Unexpected. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think about my recent trip to Cambria, California. Cambria, located roughly a half hour north of San Louis Obispo, reminded me of the Midwest somehow. …
May 6, 2013
United States
Old-time California in Cambria
Down in Austin, Franklin is the king
As Waylon Jennings once sang, Austin, Texas, is "the home of Willie Nelson, it's the home of Western swing..." And today, it's also home to the famed Franklin BBQ. This will not be your "off …
May 3, 2013
Desert DINKs
David held a tight grip on his phone as he snapped photos out the window of our speeding Mini. “How can it be 95 degrees down here when there’s snow on top of that hill?” …
May 1, 2013
Snoqualmie Falls
As a general rule, I am not interested in pampering weekends, over-indulgent spas or fancy hotels for the sake of fancy hotels. Accommodation choices are usually fixed around cost and convenience, and so far my …
April 30, 2013
Queen Califia's Magical Circle
Thirty miles up I-15 from San Diego, in Escondido, you’ll find Queen Califia’s Magical Circle. This is the unnatural habitat of wild animals that escaped from the imagination of Niki de Saint Phalle. She’s the …
April 25, 2013
El Paso from six feet under
I’ve never considered visiting graveyards a “must-see” travel experience, but I’ll have to admit that lately I am finding a wealth of history and a deep sense of place that develops necessarily when jaunting graveyard …
April 25, 2013
Serenity in the Channel Islands
Visiting Channel Islands National Park is like entering a time machine and being transported back a few hundred years to a wild and natural, pre-automobile, pre-industrial California. Located off the coast of Ventura, the Channel …
April 18, 2013
At the World's End: Vulture City, AZ
There is no denying it; I am an apocalyte. A lover of all things bleak and transient, the beauty of decay is in my blood. Find me a ghost town, a derelict asylum, an abandoned …
April 18, 2013
Louisiana's Great River Road
Louisiana’s Great River Road is actually two historic corridors reaching seventy miles from New Orleans to beyond Baton Rouge on either side of the Mississippi. First Spanish, then French, and finally Creole landowners built their …
April 9, 2013
NYC: In Search of America's First Pizzeria
Red-and-white tablecloths with Dean Martin music in the background. It sounds like every other pizza joint in the United States – and it's got every possible cliché you can think of when it comes to …
April 4, 2013
Stairway to Heaven – Koko Crater Trail, Oahu
Everyone hikes Diamond Head, but for those in the know, Koko Crater is the place to hike. The little-known Koko Crater Trail hike surpasses Diamond Head not only for the level of hiking but also …
April 2, 2013
Borrego Springs's Mud Caves
In the geographical wonders of the Anza-Borrego desert, you will find a unique Southern California feature: mud caves, deep caves created by flowing silt from an ancient lake bed, eroded by wind and rain. They're …
March 29, 2013
Mexico Beach
Here’s the thing about Mexico Beach: It’s not in Mexico. It’s on the panhandle 20 minutes south of Panama City and just off the tip of Port St. Joe – a little bit of yesterday …
March 26, 2013
Vail: Not Just a Ski Town
Incorporated in 1962, the five-square-mile town of Vail, Colorado, was named for Charles Vail, the engineer who, in 1940, routed the highway that eventually became I-70 through the valley. It’s 100 miles west of mile-high …
Desert Inspiration in Palm Springs
Dreams. Patterns in the clouds. Drug-fueled hallucinations. A life thoroughly well-lived. There are many answers to the question: where does a writer find their inspiration? But for some, it's all about the location. Some places …
March 22, 2013