Delaware folks seem to have a special passion for the preservation and celebration of maritime history, traditions and treasures. Along Delaware’s southern coast one can have a close encounter with the one-of-a-kind remains of a 1798 British shipwreck, explore a lightship and lighthouses, take a leisurely ferry ride from one state to another and indulge [...]

Off the coast of Georgia sits one of the largest of more than 100 Sea Islands of the southeastern United States. Cumberland Island is home to wild horses, boars, American alligators, armadillos and beautiful sprawling live oaks covered with Spanish moss. The island is a 45-minute ferry ride across the water from St. Mary’s, Georgia’s [...]

St. Augustine, Fla., has a strong and well-deserved reputation for its history. Everywhere there are references to historical figures such as Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who founded the city in 1565, and Henry Flagler, who transformed the area from an alligator-infested swamp into a playground for the rich during the late 1800s. Today the beaches, [...]

  To be honest, I really have no business getting on a snowboard. After all, I’m way closer to 60 than I am to 50 and my once-flexible joints are far stiffer than they once were. Still, a visit to Bear Creek Resort and Conference Center in Macungie, Pa., gave me the opportunity to take [...]

The national tradition of swearing in the newly elected president of the United States has Washington, D.C., all abuzz. Security experts, transportation officials, party planners, out-of-towners and local residents are figuring out the best way to deal with the impending traffic, crowds, revelry and confusion that comes at inauguration time. Presidential inauguration festivities play out [...]

Just over a year ago I had the pleasure of meeting a man referred to simply as Leemon, a Rastafarian in the true sense of the word. Leemon lives in a tiny village in the Jamaican hills overlooking Montego Bay. He has no electricity, no running water and no other so-called modern conveniences, yet he [...]

Whenever someone suggested that I do something well beyond my means financially, I used to joke, “if I had that kind of money I wouldn’t be sitting here—I’d be cruising the Mediterranean.” Earlier this year, my mother called my bluff. “How much would it cost to cruise the Mediterranean?” she asked. I looked it up [...]