Pamela Wright

6 days ago | bostonglobe.com | Diane Bair |Pamela Wright

NEWPORT, R.I. — Spring is sprouting in Newport, and we’re here for it. “It’s so close to home, but it has that vacation vibe,” says Dr. Seth Jones of Marstons Mills, who recently headed there for a quick family getaway. Never mind that it’s not quite sailing-and-al fresco-oyster-slurping-season — it will be soon. Year after year, this seaport city charms everyone from bachelorette parties to tennis buffs to mansion mavens.

6 days ago | bostonglobe.com | Diane Bair |Pamela Wright

Back in the ’90s, Jo Johnston, a busy professional living in Dallas, took her first big cruise, and really enjoyed it. Fast forward: Johnston retired, sold her home and her car, and now spends 10 months or more out of the year on back-to-back, long-range cruises aboard Holland America, her preferred cruise line. She’s gone on three of their 120+ day Grand World Voyages, and several 30 to 50-plus day cruises. In all, she estimates that she’s spent more than 1,100 days cruising with Holland America.

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Diane Bair |Pamela Wright

MONTREAL — ”Fries and cheese and gravy. What’s not to like?” said our server at Poutineville. Indeed. In honor of National Poutine Day, April 11, we visited our northerly neighbor to celebrate all things poutine. OK, we’re lying. We just wanted an excuse to eat French fries, and lots of ‘em. For work. Plus, Montréal! We love Montreal. We’d always thought of poutine, one of Canada’s national dishes and a standard in Quebec cuisine, as the ultimate hangover food, or a late-night nosh.

2 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Diane Bair |Pamela Wright

It’s cheap, filling, tasty, and indulgent, but where did poutine, the iconic dish of Quebec, come from? The Montréal tourism website shares this information: There are two competing claims about the origin of poutine. As one story goes, in 1957, a regular at a restaurant called Le Lutin Qui Rit in Warwick asked for cheese curds with his order of fries.

2 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Diane Bair |Pamela Wright

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — “We’re starting to get our vibe back,” said Nikki Stewart, director of sales for The Radical hotel. It was nearly five months after Hurricane Helene struck the city and surrounding mountain towns, causing catastrophic damage: power lines were down; city water lines were destroyed, and buildings, homes, roads, and bridges taken out. We’d seen the apocalyptic photos, saddened by the devastation to one of our favorite American cities. And yet.