“This is the most beautiful place on earth. “There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home known or unknown, actual or visionary. A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less…

The highlight of watching my son’s soccer game last month was the rare sight of a 747 taking off from the nearby MSP airport. For me, the highlight of CNU in Detroit (DTW) last year was arriving that the terminal to see a 747 parked at the gate, preparing for the long flight to Seoul (ICN). The 747 still stops people short, a combination of stellar industrial design, a symbol of cultural and technological change, and an encapsulation of the wonder of flight. As a kid there were three 747 departures per day out of MSP (didn’t you learn your…

English pubs are among the premier “third places” in the world. Despite rumors of their death, they remain vital to the community, and I’m impressed by how well they fit in to the urban (and rural) fabric. The English pub is a great place to gather with friends or strangers. They are also quite amenable to the solo traveler. There is no waitstaff to bother you, and it’s possible to linger at a table with a book and a pint. But lest you think Merry Olde England is a nonstop flow of pints of warm beers like Old Toejam, Cheeky…

I set off for Ravenscar in the morning, having spent the night in the ultra-quaint English seaside village of Robin Hood’s Bay. I had arrived the previous afternoon at low tide, and wandered amongst the pools and eddys on the expansive beach. In the morning the tide was high and the beach was entirely underwater, and I was eager to set off on my amble along along the Cleveland Way and this amazing stretch of English countryside. Ravenscar is a 600 foot cliff on the edge of the North Sea, two miles southeast of Robin Hood’s Bay and about midway…