• picutures of Roosevelt's home, Vanderbilt mansion and Culinary Institute main building
    2026-04 - Hyde Park, NY

    Back in time

    May 10, 2026

    Join Maryellen and me as we go back in time on a vacation to Hyde Park, New York… Grab a beverage and a snack for your virtual trip; we packed quite a bit into a short vacation. April 13: We’re off… Travel day; lovely drive through the hills and forests of New York. After settling in, we stretched our legs by walking the grounds of the Locust Grove Estate next door to our hotel (the house was not open for visitors). We dined at the fabulous Cosimo’s Trattoria and Bar – fine food in elegant surroundings. April 14: History lesson……

  • 2025.06 - Norfolk

    Stop and smell the roses

    July 25, 2025

    A one-post chronicle of my trip to Norfolk, Virginia to visit with Maria – June 9-12 My latest travel adventure began with a white-knuckle drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel – a 23-mile feat of engineering that is nonetheless rather disconcerting (12 miles of low-level trestle bridge, 2 high bridges, 2 1-mile, one-lane-each-way tunnels). I managed to cross it with eyes only for the road ahead, constant talking to myself (“I am welcome in this place” – a mantra my friend Jo offered for self-comfort), and careful monitoring of my speed (50-55 in the 55 zone). Daunting bridges are…

  • 2023.12 - Orlando

    The enormity of the possible

    December 22, 2023

    In addition to taking in the wonders of The Wizarding World, my trip to Florida was bookended with time to think about the future. My adventures started with the Learning 2023 conference, and ended with an inspiring personal/professional retreat/vacation with my friend Maria. So much thinking about the enormity of the possible. Learning 2023 My conference time was something of a whirlwind. As you might imagine, the big topics of conversation were the implications of artificial intelligence tools and emerging technologies in general. People shared their experiences using ChatGPT and other tools to make their work more efficient and to…

  • 2023.12 - Orlando

    Wonders of the Wizarding World

    December 21, 2023

    What a joy it was to be part of the Harry Potter phenomenon back in 1997-2007 when the books were being written and released for the first time. It was so exciting to anticipate each book, to speculate about what would happen next, to pick apart characters’ motivations and guess at their secrets, to be part of midnight release parties and all-day read-a-thons. I got Daniel interested in the story when he was young, and the HP books were featured in our Frog and Owl Book Club (until he grew out of such silly things; after that, we just read…

  • 2022.11 - Portsmouth NH

    Retirement practice

    November 6, 2022

    PORTSMOUTH 2022 / #4/4 What’s gloriously possible… Back in January, my friend Maria and I held our own visioning retreat to take time to think about what’s next for each of us – for our businesses and our lives. One exercise we planned prompted us to create three different “odysseys” about where to go from here. The scenario for my own life that appealed to me the most was being a writer at the beach. I keep coming back to that dream. And I’ve been thinking more about that on this trip. My life lately has already been somewhat a…

  • 2022.11 - Portsmouth NH

    The art of the slow vacation

    November 4, 2022

    PORTSMOUTH 2022 / #3 When you visit someplace new – a part of the world with lots of sights to see – you may get so attached to doing it all, you forget that you’re supposed to be on vacation. Or is that just me? I’m working on exploring the art of the slow vacation. No timelines, no absolutes, just do what you want, when you want. I’ve already felt this when I’ve been out and about and eating meals – leisurely, mindfully, happily. But today I took another step back into slow… But first – Rockport!On Wednesday, I drove…

  • 2022.11 - Portsmouth NH

    Walk this way

    November 2, 2022

    PORTSMOUTH 2022 / #2 If you’ve followed my vacation blogs before now, you know they often wind up being a series of odes to the act of walking – on the beach, in nature, through tourist towns, etc. Today my adventure was to the coastal town of Ogunquit, Maine – just 25 minutes up the coast from Portsmouth. In a word: SPECTACULAR! STUNNING. MEDITATIVE. AWE-INSPIRING. (Pick one if you can.) I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves… On the Marginal Way – a cliff walk along the rocky crags on the ocean. The long shot of the beach was looking…

  • 2022.11 - Portsmouth NH

    Just in the nick of time

    November 1, 2022

    PORTSMOUTH 2022 / #1 Sometimes things happen just in the nick of time… This vacation is like that for me. It couldn’t come soon enough to reset my perspective and help me regroup. Unlike in other years, I don’t need the vacation because things are too crazy – I need it because things are too slow. I need my energy back and my goals reenergized. And so I think this little sojourn comes just in the nick of time. I’m in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Why Portsmouth, you say? Well, a Facebook friend posted pics from a trip here (staying in…

  • 2021.05 - Cape Cod

    Dispatch from the road home

    May 17, 2021

    Every vacation needs real down time. While it is true that all that beach walking and time out of doors has been just what I needed, by Sunday, what I needed was to prioritize rest and reading. Reading’s ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place – because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it’s the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little “here” to an imagined, intriguing “there.” Sara Nelson, So Many Books, So Little Time So like most of…

  • 2021.05 - Cape Cod

    Ode to the wanderers

    May 15, 2021

    Not all who wander are lost. J.R.R. Tolkein Friday and Saturday of this vacation were spent walking. That might sound boring, but it can never be so when there are so many places to walk: the beach on the national seashore, the rail trail, the beach in Orleans, the gardens around Highfield Hall, an outdoor shopping mall, the beach beneath Chatham light. Not a dull moment. I have always loved walking. My bestie Maryellen and I used to walk our neighborhood after school every day when we were growing up, and we still love to walk State Street together –…