Lacey Pfalz | (TNS) TravelPulse

As the days get longer and the sun gets hotter, we’re often encouraged to leave our local areas for places farther afield, or we sit tight and wait and plan for travel during the changing seasons ahead.

Yet what about that charming town just an hour’s north, or that gorgeous nature preserve even closer to home, which you haven’t yet visited even though you’ve heard amazing things about it?

This summer, let’s rediscover the joy of visiting new places closer to home. Let’s look at the familiar world around us through the enthusiastic eyes of a traveler. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll find more to appreciate than you expected.

Day trips are short, often day-long or half-day-long trips that a traveler can complete in a single day. They might take a few hours’ drive or only a half hour, but either way, they encourage locals to experience places, parks, towns and attractions that are new to the traveler.

Since coming back from my first trip to Europe, I began viewing my local world with new eyes. I’ve become more curious about visiting places near me that I’ve never visited before, such as Port Washington, a small Wisconsin port town off Lake Michigan that is home to the first artificial harbor in the Great Lakes and is absolutely charming in the summer.

After spending an afternoon wandering around the waterfront area, visiting historic landmarks, practicing my photography and drinking coffee in the town’s adorable cafes, I asked myself only one question: Why hadn’t I visited this place sooner?

It’s something like traveler’s blindness. We become so focused as travelers on heading farther and farther away from our homes, convinced that the further we travel, the more miles we roam, the more we will learn, the more we will enjoy it, and the more we will return refreshed, renewed, and yes, even more respected by our traveling peers.

Surely you understand me. How many of you have heard someone humbly bragging about their trip to an exotic locale, as if it makes them a better human being for having traveled all the way to Vietnam or Greece or Argentina?

The sad truth of the matter is that this desire to visit the places that are most different to our own hometowns blinds us to the joy of discovery while we’re here, at home.

Yet I’m convinced that we can look at the world around us through the same eyes as the ones we use when we explore some of the world’s most beloved destinations.

A few weeks ago, Orange Cone Season (the Wisconsin slang term for summer) forced me to take an unexpected detour on my way to a nearby town that I’ve begun visiting to work remotely for a few hours. For a long while, I had no idea where I was headed, but without that detour, I never would’ve discovered the last covered bridge that still stands in Wisconsin, tucked away in a charming rural park.

When was the last time you got in your car and hopped onto your local freeway, but took it east instead of west, purely out of curiosity to discover where it might lead you? When was the last time you left your county for the promise of a nearby summer festival you’ve always heard about, but never thought to attend? When was the last time you chose to go somewhere wholly new — without ever leaving your home state or spending a night in a hotel?

This summer, make it a goal to take at least one day trip, either spontaneously or planned. I guarantee you will not regret the experience.

Reasons why you should take a day trip

It’s good for you. While I don’t have the psychological stats to back it up, I do know that when we visit new places, no matter how near or far, it boosts our curiosity and makes us happier, more fulfilled human beings. It also creates memories, especially when we do it with other people. So what are you waiting for? If you have a car, then there’s no stopping you!

It’s good for your local economy. If you live in a place that isn’t well-known for its tourism economy, then chances are, domestic (in-state) tourism is the main tourism driver for many of the places you’ll visit. Even when you take a day trip, you’re supporting your local parks, business owners and restaurateurs with every purchase, meal and experience you have, and that contributes to the overall health of the communities you visit, which is pretty great.

It’s short — on time. Even if you don’t have a flexible work schedule, it’s still possible to enjoy day trips in your free time. With summer’s longer daytime hours, you can get off work in the afternoon and enjoy several hours of daylight in a nearby locale before heading back home, and why not enjoy a nice meal in that new place while you’re at it? Or, if you want to save money, you can plan a visit to a free park and pack your own lunch or dinner to have while exploring.

You might just end up liking your corner of the globe. I know, I know, we all love to disparage where we live. Yet there’s so much to discover and appreciate! Local farmers selling the freshest produce, neat historical landmarks, charming towns and villages, native wildlife, fascinating cities and stunning parks. No matter where you live, there’s sure to be something that’ll open your perspective, widen your worldview and maybe, just maybe, give you a newfound appreciation for your little corner of the globe.

