Tag archives: traveling

As we paddled across the frigid but silky-smooth fjord of Höfðaströnd in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, the far northwest fringe of Iceland, our Icelandic guide, Oli, said with a wry smile, “I think the woman in the red cabin would like for us to stop for a visit over a cup of coffee.” Oli said […]

Once in a while, you’ve got to get out of your hometown.  You need a dose of big-city culture – but not in L.A., where people drive like heat-seeking missiles and never slow down. You want a place that feels human and down to earth, somewhere to spend a few relaxed days with pleasant people, […]

There were two things I longed to experience during my two-week Japanese sojourn; one was to visit Kyoto, where my father was stationed in the US Army during “Occupied Japan,” and my other wish was to first rest and recover from the overseas flight and time change at an onsen-ryokan in the countryside. These are […]

If you have ever traveled to sub-Sahara Africa or cruised the Peruvian Amazon River (as I have) or other parts South America, chances are you consulted – or should have consulted – Dr. Mary-Louise Scully at the clinic formerly known as Sansum (now part of Sutter Health). I first met Dr. Scully prior to one […]

I could see the dark rippling water off the port side of my kayak as we paddled southeast toward the northwest end of Santa Cruz Island. After paddling east, away from Carrington Point on Santa Rosa Island, and halfway across the Santa Cruz Passage, I searched for a favorable down-island current to propel myself and […]

My dear friends, artist and professor Chris Long and his partner, sculptor and adventurous sportsman Steve Assassi, have long debated their ideal vacation style. “I like a hotel – with room service and turn-down linens,” Chris says, adding “Steve likes a house.” On the Big Island of Hawai‘i, I believe I found the perfect compromise: […]

Ahhh!… now we knew we were tucking into an authentic, iconic, traditional English afternoon tea: There were plates of finger sandwiches. My wife, Merry, and I sat in the white-columned tearoom at The Empress hotel, a stately dowager that has stood facing the Inner Harbor in Victoria, on Canada’s Vancouver Island, for 117 years. A […]

Travel Ain’t for Sissies – But The Rewards Can Sometimes Be Worth It! After a 24-hour delay to my Big Island flight on Hawaiian Airlines, which was delayed 12 hours, an overnight and food credit at the LAX Sheraton (courtesy of the airline), then accidentally leaving my small purse with my phone/passport/wallet on the LAX […]

My theatrical tastes tend toward dramatic and dark versus musicals, however I must admit that I was thoroughly delighted by Just in Time, the life story of Bobby Darin – born Walden Robert Cassotto with a heart defect and not expected to last past his teens – which everyone was raving about! Set up like […]

New York City is gritty, elegant, surprising, nostalgic and more. I just spent a quick four days and nights buzzing around the city, visiting old favorites (including friends), new discoveries and despite a sore big toe, walking as much a possible throughout the island. Museums, Theater, Restaurants and More… Here’s a quick replay of where […]

This girl never tires of London.  My perfect day in London would include walking as much as possible, popping into rare bookstores, antique shops, and art galleries, attending an auction at Bonhams, Christie’s, or Sotheby’s, and lingering in a museum or two. A “must” is catching a play and listening to jazz at Ronnie Scott’s. […]

The world knows and loves Rick Steves – our shared Global Citizen whose dispatches from the Olde World edify and ennoble. Let’s imagine Rick. His blue button-down shirt is neatly tucked into dark blue jeans, his brown leather shoes are well-worn, pliant, and have thick clod-hopper soles, his inimitably cheery baby blues smile from behind […]

From my kayak, there was no touching down on any beach on Vandenberg Air Force Base. This remote stretch of rugged Central California Coastline is off limits to Joe Public, even if the only member of the common man within the region was a salt-encrusted, sunscreen-smeared paddler in search of empty surf. I was paddling […]

The sounds and movements were more than familiar to us. The knocks, snorts, sneezes and galumphing led us to the most northern and newest northern elephant seal colony in California, and the world.  The Lost Coast in Northern California’s Humboldt County, and beneath the mighty King Range, offers refuge for lots of wildlife; seabirds, raptors, […]

The last time I visited Oceanside, in northern San Diego County, was a decade ago. There was a lively restaurant, The Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen, which survived COVID (that I did not revisit this time) and a lone little Victorian cottage, the “Graves House” sitting in an empty, weedy beachfront field.  More popularly known […]

Our short but harrowing lift, from La Bella Palermo to the car rental agency, was thanks to a hair-raising ride by our very own Parnelli Jones. Our taxi driver seemed both skeptical and disdainful of the fact that I, a “woman of a certain age,” would be sharing the driving in Sicily with my friend […]

They behaved like rambunctious children – playful, and inquisitive. They’d also never seen a kayaker before. Three-month-old northern fur seal pups were almost knocking me out of my kayak while paddling around Point Bennett on San Miguel Island. May and June are an exciting time to be on the Channel Islands National Park. There’s anticipation […]

A half mile up Scorpion Canyon on Santa Cruz Island, I could hear the deep barks and bellows of raucous California sea lions. Their symphony of bawls carried beneath the low canopy of dewy fog hovering above the Santa Barbara Channel, and the Channel Islands National Park. It was 4 am, and as time crept toward […]

Plenty, as usual, it turns out. Before checking into my second Hawaiian hotel (one of four on my eight-night islands foray), I had a fantastic brunch/lunch at Istanbul Hawaii, a delightful Turkish restaurant opened five years ago in the Kamake’e Corridor of Ward Village. Turkish native Chef Ahu Hettema, along with her mother Nili Yildirim […]