Chicago – America’s second city
Chicago was a total surprise. I'd only booked three nights there, but thanks to a generous helping of sleep deprivation we managed to see the highlights. What a fantastically fun and surprising city! The people are seriously friendly, and the diverse culture is reflected in a multitude of delicious eateries and boutiques.
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Bears! (and other life-threatening wonders)
When you arrive in Yellowstone National Park, your first honest reaction might be “Is this it?” That was mine, anyway. A high, pine covered plateau without anything in the way of obvious scenery, Yellowstone is quite unlike the other national parks we’ve...
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The gem of the Northwest
I didn’t know much about Seattle before we arrived. Good coffee, grunge rock, Frasier and lots of rain – that was pretty much the extent of my understanding. But, even though I was nursing a cold for half our stay, this genteel metropolis quickly won us over. Like...
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Into the deep at Crater Lake
You know when a place is so breathlessly beautiful that you have to tear your eyes away for a while because it becomes overwhelming? That was my experience of Crater Lake.
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America, the quaint
It’s pretty fashionable to hate on the USA. A nation of boorish warmongers with an obesity epidemic, a zealot-riddled heartland and a culture rooted in strip malls, kiddy beauty pageants and BBQ sauces. Or at least that’s what every second culture snob and trendy...
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Tree hugging in the USA
Of all the adjectives I expected to apply to this trip, “spiritual” wasn’t even on my mental list. Perhaps “fascinating”, hopefully “interesting” at the very least, or “exciting” – but not “spiritual”. But,...
Read More"Make voyages! Attempt them... there's nothing else."
- Tennessee Williams
The Idea
We’ve been talking about going on a great American trip for years. But then there was another promotion to take or kitchen to be renovated or city to be moved to and we put it off yet again. Our family and friends were quite sick of our pipe-dream, nodding politely whenever we brought it up [...]
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Multi Media Bar
Chicago was a total surprise. I'd only booked three nights there, but thanks to a generous helping of sleep deprivation we managed to see the highlights. What a fantastically fun and surprising city! The people are seriously friendly, and the diverse culture is reflected in a multitude of delicious eateries and boutiques.
When you arrive in Yellowstone National Park, your first honest reaction might be...
I didn’t know much about Seattle before we arrived. Good coffee, grunge rock,...
You know when a place is so breathlessly beautiful that you have to tear your eyes away for a while because it becomes overwhelming? That was my experience of Crater Lake.
It’s pretty fashionable to hate on the USA. A nation of boorish warmongers with an...
Of all the adjectives I expected to apply to this trip, “spiritual”...
Edgy and flamboyant, SF is a freeing place. From the naked sunbathers on the city's main street and the stylish men of the Castro, to the ridiculously pretty, post-grunge teenagers in the Mission district and the elegant energy of downtown.
San Francisco has been compared to many cities. At the turn of the century, her governors...
Californians are universally proud of the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco...
As a boy, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst went camping every summer with his family on this sunny spot. His wealthy businessman father had bought the land and hundreds of acres around it. When his mother died and he inherited it, William decided to build something a little more permanent...