September 2009 Archives

Monday, September 28, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

Last month when carmaker Subaru invited me to go camping for four days in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, I was hesitant. Sure, I figured that it would be fun to road test the latest vehicles—including the Forester and the 2010 Outback—amid the glorious landscape just outside of Jackson Hole, but, frankly, I haven’t gone camping since I was 10. And that was in my backyard in Tampa, Florida, and we quickly ran inside screaming when the sprinkler system turned on 'round 3 a.m. My friend Diane quipped, “You? Camping? Send me a photo.” Even my partner John laughed, “Dubious. Very dubious.”

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Monday, September 21, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

I am packing my bags for my jaunt out to Wyoming—complete with camping in Yellowstone, road-testing the latest Subaru and luxuriating at the sublime Amagani resort—but I have to report back on this past weekend’s Sunday jaunt. After a spirited bout of early-morning gardening, I zipped over to two of my favorite spots in upstate New York: the glorious Mohonk Moutain House and the nearby, wildly historic Depuy Canal House for brunch.

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Friday, September 18, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

Next week I am off to two very different locales: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Bologna, Italy. But would you expect any less from me, dear blogophiles? So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will see me clomping about Yellowstone National Park in hiking boots (Australian and quite on-trend, natch, with bespoke Patagonia duds) and sleeping in a tent (yes, there will be an accompanying visual as this just might be a once-in-a-lifetime activity), and Saturday I shall be ensconced at the Diana restaurant on Bologna’s Via Indipendenza lapping up the pasta in wrap-around Persol shades.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

Since I live to eat instead of eating to live, I have moments when I am tempted to rush to the diet aisle at my local pharmacy and stock up on powders, pills and potions that promise instant weight loss. But would I really look like the Adonis featured on the packaging after only two days? And what are the side effects since I can surely give up food, but doffing the wine isn’t likely to happen? I have no interest in having three-headed children down the road nor ending up in the ER for popping protein powder chased with Popov.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

If you read this blog religiously—and I certainly hope that all of you have bookmarked “Jet Set” and return daily—you know that I have a house up in the Catskills. My former schoolhouse-cum-retreat, Monkey Cottage, is the perfect base from which to set out and explore New York State—frankly some of the most beautiful geography I have ever encountered.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

This jet-setter loves touring old homes—whether it’s the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island; the sprawling Biltmore estate in North Carolina; Hemingway’s pad in Key West, Florida; or the mind-blowing lair of Victorian painter Lord Frederic Leighton in London’s Holland Park neighborhood.

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Friday, September 04, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

Tip of the day:

I collect old travel guidebooks—from Baedekers to well-thumbed Fodor’s guides from the 1970s. Read up on what the cultural and restaurant scenes were like in the past for a terrific snapshot of a location back in the day. Plus, you can see how a particular location has evolved and changed over time.

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