In 1963 the smash-hit movie The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, terrified film audiences and was the talk of the town for months after its opening. The story of a small California town under siege …
May 3, 2016
Travel off the Beaten Path
The Birds of Bodega, CA
Pailon del Diablo will make you a believer
Rio Verde is a small Ecuadorean puebla in the center of the country. Nestled between two tunnels on a mountainous road, the one and only entrance can be easily missed. Fortunately there are signs and …
December 15, 2015
"For a remember of Sarajevo"
It was 38 degrees Celsius (100F) when we arrived in Sarajevo. The soaring minarets that mark the Islamic world were ubiquitous. It also happened to be a national religious holiday in Bosnia – Ramadan Bajram …
October 9, 2015
Southern Indiana: the way vacations used to be
How often have you come home from a vacation only to need another vacation? Some places are just plain stressful: white-knuckling your smartphone, camera and cash from would-be criminals on the street. As it turns …
September 10, 2015
Art meets nature in the Canaries
The island of Lanzarote, part of Spain’s Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, is for many budget tourists synonymous with cookie-cutter resort towns and all-inclusive holiday packages. The truth is that the island’s …
August 9, 2015
France's Haute-Savoie: not the Riviera
On a steep narrow country road 3,700 feet above sea level, my travel partner accelerated the engine, heading toward the sound of alpine bells. As herdsmen rallied the cows to graze on the undulating pastures …
June 27, 2015
Tranquil Cambria, California
With a backdrop of Monterey pines drooped in a misty veil, interrupted now and again by the sun, you can see why the sleepy artist village of Cambria has drawn Californians for decades to its …
June 19, 2015
Off-track in Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic
The easternmost point of the Dominican Republic is locked in a struggle between the lapping transparent waters of the Caribbean and the darker rough waters of the Atlantic. Throw in the mouth of a freshwater …
June 11, 2015
Baja zen: Guadalupe Canyon's oasis
It's midafternoon, and the hot sun beats down on a remote desert road laying before me. I'm deep in the Mexican desert, thinking of shinrin-yoku. Shinrin-yoku is the Japanese practice of "forest bathing" to enhance …
May 8, 2015
Backpacking in the Santa Rosa Wilderness
My boots grate loudly over the gravel as I shuffle onto my crinkly tarp. After manhandling spare clothing into a fussy Sea to Summit stuff sack, I rustle into my Kelty down sleeping bag. With …
No sidewalks in northeast Georgia
This Thanksgiving, I took my usual once- (and sometime twice) a-year drive down south. After ten years of back and forth over myriad routes, specifically those avoiding the highways, I've seen and tasted a lot …
April 21, 2015