We set off one recent morning on a trip to forget suburbia: to immerse ourselves in the high desert enclaves of the Mojave and Colorado, where San Bernardino’s sprawl can no longer reach through the …
March 1, 2020
Travel Stories
Escape to the Mojave: Joshua Tree's must-sees
The road to Cádiz, Spain
Sometimes an adventure shifts your perspective and uproots your priorities. For me, that adventure was a road trip through Portugal and Spain in September. The story begins in Lisbon, Portugal: My friends picked up me …
February 2, 2020
El Bolsón and the Andes refugio system
My third trip to Patagonia was tremendous, great weather for all but one day and my best survey of the acclaimed mountain hostels that now number 15 in all. Once sleepy <a hreEl Bolson, fabled …
January 21, 2020
Ghost hunting at the Tombstone Motel
A little while back my mother and I decided to go on a ghost-hunting expedition to Tombstone, Arizona. Being the “professionals” that we are, we packed our equipment (flashlight, electromagnetic field detector, digital audio recorder …
Portugal’s Atlantic Coast: rich history meets seaside serenity
Portugal has a long, rich history that colors everything from its language, food and architecture. It was settled by homo sapiens 35,000 years ago and retains traces of a non–Indo European language and even DNA. …
October 25, 2019
Panama City: since I was in the area...
A relatively short distance from San Diego (just a few small countries south of Mexico) lies Panama, the final Central American nation before you hit South America. Yet, for a tiny country, the capital, Panama …
September 29, 2019
Wine & dine Temecula "staycation"
Confession time: as a San Diego resident, it took me almost a decade to go wine tasting in Temecula. I broke the spell when my best friend celebrated her birthday at Pechanga Resort and Casino. …
September 7, 2019
Baseball game road trip to L.A.'s Echo Park
A few Saturdays ago, I spent some quality time in Los Angeles for a Dodgers game in Echo Park. I’d hadn’t been to one of their games in quite some time, but with my friend …
August 11, 2019
Wild Peninsula Valdez, Argentina
I first became aware of this enormous peninsula years ago when I heard about the burgeoning whale-watching attraction there. A thousand miles south of Buenos Aires on the south Atlantic coast, this region lies at …
June 30, 2019
Discovery and serenity in Cambria, CA
When I think of Cambria, I often think of my Grandpa Bristol – outfitted in a pair of brown waders – prying large red abalones from tidepool rocks. The Bristol home was close to the …
June 2, 2019
Ancient Wroclaw, Poland
I visited Wroclaw, Poland, during an interesting time in history: it was the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence, the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. As for Wroclaw itself, it …
May 11, 2019