Jul 13, 2009

Big Sur holds a special place in my heart. Truly majestic and powerful.  Why?  Maybe… it’s how the ocean in all his glory, so softly met her cliffs.  Two opposite forces of nature, ocean and land, just meeting.  As if for the first time.  Over a cup of tea.  In all their original glory. To be there and feel it is beyond explanation.  Visit Big...

Jul 10, 2009

Catalina is a boater’s paradise. Few places anywhere offer the tranquility or the peaceful atmosphere that exists on Santa Catalina Island.  From year to year Catalina remains one of my favorite jewels of the sea. It’s close enough to Los Angeles and San Diego to make this a very quick trip.  It’s only 20 miles or so away.  And by the time...

Jun 23, 2009

I’m not the best photographer.  I don’t claim to even be good.  And yet I will get in my car and chase whatever bug I’m after to capture that one shot. Red Rock Crossing was one on my list. It seems to be I’ve seen this image on every Sedona calendar and countless coffee mugs and other souveniers. The most satisfying thing though is...

Jun 21, 2009

Squaw Valley is the shortened nick name for the Lake Tahoe ski resort in Olympic Valley.  Olympic Valley… or  Squaw was the  site of the 1960 Winter Olympics and the 2nd largest ski area in Tahoe next to Heavenly. I spent 4 days in Lake Tahoe.  It was a whirlwind of a trip where I went around the lake, to see different ski resort areas and what...

Jun 6, 2009

Tlaquepaque means “the best of everything” and pronounced Tla-keh-pah-key.  It was originally conceived as an artist community and is now a Sedona landmark where you can lazily explore art galleries and gift stores under sycamore trees that have been there since the `70s. I’m not a shopper but I am a lover of art.  And that’s what I...

May 28, 2009

This is my favorite way to get to Catalina.  Charter a sailboat with a few friends.  Pack your suntan lotion, your favorite bikini and something warm for when it cools down.  The alternative is go with someone you can snuggle with for when it cools down at night.   Play in the emerald waters.  Kayak.  And play with the dolphins. And when you’re all...

May 17, 2009

The Swing a Rings are like upside down steel upside down U-shaped frames which have a support beam connecting them.  The upside down U-shaped frames are about 7 to 8 feet apart which have swivel chains and rings on the end of them. “Ringers” travel from ring to ring using your body, arms and legs to build momentum which enable the ringers to spins,...

May 12, 2009

Puerto Rico…or.. Puerrrto.. Rrrrrico! Imagine a tropical Caribbean Island that has flavors of America and the Spaniards all mixed up together in a shaker of rum… while the latin samba mambos in the background.  It’s so culturally diverse.  So lush and tropical.  So modern and all mixed up like your yummiest mixed beverage. The people on the...

May 11, 2009

John Paul Getty, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, (by the way… I really like people from Minnesota… but I digress), was one of the first people in the world with a fortune worth over 1 billion dollars.  His family was in oil.  He did what all rich sons do,  and went to good schools – USC, then Berkeley, and then graduated from Magelen...

May 10, 2009

Chicago…or Beantown…is a city of opposites for me.   When you land you go drive through what appears to be a very old city.  Lots of brick and old looking buildings.  When you get into town…the your eyesite is filled with the shiny reflections from the glass and steel.  All this hardness… is softened by the river and parks...

May 10, 2009

When you are in Sedona, be sure to drive 7 miles north to Slide Rock State Park which runs along Oak Creek Canyon.  For years the years, the waters from the Colorado plateau have carved out Sedona’s best natural swimming hole from the native red sandstone.  As the water descends, it’s smoothed out a series of chutes and pools that stretches several...

May 10, 2009

Cape Cod is so picturesque.  It’s lush.  And the houses are quaintly adorned with flower box windows.  The trees hug the road and every now and then you’ll see a bridge.  I saw the ferries to Martha’s Island (though I didn’t get on).   I ate steamers.  Which are like clams still in the shell with a mullusk looking think hanging...

May 9, 2009

Tucked into the Appalachian mountain range of New Hampshire is a resort town called Loon Mountain.   It’s quiet here.  Just me and my radio. I had a little over an hour between meetings so I turned off the GPS and meandered down the curving road and zigged and zagged up through the mountains. At several points I got out and did a short...

May 9, 2009

I found myself in Breckinridge one fall.  The mountain ranges is whas inspired John Denver to sing that Rocky Mountain High song… I just know it. Every shade of yellow, orange, and sienna filled my eyes. And when I woke up. The whole world was covered in...