Boldly Go Solo

How to set out solo, but not travel alone: Trips, tips and ideas for the active traveler.

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  • Five fun things to see and do in Toronto, ON

    Toronto, Canada, is full of food, fun and adventure. Who knew?

    I was bowled over by my recent visit to Toronto. I had visited Montreal with my family when I was a kid. It had that French vibe and it felt like you were in Europe. And my dad could have fun practicing his bad French. 

    But I always thought of Toronto as a modern city without much character. I knew you could go up the CN Tower and see the whole place. But what exactly was there to see?

    Well, let me tell you. I only had a few days to explore but I wish I'd had weeks. Below is my short list of things to do and see when you travel to Toronto but it hardly begins to tell the story. For starters you can:

    Hop on and off the 501 streetcar along Queen Street

    IMG_8057The 501 streetcar route is one of the longest in North America. With a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) day pass, you can hop on and off all day, visiting the many, many shops and restaurants all along most of the line. Bakeries. Clothing shops. Stores selling cool kitchen gadgets. Shoes, shoes and more shoes. 

    My first day, I went east from the center of town with a group of people from a travel bloggers conference I was attending. A freelancer for the Toronto Star who writes on urban life, guided us through back streets in Corktown, settled by the Irish in the 19th century. Corktown turned seemlessly into Leslieville. If we'd continued east, we would have hit the beach at the end. But we had to head back. It was only, as the Gilligan's Island people said, a three-hour tour. 

    Another day I walked…and walked…west to the Gladstone Hotel before turning back, catching a streetcar east and then another north to Chinatown.


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  • A Titanic museum in Branson, Missouri?


    Tit018_staircase_vert_hiresThere's a half a ship on the main drag in Branson, Missouri, with a Las Vegas-like marquee out front saying:

                    TITANIC

                     NOW

                 BOARDING

                9 am – 9 pm

    A Titanic museum in the Midwest, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean? I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

    Instead, I've been talking about it ever since. If this museum was meant for children, I must be a big kid. 

    I tapped out my first-ever Morse code message. ("Ellen in trouble"). I started a timer and stuck my hand in a tank of water set at the temperature of the ocean that April night in 1912. I was in pain after about 15 seconds.

    I tried to walk on three different decks that had pitches of varying steepness, demonstrating what it was like to hang on as the ship was sinking. I needed both hands on the railing to pull myself up the steepest one.
    Tilted decks

    Sitting in a recreated lifeboat, I pushed buttons and listened to the stories of the people who had been in them. I patted two real dogs – Molly and Carter – two King Charles Spaniels whose trainers at the museum talk about the dogs known to have been on board the ship.

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  • Art at the Burwell-Morgan Mill in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley




    Art on old mill gear, Burwell-Morgan mill, VA, boldlygosoloOn typical Saturdays in the town of Millwood, Va., volunteers set the     18th-century Burwell-Morgan Mill to work grinding corn, wheat, rye or other grains. They demonstrate the centuries-old method of food production, weighing and bagging the flour, grits or cornmeal for sale, often enlisting visitors to help.

    But for three weeks in the spring, and again in the fall, the stones grind to a halt, the water rushing to the water wheel is cut off, and it’s showtime of a different sort.

    That’s when Art at the Mill opens.
    Picnic area, Burwell-Morgan Mill, VA, boldlygosolo

    The show will be open for three weekends, starting April 27 and running through May 12. (Here's the story in The Washington Post on Art at the Mill.) 

    For a lovely and relaxing way to spend a day or weekend, take a drive out to the Shenandoahs, wander through the show and picnic on the grass. 

    There's something special about buying real art and being in the surroundings that the artist captured.

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  • Mason-Dixon Wine Trail in Pennsylvania. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as Pennsylvania wine


    Basignani wine cellar, MD, boldlygosolo"When tasting wine, connoisseurs hold their glasses up to the light to look at the wine’s color and clarity. I don’t always know what I’m supposed to see, but at Naylor Wine Cellars in Pennsylvania, I held up my white wine and it was crystal . . . No. I have to say that it was most definitely cloudy. Very clearly cloudy."

    That's how today's Washington Post story, called A winemaking and tasting tour through Pa. and Md., begins.  

    Wine in Pennsylvania? Most certainly. 26 on this particular "wine trail," with several wineries in Maryland included. The trail is rather circular, surrounding York, PA, in every direction.
    Moon Dancer tasting room 

    I went with a friend during the 8th annual Tour de Tanks event, which is how we got into all the back rooms. It runs until the end of March, every Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., except for Easter Sunday.

    Whether the wines compare to California or Italian or New Zealand wines… Who am I to say? I like what I like and I'm no connoisseur. You'd have to taste for yourself. 

    My friend "L," a Harrisburg, Pa. resident, says I missed two really good wineries. One is the The Vineyard at Hershey in Middletown, whose wines "have brought Pennsylvania wines to a whole new level," he says.

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  • Heart-shaped tubs for Valentine’s Day

    In the tradition of Erma Bombeck and Ann Landers, I am rerunning a fave story for Valentine's Day, (though by no means comparing my skills to theirs!) Here you go:

    A recent visit to Niagara Falls, where dozens of motels beckon with the promise of a soak in a bubbling red heart, left me strangely drawn to the outlandish kitsch of the heart-shaped-tub scene. And so one night, on my way home from a visit to friends in Massachusetts, I found myself checking into Caesars Pocono Resorts' Cove Haven in Lakeville, Pa., a k a "The Land of Love."

