I grew up an hour south of Boston, and though my mom would bravely venture into the city to take me to the Science Museum or the Aquarium once in awhile, most of my family and the people I grew up with viewed Boston as a dangerous place, filled with traffic, aggressive drivers, and an indecipherable pattern of narrow, one-way streets. If someone were foolish enough to venture in, they were considered lucky to have found their way out alive and unscathed.
Continue reading “Please Come to Boston”
As many of you already know, during my 35 years or so living in California, I made over 40 round-trip drives across the USA to visit friends and relatives in Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida. One of the most freeing experiences for me is to be out on the open road, listening to my music and stopping wherever I choose to sample the local cuisine, take a hike or a swim, or visit some local attractions.
Continue reading “The Virtual American Road Trip”
With Labor Day Weekend now behind us, the smell of pumpkin latte will soon be wafting through the crisp autumn air. On the September 3rd episode of WJAR-TV’s Studio 10 program in Providence, Rhode Island I talked about suggestions for fall getaways in New England and you can watch it here with this link to the episode: For those who got to view the episode – and those who didn’t – I thought I’d summarize some of those suggestions here. Hopefully they’ll help those of you fortunate enough to do some leaf peeping in the northeast this season to make the most of your visit!
After a peaceful drive filled with countless vistas of snowcapped mountains, I arrived in Salt Lake City by late afternoon; the surrounding mountains looked like they’d had powdered sugar dumped all over them. I couldn’t believe it was actually early May and all I could see was snow.
Continue reading “Bison, Bears, and Bighorn Sheep: A Wildlife Safari at Yellowstone National Park”
(Please note: Photo captions can be viewed by clicking on each individual photo!)
After my first three weeks on the road, I’d managed to see and visit with a total of almost 30 people. As wonderful as it had been to spend time with so many good friends and family, I was now looking forward to a much quieter second half of my trip as I headed west to wander deserts, mountains, and forests and be alone with my thoughts. Leaving Memphis on a Sunday morning, I had two rather long days of driving ahead of me to get out west where I planned to focus my time. The first day I drove to Oklahoma City, and the next day to Albuquerque, New Mexico, each about a 550-mile journey.
Continue reading “From Arches to Goblins to Canyonlands: Utah”
It had been almost a year since I’d taken any significant trips, so the combination of my itchy feet and the prospect of taking my new car on its first road trip, caused me to decide that it was time to hit the road again. Unlike the days when I was living in California and made a couple of cross- country trips each year to visit friends and family back east, these days my time is pretty much my own, so I can just meander and go where I want without being on any type of schedule. When I learned that my friend Joanne had planned to take her 93-year old mother, Norma on a road trip to Florida to visit relatives, I suggested we coordinate our plans to rendezvous first in Virginia Beach, then in Florida where we’d celebrate Norma’s 94th birthday together.
Continue reading “From Massachusetts to Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee: And That Was Only the Beginning!”
Autumn. It’s that time of year again when New England achieves its highest level of “New Englandness.” The days begin to shorten, the air has a slight, but noticeable chill in the early mornings, the leaves start turning to a palette of all of my favorite shades of red, orange and yellow, and the smell of cider donuts and “pumpkin spice everything” assails the nostrils. I’ve always loved fall, and in my humble, native New Englander opinion, there is no better place to be in late September and early October.
Continue reading “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: Climbing New Hampshire’s Middle Sugarloaf Peak”
Today is September 11, 2022, 21 years since the horrible day that changed our world forever. Back in October of 2001, I actually made a pilgrimage of sorts to Lower Manhattan, as I simply had to see what had happened to New York after the events of the prior month.
Recently, in a desire to find some peace and solitude and to avoid the ever-increasing prices of even a modest hotel room, I spent a week in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.
Continue reading “A Tale of Two Cabins: Tennessee and North Carolina”
After a few weeks of exploring the panhandle, south Florida, and the Gulf Coast I’m now based on the Atlantic side of the state in Ormond-by-the-Sea, a quiet beach community just north of Daytona.
Continue reading “There’s More to Florida Than the Sand and the Sea”
MATT: AT HOME IN THE WORLD 