By the time I was nearing age fifty I’d traveled extensively around the globe—visiting every continent except Antarctica and all fifty states. However, I’d mostly been to large U.S. cities and a few national parks. It was time to see more of my own country. So, in 2001, to celebrate my 50th birthday, I took […]
The abundance of off the beaten path but fascinating American towns is nearly endless. The more I explore, the greater my admiration for people who have transformed their hometowns into fun, beautiful places. What sets a town apart from the ordinary? Sometimes they have unique traditions, eccentric festivals, one-of-a-kind landmarks, or being home to museums […]
Columbus, Indiana is actually a city of 47,000. Not a town, but considering its small size, a mecca for world-renowned architecture. The American Institute of Architects ranked it sixth in the nation for architectural innovation and design – right behind Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. There are more than ninety buildings […]
I love the southwest for the scenery; the desert, cacti, vast expanses and endless sky are magnificent. But between the open spaces are slews of interesting towns. Here are just a few of my favorite towns in the southwest. Jerome, Arizona is just a few miles away from the far better-known Sedona. At one point […]
Cannon Beach in Oregon has a population of about 1,500. You don’t go there for the town, but for the beach, which is among the most beautiful on the west coast. When I first went there it was so foggy I couldn’t even see the famous Haystack Rock. Then it cleared and was spectacular. Nearby […]
An excerpt from my new book “Wanderlust: Extraordinary People, Quirky Places, and Curious Cuisine,” out October 4th. The White Sands National Monument is about seventy miles from Las Cruces and is notable for two reasons. First, it is the site of one of the world’s largest above ground gypsum deposits. Gypsum is a widely used […]
As workers age, poor health or disabling physical conditions can interfere with holding down a job. Sometimes people are forced to quit working if things get really rough, whether they’re ready to retire or not. But race also figures into this predicament, because workers of color are already in poorer health and tend to have […]
The remote work necessitated by COVID may be here to stay in five English-speaking countries from Australia to the United States. That’s the conclusion from a study of 250 million online job ads – nearly half of them in this country. The number of postings in January that offered remote work for one or more […]
