As a journalist, I’ve written about crime for newspapers, business deals for magazines, cruise ship ports for online travel publications and industry trends for websites. My focus now is exclusively on travel. 
I am still a Midwest gal at heart, despite trading frigid winters for searing summers in Texas years ago. So, when my sister called to say she had rented a house on Lake Michigan for five days in September, I was excited. The Great Lakes were our summer playground growing up. We were a big camping family drawn to isolated locations where we could fish and swim in the cold, blue freshwater lakes. (Three of my five siblings still live close to the lakes.)...
Category: Luxury
A stone wall wraps around the Commodore Perry Estate, obscuring views of an ornate Italianate mansion built by a wealthy cotton merchant and his socialite wife during the Roaring ‘20s in what was then the outskirts of Austin, Texas. But the estate is hardly a secret these days. Auberge Resorts Collection has reimagined the 10,800-square-foot mansion as the centerpiece of a 10-acre urban resort that is enticing luxury-minded visitors from around the world. On a recent assignment for Travel Weekly, I explored the whimsically...
With so much art to admire and so many canals to cross in Venice, I wasn’t sure I’d have time for brunch on the remote Venetian island of Torcello. But my friend insisted that dining at Locanda Cipriani was a glorious experience not to be missed. I’m so happy I took her advice. Here’s a link to my story about that visit to Torcello and its iconic restaurant, which appeared recently in Live in Italy magazine.
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Old-world architecture and charm draw visitors to St. Augustine — and there is plenty to see and do in this historic city on Florida’s northeast Atlantic Coast. But a key reason people keep coming back is the food. To learn about four restaurants in St. Augustine where you can sample the cuisine of this historic but thoroughly modern city, please read the rest of my story in Travel Weekly here.
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Three ornate Victorian turrets top a mansard roof at the Renaissance St. Augustine hotel. Multiple porches wrap around the sprawling three-story structure, which is painted in as many pastel colors as you’ll find in the local ice cream parlor. This popular seaside town on Florida’s northeast Atlantic Coast is the oldest continuously populated city in the U.S. and thus takes its history seriously. … You can read my full story about the Renaissance St. Augustine Hotel in Travel Weekly here.
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After spending two weeks hiking in Cinque Terre and hopping ferries on Lake Como, I was ready to relax with friends on a secluded agritourism farm in Tuscany. From the sleepy Sinalunga train station, I traveled in a sleek Italian sports car along narrow country roads that dipped and curved abruptly around tiny hamlets, walled estates, olive groves and vineyards. Porcelain-white Chianina cattle grazed contentedly along the road sides. Red poppies and mustard-colored rapeseed covered the rolling hills as far as I could see, interrupted...
