The Manhattan Bridge – Beautifully Hectic
When you grow up in New York City, specifically in Brooklyn, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge is kind of a rite of passage. At some point in time, you end up doing it. And for many Brooklynites, it’s actually a commonly used way to get from Brooklyn Heights to City Hall in downtown Manhattan, and beyond. On a recent visit to NYC, on a gorgeous fall day where the temperature hovered around fifty, and the sun’s rays forced themselves through silver and white clouds to form a glorious tapestry of colors, I found myself in Dumbo, and decided to do the familiar and breathtaking walk. But after stumbling across that iconic slice of the Manhattan Bridge sandwiched between those two red brick buildings at the very end of Washington Street, I immediately had a change of mind. The bridge is stunning to look at, and the sun was hitting…
Athens: Perfectly Imperfect
I’m a planner. Whenever I travel, there’s an itinerary involved. I like to have an idea of where I’ll be going, what I’ll be doing, and how long it might take. I might do a bit of research to see what other travelers have said about the location, the best time to visit, where to purchase tickets, etc. One thing I do very little of, however, is look at many pictures of these locales. Despite all of my planning, I enjoy a bit of mystery. After all, discovering a place while you’re actually physically there is such a beautiful feast for the senses. Athens is a city I remember reading about as a child. We all probably looked at that same photo of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in our junior high school history books. But I quickly realized how very little I really knew about Athens. A bit of an architecture…
Quiet Connections In An Urban Jungle…
I live in Hollywood, California. If you’ve never been, don’t think surfing, don’t think Baywatch, don’t think sand and sea. Think urban. Within a mile of me is the Dolby Theatre, which hosts the Academy Awards each year, causing the shutdown of major streets in the area and a rise in local blood pressure. The art deco Pantages, opened in 1930, welcomes the top plays and musicals straight from Broadway. The TCL Chinese Theater, which I still call Grauman’s, has been the famous home to movie star hand and footprints since 1922. Netflix’s Los Angeles headquarters is within walking distance. But so is one of the largest municipal green spaces in the country–Griffith Park. It houses golf courses, tennis courts, hiking trails, the Observatory and the Greek Amphitheater. But my absolute favorite part of the 4210 acres might be a self-contained little sanctuary called the Ferndell Nature Museum, though it’s…
How Led Zeppelin Saved Me From Myself
The first thing I do after checking into our Akumal, Mexico hotel room is hop into my swimsuit—a Baywatch red one with side cutouts—a little detail I should have probably considered when I was taking part in my two month cake and alcohol stress diet. I brought a total of three suits—two with cutouts, and a third—a two-piece. Not sure where the forethought was when it came to my wardrobe choices, but it really doesn’t matter because this trip is not about fashion or discovery or adventure; it’s about stillness and rejuvenation. It’s the whole reason we did something completely unfathomable for curiosity seekers—booked an all-inclusive. There would be no exploring the Yucatán, trekking to the Mayan temple of Chichen Itza or snorkeling in Cozumel. Our intention was to do absolutely nothing for eight straight days, since the two years leading up to this had brought about a variety of personal…
The Blarney Stone: Giving Covid-Thoughts Before Covid Was Even A Thought!
There was a clue on Jeopardy! the other day about the Blarney Stone, and it got me thinking about my visit to Ireland in 2014, and my Covid-like reaction to puckering up to the landmark. The Stone was placed in the roof of Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland, somewhere about 1446. Legend has it that if you kiss it, you will inherit the gift of gab, and words will flow smoothly from your tongue henceforth, getting you out of any potential predicament you might find yourself in. Let me just say this off the top, I’m not a kiss on the mouth kind of person. Nope, nein, nix! You know that no-personal space respecting uncle who never manages to miss a family gathering and always comes in fast and furious like a stealth smooch missile—Nope! That overly-familiar co-worker who’d (pre Covid) go straight for the lips in greeting—back up off…
Trip Advisor: The Killer of Mystery
Covid might have grounded my travels for the time being, but not the memories from some of my awesome travel experiences. Belize. Christmas, 2018. — Laurel and I lunched at Billy’s Kitchen, Restaurant & Bar (Hookah Lounge & Golf Cart Rental) today. That’s right. It’s all those things and then some! Plus, seemed Billy fancied himself an MC, as he was constantly grabbing his karaoke mic to announce: “Boop! Boop! LA in the house, Jamaica in the house.” Having our own personal hype man was kinda cool at first, but by the ninth time around, it had gotten a little old. And considering that we were the only ones in the restaurant, I was never quite sure to whom exactly he was hyping us up to. Billy also had this little helper/co-hype man named Ray (think a four foot nine Latin Belizean Flava Flav sans oversized clock), who would scurry…
The Road (Not) Taken
Wanderlust. Noun. A strong desire to travel. That’s me on a normal day, so ratchet that up tenfold now that we’re all living in the Upside Down. Got so bad, I started scrolling through old photos to try and live vicariously through the me that was in those photos. Something I never realized I took as many pictures of: roads. I seem to particularly have a thing for the winding ones where you’re not quite sure what’s around the corner, so you approach it like a kid on Christmas morn, filled with anticipation, ready to see if this unexpected little gift will open up to reveal something truly amazing like that Red Rider BB Gun you’d been jonesing for all year. (Sorry. Ralphie from A Christmas Story flashback. No idea where that came from.) Having to stick close to home these past few months has had me dreaming of the…
Chi Town: The Windy, Wonderful City
So, right before we all became lead actors in the the real-life Corona Virus movie we seem to be living in right now, I was in Chicago on business. It was the tail end of winter, and the universe decided to gift me one glorious 50 degree day. What did I do? I Ferris Beuller’d it, ya’ll! Crammed as much into those balmy 24 as I could. And thank goodness I did, because Lord knows when I’ll be able to leave my house again. Walking along Michigan Avenue, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much Chicago contributed to the pop culture of my youth… Back in the day when I was but a girl/ Chicago was the place that was the center of my pop world/ That’s kind of hard for a proud NYC chick to say/ ‘Cause you know we think of our 5 boroughs as the apex…
A Coney Island Christmas
The last time I set foot on Coney Island, I was eleven, and eleven was many a moon ago! But as a kid, I thought it was EVERYTHING–weird, noisy, vibrant, alive. The Atlantic Ocean washed up to shore, and right where the tide fizzled out, I could squish the wet sand up through my toes. The boardwalk held all kinds of treasures…from funnel cakes to a Ferris wheel, games of chance and skill, to an aquarium. Add to that the kooky, strange, oddly mesmerizing carny folk. If felt as if it were from another time–which, I suppose it was, considering that many of its structures were built around 1920. But in the years that have followed, I’ve only ever really thought about it on the Fourth of July, when grown men and women descend upon Nathan’s to suck down up to 75 frankfurters in a ten minute period in a…
Jamaica…You CAN Go Home Again
I recently went back to Jamaica for the first time since my grandmother passed sixteen years ago. It’s weird saying that considering the frequency with which I had visited before. But Ms. Thelma was the matriarch–that central figure that kept us all tied to the island, and once she was gone, I think we all felt a little less of that connection. But this trip proved something–that though things might change and people might go away, the connection never does. For me, the island is an umbilical cord of sorts. It’s the place I was born, and where my initial understanding of life and of the world was formed. It’s a place that will always have a hold on me. Here’s a little of my visit through pictures. Schoolgirls in uniforms competing to out-blue the sky… Little boys laughing through rain as they scurry on by… Coconut water from fresh…