The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is the oldest continually operating and collecting museum in the United States. Its complicated history reaches back to the cusp of the 19th century, when our newborn nation was between wars with Britain and 170-year-old Salem was one of her largest cities and a world-class seaport. Salem ships… Read More Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts
The personal-finance site WalletHub recently ranked all 50 states by 26 fun factors, ranging from beach quality to casinos per capita. Source: WalletHub This post contains affiliate links. For more information, click here. And the winner is California, which placed first in number of restaurants, fitness centers, and movie and performing-arts theaters per capita. Florida… Read More United States of Fun
If you live in Honolulu, where do you go on vacation? Based on a recent study from WalletHub, the answer might be “nowhere”. The personal-finance site rated the Hawaiian capital as America’s best city for a staycation. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, click here. It’s not hard to see why. Honolulu is certainly… Read More Five Things to Explore in Honolulu
Ah, summer! that balmy season when the normal rules don’t apply. The daylight is long; the weather is warm. The clothing is casual, and so is the attitude. It’s a time of reward, the few weeks’ sabbatical when we can relax, buoyed by the accomplishments of the past nine months. And it’s a fine season… Read More How to Plan a Summer Road Trip
The Outer Banks are a string of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. Quiet, but saturated with history, they’re a thoughtful person’s paradise, nurturing the delicious and slightly rebellious sense of surrender that comes with leaving the mainland and its expectations behind for a few days. I’ve been on trips ranging from a… Read More 10 Things to Do on North Carolina’s Outer Banks
WalletHub earlier this month released its report on 2021’s Best Credit Card Rewards Programs, along with a consumer survey. The personal-finance site found that 28 percent of consumers’ views toward the programs changed during lockdown, as people started seeing more clearly a need for rewards tailored to their current spending. But that requires a strategy.… Read More How to Simplify Your Cash-Back Credit Cards
Magnolia Plantation in South Carolina boasts the last intact large-scale romantic gardens in the United States. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, click here. But Magnolia’s history and her gardens go back a century before there was a United States, when Ann and Thomas Drayton established the rice plantation in 1676 along the Ashley… Read More Magnolia Plantation & Gardens in South Carolina
“The world is a book,” observed St. Augustine, “and those who do not travel read only a page.” One of the few good things about this past crazy year is that it’s allowed us more time to read literal books, but it sure has robbed us of the edifying benefits of travel. Fortunately, we do… Read More 100 Best U.S. Summer Travel Destinations
