Recent Articles
Award-winning Orgeon: Shakespeare to Pinots
Ashland, Oregon may be a small town but it can rival big cities with theater, outdoor activities, wine and farm-to-table food. Photo: Queen Elizabeth in the performance of Shakespeare in Love. Photo Credit: Jenny Graham Recently my husband and I drove 6 hours from San Francisco to indulge our passion for theater. We bought tickets […]
Loving Lucerne
Along the shores of Lake Lucerne, ringed with snow-capped peaks, couples promenade arm-in-arm as the sun dips behind the mountains. Families, catching the last light, head home pushing strollers past docks decked with flower boxes spilling red geraniums. Seagulls swoop across colorful boatyards and swans skim across the cobalt lake, floating above the world of […]
Luxury Hotel on Vancouver Island
You can tell a lot about a luxury hotel by the way it greets its guests. You might expect a formal doorman to meet you at the curb and leave you at the front desk. That’s not the case at the Wickaninnish Inn, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A smiling, fit staff […]
Burgundy by bike, boat or car
Paris may be crawling with tourists scurrying to monuments and museums, but in Burgundy, a mere 90 minutes south on the TGV train, sightseeing is never an object. The pace is slow, the countryside bucolic and the pleasures of gastronomy rule supreme. The chandeliers in the Michelin-starred restaurants are eternally glittering and the puffy […]
Family Travel. The best and the worst family getaways.
Family travel is a time to make memories that last a lifetime. Over two decades and to over two dozen countries, I traveled with my kids, usually without an adult partner to help out. If you want to do more than beaches and amusement parks, then read on for tips and scroll down for suggestions for […]
Southern Italy where they’ve perfected the art of slowing down
When our cook, Fausta Solfa, mentioned that dinner would be at 7:30 pm, someone in our group asked: “Is that 7:30 pm regular time or Italia time?” The rest of us started laughing. Four days into our week-long sojourn in southern Italy and we were finally getting used to the pace: be ready by 8:30 […]
Romantic Ocean View Resorts in Southern California
Eat, sleep and soak in Southern California’s most romantic ocean view resorts. The Lodge at Torres Pines, La Jolla and Bacara Resort and Spa, Santa Barbara Balanced on the coastal clips overlooking the Pacific Ocean, above the community of La Jolla, the Lodge has been drawing avid golfers and lovers to its sunny climate and majestic […]
Solo traveler. Tales and tips.
No one expected me to be a solo woman traveler. I had never eaten a meal alone in a restaurant or traveled on my own — except for business trips. I surprised everyone, including myself. You too can travel alone. I discovered it’s not lonely, it’s empowering. You’ll learn to talk to people: from taxi drivers, […]
Seattle’s Best Attractions Selected by Locals
I’ve learned that your first impression of a city remains with you always. Every time I fly into Seattle I am awed by the snowy mountain peaks, forests of black firs and the unrelenting wateriness of the scenery. Even the drive from the airport into town is bordered by huge fir forests and the area is veined with […]
Now’s the time to visit Portugal
Lisbon, Porto and the Duoro River Valley have become “all the rage”. One of the Great European River Journeys The Duoro Valley east of Porto, in northern Portugal, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to it’s […]