Plymouth, Mass – After my crisis of conscience that occurred along the Mohawk Trail, I jumped at the chance to give a proper, accurate introduction to local Native American tribes. If the twins are so interested in Native American culture,…
Mount Greylock
North Adams, Mass – After an inauspicious start to our Father’s Day weekend extravaganza, we had nowhere to go but up. And I mean that both figuratively and literally. On day two, we got an early start and headed straight for Mount Greylock, the…
Fruitlands Museum
Harvard, Mass – One of our local heroes–and certainly a hero of the 19th-century Transcendentalist movement–was Bronson Alcott, a teacher, philosopher and reformer (and incidentally the father of the famous author Louisa May Alcott). As a transcendentalist, he believed that…
Extraordinary Playscapes
Boston, Mass – I happened on this new little play area in Chinatown Park. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I was struck by the unique design – colorful, modular pieces that fit together in unusual ways to allow crawling, climbing, slithering, sliding…
Blog Fast
Somerville, Mass – I gave up blogging for Lent, apparently. Sometimes the inspiration gets lost, amid the work deadlines, birthday parties, swim lessons, snow days and laundry piles. With all that going on, who has time to travel anywhere, let…
Myakka River State Park
Sarasota, Florida – It’s wonderful to have snow-birding (grand)parents. We don’t have as much time as we did last year, but there’s no way I’m passing up a *free* vacation in sunny Florida. One of the highlights of the week was…
Somerville: Rockin’ the Boston ‘Burbs
Somerville, Mass – The ‘Ville is in the news again, this time making the Lonely Planet list of best places to travel in 2016. And we get to live here! (Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the headline.) Read more…
Costa Rica Travel Disasters
Somerville, Mass – Back in the pink house now, we were chatting about our trip and a friend asked “So, did you have any really good travel disasters?” Daddio and I looked at each other and shrugged. “Not really…” Awkward…
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve
Santa Elena, Costa Rica – We made our way from the tropical dry forests and beaches of Guanacaste to the mystical cloud forest around Santa Elena and Monteverde. We climbed some 4,662 feet, most of that on bumpy, windy, narrow…
Our Culture of Fear
Somerville, Mass – While riding the bus this week, Twin V noticed that somebody had etched a name into the window pane. “Why would anybody write on the window?” he demanded accusingly. “That’s not right.” I nodded in agreement. Then…