Blake's Getaway Car

I recently visited Daytona Beach for the first time. Though I stayed at a beachfront hotel — Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach — I only stepped onto the sands next to the hotel three times. Not because it was too…

Can a $90-a-night roadside motel outmatch a $900-a-night secluded resort? A study in contrasts (and personal tastes) 

View of the creek from the balcony of room 17 at the Stony Creek Motel

This Thanksgiving I'm reminded of a short trip…

Two men, one crime, and the heavyweight championship of the world 

In 2004, I wrote this cover story for Creative Loafing, Atlanta's major newsweekly at the time. The events covered in the story – centered around a crime that occurred…

Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Montgomery was a city I passed through on the way to the beach or visited on grade school field trips to the state capitol building. I even visited the governor's mansion on one of those…

Scenic Highway 30A in the South Walton area of the Florida Panhandle has become more than just a dogleg route off of U.S. 98 connecting small beach communities; 30A is now a lifestyle as well as a study in contrasts…

Cloud Nine. It’s the type of name one would expect for a mountain vacation rental home. It’s one of those places that if you try and follow GPS directions you’ll get lost. The rental agency sent a confirmation that stressed…

Nobel laureate Bob Dylan (it still feels weird typing those words) once said of Louisiana’s largest city, “There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better." Nailed it. Dylan said that in his 2004 autobiography…

The grounds of The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Miss. Photo by the author. 

The Mississippi Delta is a place of legends, myths, and lore, much of it related to blues music. 

Those familiar with the history of the blues…

Photo of Driftwood Beach: Explore Georgia

Travel bucket lists, by their nature, are arbitrary in number and subjective in content. That’s part of the fun, comparing differences and likenesses. With that in mind, here are 21 special places and…

Originally published in the AJC, Aug. 10, 2020

I first heard about Daufuskie Island in 2015 from a regular at a dive bar in Savannah. He saddled up on a barstool after overhearing me ask the bartender for…

Photo: Michael Weintraub

Originally published in the AJC, June 14, 2021

Summer means outdoor concert season is back after taking a hiatus last year due to the pandemic. A few months ago, the thought of hitting the road to…