HOOD RIVER, Ore. — This town full of extreme-sports nuts owes its late-20th century renaissance to windsurfing and other water sports — things you might think of in summer. Add four craft breweries and you get a town of sports nuts and beer nuts.
Just as tourists to Italy may choose Rome or Florence as their first-time destination, many pick Beijing or Shanghai for their inaugural visit to China. But my first trip to the People’s Republic of China led me to discover Nanjing.
SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Dominican Republic — The lanky 15-year-old and I didn’t share a full language, but on a breezy, balmy November night, we shared at least two words.
England’s Highclere Castle, the real-life Downton Abbey, has a past that’s every bit as colorful and riveting as the hit “Masterpiece” series filmed within its walls.
ATLANTA — “It won’t be too long until there’s a coffee roaster, brew pub, distillery and maybe a cacao artisan in every town,” said Bill Owens, president of the American Distilling Institute.
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — Mount Baldy is still moving, but its movement has been slowed.
HUTCHINSON — We descended into the belly of the Earth.
SOCHI, Russia — Sochi, a resort area on the Black Sea in Russia, is the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. It’s a popular summer resort town because of its warm weather, beaches and a shoreline boardwalk that draws visitors from across Russia. All that makes it an interesting choice for the site of the Winter Games, scheduled for Feb. 7-23, 2014.
GIRONA, Spain — Many European backpackers on a budget have braved the world of the “budget” airline. As if draconian bag fees and cramped seating weren’t enough, many budget carriers serve satellite airports, dumping passengers far from their ultimate destinations. That means more time and euros spent on buses, trains and taxis.
KAMLOOPS, Canada — “It’s a true thing,” as my grandmother used to say. Luxury lodging is in the eye of the beholder.
Visit the beaches on this Gulf Coast barrier island and you’re likely to see people doing the Sanibel Stoop. That’s the term for the bent-at-the-waist posture used to collect seashells on Sanibel Island, which bills itself as one of the best shelling locations in the world.
Derrick Weitlich and his friend Leslie Martinez arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 5:40 a.m. Thursday, wanting to be among the first to visit the park’s New Fantasyland.
After Jane Hatch selected the room rate she wanted at the West Street Hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine, the hotel website delivered an unpleasant surprise on the next screen: The quoted price hadn’t included a $25-per-day “resort and club fee” that gave Hatch access to the hotel pool, hot tub and fitness center – whether she wanted it or not.
As a frequent traveler to Mexico, I’m often asked about the safety issues due to the amount of violence and dramatic imagery shown in U.S. news.
Abe Lincoln was born in a log cabin but his son built himself a mansion. Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s only child to survive to adulthood, built the Georgian Revival home, called Hildene, as a seasonal dream home for his wife and children, and as a place where he could bring his widowed mother, Mary Todd Lincoln.
ATOP MAUNA KEA, Hawaii — If you count from sea level, we were 13,796 feet up, almost as high as Mount Rainier. Plenty high enough.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — You don’t have to be a child to draw pleasure from the children’s garden at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park here. As my husband and I entered the park, we were drawn by the sight of a child-size iron-grate door in a wall through which small children were delightedly emerging. Intrigued, we headed into the nearby entryway and found ourselves in the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden.
GRAND MARAIS, Mich. — I’m sitting in the Voyageurs Motel looking out over West Bay at Grand Marais, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The light is dwindling. Fresh from a meal of poached whitefish at the Dunes Saloon, it feels like the perfect time to begin this story.
Enrique Pena Nieto, winner of Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, won’t take office until December, and it’s unclear just how he’ll approach the drug war that has killed an estimated 47,000 people or more since late 2006.
YUCATAN PENINSULA, Mexico — What’s the Mexican drug-war body count now? 47,000? Ever since the killings began to escalate in late 2006, I’ve been visiting the country less and choosing spots more carefully.
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