So, what do you say? Do you want to take a day trip?

________

©2024 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Moira Macdonald | (TNS) The Seattle Times

It’s officially summer, which means it is officially Holing Up Indoors Avoiding the Heat season for many of us. And that means we’re in need of some mindless yet entertaining romantic comedies.

OK, fine, twist my arm; here are five new/newish streaming ones, rated from one heart to five and filled with cute outfits, enviable interior decoration and questionable life lessons. Enjoy!

“PLAYERS”

(Netflix; 105 minutes)

The premise: Mack (Gina Rodriguez) is a sports writer for the Brooklyn Ace who loves to facilitate one-night stands by running elaborate “plays” with several colleagues, including handsome Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.) — though it’s obvious to anyone not blindfolded that Adam is very much in love with Mack and her impressive assortment of bare-midriff tops. Regardless, Mack decides she wants to pursue a real relationship with a war correspondent named Nick (Tom Ellis), because he’s hot and why not, and of course the guys help her to trick him into this, in ways that seem so very much more complicated than just saying, “Hey, would you like to have dinner with me?” But hey, this is Rom-Com Land and the rules are complex.

The setting: New York and its boroughs, looking at their very “When Harry Met Sally” cutest.

The chemistry: In the grand rom-com tradition, the air practically melts between Mack and Adam the very first time we see them together, and you wonder why their motley group of friends and co-workers isn’t constantly screaming, “WHY ARE YOU TWO NOT TOGETHER ALREADY, OMG!” I screamed it, at my TV, but nobody heard me. Seriously, Rodriguez and Wayans are absolutely adorable, particularly when they get all dressed up in outfits that no journalist could ever afford and go to a swanky soiree, and probably should launch an entire rom-com franchise in which they cutely use sports metaphors.

The other people: There are some, namely Nick and Claire (Ego Nwodim), who are Mack and Adam’s dates for an extremely awkward brunch that’s basically Mack and Adam bonding over their mutual dislike of whole branzino (and doesn’t that sound exactly like a “When Harry Met Sally” outtake?). A couple of Brooklyn Ace colleagues are also hanging around all the time, assisting with the plays and commenting from the sidelines like a scruffy Greek chorus, but I never did catch their names; they’re basically plot devices.

The life lessons learned: If your adorable co-worker is in love with you, have the decency to love them back. And maybe don’t order the branzino.

Rating: 4 hearts

“MOTHER OF THE BRIDE”

(Netflix; 90 minutes)

The premise: World-renowned geneticist Lana Winslow (Brooke Shields) is distressed upon finding out a) that her rather tiresome daughter Emma (Miranda Cosgrove) is engaged and planning an immediate influencer wedding in Thailand, and b) Emma’s fiance R.J. (Sean Teale) is actually the son of Lana’s long-ago flame Will (Benjamin Bratt). And … seriously, I’m writing this an hour after watching this movie and I can’t remember what else happens, except that I kept hoping that Shields, who seems to have some sort of rider in her contract requiring that all her Netflix movies involve world travel, might just hop on back to her castle in Scotland to sulk. (See “ A Castle for Christmas,” which is much more fun than this movie. Or see “Ticket to Paradise,” the Julia Roberts/George Clooney comedy from a couple of years back, which is basically “Mother of the Bride” but better.)

The setting: A lavish resort in Phuket, Thailand, where the women wear flowing dresses and the men wear linen shorts and nobody ever gets sunburned. In other words, typical rom-com fantasy.

The chemistry: Ouch. There is absolutely no reason to root for Lana and Will, who seem to have nothing in common except their picture-perfect/very dull children and a tendency to look a bit embarrassed when delivering lines like “I am so impressed by your engagement numbers.”

The other people: Shields has much more chemistry with a character delightfully referred to as Sexy Doogie Howser (Chad Michael Murray), a handsome doctor who’s randomly hanging around the resort by himself. Lana, however, does much to douse said chemistry by commenting, “I have underwear older than he is.” TMI, Lana.

The life lessons learned: To avoid unpleasant surprises, ask your kid who they’re marrying before you show up at the venue.

Rating: 1.5 hearts

“AM I OK?”

