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...
Things were going great in the nascent days of Aspen, Colorado. Silver mining in 1879 created a boomtown out of sleepy “Ute City,” as it’s often referred to. The population swelled to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 residents, and schools, homes, and new roads proliferated....
If you think Nashville is just about the music, you’d be right — and wrong. The city embraces the soubriquet “Music City U.S.A.,” but it’s so much more. Long before it became the home of country music, it was known as the Athens of the...
[caption id="attachment_18314" align="alignleft" width="249"] At Allerton Garden, roots of the rare Moreton Bay fig tree stand several feet high. Courtesy of National Tropical Botanical Garden[/caption] A little more than 25 years ago, actress Ariana Richards screamed and trembled her way into our hearts in the movie...