Globe Corner Blogs

A Stormy Lake Erie--photo by Llalan

I just got back from a place I like so much, I won’t name it. I will say that it is a small town in Ontario, Canada, and that I want it all to myself every summer from now on, just as it has been since my family and I stumbled upon it over two decades ago. I like it so much, I’m not even sharing a sunset picture with you — here is a storm. It’s just that…I’m sure I’m the only one who would ever want to live here forever and ever. See those fearsome waves and menacing clouds roiling up Lake Erie? Not somewhere you would ever want to be, am I right? I mean sure, this storm happened the evening we got there and was over the middle of the lake…and every other day was 75-degrees and sunny (in that bright open way that only skies over virtually empty beaches can be), but you can never be sure. It’s better to be safe and go to Florida. There is really nothing to do in my little town on the lake, anyway — just read on the beach, sleep on the beach, eat fresh fruit in the cabin, read on the beach… And the sun is so northern and indirect that it can really only sun-kiss those as vampire-pale as me. Forget the water, too. It’s absolutely frigid! Only the foolhardy venture out on little green air mattresses and let the gentle waves lull them to sleep. Only the plain stupid fight their way out on the windy days to where it gets shallow again and body-surf wave after wave to shore. So, really… Continue Reading »

New Jersey Moon Handbook

My favorite time of the summer came and went for me the other week. It was my annual trip to America’s Greatest Family Resort: Ocean City, New Jersey. Hooray! Once a year my entire extended family makes the journey for a week of rest, relaxation, memories, and most importantly, food. I ate so much food. It was delicious. There was food in the house, food on the beach, food in the car, food on the boardwalk, and food in my belly.

If you are thinking of going on vacation with “the fam” to an amazing place in New Jersey, definitely check out Ocean City. The beach is very nice, the boardwalk is a lot of fun, and there are tons of activities going on at all times. Granted, I spent most of my vacation reading on the beach, but it was still totally worth it. One day I spent the morning sea kayaking and went on a bike ride in the afternoon before a late nap. This was all followed with family activities on the boardwalk where I managed to eat half of a huge pizza, right after a big dinner and before going out for ice cream. Needless to say, I enjoyed my week trip to Ocean City this year, and every year so far. Therefore I plan on going every year for the rest of forever. The saltwater taffy alone is worth the trip.

The Islands of Boston Harbor by Edward Rowe Snow

The day was Sunday, and my parents were on their way. They have visited me many times in Boston, but before there was always a school event already planned for us.  What was I to do this time?  Where would I take them?  The idea of going to the Museum of Dirt again popped into my head, but then I realized I needed an appointment.  This was my dilemma.  Whenever my parents come to Boston we have to go do something. Why, you might ask?  Because I live in a disgusting house with eight other people, and I know that they don’t even want to come in. This is why I need an event for them at all times when they come to visit.

The Boston Harbor Cruise was the event of the day.  I had never been, and neither had my family.  Since it was such a gorgeous day and we all enjoy boating, it seemed like the proper choice.  So off we went on this historic cruise: a cruise of islands, forts, sewage treatment plants, and abandoned buildings.

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101 Baseball Places by Josh Pahigian

In less than two weeks the Boys of Summer will have reached the halfway point of the season. That’s right — you have only about 5,000 more games til the season is over. Or so it may seem to a (seriously un-American) non-enthusiast. But for the rest of us, especially those of us who grew up with and continue to root for one of the worst baseball clubs in the league, it is a time of renewed hope and enthusiasm: hope that we will not continue to mire in last place; enthusiasm at the outside chance of wearing our jerseys and hats well into September or even in the snow.

By now you may have guessed that, although living in Boston, I am actually a fan of the beleaguered Cleveland Indians, my hometown team. When I was young, before they took a wild whiff at greatness in the early 90s, my family and I often took a quick trip up to “The Big City” and bought tickets minutes before the game started.
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Myrtle Beach, SC--photo by Nicole Jones

Most people who grow up in tourist hot spots will tell you that along with insider tips on the best seafood buffet (the Calabash joint on Kings Highway South), comes a general sense of superiority over the outsiders who flock to vacation in your hometown. You roll your eyes at all their pale, northern skin; you laugh at the Canadians from places with strange sounding names like Ontario and Quebec, who come down to sunbathe in February; you immediately look at a car’s license plate if it commits a traffic offense, knowing-even before you visually confirm- that the driver is one of them. A tourist. A rubbernecker. Often a Yankee.

So it is a little strange when I return to Myrtle Beach every year to visit my family. I have been away for about ten years, and I am no longer a local. The license tag on my car is not from South Carolina. I have lost my perennial tan. I own snow boots…

Myrtle Beach is a much bigger place now than when I grew up there, not the sleepy small town I remember. The New York Times recently named it one of their “31 Places to Go This Summer.” The city has torn down the oceanfront Pavillion where my grandparents would go on dates and have replaced it with Hard Rock Park, a rock ‘n roll theme park complete with a Led Zeppelin rollercoaster. Admission is fifty dollars, and it overlooks a strip mall and the highway. “How in the world (pronounced “whirled”) are families goan afford that?” asks my grandmother, a lifelong resident.

A lot has changed, but the actual beach, the original tourist attraction, has not. It is still just as beautiful- the sand still as soft and the ocean still as gray and vast. And that still feels like home.

National Geographic map of Canada

I like to think that through our sale this month we are promoting tourism to Canada. More Americans should go there. A lot more. I, myself, am quite a fan. Almost every August of my life has been spent in part in Canada. Every time I tell someone where I am going I am met with: “Canada?!” Then they assume I must be going to Toronto, which many US citizens seem to consider an American city that simply wandered too far north in a moment of confusion. When I correct them and tell them the true location of my favorite place on earth, I am met with more bafflement, now mixed with mild disgust: “Lake Erie?!?” Yes. I stay on the Canadian coast of the Great Lake in a tiny fishing town — it’s almost directly across the water from Cleveland, but I usually leave this fact out to avoid further astonishment. Nonetheless, the whole matter befuddles many, so allow me to illustrate the reasons why I love our neighbor:
1. Loonies.
2. Ordering a “Blue” (Labatt’s) at the bar. Continue Reading »

Explorer's Guide to Washington

Whenever I bring friends back to Seattle to visit my parents with me, they are subjected to my Dad’s special tour of the city. He loves to show off his native city and talk about his three favorite things: Boeing, University of Washington Huskies and the price of gas. First, we have to go on a driving tour so that he can point out all of the landmarks that we happen to pass while he is looking for free parking. He usually throws out fascinating tidbits of information such as how the best place to be in a earthquake is on top of the Space Needle since it is anchored down so deeply and how everything has an Elvis connection as The King filmed a movie at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962.

Then off to a restaurant where we are force fed Olympia Oysters, whichever salmon he deems worthy, asparagus and Washington wine from the Walla Walla Valley. Next we drive to West Seattle, so we can get one of the best views of the Seattle Skyline, and he can point out more sights such as the the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and the new stadiums. Continue Reading »

I have been a Boston resident now for almost four years. I like to think that I know the city fairly well, and have seen a decent portion of what there is to see. This was true for the most part until the other night.

It was towards the end of the evening when I was working when I happened across a particular book in our Boston section. The Museums of Boston it is called, and boy did it throw me for a loop. I have been missing out completely! …Did you know that there is a Museum of Dirt, and a Museum of Bad Art? Continue Reading »

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending my graduation.  Naturally my family came to Boston to visit and celebrate.  One of the festivities of the weekend was going to see the famous Globe Corner Bookstore, which they have only been hearing and dreaming about.  Continue Reading »