Recent Work

Travel & Life Stories

36 Hours in Panama City, Panama
AT the crossroads of two oceans and two continents, Panama City is a dynamic metropolis. That’s never been truer than it is today. Everywhere in this steamy, tropical town are foreign investors talking shop in upscale cafes, expat fortune-seekers toasting their fates in wine bars, cranes stalking the rooftops of a skyline that seems to grow before your eyes and — on the downside — traffic that puts even the most congested American city to shame. Central America’s capital of international finance is in the midst of a prolonged boomtown fever.
The New York Times, Travel; April 21, 2011

Astoria, Oregon, Discovers a Waterfront Chic
IT was a damp, wind-whipped Thursday night in Astoria, Ore., but inside the Fort George Brewery & Public House an eclectic, standing-room-only crowd kept warm and dry. Ol’ Danny Barnes, a Washington State-based singer and banjoist, twanged and crooned before a hooting audience of Astorians who had poured into the space on their way home from work. In the crowd were Coast Guard officers, marine biologists, nursing students — and the waitress who had served me lunch earlier that day.
The New York Times, Travel; March 25, 2011

Chow Down in Puebla, Mexico
The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan
New York Magazine, Travel; March 3, 2011

Valle de Bravo, an Upscale Refuge Near Mexico City
A band of tubas, trumpets and saxophones played as a lone, wide-grinning inebriate swayed to the wailing horns. There were balloons, popcorn stands and roasted-peanut vendors. Children on scooters whipped through the crowd, chased by a scrawny, yapping mutt. Teenage girls danced among themselves while young men sipped micheladas — beer spiked with lime, salt and chili — from one-liter Styrofoam cups. The smell of cotton candy and churros was everywhere. It was 8 p.m. on a recent Sunday in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, and nearly every stretch of bench, brick wall or stone step had been claimed. Families, couples, kids and dogs — they were all there, listening to music beneath ash trees, African tulips and jacarandas in the town’s leafy central plaza.
New York Times, Travel; February 18, 2011

Where the Wild Foods Are: A Master Class in the Art of Foraging
With his side-swept hair, skinny jeans, and rakish fedora, Tyler Gray doesn't look like the kind of guy you'd expect to find doing the hard, dirty work of mushroom hunting. But then Gray isn't your typical back-to-the-lander. Last November, he could be spotted hauling a nondescript insulated suitcase through the streets of New York City, inside of which were $60,000 worth of white truffles bound for a special Thanksgiving event at Eataly, Mario Batali's new food emporium.
Details.com; February 2, 2011

Revisit the Past in Long Beach
The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan
New York Magazine, Travel; December 16, 2010

Fort Bragg: You can go home again
Fifteen years ago, the century-old redwood train trestle at the north end of Fort Bragg, on the Mendocino coast, was where teenagers went to smoke cigarettes and make out. The towering bridge — gorgeous even at the height of its decay — was closed to pedestrians because of rotting beams and gaping holes. But the view, high above Pudding Creek and out over the churning Pacific, was irresistible for romance and rebellion, the wire fence at the bridge's mouth a feeble barrier against young, bored Fort Braggers. I know. I was one of them.
Los Angeles Times, Travel; November 19, 2010

California Farmland, Known for Its Drinks
Cradled between ridges of coastal redwoods and inland oaks, and laced by the narrow, meandering Navarro River, Anderson Valley is a two-hour drive from San Francisco in Mendocino County’s under-appreciated interior.
New York Times, Travel - Overnighter; October 17, 2010

Twain’s Nicaragua, 144 Years Later
It was from this vantage, in December 1866, that Samuel Langhorne Clemens — now known by his pen name, Mark Twain — first laid eyes on San Juan del Sur.
New York Times, Travel - Footsteps; September 19, 2010

The New Fort Bragg
Long overshadowed by Mendocino, the lumber town remakes itself into a no-apologies-needed North Coast destination.
Sunset Magazine, Travel - Escapes; April, 2010

BITES - Restaurant Review: Whiskey Soda Lounge; Portland, Ore.
New York Times, Travel, January 7, 2010

Mazatlán’s Old Town Is Spry Again
New York Times, Travel, October 25, 2009

Intelligent Travel Blog
National Geographic Traveler

Down Mexico Way
Anderson Valley Advertiser, May 27, 2009

Top Shellfish: Raw oysters and cocktails, long-celebrated aphrodisiacs, together on Connecticut menus.
New Haven Advocate, November 22, 2007

My Big, Fat Hippie Wedding
New Haven Advocate, July 18, 2007

Poetry In Felt and Slate
New York Times, City, March 19, 2006

A New York Weekend on $100
Budget Savvy Magazine, Winter, 2006

A Fourth of July Homecoming: A Mendocino Story
Anderson Valley Advertiser, Summer, 2006