(Max; 86 minutes)

The premise: Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is 32 and in a transitional, confusing period in her life: Her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) is moving overseas, her dreams of being an artist seem to have fizzled, and she’s finding herself attracted to women — specifically, her flirty co-worker Brittany (Kiersey Clemons). It’s a rom-com — there’s plenty of dating — with emphasis on the rom, and on Lucy’s personal journey.

The setting: Los Angeles, filled with yoga classes, posh wellness spas (Lucy works at one, but honestly she doesn’t seem to actually do anything), “hammock sanctuaries,” and people saying things like, “I was going to meditate with the view but then I started making a mood board on Pinterest.”

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The chemistry: Alas, Johnson plays Lucy with one note: the same sort of vaguely detached, low-energy murmuring that she brought to “Madame Web” and the “Fifty Shades” series, both of which I am still recovering from. You wonder why the much more dynamic Jane puts up with Lucy, whose cute slouchy hats have more personality than she does, and who has a weird way of saying lines like, “Do you have a lot of … pants?” like she’s playing a very slow round of Mad Libs. Things perk up a bit by the charming final scene — I wouldn’t quite call it chemistry, but at least it was something — but I mostly watched this movie thinking how much better it would have been with someone more vivid (say, Mizuno, delightful as Jane) in the central role.

The other people: Tig Notaro (who co-directed “Am I OK?” with Stephanie Allynne) steals the movie in a two-minute role as the facilitator of the aforementioned hammock sanctuary (“The hammock is our vulva,” she croons); Sean Hayes is reliably funny as Jane’s over-it boss.

The life lessons learned: Be open to life change at the ripe old age of 32; be nice to your best friend, even if she’s moving away; approach hammock sanctuaries with caution.

Rating: 2.5 hearts

“UPGRADED”

(Prime Video; 104 minutes)

The premise: Ana (Camila Mendes) is an intern at a posh art-auction company who, after getting upgraded on a work trip to London and downing a few glasses of free Champagne on the plane, allows her handsome seatmate William (Archie Renaux) to think that she’s the boss of her company. But guess what — turns out his mother (Lena Olin) is a super-rich art collector in need of some auctioning! Some very rom-com, “Devil Wears Prada”-ish scrambling ensues.

The setting: Mostly London, which allows for some beautiful historic buildings, views of London Bridge and William Morris wallpaper.

The chemistry: It’s decent! Mendes and Renaux are rather charming together, particularly when she calls him “Downton Abbey” and he responds with “I’m more of a ‘Bridgerton’ man.” One could quibble that these two characters are perhaps not the swiftest — would he really think that Ana, who appears to be in her early 20s, would be the head of a vast New York office, and doesn’t he wonder why she carries her own suitcases and makes her own reservations? And wouldn’t Ana figure out, before swiping her boss’ gown and going to a society party, that her boss and some photographers would also be there? But the movie’s cute enough to let that slide.

The other people: Marisa Tomei, speaking in an absolutely unclassifiable accent (sort of Italian put through a blender), marches hilariously through this movie with one raised eyebrow as the Miranda Priestly-ish boss, dispensing useful wisdom to Ana on her London visit: “Don’t sleep with anyone who looks like Jude Law.” I also enjoyed Ana’s sister’s fiance (Ana lives with them, in their too-small New York apartment) warning her about Londoners, with “their big clocks and their pirate accents.”

The life lessons learned: Do not lie to handsome men seated next to you on trans-Atlantic flights. On the other hand, maybe do — it works out fine for Ana in the end.

Rating: 3.5 hearts

“A FAMILY AFFAIR”

(Netflix; 114 minutes)

The premise: Zara (Joey King) is trying to get a toehold in the movie industry by working as an assistant to egotistical movie star Chris Cole (Zac Efron), but gets more drama than she bargained for when her widowed mother Brooke (Nicole Kidman) begins a relationship with Chris. This is particularly cringe-y when Zara, who’s living with her mom to save money, barges right in on the two of them in bed and ends up with a really quite funny head injury, as one would.