    The champagne glass tub was the first thing I saw when I got to my room. It was next to a fireplace in the living room. Behind a glass wall to the left was the heart-shaped swimming pool, four feet deep. Next to that was the in-suite sauna.

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  • Happy New Year 2013 from the “animals” at the National Zoo

    Zoo lights 2012, National Zoo, DC, boldlygosolo

    Two nights before New Year's Eve, I was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., learning (but clearly not perfecting) the art of night photography. 

    For the past several years, the National Zoo has strung up a good show and visitors wander through delighted by the spectacle.
    Lions in winter, ZooLights, DC, boldlygosolo 

    I didn't see any real animals. If I were them, I would have stayed inside too. It was freezing out there. But a handful of us had signed up with PhotoTour DC to learn the basics and we braved the elements to wander through the ZooLights display. (Sorry, it ends today.)

    We all had different levels of camera – mine being the least fancy. The minimum requirement was to have manual controls and a tripod. 

    In fooling with the shutter speed I discovered this is overexposed (too much blue-light bleeding):

    Blue elephant over-exposed, boldlygosolo

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is a little less overexposed:

     

    Blue elephant less over-exposed, boldlygosolo 

     

     

     

     

     

    And this is just too darn cute not to throw in:

     

    Baby elephant, Zoo Lights, DC, boldlygosolo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  • Red Bank, New Jersey – retro, but contemporary too


    Red Bank from Oyster Point Hotel, boldlygosoloEver heard of Red Bank, New Jersey? I hadn't. But I went to visit for a travel story and ended up loving the place for a variety of reasons, nostalgia being no small part of it.

    Red Bank calls itself a "cool little town" and I agree. It's the kind of place with few chain stores, where teens walk from homes nearby to wander around on their own, hanging out at the yogurt shop, grabbing a slice of pizza, playing some pinball at a pinball and video arcade.
    Broad Street, Red Bank, New Jersey boldlygosolo

    I wrote about Red Bank for today's Washington Post travel section. 

    If you're a shopper, you'll like the many stores selling high-end clothes or the consignment stores offering the hand-me-down version. (Hey, I'm all about a deal.)

    The town is a draw for antiques lovers too. If you're into pinball, which I remembered I was when I got there, or classic video games, you'll have a great time at YESTERcades.

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  • Telephone tours of the Portland Museum of Art’s Winslow Homer exhibit


    Weatherbeaten_by_Winslow_HomerIf you call 207-228-0300, you can hear an audio tour of the current exhibition, "Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine at the lovely Portland Museum of Art in Maine.

    Not that you should try this at home. Without the paintings in front of you, it could be dull.

    It's mainly if you're interested in hearing what the museum's telephone tour is like. Call that number and press #2 for the painting, "The Artist's Studio in an Afternoon Fog, 1894," #6 for the painting, "The Lifeline." And so on.

    But, really, as I said, for this to be worthwhile, you really should be standing in front of the paintings as museum personnel describe them. I just thought that it was interesting that the museum has found a way to bypass audio headsets and fees by having patrons use their own personal tour devices. 

    Perhaps other museums do this as well and I'm late to this game?

    The
    exhibition features paintings, etchings and watercolors by Homer, the great
    American artist who painted many maritime scenes, and lived and painted
    in Maine in his later years. I continued to call that number for explanations throughout my visit.

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  • Mexican food isn’t really Mexican food – think chilaquiles and pozole


    Making tortillas, Guadalajara, Mexico, boldlygosoloIf you're planning a trip to Mexico, or have been and want to reminisce, you'll enjoy reading this story about Mexican food from BootsanAll, a travel website.

    The basic point is, don't expect Mexican food in Mexico. That is, don't expect the Tex-Mex taco fare you're used to in the United States.

    I loved trying the food in Guadalajara when I visited there a few years ago, particularly the discovery of chilequiles and cheese-stuffed tortillas for wrapping meat and vegetables.

    Mexican food in the States is so predictable, isn't it? I know I'll always find pretty much the same style of fajitas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas and quesadillas, with sides of refried beans and rice, right? 
    Corona Market, Guadalajara, Mexico, boldlygosolo

    But what about huevos divorciados for breakfast? (Yes, those are indeed divorced eggs.)

    Half the fun I had during my most recent visit to Mexico was learning about all the variations in Mexican cooking and the foods at Mexican markets. My favorite find ended up being those chilaquiles, also the favorite of the writer of the BootsnAll post on Mexico.

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  • 9/11 memorial in Israel

    IMG_5703Three years ago, a memorial for 9/11 was inaugurated in Israel outside of Jerusalem. The 9/11 Living Memorial is a billowing American flag, partly surrounded on its circular plaza by the names of the more than 3,000 people who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.  

    The waving flag is meant to resemble an eternal flame.

    Enclosed in the base is a piece of a beam from one of the destroyed buildings, reddish iron a couple of feet long, behind a piece of glass. Today, the U.S. ambassador will attend a memorial ceremony.

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