All I wanted was one clean shot of an image from the slideshow before me: the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine cover, the gritty black-and-white of soldiers slogging through a jungle in Vietnam, or the image of Earth as seen from Apollo 8. Yet the shot eluded me. No matter how fast I clicked, the image I [...]
Featured Destinations
Oregon's Gourmet Highlights
Featured Destination
Tucson, Arizona
Hearst Castle, Tide Pools, and Paso Robles Eats
What would a journey to California’s Central Coast be without a stop at that enchantingly extravagant Hearst Castle? In 1919 the young Hearst commissioned San Francisco architect Julia Morgan to “build a little something.” By 1947, Hearst and Morgan had created a 165-room Mediterranean revival estate surrounded by 127 acres of gardens, terraces, fountains, and [...]
Monterey Bay: An Aquarium, a Caramel Apple, and a Mission
My boyfriend Asa and I love to travel. Our last sojourn took us all the way to the Middle East, but there’s something to be said for vacationing closer to home. A two-hour drive south of the San Francisco Bay Area, we inhaled the salty-sweet ocean air, saw jellies, otters, and leafy seadragons, and ate [...]
Cars Land is Coming!
These days the Disneyland universe has expanded way beyond Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. You can meet Darth Vader, Kermit, Buzz Lightyear, and on June 15th when Cars Land opens, you can cozy up to Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, and Sally. An epic new series of attractions in the center of California Adventure, Cars Land is [...]
Oregon for Foodies
Molasses bread, 10 kinds of havarti, pan-fried oysters, pinots-a-plenty, and a food fight (of sorts). The beaver state delivers the delectables when it comes to food. Five gourmets give you the inside scoop on delicious destinations from an old-fashioned roadside diner to fancy tasting rooms. For the Love of Oregon Oysters Pan-fried oysters, anyone? Brian [...]
Featured Destination: Tucson Highlights
Desert-loving writer Anne Burke took off for Tucson, Ariz., searching for fun, food, and flora. She unearthed a few surprises. Do you know what a sod poodle is? Want to know where to find a rare crested saguaro? Curious about happened to the hot dog that ventured south of the border? Want the scoop on [...]
Featured Journey: Winter Park to Denver
You know how you think you know a place until you show it to someone who has never been there before? Former Coloradan, Megan McCrea returned home for the holidays with her boyfriend in tow. Intent to show him her favorite places on their journey from Winter Park, where they hit the slopes, back to [...]
Tucson’s El Charro Café: Art and Eats
You can hardly toss a tortilla in Tucson, Ariz., without hitting a really terrific Mexican restaurant. One of the best is El Charro Café, owned and operated by three generations of the Flores family since 1922. To call El Charro a restaurant sells it short. This locals’s favorite is as much a gallery of Mexican [...]
The Sonoran Desert’s Rare and Spectacular Plants
I was determined to find a crested saguaro if it took me all day. It’s one of the strangest and most beautiful of all cacti. But it’s extremely rare. Of the nearly two million saguaros in Saguaro National Park, only a couple dozen are crested. A ranger suggested I look off McCain Loop Road near [...]
The Prairie Dogs of Tucson: Sod Poodles Return
What’s cuter than kitty TV and more addicting than a panda cam? The black-tailed prairie dog habitat at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. This rock-strewn patch of grassland is home to some 30 burrowing little rodents that settlers knew as “sod poodles” for their high-pitched, bark-like vocalizations. Behind a tall fence, black-tailed prairie dogs [...]