We are Airbnb hosts. I feel like I should caveat that, or apologize for it. Why does it make me feel a little icky to write? I think perhaps because we have some of the most judgmental neighbors who make me feel like a criminal and make my guests feel unwelcome, but perhaps those neighbors…
As a Washingtonian, I am loath to suggest any restaurants that aren’t walkable from home. When people ask me where to go to dinner when they visit, my first question isn’t, “What do you like to eat?” but rather, “Where are you staying?” So a town like Kannapolis, an area like Concord, is confusing to…
Is it possible to review a hotel you didn’t sleep in? I think so. At least, if a hotel is so good as a day guest that you know it would take an infestation of bed bugs and loud neighbors and no hot water to diminish your experience, it’s safe to give it a good…
A few months before our trip to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos I planned a day trip, thinking we needed a way to break up endless days of beach and pool time. I didn’t appreciate how blissful beach and pool time would be, especially in the midst of building our home and a chaotic work season.…
Read more Turks and Caicos Day Trip: North and Middle Caicos
The scene is Christmas 2013. There are 13 adults seated around a too-small table in a too-loud striving Italian restaurant in Georgetown. One couple is divorced. Two siblings don’t speak directly to each other, just through the semi-newcomer who unwittingly sat between them. The grandparents are beloved, but their political views are not – and…
The holidays are over, and they were lovely. My one regret? I didn’t write a single thing down during them. I think the only thing I wrote, literally, was a Turks and Caicos Customs Entry form and a check. Now I find myself with a holiday hangover, literally and figuratively. My pants feel tight. My…
Read more The Thing I Should Have Packed for Vacation: My Writing Habit
Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, if you can pull your eyes away from the ocean, you might spy rickety looking train tracks. I’ve never given them much thought, assuming they’re just holdovers from a train-heavy past. I’d never actually seen a train on them, perhaps because I’m usually staring fixedly at the ocean –…
Read more The Pacific Surfliner – A Not-so-hidden Gem along SoCal’s Coast
After Thanksgiving we hit the road for an escape from Washington. We did not, though, escape overeating. Pittsburgh has a burgeoning food scene, and we did our best to hit some of the high points. Thankfully, though, we weren’t assaulted by leftover turkey until returning to Gwendom. Just a short drive from D.C., Pittsburgh is…
Read more Pittsburgh – Positively Pleasant Just Four Hours from Washington
Palm Beach, Fla., is not for everyone. To visit Palm Beach and love it, you must first suspend reality and disabuse yourself of any notions about good taste and humility. Once you’ve done that, double what you’re prepared to spend for a trip to the beach, pack a bag and get yourself on the JetBlue…
Ever stayed somewhere that was so magical and over-the-top that you felt like Richie Rich? That was The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va., for me the first time I visited. Admittedly the very first time I went I was unconscionably young and embarrassingly impressionable (freshman year of college, 19, and well-traveled domestically but more familiar…
Read more She Ain’t What She Used to Be: The Homestead at Our 31
The Outraged Eater 