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Jen A. Miller

Hired Pen.

Travel

Jen started as a “her own backyard” travel journalist, writing articles about the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey area. She is recognized as the go-to expert on the Jersey Shore, but has also written about domestic locations across the country, from Arizona to Florida and dozens of places in between.

The Washington Post

Why your beach hotel has ‘that’ smell

When I walked into a motel room at a waterfront spot in Cape Cod in October, I was hit with a musty, dank smell. You can probably smell it, too, as you read this.

As a frequent road tripper, I knew what it was. I had smelled the exact same thing in hotels and motels in St. Petersburg, Fla., Jekyll Island, Ga., and Wildwood, N.J. It was mold.

Mold and mildew (which is a kind of mold) is a constant scourge in air-conditioned, waterfront buildings in humid climates, said Christian Kaltreider, a systems engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Rooms like mine in Cape Cod, during an early fall week when it was still humid enough to need an air conditioner, create prime conditions for mold spores always present in the air to grow.

The Washington Post, March 15, 2024

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slate

My Secret to Seeing America

On a hot June day, I was trapped on a packed shuttle bus—so packed that my nose was brushing the armpit of the man next to me. I was visiting Zion National Park in Utah. The owner of the armpit was a New York City schoolteacher, there with three friends as part of a bachelor party. They were headed to Las Vegas next—if we ever managed to get off the shuttle bus.

We were stuck because a van had slipped from Zion Canyon Scenic Drive and was hanging halfway off a ledge over a river. No one was hurt, but we had to wait for the van to be towed before we could move on and be dispelled at a shuttle stop to swarm around the park. Even when traffic is not being stopped because of a freak incident, to visit Zion is to often be jam-packed next to other people. It was the third most popular national park that year: 2017. To add to the chaos, I was there the week before July Fourth.

Slate, August 18, 2023

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The Washington Post

Don’t post that Instagram. Send a postcard instead.

On a warm afternoon at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan this September, I found myself with two hours to spare before my flight back. It had taken me three tries to get to this national park, which is only accessible by boat or sea plane, and I was wiped out from my morning hike. Instead of venturing out again, I bought a beer from the camp store, settled in at a plastic table outside and started writing postcards.

The Washington Post, October 21, 2022

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The Washington Post

So your hotel room is a dud. Here’s how to get your money back.

On July Fourth weekend, I hopscotched across central and Upstate New York on a road trip from New Jersey to Niagara Falls. After an overnight in Binghamton, N.Y., I moved on to Rochester, where I went to a Red Wings Minor League Baseball game and a diner for a hot dog and Genesee Cream Ale.

It was a nice night, but the room at the Holiday Inn I came back to was less than desirable. The air conditioning wasn’t cooling properly. The closet door was off its hinges. When I cut my finger on a sharp piece of metal protruding from the shower curtain rod, I knew I couldn’t stay.

The Washington Post, August 25, 2022

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The Washington Post

6 surprising things to bring on your next camping trip

I spent four months in 2017 seeing the 18 states I had never been to before. I thought I’d packed everything: I had the tent, the sleeping bag, the sleeping pad, the single-burner propane stovetop and two one-gallon jugs of water should I get stuck in the desert (which I almost did when a spark plug blew in Arizona). I even had a backup to my inflatable pillow. But what did I forget? Scissors.

The Washington Post, May 24, 2022

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A pilot program allows Walt Disney World resort guests to check in with Fido

A pilot program allows Walt Disney World resort guests to check in with Fido

At sunset on a warm January evening, I walked my dog along the edge of a man-made lake at Walt Disney World’s Art of Animation Resort. She sniffed the grass and marked her territory while I kept my eye out for alligators and staffers’ ubiquitous golf carts hauling guests’ luggage to and from their rooms.

The Washington Post, Feb. 15, 2018

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The Long and Winding Blue Ridge Parkway

The Long and Winding Blue Ridge Parkway

Looking to get out on the open road this summer? How about one that cuts across the Appalachian Mountains and has provided drivers, motorcyclists, and cyclists with stunning views of mountains and rivers and waterfalls for 80 years?

The Blue Ridge Parkway was begun in 1935 as a Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal project, built to give jobs to the Depression-era unemployed. It also provided tourism options to all those new automobile drivers. When the last piece – the Linn Cove Viaduct – was added in 1983, the 469-mile ribbon of road was completed, with end points in Shenandoah National Park at the juncture with Skyline Drive in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the North Carolina-Tennessee border.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 2015

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The Long and Winding Blue Ridge Parkway

Running in Rome: It’s an Adventure

“Scusi!” I called for the fourth time as I stepped off a narrow sidewalk onto a cobblestone road to get around some tourists. I said a silent prayer, too, that they also didn’t try to make a break, and that a moped or Vespa or teeny, tiny car wouldn’t whip around a corner and turn me into Roman roadkill.

Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 2014

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Destination: Cape May

Destination: Cape May

Every summer Friday, Dave McNamee leaves his office in New York City and takes the New Jersey Transit train to Metropark in Iselin, where his car awaits. He then heads south on the Garden State Parkway until he can drive no more. The signpost says it all: Exit 0, Cape May.

New Jersey Monthly, June 2012

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Destination: Cape May

Revel Rising

Revel, the new $2.4 billion, 6.3 million-square-foot, 1,800-room Atlantic City mega casino, is finally about to land. The undulating complex along the north end of the Boardwalk is opening in stages during an eight-week preview that starts on April 2 and ends with the official grand opening on May 25.

New Jersey Monthly, April 2012

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A Wave of Stylish Clubs Come to the Jersey Shore

A Wave of Stylish Clubs Come to the Jersey Shore

THE Jersey Shore has long been the turf of nightclubs that cater to the young and the restless, with booming sound systems, all-you-can-drink specials and dress codes that allow a seamless transition from hung-over beachgoer to late-night barfly.
New Jersey Travel Guide

But beyond the Wide Mouth Wednesdays and No Shower Happy Hours, a wave of stylish new spots that promise a more sophisticated experience have opened along the shore in recent years, from Sea Bright to Cape May.

The New York Times, June 18, 2009

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A Wave of Stylish Clubs Come to the Jersey Shore

Snowbirds Cast Off Their Inner Fashionistas

I AM a habitué of vintage-clothes shops, and while on vacation here recently, I checked out Sherry’s YesterDaze Vintage, a consignment shop in the Seminole Heights neighborhood that a friend had recommended. I was looking for a dress for Valentine’s Day, and after rummaging through racks of them found three candidates: a white 1970s minidress with flower appliqués and puffed cap sleeves; a black 1960s A-line number with a delicate velvet bow tied under the bust; and a slinky backless blue knit dress that looked as if it had been wrapped around a Studio 54 disco queen.

The New York Times, March 31, 2010

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