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Project | 01

Travel Feature  | Lakeland Boating Magazine
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A destination piece, "Fabled, Fantastic Petoskey" encourages readers to get out in their beloved boats and take a jaunt across the waves to one of the best ports of call in northern Michigan. For this piece, I paired the history of the city and Hemingway lore with the nuts and bolts of modern-day travel planning geared at a yachting audience.

Project | 02

First-person Adventure | Traverse Magazine
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A feature hooked on a news update—the health of a herd transplanted from Canada two decades ago—The Moose Are Loose hauls readers along on a wet and wild moose-tracking expedition through the muck and marl of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. And, yes, that is a moose dangling from a helicopter.

Project | 03

Weekly Television Segment | Up North Live
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My weekly 3-minute brush with fame: Writing the script for and recording northwest Lower Michigan's Weekend Planner, a weekly television segment highlighting weekend activities and events happening around the region. The segment aired on television stations WPBN/WGTU—aka Up North Live 7&4 and ABC 29&8—each Thursday evening through fall 2018. Click on the screenshot at left or here to watch (and to be reassured that I don't look  nearly this intense when in motion).

Project | 04

Armchair (Time) Travel | Turner Publishing
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Imagine being handed 150+ old photos—with minimal notations about who, where, or what is pictured—and asked to uncover and write a rich but succinct story behind each. With a lot of research, myriad rabbit hole descents, and the unwavering patience of folks at multiple historical societies and the U.S. Library of Congress, I did just that. The result: My 216-page hardcover book, commissioned and published by Turner Publishing in 2009, which takes readers on a pictorial journey through two centuries around Lake Michigan.

Project | 05

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Family Travel Round-ups | Various
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Beach, bike, budget, or a below zero temps? Pick your season and your day trip, kids. Here, four go-do-it service pieces designed to entice tourists (and local residents) to explore in any season.

Project | 06

Outdoor Adventure | Traverse Magazine
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Four days alone on the Upper Manistee River—me, my kayak, and a sleeping hammock (before they were cool)—floating or ferreting out backcountry camping spots anywhere I could for 60 rippling miles. My feature, Float Away on the Manistee, originally published in Traverse Magazine's June 2009 issue, lives at the magazine's digital site, MyNorth.com. What began as a fun excuse to escape the office has since morphed into of the stories of which I'm proudest; since its publication, many women have emailed to say this piece inspired them to hit the mighty Manistee solo—or (more bravely, I'd contend) with their kids.

Project | 07

Urban Adventure | Traverse Magazine
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8:19 p.m. The 30-something couple seated at the table behind me is on a first date. I know this because I’m eavesdropping, and following a long silence she asks what no wife or girlfriend would care to: “So-o-o-o, what’s your biggest pet peeve?” He murmurs something inaudible. She prods. He murmurs again. She emits a long, forced laugh. They fall silent again. The date is not going well.
 

8:42 p.m. I stand corrected. They are making out over a half-eaten baked potato.


Click here to read more of my story, So a Girl Walks into a Bar: Traverse City Night Life, originally published in Traverse Magazine, March 2009.

Project | 1

Co-authored Travel Books | Various Publishers
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101 Ways to Love Traverse City: 104 pages of must-see, must-do, must-taste outings and adventures written by the award-winning editorial staff (of which I'm a proud former member) of Traverse , Northern Michigan's Magazine and MyNorth.com. Published by My North Media, 2009. 

 

Europe From a Backpack: This 384-page collection of travel essays features my essay, Budapest by Accident. The book, penned by dozens of amateur and professional travel writers, has enjoyed 71 reviews and 3.63 out of four stars on Goodreads. Published by Pearson Ventures, 2002.

Packin' it in Wisconsin, Armchair Reader: As a die-hard (and, as such, heartbroken) Detroit Lions fan, I hesitated before joining two other authors in writing a 287-page book that frequently referenced the Green Bay Packers, but as an equally die-hard Midwesterner, I knew it wouldn't be neighborly to turn it down. Published by West Side Publishing, 2006.

Project | 08

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