The setting: Hollywood, a mysterious land where Brooke, a supposedly acclaimed writer who nonetheless seems to spend all of her time not writing, lives in the most lavish and picture-perfect seaside home you could possibly imagine (seriously, it makes a Nancy Meyers movie set look low rent), and Chris lives in a modern mansion with a puzzlingly enormous front door, as if he’s expecting Chewbacca to drop by.

The chemistry: OK, so Chris comes to Brooke’s house looking for Zara, and walks right in when Brooke doesn’t answer his knock. And when she, irritated, asks if he always just lets himself in, he says, “Well, I’m famous, so …,” and if you could bottle the charm with which Efron delivers the line, you’d need a lot of bottles. Last seen together in 2012’s “The Paperboy,” a very strange movie that involved some creative treatment of a jellyfish sting, Efron and Kidman are basically adorable together, even though he gets all the good lines and she mostly just smiles at him. (Efron also at one point sings along to a Cher song and I thought my soul left my body, but in a good way.)

The other people: Kathy Bates does her Kathy Bates thing as Zara’s grandma, Liza Koshy gets a few good moments as Zara’s best friend Genie, and Sherry Cola is funny as Zara’s screenwriter friend who works as a closet organizer for rich people, which is my new dream career. But this movie’s mostly a three-hander with Brooke, Chris and puppy-cute Zara, who’s got a nice screwball delivery and a very effective, if somewhat overused, eye roll.

The life lessons learned: Knock on your mom’s bedroom door before entering.

Rating: 3.5 hearts

Moira’s guide to rom-coms streaming now

1 heart – Not even worth hate-watching

2 hearts – If there’s nothing else to watch, try this

3 hearts – Watchable, some semblance of plot

4 hearts – Cute, heartwarming

5 hearts – Cult classic

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©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mushrooms love humid conditions and wet soil. Officials with the Minnesota Regional Poison Center say that combination has led to an increased number of calls related to wild mushroom exposure this summer.

They warn would-be foragers that in most cases it’s hard to tell the difference from an edible mushroom and a poisonous one. Some mushroom features that can help identify them in one region of the country may not be applicable in other places.

Here are some safety tips from the MRPC:

• Never pick and eat a wild mushroom unless it has been identified by a specially trained mushroom expert. The only safe mushrooms are those purchased in the grocery store.

• Supervise children while playing in the yard to minimize the chance of accidental ingestions and teach them to to ask before eating something they find outdoors.

• Remember that cooking a poisonous mushroom does not make it safe to eat.

It’s important to know that symptoms from digesting a poisonous mushroom may not appear for several hours or even days. Some include stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. Also, confusion and seizures may occur. Some poisonous mushrooms can lead to organ failure or death.

Specialists can be reached at the Minnesota Regional Poison Center immediately at 1-800-222-1222. The call is free and confidential and available 24/7 for all Minnesotans. Visit mnpoison.org for more tips, educational resources, and downloadable materials.

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Chris Hewitt | (TNS) Star Tribune

There’s a world of trouble in five new thrillers, with locations ranging from rural England to blood-spattered Madrid and deceit-filled China.

We begin our tour with an ending:

“The Comfort of Ghosts,” by Jacqueline Winspear. (Soho Crime/TNS)

The Comfort of Ghosts, Jacqueline Winspear

It’s already been announced so this is not a spoiler: The 18th Maisie Dobbs adventure is also the last. In a foreword, Winspear says she’s done everything she intended with the English psychologist/sleuth, whose first appearance was around the time of World War I and whom Winspear has steered through peace time, another world war, two marriages, widowhood, adopting a daughter, coming into a title and inheriting a pile of dough.

Give the author credit for knowing it was time to step away from the Mary Poppins-esque Maisie, who has become a little too annoyingly perfect, and for giving her creation a worthy send-off. After the end of World War II, Maisie is trying to solve the murder of a wealthy Nazi sympathizer and figure out how to help four children left homeless by the Blitz who happen to have suspicious knowledge of wartime tactics. Fans of the series (I’ve read ’em all) will have to be patient with Winspear’s frequent recaps, which make “Comfort” work as a stand-alone but occasionally bog it down. Fortunately, fans also can speculate about whether Winspear might change her mind after a few years off, since she drops clues that she may not be as done with Maisie as she claims.

