, Montana, Hong Kong, Macau, Norway, Charlevoix and Jordan. Still that highway calls, I am already packed! Check my GONOMAD Writers Profile

Betting with Buhdda at Pimlico

I owe the Buddha in the backyard some offerings. After losing the Kentuck Derby bet I listened to the big boy out back. Five bucks has payed me close to five hundred, I will not give it back! Chance, my son thought I was kidding when I asked the enlighted one what he thought, wrong. It is going into the travel kitty for future exploration, thanks big one. 

Feet First into the Hudson River

 

Deer Me, Stay out of the Garden

I can tell I’ve been home too long, I spent hours today planting in the gardens then another few deer-proofing them. One of my favorite farm stands is right down the road from the house and is owned by one of the Davenports, a family that has long roots here in Ulster County, NY and produces some of the best corn in the world. Fortunately for me Bruce Davenport placed a stack of sheets detailing the best methods of keeping Bambi out of garden and enjoying some very expensive tossed salad for deer.

Bruce recommend dropping two eggs (shells too) with two cloves garlic and a tablespoon of red pepper. When liquefied pour the mix into a bucket that has a cake of yellow soap. Next fill the bucket with luke warm water and stir. Then go dribble it over the plants and areas that attract deer. It wasn’t till later that I read the part about putting a radio in the garden attached to a sensor detector, deer have good hearing and will stay away. My take is to set up a hammock in the garden; my snoring should have them running. See I have been home too long!

Experience the Big O

A boat is a hole in the water where you pour money in is an old saying. Yesterday the Navy cut their losses and sunk the USS Oriskany, an 888-foot retired aircraft carrier 24 miles off of Pensacola Beach. The Oriskany is now the largest artificial reef in the world. It took 500 pounds of plastic explosives to sink the ship. The ship was also the one that Senator McCain flew from when getting shot down over Vietnam and then spending 5 years in a POW prison. In reality it was a 20 million dollar big O! I can see it now on press invites, “be the first to experience the big O”.

Vroom on Peter Moore

I just have to crack up whenever I read a book by Peter Moore and VROOM with a View is not an exception. I don’t read Moore for clever insights to destinations or to learn about a region. I read Moore because I can relate to the simple thoughts that every guy close in age to me can relate to but we don’t share with others. A prime example is the description of a villa owner in the book, “a sleazy, short-sighted Italian guy with rat-like features”. I sometimes would love to be so honest with my assessments.

In this book Moore takes a Vespa from Milan to Rome via some of my favorite places in Italy. The scooter is a 1961, 125 cc troublesome beauty, and Moore is lucky to have found her. Like most of Moore’s books it is a quick read, just perfect when staring at a computer screen makes you want to scream. It makes me want to send in a book proposal, Hudson Valley by a John Deere tractor.

Hear a Report on Brazil's Best Beach Town, Buzios

It has occurred that though I mention my spot as correspondent for Around the World with Arthur & Barney on radio, hearing the show is a different story. That can easily be done at Click Here. Though the archives are back from May 2005 (new ones can be heard with online streaming) my spot May 7 on Buzios, Brazil brought back great memories of one of my favorite seaside spots in the world. Even on GoNOMAD, Buzios gets clicked over and over again. To get practical info if the show made you want to go, click the GoNOMAD spot above. On the radio site you can also hear my reports from Mexico City, Alexandria and Vermont. Also check out Max’s radio spot on Austria.

Travel Media, Steady Gigs

Got a call from Mike today and the next issue of the Lincoln Eagle goes to bed on Thursday. The Eagle is a new paper that is circulated in the Mid- Hudson Valley and where I was granted a column. Unlike writing for an online publication as I do for GoNOMAD I will have to wait until the Lincoln gets out of bed. Publishing terms are so very weird; still I cannot wait to pick up a copy.

On the other hand I love clicking online to GoNOMAD for instant gratification. It also amazes me how far reaching GN is. It has been a great trip writing and traveling for GN. On the other hand I now get to listen to Around the World with Arthur & Barney and hear my reports on radio, they now can be heard online streaming. That also is a thrill for me. Steady gigs for travel writing are hard to find, grateful to have found three different media spots.

Elect Bozo, He is our Man

Though this picture was taken when I happened to get caught at a pro- democracy protest in Hong Kong, I felt like the question on the sign has been asked of me at every single overseas place visited this year. In case it is to small to be read it asks, "Do you want a clown, or a Chief Executive"? 

Ireland's Best Trips

My friends at home are starting to get the fact that I have itchy feet and have now encouraged it. My buddy Ken Cooper dropped a brochure over the other day from Loyd & Townsend-Ross filled with castle & manor stays. I tried to explain that not all trips involve a “born to the manor”, visit. I have slogged through the night in wall less set-ups in places where toilet paper has never been. Snakes have crossed my path many times, as well as deadly bugs.

However with the help of the Irish Tourism Board, I did once slip off my self-skipper cruise from the Republic to N.Ireland to live like royalty. The place was Belle Isle Castle and will forever remember staying in splendor, lucky to do so. Check out L&TR to do the same. As I get older I remember.

