The 1000 Islands in New York state — in the St. Lawrence River — make for an active, long weekend getaway.
The 1000 Islands in New York state — in the St. Lawrence River — make for an active, long weekend getaway.
Sarasota County is gaining popularity as a winter destination with Northeast Ohio residents. Once there entertainment options range from beaches and museums to a vibrant food and arts scene. In fact, 13 theaters and countless restaurants are within a mile of downtown Sarasota. With all the sunshine, waterfront parks and preservation areas are abundant for hiking and biking.
I spent a long weekend in Toronto looking at art. It changed me. I realized that art is NOT measured in dollars and cents. Or sense. It is measured in experience and connection, in relation and revelation. Art can live outside a museum or gallery. It should live where it reaches people. I discovered that art can be timeless or temporary. My discernment peaked during Nuit Blanche (“White Night”), a one-night art event spread throughout Toronto’s downtown and neighborhoods. Its audiences experienced more than 75 projects by 400 artists ranging from performance art and interactive installations to sculpture, mixed media and beyond. The concept of Nuit Blanche originated in Paris. Toronto adopted and adapted it in 2006. Planned as a one-time event, the night…
Tagged: Toronto
Stories reproduced on this blog in 2017 won two awards in the Midwest Travel Journalists Association’s 2018 MARK TWAIN AWARDS. Thanks to everyone who helped facilitate these adventures and contributed to the awards. Special thanks to Gary Mallory for traveling with me and supporting my writing habit. NEWSPAPER ARTICLES – DOMESTIC DESTINATIONS — 3rd Place: Tennessee’s Southern Dozen Packs Twists and Turns CULINARY ARTICLES — 2nd Place: Montreal Charcuterie Offers Unexpected Congratulations to fellow winners from MTJA!
As seen in The News-Herald – By Paris Wolfe “Stop thinking!” Jim Flynn repeated. Apparently that’s why I couldn’t hit a clay pigeon flying at 44 mph away from me. Thinking, he said, slows the trigger finger. The goal is to feel the shot, to let the primitive voice in the back of my head know when to pull the trigger on the Browning 20-gauge over-under. “You KNOW when to shoot,” Flynn coaches. “Don’t stop to think about it. This is a hand-eye coordination game, not a thinking game. It’s a reaction game. When you think about it you’re not thinking fast enough to hit that thing.” I never “thought” of shooting clays as a Zen activity. Quite the opposite. I expected it to be…
Tagged: shooting, Tucker County
I was so excited I nearly dropped my mobile phone as I fumbled for the camera app. I was trying to move smoothly, silently and speedily so I wouldn’t spook the doe and her twins. Despite my noisy movements the gentle-eyed deer came closer. Click. Click. Click. I captured several Facebook moments on my hike through Canaan Valley State Park in Tucker County, West Virginia. A close encounter of the deer kind is a regular occurrence on Mark Chapin’s guided hikes through the park. Chapin guides Edible Plants Hikes, Survival Skill Classes and Back Country Navigation among other experiences from the park’s lodge. The deer are used to him. His last Edible Hike of the year is September 29. But, he is available to…
Tagged: foraging, Tucker County
When Athey and Maggie Lutz decided to build a distillery, they sought uber-local ingredients and production support for their corn whiskey. Water comes from a limestone-filtered mountain spring just 50 yards from the soaring hardwood distillery building and they grow heirloom corn on their 190-acre farm in Job(population 25), West Virginia. The spring water was a no-brainer , but finding the corn took a little perseverance. They put out the word that they were searching for West Virginia farmers who were growing heirloom varieties. Through the grapevine they met Mr. Meadows, a 97-year-old farmer whose family had been growing Bloody Butcher corn in West Virginia from the same seed stock for 200 years. The corn is so-named for its red splotches on pale yellow…
Tagged: Tucker County
The most visible damage from fires that lit up Napa Valley hillsides in October 2017 are random black in the treeline, most of them miles from wineries. To the west in Sonoma County nothing is visible from the fall’s two weeks of post-harvest smoke. While some homeowners are rebuilding, tourists see nearly nothing but a vibrant, welcoming scene in this wine country 50 miles north of San Francisco. We proved it to ourselves in a late winter visit – season of lower prices –to Healdsburg, the cultural hub of Sonoma County. Travelers, it seems, often choose just one wine country, Sonoma or Napa. The choice is based on the time available for touring the collective 600-plus wineries or maybe by the type of wine…
Tagged: Healdsburg
Of the dozens of U.S. aquaria educating the public about underwater life, the 34-year-old Monterey Bay Aquarium on California’s Central Coast is an international standout. Researchers there set the sustainable seafood standards for fishmongers and restaurants across the United States, even around the world. It all started in 1999 with the “Fishing for Solutions” exhibition which shared impacts of fishing and aquaculture on the health of ocean wildlife and ecosystems. Through that the public learned that Atlantic populations of halibut and yellowtail flounder are at all-time lows. The breeding population of Pacific bluefin tuna is at four percent of its original size and continues to decline. Education efforts included table tents in the aquarium’s restaurant identifying which fish were endangered by dining practices. Interestingly…
Imagine an entire town devoted to apple pie. Soft, melting apple goodness under a buttery, flaky crust. Welcome to Julian, California, (population 1,500) about an hour east of San Diego. About a dozen bakeries, restaurants and cafes serve up their best version of the dessert. Many have developed hybrid pies to include cherries, berries or even mango. I was getting my hair cut not far from Julian when the stylist told me about the pie town. How could anyone could resist? The next morning my partner and I revved up the BMW K1200LT motorcycle and leaned into winding roads leading up the mountain. As we climbed from an elevation of 1,000 feet in Temecula, Calif., to 4,200 feet in Julian the temperature dropped from…
Tagged: Julian
