Where are the great wines of California? If your thoughts immediately jump to Northern California’s Napa/Sonoma region, then you’re missing the wines of Paso Robles in Central California. Paso Robles boasts over 200 wineries nestled …
June 22, 2009
United States
Paso Robles: Great Wines are Closer Than You Think!
Santa Barbara: Stearn's Wharf and the Art Walk
I have a love-hate relationship with Santa Barbara. On the one hand, it is a pretty little town, filled with pretty people doing pretty little things. On the other, Santa Barbara is quirky and set …
June 22, 2009
California Academy of Science Museum, San Francisco
Nowadays, more and more people – and businesses – are becoming eco-conscious. Adding to this trend is the world’s greenest museum, the California Academy of Science Museum. Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, this …
June 18, 2009
Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles
Things I’ve learned at Rancho La Brea: 1.) La Brea means “the tar” in Spanish, so if you say The La Brea Tar Pits, you’re really saying The The Tar Tar Pits 2.) The fossils …
June 16, 2009
Wintergreen Dogsled Resort, Ely, Minnesota
I was invited to the Wintergreen Dogsled Resort in Ely, Minnesota, by a friend of mine. I chose the lodge-to-lodge trip, four days of dog sledding between lodges. The food at the lodges was wonderful, …
Lap of luxury
Three members of the Hempfield Area School Board in Pennsylvania are in hot water for spending more than $9000 of school district funds on a junket to the National School Boards Association convention in San …
May 20, 2009
Arroyo Trabuco
Decades-old O’Neill Regional Park near Rancho Santa Margarita has a newer “appendage” — a six-mile piece of the Arroyo Trabuco, a shallow, gradually descending canyon going south toward Mission Viejo. An old fire road along …
May 13, 2009
Blue atoms
Neal and Linden Blue, the La Jolla millionaires who own and operate General Atomics, makers of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, have been getting a lot of good ink of late about their government-sponsored efforts …
April 29, 2009
Half Pennies, Finger Muscles, Foot the Bill
Hey, Matt: Is it true that there used to be half pennies? If so, who was the president on that coin? — Jay, via email Yeah, I guess a half penny seems sorta useless in …
March 18, 2009
Be There!
The Box takes next week off, so regard this column as your March Madness early-bird primer. Clip and save. The 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament goes off on March 17 with games scheduled …
March 11, 2009
Little Brazil
There are days that I O.D. on indie rock, especially when the newer bands put out stuff that seems headed toward ’80s import, meaning the dark days of synth and ugly haircuts. But then some …
Santiago Trail
Yesteryear, Old Camp was a popular rendezvous point for hunting parties using the historic Joplin Trail between the flatlands of Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon and Old Saddleback (the crest of the Santa Ana Mountains). Today, …
February 4, 2009
Green money
Leaders of those two local environmental groups who just cut a deal with San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders not to oppose a sought-after waiver of federal sewage-treatment requirements are making pretty decent money. According to …
January 28, 2009
At Last
Deep in the fourth quarter, when Donovan McNabb reared back and threw his fourth consecutive incomplete pass, things turned suicidal at NBC headquarters in Manhattan. The hideous stomach-dumping nightmare had become fact. To wit: the …
January 21, 2009
Pittsburgh
The Chargers play Pittsburgh on Sunday at their place, Heinz Field. The way San Diego has been playing lately, taking six points is tempting. I was born in Pittsburgh, Mercy Hospital, at 3:06 in the …
January 7, 2009