The sun descends behind western slopes as I drop down Banner Grade from Julian toward the Anza-Borrego Desert on High 78 — nearly 1500 feet in five miles. A park ranger I met at the …

The photographer pretended to be looking at carpet samples. Then he started snapping pictures of the arklike interior of Julie Melim's carpet warehouse. Melim looked up from her office, walked out, and asked if she …

Jill McEwan's life reads like a Dick Francis novel. McEwan, a graduate of USC's paralegal program, is a racehorse trainer who mixes horses and the law. "I'm just like a home appraiser, except I appraise …

It wouldn't be the first big lie to emerge during an election campaign, and it certainly wouldn't be the first one to appear in a Union-Tribune editorial, but Sunday's was one of the best in …

Serene Lake Wohlford lies near the headwaters of Escondido Creek, its mirroring surface reflecting the shaggy-with-chaparral, boulder-studded hillsides that confine it. As early as 1895, water impounded for the benefit of Escondido's farms and households …

Matt: What's the dealio wit the part of the wedding vows when the priest sez, "Does anyone feel that these two should not be joined in holy matrimony?" What happens when your brother's friend raises …

Dear Mr. Alice: Why do country singers yodel? What could have been the connection that brought yodeling from the Swiss Alps to Nashville, or did yodeling crop up independently as a form of expression among …

Last month, I ended this column by wondering what part (if any) of my East Coastness I would pass on to my California-born son Finian. Now, as he approaches his first birthday, I have had …