What Makes Me Laugh

I used to say things like, “I could never live anywhere that didn’t have the four seasons.” Meaning snow, of course. The older I get, the more I hope to never say never, because right now I feel like I could live somewhere without the four seasons, very easily. Yes, I ski. Yes, I get [...]

I can’t even type the word “tradition” now without hearing the song from Fiddler on the Roof  and wanting to follow the first with another, louder, “Tradition!” Last weekend I traveled to Canada for the second annual mother-daughter get-together over the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend. This year’s entertainment highlight was an Off-Broadway production of Fiddler [...]

I’m leaving for Tennessee tomorrow for what may be my final appearance ever as a bridesmaid or bridesmatron (I know, you’re drying your eyes right now, aren’t you?). I expect to experience both culture and culture shock in the South, and hope I don’t get lost (I’m getting a handy GPS unit for my car just [...]

6:20 a.m. Worry Wart Day two of the Vegas adventure started at 6:20 a.m. with a more-than-slightly hungover me waking to the alarm of a text message. You should just lay there, my body said. But my brain had different ideas, so I fumbled for the phone and opened it under the covers to read [...]

A little spectacular scenery is as good for the soul as a laugh.

The thing about hiking in New Hampshire is that you can be standing at the bottom of the mountain, enjoying a warm day, and yet at the top you’re hoping not to die from exposure. We climbed Mount Eisenhower with Doug’s brother Don, who fearlessly led us up the mountain as if climbing a 1,000 [...]

On Tuesday I was waiting for the bus to take me home, reading a book, and checking my watch every few minutes. My fellow commuters were stretched out on the university’s lawn, plugged into ipods or blackberries or books. The bus was late, but they didn’t seem too concerned. I, on the other hand, had just walked like [...]

Just not at the same time. This is what traveling in Montana is like. One night you’re picking up a thin, white terry-cloth towel from a hotel when you notice a warning sign posted in the bathroom that says, “Please do not use the ‘white linens’ for removing makeup or cleaning your shoes. That’s what [...]

  I thought that Flight of the Conchords  had the funniest tourism posters, but my own state has outdone the brilliant comedians.  Travel Montana, which is in charge of promoting Montana to tourists, is running a series of magazine advertisements featuring scenic Glacier and Yellowstone National Park photographs and the slogan “Montana: There’s Nothing Here” [...]

  On the flight back to America, I collected a few more travel tips to share with my savvy readers. If there is one universal law about life I think it’s that you learn the best lessons the hard way.   Travel Tip #4: Clothes expand in your suitcase It’s a fundamental law of traveling. [...]