Category: USA

Raven & Lily: Collierville, Tennessee

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Travel Recommendations, USA, USA Roadtrips
The train station…
and the train…
Candy-cane lined walkways on the Square

Just a half hour east of Memphis you’ll find the truly charming town of Collierville, Tennessee. A walk around its picturesque central square, and the myriad little shops and restaurants that surround it, will make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time to an innocent 1950s or 1960s sitcom back lot. Visiting earlier this month, with the square decked out in Christmas lights and decorations, I would have sworn I had been transported into a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie!

Continue reading “Raven & Lily: Collierville, Tennessee” →

Fogarty’s: Where It’s Always Thanksgiving If You Really Want It To Be!

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in New England, Travel Recommendations, USA

During an overnight stay in Dover, New Hampshire I was looking online for a good place to eat dinner, and my google search led me across the border to the town of South Berwick, Maine where I discovered an unassuming little restaurant called Fogarty’s.

Continue reading “Fogarty’s: Where It’s Always Thanksgiving If You Really Want It To Be!” →

Following in the Footsteps of The Walking Dead: A Visit to Senoia, Georgia

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Travel Recommendations, USA Roadtrips

The horror genre has never been a favorite of mine, and I typically avoid these types of TV shows or movies like the plague (pun intended!). However, about two years ago I happened to be curled up in a warm hotel room on a chilly New Year’s Eve, avoiding the crowds and the drinking and the sub-freezing temperatures. Flipping through the TV channels I stumbled upon a marathon of The Walking Dead on AMC.

The iconic Season 1 poster
The same view from Atlanta’s Jacskon Street Bridge

Next stop: Senoia, Georgia – dead ahead…

Portland: City of Roses… or City of Donuts?

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Oregon, Travel Recommendations, USA

This past weekend I attended the Western Psychological Association conference in Portland, Oregon. This conference happens every year and is held somewhere in the western states. Some years it’s in an exciting destination like Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Cancun, Mexico or Vancouver, Canada. Other years we find ourselves in such lackluster destinations as  Sacramento, Reno or worse yet,  Irvine or Burlingame, California. Therefore, my students, colleagues and I are always excited when the conference is held in Portland, and thankfully this is the 3rd time in the last 10 years that Portland was chosen as the site.

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Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge
Continue reading “Portland: City of Roses… or City of Donuts?” →

American Roadtrip, Part III: New England

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Travel Recommendations, USA, USA Roadtrips

I was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, about an hour south of Boston and a half an hour east of Providence, Rhode Island. Although I left New England in 1980 for graduate school in Virginia and subsequently southern California, it is still “home” to me, and I make visits back there several times a year, with a cross country road trip every summer and every Christmas. Because I have made the trip so many times, I begin to feel like I’m already on home turf by the time I reach Pennsylvania, but crossing the border from New York into Connecticut, one of the six New England states, means I’m “home”.

You CAN get there from here! Read on!

American Roadtrip, Part II: The South

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Travel Recommendations, USA, USA Roadtrips

After my first visit south of the Mason-Dixon line some 40 years ago, I joked that now I understood the reason that the South lost the Civil War. They were obviously too full from all their amazing foods to be able to fight at full effectiveness. Despite the fact that I was born a Yankee, I lived in Virginia for a couple of years and I’ve traveled through the southern states often. From the Carolinas to Texas, I find the people to be among the warmest, most welcoming and polite I’ve ever encountered.

Y’all read more now, hear?

You Don’t Have to Take Route 66 to Get Your Kicks! American Roadtrip, Part I: The Southwest

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Travel Recommendations, USA, USA Roadtrips

“Get Your Kicks on Route 66” is a popular refrain from the 1946 song that was made famous by Nat King Cole and subsequently was recorded by dozens of other artists including Chuck Berry, Asleep at the Wheel, and Michael Martin Murphy. While vestiges of the old highway that wound “from Chicago to L.A.” still remain (notably in the California desert and various parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma), much of it has been replaced by Interstate 40. But don’t despair, you can get your kicks on any number of highways that crisscross the U.S. You just have to take that long dreamed about road trip!

The Burr Trail, a scenic but rugged drive off Highway 12 near Boulder, Utah

Let’s hit the road! Read More:

Hawaii: Paradise Found

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Hawaii, Travel Recommendations, USA

I’d put off a visit to Hawaii for many years, thinking that all it had to offer was the crowded beaches of Waikiki or corny lounge singers performing “Tiny Bubbles”. I could not have been more wrong, and I’ll always be grateful for the day when I finally discovered the Hawaiian Islands and for the fact that I’ve been able to return to them many times since.

Landing in Paradise… passing Lanai on the descent into Maui
The welcoming face of Hibiscus blossoms
Welcome to the “Aloha State”

Let’s explore the islands!