travel


Free college tuition for scooping sundaes!

When I was in Branson a few weeks ago, my buddy Kenny Kleiber tuned me into College of the Ozarks, which runs an ice cream parlor that sells ice cream made by its students. I’d written about this place a few times before, both for WalletPop.com and for the departed Arthur Frommer’s Smart Shopping magazine,… Read more »



Guide book wisdom: Branson, MO

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“Although I didn’t know it at the time, I visited an area near Branson when I was 10 and 11 years old… It was the depths of the Depression, in 1939 and 1940. The poverty-stricken people of the Ozarks (this was a region closer to the Lake of the Ozarks, north of Branson) were very… Read more »


Me and my ‘Knight Rider’ short shorts

I am showing this to you first because you love me more. It’s me at It’s a Wrap in the Valley, where costumes from Hollywood TV and movie wardrobe departments are sold as vintage for cheap. Battlestar Galactica was on the list of shows that had clothes represented in the inventory, but try as I… Read more »


Brown’s Hotel does right by Alexander Graham Bell

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It took only a few hours before someone from the the illustrious Brown’s Hotel read my admiring post about its Kipling Suite. How’s that for attentive service? A rep wrote me today to fill me in on the latest: …Since Sir Rocco Forte and Olga Polizzi refurbished the hotel in 2008, we have dedicated one of our… Read more »


A favorite hotel room: The Kipling Suite

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Kipling Suite, Brown’s Hotel, London Brown’s Hotel is one of London’s most grande dames. It’s been open since 1837, gradually expanding into 11 townhouses as it collected esteem and high custom, and there’s no way to underestimate the important role it has played through the ages. For one, it’s where the first successful telephone call… Read more »


Harpers Ferry

A few years ago, I was doing something mundane when the feeling hit me. I want to go to Harpers Ferry, I thought. Can’t explain why. I went through a John Brown period about 15 years ago (doesn’t every American history buff go through a John Brown period?), when my collaborator and I were trying… Read more »