There are a lot of things that go wrong during travel. The weather doesn’t cooperate and you do one of the most beautiful drives in fog so thick you can’t see more than a few feet. A museum you desperately want to see is closed for refurbishment unexpectedly. A flight gets canceled, illness pops up,…
Gina isn’t exactly a normal welcome ambassador to a town. But then again, Castelbuono isn’t exactly a normal town. Unlike many hilltop - or hillside - towns in Sicily, Castelbuono is not just surviving, but thriving. So many similar towns are so desperate for people to move there that they offer houses for €1, as…
My only goal is not to embarrass myself. As I hold my frog, Foo Froggers, gently in my left hand and make my way to the green painted lily pad on a concrete platform, I become aware of how stupid that sounds. Who cares what happens? The line of people waiting to borrow a rental…
During the height of Covid, I spent long hours searching for things reasonably local to Los Angeles to do and to write about, focusing on outdoor activities. One such thing was my visit to a date farm in Palm Springs, which you can read about here. Little did I know that A would become the…
It is, without a doubt, a beautiful afternoon in Los Angeles. Warm - it is in the low 80s at noon on this July day - but with a gentle breeze, it is the sort of day you just want, you just need, to be outside. The sky is a deep blue, and I am…
It’s a pretty day in Thousand Oaks, California, just outside Los Angeles, and the campus of Cal Lutheran University is open and welcoming. Set against the nearby mountains, it’s a lovely oasis in the heart of suburbia, full of green spaces, blooming flowers, and meandering pathways. But I’m not here to see the university. I…
What happens when one of my favorite cities meets one of my biggest passions as a traveler? Well, I got to experience that recently when, after years of talking about it, my sister and I finally attended Santa Cruz's Open Studios. What is Open Studios? I'm glad you asked. Imagine more than 300 incredible artists…
New Mexico. Land of Enchantment. Red rock cliffs, wide open deserts, UFO sightings, and more are all found here. But those aren't what draws me to the state. No, I am here in the tiny village of Hatch for the annual Hatch Chile Festival, the ultimate celebration of everyone's favorite spice-bearing ingredient. Arriving in Hatch,…
It is a dream and a goal of mine to travel to Japan to see the famous cherry blossoms. However, I am not the only one with such a desire, so it can be outrageously crowded and expensive. Fortunately, the city of Huntington Beach, California has emerged as an alternative for those of us who…