Looking for Love Online, Found in Maine

I have been spending the last couple of nights looking for love online. My palms had been moist as I gazed on picture after picture. As my wife headed up to bed I quickly searched offer after offer. At first glance I finally found a possibility for a weeklong affair in Maine and I am heading up to meet her July 8th. Her name is Cozy Cove and I really think we will hit it off. I now really wonder how some guys pick a bride from across the world online, it was hard enough to pick a rental cottage in little Southport Maine.

I fell in love with the area around Boothbay while working on a story about schooner cruising Maine a few years ago for GoNOMAD. I somehow knew the arduous search was over when I saw pictures, including the sloped lawn that went to the waters edge, somehow I pictured our kayaks ready to launch after a steaming cup of coffee. She may be old as in around the turn of the century, but she captured this guy. I now can come clean to my wife Lily.

Derby Day with Tim Leffel

It’s Derby day and all the oat eaters will be lining up to run for the roses. It is the one day that everyone around here heads to OTB to place a bet. There was once a time in Kingston when if you wanted to find a lawyer at lunchtime the betting parlor was the place. For that reason alone my money is on Lawyer Ron.

While others can study the sports section in newspapers, I went to Tim Leffel’s piece about Lexington Kentucky on GoNOMAD. Tim’s articles capture a place extremely well. Ladies and gents, place your bets!

Dead End Job, Travel Agent

AOL had a piece on yesterday called 10 Jobs That Won’t Exist by 2012 by Kate Lorenz, editor for CareerBuilder.com. I wasn’t surprised to see Travel Agent on the list. She sites the increase in booking online as well as the lack of commissions by airlines.

I personally sold my tour company way back after Delta cut commissions and was followed by all the others. It was strange because Delta announced the move just a few days after I attended a travel show sponsored partially by them. Big banners hung with the slogan Travel Agents and Delta, partners forever. The writing was on the wall and I sold a few days after. In retrospect it turned out great for me, I now get to sit here and write.

D&H Canal and High Falls NY

It was one of those perfect days in late spring here in High Falls NY, first day of shorts should be a national holiday. To kick off the summer I headed to the Five Locks Walk right in the center of the village. The locks are what is left over from the D&H Canal days. When coal was brought over from Penn and then loaded on ships on the Hudson River for NYC. The canal was built in 1825 by two Philadelphia merchants William and Maurice Wurts with help from John Roebling who later designed the Brooklyn Bridge. later the boats carried Rosendale Cement to NYC, used in the building of the bridge.

I also walked along the falls where the opening scene from Splendour in the Grass was filmed. Marc Chagall also lived for a period in High Falls. My morning was topped off with a coffee from the New York Store and a visit to the Barking Dog store pictured here. I really love living here!

Pictures Tell a Thousand Stories

What a six months it has been, travels through Croatia, Macao, Montana, Hong Kong, Norway and Jordan have provided great backdrops for shooting photos. I am working on doing a show at a gallery here in Ulster County New York. It has been a dream of mine for a long while; credit goes to the world’s beauty. It was getting to the point that dinner guests here at Casa St. John were required to leave with their favorite shot, I have run out of wall space!

While going through countless files and negatives I reflected on the last fifteen years of globe hopping, first as a tour company owner then as a writer and senior editor. I though about some amazing people met in the business and on the streets. Years ago I once told my wife of my dream to travel the world and share the tales. I guess that I never realized then that dreams do come true!

Thick Arab Coffee

Since I couldn't get to the GoNOMAD Cafe I drank many cups of thick strong Arab coffee found all over Jordan. 

Amazing Petra

 

Camel Caravan Wadi Rhum

Just a week ago I was in Wadi Rhum watching this small camel caravan approach our camp. It is amazing the distances covered in a weeks time, metally and physically. 

Illegal Crossing on the Devil's Highway

While recently traveling in Jordan I read The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. At the time I had no idea that the “Day Without Immigrants,” protest was planned. The book certainly gave amazing insight to what some Mexicans go through to get into the US. When I lived in Scottsdale I frequently traveled the area that the book covers. It is a beautiful but extremely cruel stretch of desert and mountains that I used to blow through on my way to Puerto Penasco for sun and cheap shrimp. It was Phoenix’s beach hideaway just across the border.

The book covers one illegal crossing that cost many lives and gives insight into the worst kind of characters, coyotes, Migra and lost souls. It saddens me to think that while I was loading up on beers at the border town of Sonoita, many were buying jugs of water for an impossible trek. It also made me grateful that I had the luck to be born on this side of the border.

Ross Klein and W Hotels

This morning I read an interview with Ross Klien president of W Hotels Worldwide. One question asked what his idea of a perfect holiday is and I could relate to his answer. “ Not traveling. My vacations used to be about experiencing travel, now they are about experiencing not traveling.”

As I drove home from JFK yesterday the sun was setting just about the time I took the exit for home at New Paltz. The blossoms on the apple trees glowed and the sunset line paralleled the Gunk Mountains. The creeks were running and all looked beautiful here in Ulster County NY. It was just like I was heading to a great vacation. Reality is that in about two weeks I yearn for another glimpse of the world, leaving in nine days for Monaco.