A striking photograph on the front - and on the back, a compelling description that explains why this is an essential trip for any tourist or resident. Some weekends involve iconic road trips, some trips are unknown even to longtime residents, and some are once-a-year events such as holiday...  more

A striking photograph on the front - and on the back, a compelling description that explains why this is an essential trip for any tourist or resident. Some weekends involve iconic road trips, some trips are unknown even to longtime residents, and some are once-a-year events such as holiday weekends or Christmas and New Year's events. The text includes descriptions of what, when, where, and how - as well as URLs, toll-free numbers, basic directions, and enough information to Google the rest. Most important, each card includes the why. * Destinations range from famous and iconic to unusual or unique * Cards are categorized for Arts & Culture, Events, Recreation/Sports, and Food & Drink. * 6 icons indicate whether the destination is kid-friendly, dog-friendly, accessible by mass transit or bike, handicap-accessible, and free or inexpensive.

The author of the much-admired Tolstoy and the Purple Chair goes on a quest through the history of letters and her own personal correspondence to discover and celebrate what is special about the handwritten letter. Witty, moving, enlightening, and inspiring, Signed, Sealed, Delivered begins...  more

The author of the much-admired Tolstoy and the Purple Chair goes on a quest through the history of letters and her own personal correspondence to discover and celebrate what is special about the handwritten letter. Witty, moving, enlightening, and inspiring, Signed, Sealed, Delivered begins with Nina Sankovitch?s discovery of a trove of hundred year- old letters. The letters are in an old steamer trunk she finds in her backyard and include missives written by a Princeton freshman to his mother in the early 1900s. Nina?s own son is heading off to Harvard, and she hopes that he will write to her, as the Princeton student wrote to his mother and as Nina wrote to hers. But times have changed. Before Nina can persuade her child of the value of letters, she must first understand for herself exactly what it is about letters that make them so significant?and just why she wants to receive letters from her son. Sankovitch sets off on a quest through the history of letter writing?from the ancient Egyptians to the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise, from the letters received by President Lincoln after his son?s death to the correspondence of Edith Wharton and Henry James. Sankovitch uncovers and defines the specific qualities that make letters so special, examining not only historical letters but also the letters in epistolary novels, her husband?s love letters, and dozens more sources, including her son?s brief reports from college on the weather and his allowance. In this beautifully written book, Nina Sankovitch reminds us that letters offer proof and legacy of what is most important in life: love and connection. In the end, she finds, the letters we write are even more important than the ones we wait for.