Even with the unexpected winter closure of June Mountain*, skiers and snowboarders are finding June Lake village to be a welcome getaway – to get away from the crowds of nearby Mammoth. While Mammoth's skiing …
December 10, 2012
Kid Friendly Travel
June Lake's Open for Business
Urban Retreat: SF's Angel Island
On a recent visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, we decided to escape the congestion of the inner city. If you’ve never visited Angel Island, it should be on your priority list when visiting …
November 19, 2012
La Vida Tranquila: A Family's Pursuit of Paradise
(Originally appeared as a 9/4/12 blog entry at HuffingtonPost.com.) In 1998, I left a boyfriend who admitted he couldn't commit to anything more than putting food in the cat's bowl. We were in our early …
October 4, 2012
Mammoth Lakes Basin Bike Path
This summer marked the completion of 5.3 miles of paved bike path through forests above the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. The clearly marked, two-lane path starts at the top of Lake Mary Rd. at …
September 17, 2012
A Week on a New Hampshire Lake
Summer is a great time to visit New Hampshire. In the spring, there are a lot of biting flies and it rains all the time. But once the warm, dry months of July and August …
August 30, 2012
San Juan Capistrano: A SoCal Treasure
Just 61 miles north of San Diego up the 5 Freeway, San Juan Capistrano is one of the truly historic sites of Southern California. The town is probably best known for the swallows that return …
August 2, 2012
Solitude Is Bliss – Michigan's Northern Lakeshore
A recent trip home to northern lower Michigan afforded me one of the greatest summertime pleasures a Michigander knows: a sunset swim in Lake Michigan. There’s nothing better than finding a secluded stretch of golden …
July 19, 2012
Summer in Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has some of the nicest people on this planet. They go above and beyond to help you. If you need to know where the nearest bus stop is and ask someone, they …
July 10, 2012
King's River Rafting: Not Your Average Family Vacation
Originating high in the mountains of central California near Sequoia National Park, the Kings River boasts the largest watershed of any river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Last year I took the family on …
June 30, 2012
A Long Weekend in Sequoia and Yosemite
On a whim, I decided to drive up to explore a spectacular stretch of California natural beauty for a four-day vacation: Sequoia National Park and Yosemite. I hadn’t been to Yosemite for years, and I …
Down-home Door County, Wisconsin
The original French explorers and fur trappers who came upon the treacherous waters separating Washington Island from the mainland of Door County, Wisconsin, called it “Doors of Deaths.” Today, the waters do sometimes delay campers …
June 7, 2012
"See Rock City": Chattanooga
When Leo Lambert first discovered Ruby Falls, he described it as being “like discovering God. At first it is very dark, scary, and uncertain. You don’t know what lies ahead.” Venturing through caverns nearly a …
May 4, 2012
La Jolla Sea Caves
Weathered from a 75-million-year-old sandstone cliff in La Jolla are seven sister caves. Like many other seaside caverns, these, too, have been used by pirates. Only the cargo they smuggled was human. California’s eight-year-gold rush …
April 18, 2012
Christchurch, New Zealand's International Antarctic Centre
In February 2011, Christchurch captured world headlines when New Zealand’s second-largest city was jolted by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, flattening downtown buildings and claiming 181 human lives in its debris-laden wake. Though parts of downtown …
March 9, 2012
Manatees in Blue Spring State Park, Florida
Blue Spring State Park is located in Orange City, Florida – a one-hour drive from Orlando, so it's a perfect place to spend the day and get away from the theme parks. This is one …
November 10, 2011