The rappel tower
(Warning: Contains coarse language.) Heights have never bothered me very much. As a child, whenever my family would visit tourist attractions involving high…
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New Year’s Eve
Crowds of people are not my idea of a good time. I like my space and I don’t like noise. Crowds of drunk…
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Roadside discomfort
The worst roadside restroom I ever visited was in northwest Indiana. It was 1989 and a friend and I were on a late-night…
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Regarding melted cheese
When asked what my last meal would be if I knew I would die soon, I generally name lamb, raspberries and pears. The…
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At a fish restaurant
There is a restaurant in Paris that I like very much. Truth be told, there are a dozen or more restaurants in Paris…
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Remembering a special Good Friday
Three years ago I was living in Fitou in France during a period of decompression and introspection. The preceding autumn had been just…
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Dining alone
During one summer in the 80s I had a week’s vacation from my job selling shoes at Marshall Field’s, and after considering places…
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The first time I visited Toronto
I was 25 when I took my first vacation by myself. I lived in Chicago at the time and thought it would be…
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More travel rants
(Caution: contains coarse language.) In a previous edition we addressed situations in which travelers — aboard trains and airplanes, in cars and trucks,…
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Chicken fried steak and food in general
Food really gets me going. I enjoy eating it, cooking it, planning ways I will cook it, shopping for things I need to…
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