Maryland

Annapolis offers history, waterways and the Naval Academy

North Carolina

The intertwined charms of Winston-Salem

It’s almost midnight, and I’m in Winston-Salem, N.C., in a bar that resembles nothing so much as a clown car.

Quick trips: Alabama

Birmingham embraces its complex history

When I told friends I was planning a trip to Birmingham, the reaction was universal.

Quick trips: Mississippi

Vicksburg is battle-tested Southern belle

Which of the following destinations does not belong on AAA Southern Traveler magazine’s list of the top 13 travel spots for 2013: Christchurch, New Zealand; the Dominican Republic; Ireland; Mexico; Madagascar; Orlando; Panama; San Francisco; South Korea; Spain; Sri Lanka; Turkey; Vicksburg, Miss.; or Las Vegas?

Quick trips: Virginia

At Williamsburg, history does not repeat itself

I received the message from the revolutionary agent who, despite her 18th century dress and speech, had no time for period delivery services. When America’s freedom is at stake, and the park is closing in a few hours, we patriots cannot idle the hourglass waiting for a carrier pigeon or a horseback-riding courier.

Quick trips: Panama

Houseboating in the wilds of the Canal Zone

I stood on the deck of the houseboat with a boa constrictor draped around my neck. Her tongue rapaciously darting in and out, the snake slithered down my arm. Then, unexpectedly, she turned to look at me, and her head began maneuvering back towards my face.

Quick trips: New York

Exploring Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy

Anyone who has ever hugged a teddy bear has sampled some of the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the United States’ “conservation president.”

Atlanta

Three bold restaurants, stirring up the South

Ask the people who cook in Atlanta to sum up the post-recession dining scene, and you hear things like this from one of its shining lights: “We’re building confidence,” says Billy Allin, the chef-owner of the destination Cakes & Ale.

Quick trips

Life is a celebration in Trinidad and Tobago

Derrick, our garrulous tour guide, offers a biriba, a prickly looking pod he’s cut open to expose a pale and pulpy fruit, as well as some peer pressure.“What’s the matter?” he asks.“Don’t you want to live forever?”

Quick trips: Rhode Island

Providential revival in a New England downtown

Even at the tender age of 18, I was smitten with Providence’s charming and historic East Side, particularly mile-long Benefit Street, still touted by tourism officials as “the most impressive concentration of original colonial homes in America.” But way back then, in the summer of 1972, the advice had been universal: “Stay away from downtown,” a blight-stricken, commercial-industrial hodge-podge all too reminiscent of my native Cleveland.

Quick trips: Quebec

Plenty of excitement for kids (and parents) in Montreal

My epiphany comes the moment I realize our “log” boat is about to plunge headfirst down the steep water slide. “This is awe-soooome!” my 7-year-old daughter screams as we go over. I just scream.

Quick trips: Southwest Florida

Marco Island swings its moods

Women in feathers danced some sort of crazy mating ritual to Southern tunes — vying, I was told, for the honored title of Buzzard Queen. Then there was the 70-something-year-old man in the loin cloth and tails wearing a Buzzard Queen Inspector button and, around his neck, a Perfect Woman Meter.

Quick trips: Rincon

A Puerto Rican island getaway with surf and son

I see her as I step out from among the sea grape trees and onto the golden sands: tanned, blond and bikini-clad, she is walking toward me. And she possesses the one characteristic I’m yearning to see in a woman on the beach: a little kid.

Quick trips: Ohio

Hocking Hills stir wild passions

When “bouquet” and “beer” appear in the same sentence, you know these aren’t the hills of hillbillies.

Philadelphia

Out-of-town chefs spice up Philly’s food scene

These days, Philadelphia’s restaurants rival its storied sports franchises, with culinary stars arriving from New York, San Francisco and other dining capitals, amid rampant speculation about who might be the next hot toque in town.

Quick trips: Florida’s Gulf Coast

Dunedin mixes artistic sensibility and mellow vibe

We were sitting at a high top in Florida’s oldest microbrewery, which happens to be in the unhurried and unheralded town of Dunedin.

Quick trips: Santo Domingo

In search of a quality Dominican feast

Strange as it may sound, finding good Dominican food isn’t so easy in Dominican restaurants.

Quick trips: North Carolina

How to spend 36 hours in Durham

The tobacco and textile industries left their imprint on Durham long ago, but now the historic brick mills and repurposed factories form the backdrop of North Carolina’s re-energized Bull City. Recently, artist studios and upstart galleries have multiplied in the flourishing downtown area, where new bakeries, pizzerias, tapas bars and food trucks — and trailers and buses and even the odd tricycle — seem to surface at every turn. Since Big Tobacco is dead, consider this cool mix of culture and food the new Durham blend.

Quick trips: Pennsylvania

In New Wilmington, the charms of Amish Country

There’s no sign out front, so my mom and I trust our instincts — and the smell of fresh sawdust — to guide us as we pull off the dirt road and approach the weathered workshop. We’re in search of an authentic Amish-made rocking chair, and judging from the woodworking tools and gently curved rocker bottoms propped against the doorway, we’re in luck.

Quick trips: Puerto Rico

Ponce recalls 19th century colonialism

There was a time, not that long ago, when visitors to Puerto Rico’s second-largest city were cautioned not to stray from the central plaza after dark. Many of Ponce’s ornate 19th century buildings were vacant and falling to pieces, and the poorly lit streets were made even shadier by some of the characters who roamed them looking for handouts — or worse.

Quick trips: Maine

Portland has grit, soul and salty docks

I was in Portland all of 10 minutes when its soul rolled by on two wheels: a gentleman pedaling through downtown on one of those ridiculously tall bicycles with an oversize front wheel and tiny back wheel.

Quick trips

Searching for Montreal’s best local specialties

For a certain kind of traveler, no visit to a new city is complete without a bellyful of local culinary delights.

Quick trips

What’s cooking in Houston? A hot foodie scene

Houston isn’t exactly what you’d call a “looker.” This is apparent as I enjoy my last lunch in the city seated on the patio at Revival Market, a cafe and gourmet grocer in the Heights, a residential neighborhood north of downtown.

Budget lodgings

Seven NYC rooms for under $150

Can you get a decent hotel room in Manhattan for under $150 a night?

New York

Seeking pearls in Manhattan’s oyster-bar scene

At 12:45 on a Wednesday, the formal dining room at Aquagrill is crazy busy, with nearly every seat occupied by a business lunch crowd. No surprise, since the 2011 edition of Zagat rated the place the best raw bar in New York. Luckily, we’ve thought to make a reservation.

Quick trips

Paula Deen’s favorite Savannah spots

It goes without saying that The Lady and Sons is one of Paula Deen’s favorite places here. It’s the restaurant that propelled her to her first cookbook and to Food Network stardom. It’s also the place where the careers of her sons, Jamie and Bobby, were launched.

Quick trips: Florida

Jacksonville’s family scene matures

I walked through a gigantic mouth into a chamber where, besides seeing a life-size skeleton and identifying things by touch and smell, I learned fun facts through hands-on exhibits about burping, peeing and flatulence.

Quick trips

St. Kitts: Volcano hiking, and liming, by the sea

There’s relaxing, and then there’s liming. You’ll know — and feel — the difference after a few hours in St. Kitts.

Kentucky

Quick trips: Cheapside Park is Lexington’s well-rounded square

Blue grass, roving minstrels, fiery potions, peanut-butter breezes, dancing zombies, symbol-encrusted loaves of bread: This is either a hallucination or a day in the park. Specifically, Cheapside Park, the public square in Lexington, Ky.