I hope you are all enjoying my stories from Northern Arizona. While those will continue for the next few weeks - I love when a trip gives me so many things to write - it is time for my next trip. I have spent a TON of time in Northern California, but relatively little along…
From up here, this could easily be Napa. It could easily be Italy, or France. The sentiment is echoed by the other twelve people sharing a hot air balloon basket with me as we float lazily on the early morning breeze. Vineyards, orchards, and elegant chateaux beneath us, blue skies above broken up by the…
After months of asking me to go, I finally relented. My aunt and I were both vaccinated, so the trip from Los Angeles to Paso Robles - about three and a half hours’ drive - and the overnight there seemed less of a health concern. I wasn’t excited, but hey, it was only a single…
While living through the pandemic has had its challenges, it has also had some silver linings. One of these has been having the chance to take some really nice walks around my hometown, Glendale, California. I was born here, and consider myself somewhat an expert in the place, having spent maybe half my life total…
Blue skies, green leaves, white blossoms, orange and yellow fruits: it’s a pastoral scene we can all imagine, but rarely get to experience, especially in the megalopolis that is Los Angeles. But here, less than an hour east of downtown LA, in the midst of the suburban sprawl known as the Inland Empire, it’s an…
Nestled in the mountains between the trendy neighborhood of Los Feliz and the San Fernando Valley communities of Glendale and Burbank lies Griffith Park, a Los Angeles wonder. At more than 4,000 acres, it is one of the largest city parks in the country (more than five times the size of Central Park in New…
Downtown Los Angeles isn’t most people’s first choice when it comes to Los Angeles itineraries. But maybe it should be. From some amazing museums like the Broad to Walt Disney Hall to great restaurants and rooftop bars, downtown really has a wonderful vibe. But the best part of downtown Los Angeles is - quite easily…
Sometimes in travel, the best made plans with the best intention just don't work out. Whether it's showing up to the El Escorial Monastery outside of Madrid on a crisp winter morning to find it closed (true story) or a drive to catch the beautiful vistas of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia where the fog…
California's central coast - basically the entirety from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz - is worth exploring. Beautiful rocky coastline nestles with sandy beaches, historic towns sit alongside stunning resorts, and mountains meet the blue of the Pacific in ways that are bound to capture both your heart and imagination. Sitting just north of San…
In 1913, railroad magnate Henry Huntington and his wife Arabella moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, purchasing 500 acres of land in what was called the San Marino Ranch. Arabella didn't like life in Southern California, and persuaded her husband - the nephew of her second husband Collis Huntington - to create a European-style…