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
Travel Stories
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
Bridging the gap in Haiti
Only three hours in Haiti, I'd seen forms of travel that spanned hundreds of years – a woman on a mule, a man on a horse, people walking, riding bicycles and on mopeds, brightly colored …
Isla Mujeres
Isla Mujeres, once home to occasional pirates and Mexican fishing families, has become a popular off-the-beaten-path destination for tourists and divers as well as an expat art colony. Many tourists visit the island as a …
May 2, 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
Spain's Costa Brava awaits
The road was treacherous. It was mid-Feburary. The blustery weather showed no signs of mercy. Driving along the northeastern coast of Spain from France, I felt like I was living some kind of nocturnal Spanish …
April 30, 2013
Riding the Reunification rail
I’ve always loved riding trains: Pacific Surfliner, Starlight Express, Eurail, etc. The sound of the train whistle never fails to spark my wanderlust, and I find the combination of comfort and adventure when riding the …
April 29, 2013
Chill out in Rarotonga
Sitting halfway between Tahiti and Fiji, the Cook Islands are yet to be discovered by most Americans. The vast majority of visitors who do come here are Australians and New Zealanders (for whom it’s a …
April 26, 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
Iceland's Blue Lagoon
One of the strangest tourist traps in the world has to be the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, located 50 kilometers from Reykjavik en route to the airport. At a latitude equivalent to Siberia and Alaska …
Magic lives in Kanas
Magic lives in a remote corner of China. In the northwestern corner of the country, where a bony finger of land divides the land from Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, the traveler will find myth, legend …
April 23, 2013