Hit the Road
Gifts and gadgets to help with your holiday listIf you need practical and clever gifts and gadgets for the gadabouts on your holiday list, here are some ideas that both veteran and novice travelers will love.• Touted for their antioxidant properties (said to help protect against cell damage), aroniaberries (often called chokeberries) now come [...]
Birds and paradise in Palm Desert
Guests call her the Bird Lady, but her real name is Linda Whittington and she loves her job at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Desert. The animal care specialist and aviary expert has charge of the health and welfare of the hotel’s bird and fish collection. You can meet Whittington almost [...]
Holiday gifts to give your favorite traveler
Since we have officially entered the holiday shopping season, here are a few good reads for the travelers on your list. Whether you live in California or like to visit, you’ll love perusing “Greetings from California: Legends, Landmarks & Lore of the Golden State” (Voyageur Press).This oversized hardcover (but small by coffee-table standards) is a [...]
Two-lane road serves as gateway to memorial
Unlike the crystal clear, warm September day on which United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside, today borders on biting cold. Heavy dark clouds hover and the wind cuts right through us as leave the car and walk toward the flight path of the hijacked airliner, one of four that terrorists brought down [...]
Former cowboy nightclub now favored by tourists
Lex Chamberlain looks pretty much like you’d expect with a name like that: Tall and lanky, a shock of gray hair escaping from his black cowboy hat. His jeans are worn, and he wears a huge turquoise and silver horse that pulls together his bolo tie. Chamberlain is a fourth-generation Utah Mormon who inherited his [...]
These products can help make traveling a lot easier
As a travel writer, I’m occasionally asked to evaluate products for travelers, and I’ve found some great gadgets for gadabouts among the latest group. Katie Grove of Columbus, Ohio, got tired of hassling with her winter coat on her frequent trips to New York City and came up with this solution — the Abrigo Bag. [...]
Our time in Provence was some of the most magical, yet
It’s 9:45 on a mid-June evening and there still is enough daylight to easily navigate the grounds of Domaine du Moulin. This picture book bed and breakfast is a couple of fields away from the barely-on-the-map Provencal village of Saint Laurent des Arbres, a 20-minute drive northwest of Avignon. This little corner of paradise seems [...]
The largest mammals on Earth make for a good show
Blue whales off the coast of Southern California? Who knew? I surely didn’t. Am I the last to hear about the appearance of the largest mammals on the planet so close to our shores? No, says Chad Steffen, a naturalist with Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching in Dana Point (Orange County). The word is [...]
You’re never without something, somewhere new to find
The wonderful thing about living in North County is that you have only to drive an hour or less to find plenty of things to see and do. My husband and I did just that on two occasions last month. Our first day trip took us to Birch Aquarium at Scripps in La Jolla with [...]
Gadgets for making life on the road easier
I’m always on the lookout for gadgets that make traveling easier for gadabouts. Here are some I’ve discovered: I’m not one to say the sky is falling when it comes to bedbug infestations, but if the idea of carrying home tiny, six-legged hitchhikers that suck blood doesn’t appeal to you, there’s a possible solution. As [...]
