He has been on display for 44 years now, rockin’ a leafy little tunic. The Jolly Green Giant just off Interstate 90 at Blue Earth, Minnesota is a plant-based superhero. He is not just another roadside attraction. To figure that out, though, you’ve got to walk away from that 55-foot piece of Impossible beefcake and stroll across the parking lot to the Giant Museum and Welcome Center. I promise you, it is a bushel of fun. It is also a step back in time to a world before Whole Foods. The Giant Museum is ostensibly a look at one company’s contribution to a world… Read More…

Nestled in the corner of a city park, a short walk from subway lines, schools, bodegas and falafel shops, New York’s famed Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an urban oasis. It is a place, New York’s arts commissioner Laurie Cumbo says, where New Yorkers come to breathe. While that is undoubtedly true, convincing people to visit when the days get cold and night creeps on early is a challenge. For the second year the BBG (as the Brookyn Botanic is known), is creating “a new season,” according to Kathryn Glass, vice president of marketing for the garden. On November 16th, the switch was flipped, illuminating one… Read More…

  If you can tell something about a person by the car they drive, then spend a minute and you’ll discover, Tom Hinz, of Three Forks, Montana is a man with an interest in social justice, the environment, humor and bicycle riding. I was finishing up my own ride on the Headwaters Trail near Three Forks when Hinz pulled next to my campervan at the trailhead and started unloading his bike. Music by the Beatles was streaming from the open windows of his red sedan, but that wasn’t what made me turn off the ignition, grab my phone and get out to take a closer… Read More…

It took eight months from that day in May 2020 when I first started thinking about getting an RV until I took possession of my new campervan. While that’s shy of a full gestation period, I do find myself murmuring, “Hello baby,” each time I approach it, ready for my next road trip. Yes, Ladies and Gents, I bought a campervan and it has taken possession of me. From the position of still not knowing much about this thing called #vanlife, Here are some things I have learned already. There is a lot to learn. Other RV owners are eager to help. Some are brilliant…. Read More…

    If Jessica Watkins seems a few steps ahead of everybody else, that’s because she is. Before outdoor recreation became as popular as it is now, Watkins was walking across the country. When only millions of people were vlogging rather than the 2.6 billion doing it today, Watkins was reclining in a pup tent recording thoughts both comical and poignant into a laptop camera. And before women started to convert the trauma of sexual assault from fear and shame into something more powerful, Watkins was using her own rape in standup comedy routines. And now, three years after her trek, Watkins is surely one… Read More…

The virtual traveler may be all the rage, but for those of us working at our computers during the coronavirus, more time in front of a screen seems like the opposite of a getaway. So on a recent walk not five miles from my home in Greenwich, Connecticut, I was delighted to find the ruins of a mansion hidden deep in the woods off the trail of a city park. I’m a sucker for the large historical artifact, which I wrote about in this article for The New York Times. I’ve written about my visits to historic sites in Iceland, England, Germany, Turkey and Syria…. Read More…

Would-be summer travelers to Europe will likely have to keep their plans on hold as the European Union considers a ban on international travelers from the United States, Brazil and Russia. Composed of 27 European countries from Ireland in the west to Romania in the east, the EU was scheduled to re-open its borders to international visitors next week on the first of July. New and seemingly unabated coronavirus infections in the US, Brazil and Russia appear to be prompting EU decision-makers to consider anew the risk of importing infections into Europe.  In a sign of how much has changed over the past few months,… Read More…

Note to readers: Many photos and all the videos in this post graciously provided by aviation vlogger and pilot Pedro Saldarriaga. Follow him on YouTube. It was a quick trip to Florida to take care of some business. I would be there and gone in just 24-hours so all I really needed was a clean, inexpensive room. But as my cursor hovered over the selections on the Airbnb website, how could I say no to the Man Cave, located, the listing said, “in my airplane hangar.” Click, and it was mine for the night. Like every other internet-age disruptor, Airbnb has its downsides, but where… Read More…

For those awaiting the arrival of spring, the place to be is the Biltmore House & Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina. Over ten square miles you will find lush green hills dotted with still-bare trees whose branches are tipped in white, pink and purple. This vista of life rejuvenating convinced me that winter may finally be coming to an end. The six Biltmore gardens sit below America’s largest private residence, the place George and Edith Vanderbilt called home in the early 20th century. In early April, tulips create a riot of color barely restrained within the garden’s stone walls.  From this point of view, the… Read More…

Artist Greg Gifford of Bend, Oregon, sees inspiration where others might overlook it. He finds it on the ground. A decade ago, a hobby for stacking rocks turned into the retired school teacher’s creative second career. “The materials are really cheap,” Gifford said, adding another incentive to using this material over something else for his creations. Gifford first started playing with stones while camping on the beach in Baja with his wife Jan. Mornings they would fish or kayak and in the afternoons they would windsurf. In between, he would make rock stacks, seeking the most challenging, oddly-shaped rocks to see if he could make… Read More…