“Look in the Mirror,” by Catherine Steadman. (Ballantine Books/TNS)

Look in the Mirror, Catherine Steadman

Both the most surprising and, ultimately, disappointing book on this list is this British Virgin Islands-set puzzler. The first half is buoyed by a difficult-to-pin-down premise: When her father dies, a British professor named Nina discovers he left her a luxurious island getaway, designed by him, that she didn’t know he possessed. The house, and the money it would have taken to build it, re-frame Nina’s idea of her dad. Things get even more baffling when she enters the home. Despite its gleaming, modern design, it seems to be a combination of a haunted house (Bathsheba, the virtual assistant, has shades of “2001: A Space Odyssey”‘s HAL 9000) and a deadly escape room. As long as we are in what-is-going-on-here mode, “Look in the Mirror” is entertaining, but the rushed conclusion is not as satisfying as Steadman’s previous books, including “The Family Game.”

“Shanghai,” by Joseph Kanon. (Simon & Schuster/TNS)

Shanghai, Joseph Kanon

Ever since his debut, “Los Alamos,” Kanon has written about shadowy men on the margins of pivotal moments in 20th-century espionage, whether it’s the development of the atom bomb, intrigue on both sides of the Berlin Wall or, in this case, Japan-occupied China in 1939. Our hero, Daniel Lohr (if that’s his real name), is a Jewish man who flees Germany, headed on a ship to Shanghai, where he’ll end up with a couple of suspect jobs: helping his crooked uncle run a casino and keeping his ear open for gossip items to supply a creepy newspaper columnist. It sounds like a recipe to get shot at, and Daniel does.

He’s also trying to locate the femme fatale he fell for while on board the ship, who does what she has to do to survive in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and women are viewed as second-class citizens. I wish a book called “Shanghai” had more of a sense of place — these characters could be double-crossing each other anywhere — but Kanon has a great ear for noir-ish, hardboiled quips and a gift for believably plunging his characters into the relentless flow of historic skullduggery.

“Black Wolf,” by Juan Gómez-Jurado. (Macmillan Publishers/TNS)

Black Wolf, Juan Gómez-Jurado

You might want to catch up with the first in this trilogy-or-more before cracking “Black Wolf,” which is the middle book. (“The Red Queen” was first and “The White King,” already out in Spain, should be available here next year.) Gómez-Jurado’s crime novels move like crazy between violent gangsters, duplicitous cops and a female criminal mastermind who could be pulling all of their strings. The real lure of the series, though, is a pair of memorable main characters: detective Jon Gutiérrez, who is gay, sardonic, obsessed with his weight and always on the outs with his bosses on the Bilboa police force (feel free to picture architect Frank Gehry’s masterpiece, the Guggenheim art museum in Bilbao, constantly lurking behind him). And Antonia Scott, who is brilliant, haunted by tragedy and increasingly dependent on a mysterious pill she uses to super-charge her already uncanny brain. They’re sent to Madrid to investigate a disappearance but the case broadens to include messes they left behind in “Red Queen.” (The books are the basis of the Amazon Prime series “Reina Roja.”)

“Trust Her,” by Flynn Berry. (Viking/TNS)

Trust Her, Flynn Berry

Tana French may sell more books, but don’t sleep on Berry. Like French, she sets her books in Ireland (and England), but Berry is a more insightful writer. Her debut, “Under the Harrow,” was a twisty thriller that began when a young women went to the country to visit her sister, only to discover her corpse and a mess of secrets. Her new “Trust Her” can be read on its own, but it’s a sequel to previous novel “Northern Spy,” about sisters Tessa and Marian, whose lives are being made miserable by the Irish Republican Army. In “Spy,” Marian joined the IRA and Tessa, who narrates, managed to free her and help her create a new life. Both are living in Dublin, with young kids and new jobs, when the IRA finds them and pulls them back in. “Trust Her” is a page-turner with heart: Berry is great at tender observations such as Tessa’s recollection of bathing her newborn: “I still remember the face on him, when he felt the warm water slipping over him for the first time, his small bowed legs, his wariness, and then his bliss, rotating his head to feel the water moving against it.”

©2024 StarTribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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