The Distracted Wanderer

As a native New Englander who loves to explore my corner of the country, one of the most inspirational places for me to get a lot of my travel ideas from  is our venerable Yankee Magazine which has been publishing all things New England since September 1935 when Robb Sagendorph - one man with one typewriter, a Franklin stove, and a dream - published his very first issue of a magazine that "expresses our great New England culture." In addition to their print edition,  Yankee has done a mighty fine job keeping up with the digital age offering readers a terrific online edition as well as the chance to sign up to receive free email newsletters , get an iPad® subscription , and more. It was from the February 2013 edition of "Your New England Minute" - the magazine's electronic newsletter - that I got the idea that a trek to the other side of Connecticut might be in order when I read the following:   NewEnglandville | The Town of Our Dreams    "From the b

A little over a year ago, I had the chance to stay in a Boston hotel that I'd had my heart set on for quite a few years - the beautiful and historic Omni Parker House which Harvey D. Parker introduced to Boston on October 8th, 1855 and which is located in one of the most ideal spots in Boston right on the Freedom Trail and within walking distance of many local attractions including Boston Common and Public Gardens, Faneuil Hall, the Massachusetts State House, and more. I wrote a post about that visit which you can find here if you've not found it already but as with all good things, one visit was simply not going to be enough and after taking the Omni Parker House off of the top of my "Bucket List of Places to Stay" which is made up of hotels that belong to the Historic Hotels of America as I can't help it - I'm a history nut! - I added it right back on to the list again with the promise that I'd get back there again someday. Thankfully "

On a recent short trip down to visit a friend in Orlando, Florida I had the opportunity to spend one night in America's oldest city - Saint Augustine - when the friend that I was visiting asked if I'd like to jaunt up there to visit the Saint Augustine Lighthouse and Museum while I was in the state. Are you kidding me? Lighthouse? One that I could actually go in and climb?  Oh heck yea - let's do it! Once the decision was made, it was also decided that we'd spend one night of my vacation in Saint Augustine before wending our way back to Orlando via Ponce de Leon Inlet where another lighthouse - Florida's tallest - could be found. That made me double-excited as I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to lighthouses but putting all that aside, first things first - where were we going to stay? Quick! To the internet! After looking at a few different hotels and the like in the area (Morgen on his end in Florida and me on mine in Connecticut), we finally stumbl