In 2004, I wrote a cover story for the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine called, “So You Want to Own a B&B.” During my research, I met a great couple, Jennifer and Ed Dorta-Duque, who were taking a course on the ups and downs of running an inn. At the time, they had quit their jobs as software developers in Baltimore and had been searching for an inn for over 1 ½ years, looking at more than 50 properties in Annapolis, Pennsylvania, Cape Cod, Nantucket, and New York’s Finger Lakes region. Finally, they came upon the Three Mountain Inn in Jamaica, Vermont, and made the purchase. One visit to Jamaica, a quiet hamlet on the backside of Stratton Mountain, and you understand why. It’s close to the Grafton Cheese Company and the West River Trail in Jamaica State Park, which I included last year in a story on ten favorite foliage walks in New England for The Boston Globe.
In the seven years, they’ve run the inn, Jennifer and Ed earned accolades for their hospitality and food in such publications as Travel & Leisure and the London Telegraph. Then they got slammed by Hurricane Irene and their inn transformed into the Emergency Operation Center, the Firehouse, and shelter for displaced victims. The Route 30 bridge north of town is out and will most likely be out for the rest of the year. However, they’ve already created a bypass around the collapsed bridge, and, as of this week, the Three Mountain Inn is open for business. If you’re searching for a fall foliage retreat, this is one place that’s worthy of your support!
I’m off to the Atlantic Maritimes in eastern Canada the next week to fish for salmon on the Miramichi in New Brunswick, go oystering on Prince Edwards Island’s Malpeque Bay, tidal bore rafting in Nova Scotia, and sea kayaking off the coast of Newfoundland. I’ll be back September 28th. In the meantime, keep active!
After the overnight flight to Rome and a 2-hour train to Florence, we took a taxi to our hotel for the first two nights, Villa La Massa. Only 7 km or a 20-minute drive from the crowds of Florence, this 16th-century former Medici family estate feels a world away. You’re whisked away to a serene setting in the Tuscan hills along the Arno River. Rooms are spacious with tall ceilings and glorious panorama views. We took a short stroll under the tall cypress trees and past the herb and veggie gardens before wandering along the Arno shoreline watching men fish and families bike. Then we had our first negroni and aperol spritz of the trip on the patio next to the outdoor pool. Dinner was also perfection, beef tenderloin with porcini mushrooms, washed down with local wines and served by a highly professional staff. A relaxing start to our trip to Italy, the perfect place to unwind after a long flight before facing the mass of tourists that swarm Florence. 
Since I already wrote about Asheville and Charleston this week, let’s continue south to Mississippi and a memorable drive my brother Jim and I once took. In the small Delta town of Clarksdale, learn about the birthplace of the Blues at the 
For the past decade, I have been asked to speak once a semester about my life as a travel writer at an Emerson College magazine writing course. I always bring a thick of folder of more than 200 rejection letters. It includes my favorite rejection from Mad Magazine, simply a box checked next to the line, “It just didn’t tickle our funny bone.” Universities do a wonderful job of teaching the craft of writing, but rarely touch on the psychological aspects of rejection and the necessary business skills to market your wares. Close to half my time, especially in those early years, was spent peddling my writing to editors (and screenplays to production companies). Almost every day, I would return from my mailbox with a stack of rejection letters. It was an incredible struggle, the reason why many of the creative people I met in those early years in New York are no longer writing professionally. 
Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches