Susan Kates, my favorite English professor at the University of Oklahoma, had just moved to the state from the Midwest when I was her student in the 1990s. I admired the way she embraced her new home. Often, she wore cowboy boots to class and...
By morning you are paddling like a maniac, traversing whitewater rapids. At night, you’re clutching binoculars for a close-up view of your favorite thespian. In one day, you can go from an adrenaline junkie to a culture vulture in Southern Oregon, the home of the...
On the days that artist Hugh Jenkins blows glass, visitors pass the wild chickens on the property and enter his studio to see him in action. Dipping the hot metal pipe into the powder that becomes molten glass, he chats about his 50-year career as...
Ahh… Monterey County, home of the Lone Cypress tree, aquamarine surf, and perennially happy sea otters. Visitors relish the sublime essence of this central California region, an agricultural basket that boasts fields and farm stands burgeoning with artichokes, strawberries, and apples. In addition to savoring...
There’s something special about waiting in line for a ferry. The suitcases are packed, and the air is crackling with anticipation. But unlike air travel, the anxiety level is turned way down. Instead of taking shoes off in security lines, ferry passengers relax and roll...
Forget the arch. St. Louis is a city that builds a floodwall along the Mississippi River and invites graffiti artists to leave their mark. The Mural Mile spans 2 miles — the longest mural in the world — and every Labor Day weekend, at an...
When architect Oscar Ruffini stepped out of a stagecoach in the tiny West Texas town of San Angelo, he was very sick. His last hope of getting well in 1884 was the hot, dry air of this rowdy frontier town beside Fort Concho. It worked...
A collection of grand structures within the national parks pays tribute to the pioneering architects who embraced the harmony between rustic design and first-class comfort. Many of these structures have been restored to meet modern building criteria, and adventure travelers who favor wilderness luxury over...
In an era of same-day package deliveries and instantaneous texting, taking it slow seems counterintuitive. However, the region hugging California’s Central Coast delivers a sublime “relax-cation” where everyone agrees that going SLO (as in the initials of San Luis Obispo County) is vital for well-being....
Alaska, nearly two and a half times the size of Texas, remains a land of seemingly endless open space. It’s also a destination of misconceptions by those unfamiliar with what’s known as “The Last Frontier.” Most notably, the icy igloo, thought to have been built...