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...
When Kathy Fang was only 6 years old, she peeled eggs, wiped down tables, squeezed bags of soybeans for fresh soy milk, and did everything a kid could possibly do at House of Nanking, her parent’s restaurant in Chinatown in San Francisco, California. When things...
MY FRIENDS WHO WERE HOSTING MY VISIT HAD TO SHOW ME THE DOLPHINS, of course. We’d just taken a lovely stroll along the downtown Kelowna boardwalk and Waterfront Park, feeling the soft breeze off Okanagan Lake and stopping to watch ducks and turtles at Rotary Marsh. We’d...
His name was Gus. Throughout our afternoon hike, he never judged me or complained. I could unburden my innermost secrets, and he would be as calm as a sailboat on a windless day. Gus works for Paragon Guides, and he is a llama. Global visitors come...
History looms large in Walla Walla, where the architecture has been thoughtfully preserved and restored in the area’s stately homes, public buildings, and private businesses, including in a few wineries for which the region continues to be known. Located in Southeast Washington, Walla Walla unfurls westward...
For most of us, the town of Pasadena, California, is synonymous with the Rose Bowl and its legendary Tournament of Roses Parade, the exquisitely colorful annual extravaganza held every New Year’s Day. The intricately designed floats are decorated with thousands of vibrant flowers and organic...
South of the U.S. border looms large in winter with dreams of warm weather, azure seas and miles of white beaches, along with the siren’s call of exotic cultures, handsome mariachis and haunting boleros. Year after year, Mexico has been ranked by the National Travel...
The song, “America the Beautiful,” was written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1895. She initially wrote the patriotic hymn as a poem after seeing the town of Manitou Springs, Colorado, and looking up at 14,114-foot Pikes Peak. [caption id="attachment_16092" align="alignleft" width="300"] Map: © Daphne Gillam[/caption] Since then,...