Georgia on My Mind

What a difference a year makes. Last winter I was driving around the entirety of New England researching a story on the best winter towns in the region for Yankee Magazine. The deluge of snow created a winter wonderland where I could truly appreciate everything New England has to offer during the cold weather months. This winter, I shoveled twice, saw very little snow, and it’s already March. I was fortunate to be writing about New England’s finest winter towns while they wearing a shiny white dress. That cover story for the Jan/Feb issue of Yankee Magazine is finally out on the web. Please have a look!
Several summers ago, I was hired by Chevrolet to drive a Chevy Malibu from Boston to Washington, DC on one tank of gas and then write about the experience. It was an absurd assignment, made even more ridiculous by the macho photographer they hired to take shots for their glossy magazine. It was a brutally hot day and seeing that he was following my wife and me in a convertible, I asked if he needed any suntan lotion. "Oh no, I don’t need that," said the guy. By the end of the drive around 9 pm, he was as red as a boiled lobster.
While Crane Beach is still the best-known Trustees of Reservations site in Massachusetts, the group maintains more than 112 locales in the state, from Field Farm in Williamstown to the recently acquired Dunes Edge Campground in Provincetown. The William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington is a pastoral landscape of pastures and fields of wildflowers, largely unchanged for more than 150 years. Slocum’s River Reserve in Dartmouth is a 47-acre coastal farm on the shores of Buzzards Bay, an ideal place to view warblers during the spring and fall migration. All next week, I’ll be traveling around the state introducing readers to at least 20 Trustees sites—research for a story I’m writing for The Boston Globe on my personal favorites. So please check back!
Blame it on the majestic scenery in New England that lured artists to its shores and mountains, or savvy collectors who had the foresight to purchase the preeminent works of their time. The result is undeniable. The bounty of art found in this region is mind-boggling, from the American art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to the Hudson River School paintings hanging at Hartford’s Wadsworth Athenaeum to the Impressionist gems located at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Add university collections like Harvard’s Fogg and the recently reopened Yale University Art Museum that could rival the finest art museum in most mid-range cities, and you understand how spoiled we are.
Maybe it’s the lure of Italian cooking, the chance to finally see the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican in Rome, biking through the countryside of Tuscany, or driving along the spectacular Amalfi coastline, that has made Italy such a hot destination in 2010. I just received a call from Go Ahead Tours in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who noted that bookings are up a remarkable 55% on trips to Italy compared to last year. So much, in fact, that they decided to host an event on April 10th called “A Taste of Tuscany in Boston.” On hand will be best-selling author Frances Mayes, who’s releasing her new book, “Every Day in Tuscany.” Italian food and wine will also be presented. Join in the festivities at the EF Center on 1 Education Street in Cambridge from 2-5 pm. Save a spot by remembering to RSVP.